My word count is (horrifyingly) 9,044. HAHA. So, I'm using the perk from an award I won last task, that allows me to make the judge (in this case you guys if you have the time and my husband) ignore one aspect of grading. So, I'm choosing to have the judge(s) all ignore my word count! YAY. I'm handing it in now, which is before the due date. My ballot punishment was to base my entry on a theme of a song. I choose the song Battlefield by Svrcina (which is posted above, so you guys can listen to it and judge that I did it). I did parallels and MEANINGS of the lyrics, so you kind of have to look for it. Enjoy! :) 

This was not what Matthew had expected. Not even Isaac or their newest mentor, Akane, had been informed on what to expect here. Both mentors were forced to stay behind, leaving Matthew and the other tributes to travel to their new realm together, without having any clue about what waited for them.

Matt clenched his AR-15 rifle as he stared at the scene. They were on a street of the city called Crocus in a realm called Fiore. Many of the buildings were in ruins - stones littered the streets as people ran around screaming and calling out for help. Broken glass, nails, and other rubble were scattered along the stone ground. "Watch your step," Matt said to Akari and Kanan. Blake was right behind them, with the other tributes trailing behind them.

With all the people and the extra noise in the barracks, Matt hadn't slept good last night. Despite how tired he was, there wasn't any time for rest or sleep. He and the others had to keep walking and he had to keep pushing forward.

In the distance, the loudest sound Matt had ever heard echoed through the ruined city, making Matt's ears ache. It was a thundering roar, loud enough to make Matt and his companions groan.

Lolita, clenching Shane's hand, screamed. "Qué es eso?"

Matt looked up, gritting his teeth as the loud sound made his ears ring and his head pound. His ears still hadn't fully healed from the IED explosion. At the thought of the explosion, Matt's instincts kicked in. He wanted to run for cover, but there was nowhere to go. Deep inside, he knew he had to stay here with his companions. Part of him wanted the fight and another part of him hated it. It reminded him too much of Iraq and Afghanistan, which was a time he desperately wanted to forget. Except that he couldn't forget it; he never would. Matthew shook off the thoughts and forced his mind back into the present situation.

Heading right toward them, was a massive figure. It towered on four thick legs, taller than the surrounding buildings with bright blue scales, and the same color tail and wings. "Is that a..." Matt's voice trailed off.

"Dragon!" Rhavvi shouted, much to everyone's surprise.

"G'down, blokes!" Blake darted toward Rhavvi as Matt dove toward a building. The dragon bellowed out a thundering roar and a blast of blue energy shot toward them, slamming against the building behind them. Stones crumbled toward him, so Matt rolled out of the way and then dove over a huge boulder in the streets.

Akari grunted, landing on her knees behind him. The monster towered above them and Matt realized they were beneath it. Its shadow loomed over them, coating them in a fog of darkness.

"We're under it!" he shouted. His eyes blinked and he wanted to sleep, but he forced his mind to stay awake.

Akari grunted and leaped up onto the boulder. As she jumped high into the air, she lifted both arms and slashed her katana across its underbelly. In the same moment, Matt aimed his rifle upward and fired several shots.

The skin beneath both of their attacks wasn't damaged.

"What? How is that possible?" Akari's eyes widened.

Matt shook his head, firing another round into the beast.

Outside, Blake had stabbed his blade into the dragon's leg, while Aria shouted an explosion spell, Rhavvi conjured a wolf to attack it, and Lolita sent a bubble of sound toward it. None of their attacks did any damage to it, leaving them all in shock.

"I'm taking Essiah and going with the other teams to get the townspeople to safety," Nyath called. He grabbed Essiah who was crying as Razzet, the little talking aligator clambered onto his shoulder and dashed down the street.

Matt and Akari joined the others, who all had their weapons out and ready. Even though it wouldn't do any good, they had to keep fighting. There was too much at stake. Without saying anything, they all knew what they were fighting for:

Their families.

The dragon opened its mouth and prepared to roar again.

"Down!" Matthew dove to the ground, wedged between Akari and Zira as the dragon's blast of water sent part of a roof flying toward them.

Khulan and Blake, both appeared in front of them, catching the roof with their hands. "How are you doing that, Blake?" Matt asked.

"Rune of speed and strength, mate," Blake said as he and Khulan threw the roof back toward the dragon.

It slammed against the dragon's face as Aria shot another explosion toward its jaws with her wand, while Shane, in his wolf form joined Rhavvi's conjured wolf, clamped his teeth onto its foot. Lolita's sound wave echoed around the dragon's ears, while Vymik used his lightsaber to pierce the same leg Blake had once stabbed. At the same time, Kijiro took his blades and simultaneously attacked the other leg, as Myriil and Nakia fired arrow after arrow into it, leaving Rhovok simply punching the leg as hard as his orc body could. Droshin threw a chakrum at its legs, slicing it.

There was no damage.

Matt, Zira and Akari leapt up, Akari joining Kijiro, Zira joining Shane, and Matt firing his rifle.

Suddenly, the dragon bellowed in laughter. "Imbecile humans! What makes you think you could ever beat me?"

"The dragon just talked." Surprised, Matt clenched his rifle, firing another round into the monster's chest, but it only laughed again.

"Dios mio, this can't be happening," Lolita said, holding out her hands. Sound waves attacked the dragon's face, but he roared, sending them flying back to her.

Shane growled and darted toward her to protect her from the blast.

The blast slammed against him, sending him flying into a wall. He landed with a harsh thud and a whine.

"Shane!" Lolita dashed over to him.

"Cover her!" Matt wasn't sure if he yelled it or if Khulan did. In seconds, Khulan, Kanan, Matt, Akari, and Kijiro were all attacking the dragon again.

It laughed. "You fools!"

*****

Kanan felt the Force tremble as he used a Force push to shove several women and children out of the way of the dragon's next attack. Water exploded from its mouth, so Kanan used the Force to form a safe sphere around he and the other civilians. "I'm going to help the civilians that didn't leave with Nyath!" Kanan called.

Matt, Blake, and Khulan all nodded and furiously attacked the dragon, who stomped its foot and cracked the street below them.

Kanan turned to the civilians. "Hurry, get inside!" As he ushered them inside a building to his left, he ignited his lightsaber and made a hole in the wall on the other side - there was too much rubble blocking the back door. It took a minute, but he finally managed to cut through the wall and make a large enough hole for them to crawl through. On the next street over, Kanan directed the civilians toward the street that led out of the city. "That way!"

When he was certain they were all safely away from danger, Kanan followed a familiar presence. The presence used the Force, which sent shockwaves through Kanan. Another Jedi? How is that possible? Darting down the street, he turned to his right and sure enough, there was another Jedi, lightsaber pike in hand, using the Force against another dragon along with her team.

She turned and met his gaze. "Another Jedi?" she asked out loud.

Kanan nodded. "I'm Kanan."

"Akalli." She was a human with brunette hair and he could feel that she was powerful with the Force. His heart raced; he thought the Jedi were all dead, especially after Sidious' games.

Before he had a chance to reply, the Force trembled.

Akalli's face paled. "Myenna! She's a youngling; I think she's in trouble!"

"Let's go!" Kanan searched out with the Force; if there was a youngling around, whatever happened, he couldn't let the youngling or Akalli die. He hadn't seen another Jedi since Sidious' games. Kanan thought he was the last one. No matter what happened, no matter how dark it became this time, he would protect them.

As he met Akalli's gaze, she nodded, as if promising him the same thing.

It didn't take them long to follow the road out of the city. The road was littered with dead bodies, blood pooling beneath them. There were a few men, but mostly women and children. In the distance, echos of the dragon's roars rang out, making Kanan flinch.

Kanan stopped, staring at the dead bodies and sank to his knees in front of two of them.

"No!" Akalli sobbed, clutching Myenna's body as blood spurted from the young girl's mouth.

Underneath Myenna was the young six-year-old girl Essiah. Next to her was a lamp and Nyath was nowhere to be found. Kanan grabbed Essiah's body, checking for life, but her heart had stopped, shattering his own.

"She tried to protect Essiah," Kanan whispered. He felt heavy, like all the death he had witnessed, all the people he had failed to protect were weights crushing him.

Peaking out from behind the lamp, was the little aligator, tears streaming down the poor creature's face. "I - I fought them, but I wasn't strong enough and they - those dragons killed everyone here. Myenna tried to fight them too. I'm s - so sorry!" Razzet sobbed and Kanan held out a hand and let him climb on top of him.

"Here. He can stay on Bop." At Akalli's word, the droid came up from behind her. Kanan lowered his hand and Razzet climbed onto the droid, with Guzu right beside him. "We are so sorry," Guzu said and the tiny mouse's voice broke.

"I thought - I thought she would be safe if she left the city. I - This is my fault! I should have protected her!" Akalli sobbed.

Kanan placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, his stomach twisting. "You couldn't have known."

Akalli shook her head. "Myenna was only eight. And this girl - " She choked and clutched Myenna's body.

"Four. She was four." Anger gripped Kanan at the Gamemaker's cruelty. He called to the Force, shutting his emotions down and only allowed the Force inside. It focused him and allowed him to think only of the fight, rather than his grief.

A growl and the presence of aggression made Kanan stand to his feet. Two dragons, smaller versions of the larger ones, walked on two feet and created a beam from their mouth.

Kanan used the Force to push the beam away and then jumped toward them, crying out in rage as he sliced his lightsaber across both their heads. Fortunately, the attack worked and both of the mini dragons' heads rolled across the ground.

"We must help our teams." Kanan gently grabbed Akalli's arm and she nodded, clenching her lightsaber. "I don't care what it takes or what we have to do. No one else dies."

Akalli met his gaze and he could see the same fierce determination in them that he had. He refused to let things stay the same; no more death.

*****

Rather than work with the other weaklings, Vymik decided to work with one of his own kind - a Mirialan Sith by the name of Jiak. There was a gargantuan scaled creature and Vymik could sense that it had immense power.

"Jaroru, attack!" Upon his command, his white Nexu charged toward the dragon and crawled up its leg. The creature bellowed in a loud roar and out of its mouth came lava. Vymik jumped out of the way, using the Force to guide his landing onto a roof behind him. The spray from the lava struck several buildings - one across from him that collapsed with the damage, and another that slammed into the street, creating a giant sinkhole.

Jiak called to a Tuk'ata and the lizard creature joined Jaroru on the dragon's back. Vymik observed how the dragon fought while both creatures attacked it. Thus far, it hadn't used any more of its lava magic and settled for clawing and slamming its body against buildings in an attempt to ward them off.

"Why aren't you attacking it?" Jiak demanded as he leapt onto the dragon's back, lightsaber ignited.

"I prefer to observe and assess first," Vymik yelled back calmly. As Jiak took wild leaps along the dragon's back, Vymik carefully observed each movement the dragon made and what its focus was.

"Get... off... me... you... nuisance!" the dragon yelled.

The more annoyed the dragon became, the more furiously it began to slam its back against buildings and rubble. At last, it opened its wings, preparing to take off.

"Now's my chance." With those words, Vymik pushed off with his powerful legs and hurled himself through the air, barely landing on the dragon's back as it took off high into the sky.

Jiak pierced the creature's head with his lightsaber and then used his open hand to shoot lightning at it. That only seemed to make it angrier and the dragon turned upside down in a loop. Vymik quickly stabbed his lightsaber into the dragon's back and held on as the creature darted through the air with ease. Wind surged around Vymik furiously as the dragon righted itself.

Vymik yanked his lightsaber out as Jiak did the same. He was genuinely surprised to see that his lightsaber had only burned through a few minor inches. "What? How it that possible?" Vymik's eyes widened.

"How is it strong enough to resist even our lightsabers?" Jiak asked with a curse. He grunted in fury and slammed his lightsaber against the dragon's head again and again.

"Nothing you do will work, you measly humans!" The dragon cried out and then turned upside down again, heading straight for the ground.

Vymik leapt off in just enough time to reach the ground before the dragon plummeted straight into the street, causing another sinkhole to appear. He looked around to see Jiak and his Tuk'ata in front of a crumbled building across the street.

"What's the plan then?" Jiak called to him.

The dragon shook its head and with a grunt, pulled itself out of the ground, shaking off dirt and chunks of rock. A group of it was thrown Vymik's direction, so he used the Force to push them away, annoyed.

"This thing called me a measly human. I think it's high time we killed it." Jiak front-flipped onto the street directly in front of the dragon.

"I concur," Vymik said and joined him.

With that, they charged toward the dragon's face in one movement, piercing toward its forehead with their lightsabers. The dragon roared, stirring up enough wind to push them back, but Jiak and Vymik both used the Force to shove the wind away. In response, it opened its mouth and out of it poured more lava, burning everything it touched instantly.

To avoid being burned with it, Vymik grabbed onto the dragon's horn and flipped upside down to land atop its head. Jiak Force pushed the dragon's head and the movement allowed him to front-flip and land just beside Vymik. Jiak nodded once and together, they plunged their lightsabers into the dragon's head, but both would only plunge in a few inches.

Vymik cursed and threw lightning at it, but the dragon bellowed and flipped over. It slammed against a building, forcing Vymik to jump up and over its massive claw and onto the ground.

Panting, he looked over to see Jiak on the ground in the middle of the street. "No! I will not lose!" Jiak shouted.

"Neither will I." Vymik ignited his lightsaber once again and lunged toward the creature in fury. The power of the Dark Side of the Force pulsed within his veins, the only evidence of emotions of any kind. His own tainted history provided him the power he needed and it was power he craved, power that he used time and time again. He and Jiak fought the dragon's legs together, trying to penetrate its scales.

"Stand back, boys. I'll handle this," a strange voice said. A man in a white trench coat with pointed ears and bright red hair grinned as he strolled up in front of the dragon.

"Boys?" Jiak stared at the stranger, open-mouthed.

Vymik turned, ready to slice the fool's head off, but the idiot was already gone, leaping toward the beast.

"Poison Dragon-Slayer's Roar!" With that shout, red energy pooled out of the stranger's mouth and toward the dragon.

When it landed on the dragon, it grunted in pain, stomping its foot in anger. In response, it roared and more lava poured out of it.

"This might actually be a bit of fun." Vymik grinned.

*****

The ear-splitting rumbles from the dragon blared in Lolita's ears, joined by a cacophony of other noises: the clanging of metal weapons, the whizzing of bullets, the crack of gunfire, and the buzz of her teammates yelling to each other back-and-forth. Beneath it all, however, was an eerie silence that stretched on, a silence that crushed Lolita's heart as she carefully listened for Shane's breathing.

She knelt over his broken body, feeling for a pulse, a breath, anything, and yet, he was silent. Lolita screamed, releasing an explosion of sound that danced and shot around her, tearing down what little remained of the building. In fury, she lifted her hands and screamed again, blood-curdling screech that wrapped around the dragon, loud enough to shatter steel.

It did nothing.

"We need a better plan! This will only result in our deaths!" Akari shouted with a grunt as she, Blake, and Kijiro furiously slashed and hacked at the dragon's legs.

Matthew cocked his rifle and fired several more shots into the beast's chest, while Khulan and Zira climbed on top of its head, trying to claw it that way. Rhavvi had conjured a bow and joined Myriil and Nakia in the back, firing a volley of arrows at it with sharp whizzes prickling Lolita's ears, but each one bounced off the dragon's tough scales. Vymik and Kanan were nowhere to be found, and Rhovok joined Zira and Khulan on its head, but to no avail. Droshin continued to throw his chakrum and catch it, while Aria shouted fire and explosive spells, but they was the same as all their other weapons and attacks: Nothing.

Lolita stood to her feet, tears streaming down her face as she held her hands out and shoved another blast of pure sound toward the dragon. Being a mutant, when she was younger, everyone in her generation expected her and others like her to be unafraid, to be brave. She always tried to be, but this... Shane's death, facing up against a monster they couldn't beat...

It was too much.

"I bet you guys could use a dragon slayer!" a strange voice said.

Lolita looked up and in the sky was a man with brown hair and pure white wings on his back. Behind him, another man that looked very similar, also with white wings, waved him off. "I got this dragon, you get that one!" the second man shouted.

"No problem, brother," the stranger closest to theirs shouted back.

"No attacks are working on this thing!" Matthew called up to him.

"No worries! I'm a dragon slayer, so only my magic will work on it. I got this one; you guys fight those mini dragons that are popping up all over the place. I'll watch your backs, you watch mine." With that, the man turned toward the dragon and that's when Lolita realized the wings on his back didn't belong to him, but to a tan cat that clutched him tightly.

There was no time to figure out why.

"Cosmic Dragon Slayer's Roar!" With the man's shout, a blast of black energy littered with silver stars exploded out of his mouth and hurled toward the dragon. As it slammed against the creature, it roared, but the roar sounded pained.

"Dios mio!" Lolita murmured. She took one last glance toward Shane's body and with a shudder, turned toward her teammates. As if on command, they were immediately surrounded by several dragons that looked like the bigger one, except that these were gray and walked on two legs.

Lolita called more sound waves to her hand and prepared for another intense fight.

*****

The dragon flung its tail in Katai's direction, but Nemmie twirled them around and out of the way. "Nice one, Nem-Nem," Katai called to her.

"J - Just be careful, Katai!" He could feel her shaking.

"We'll be fine!"

The dragons appearing in Crocus was so unexpected, but this was the kind of fight Katai had been waiting his entire life for. He briefly wondered if Azazel had somehow come through, but he shook his head. "Dive!"

Nemmie knew what that meant, so his faithful exceed flew them closer to the dragon's face. "Cosmic Dragon Slayer's Blazing Star!" The searing white-hot energy of a star surrounded Katai and shot toward the dragon. As it slammed against the beast's side, the dragon howled and its scales sizzled.

"I will destroy you!" The dragon roared and out of its mouth poured a huge tidal wave of water.

"Nem, get us outta here!" Nemmie flew as fast as she could, but it wasn't fast enough to avoid the water. It collided against him, sending Katai and Nemmie hurling backward. They landed against the half-collapsed wall of a building, making Katai groan as pain flared in his back. He coughed, standing up. "You okay, Nem-Nem?"

She moaned. "Ugh... Yeah. I - I can still fly..."

"Good. Get us in the air." With that, Nemmie took off and Katai gestured to the opposite direction of the dragon.

"W - we're running away, Katai?"

"I have a plan, Nem-Nem."

"Coward! Do you think you can run from me? I will catch you!" the dragon snapped and unfurled his wings, flapping them as it jumped into the air, right behind them.

As they flew, Katai spotted a dragon made from pure fire. On top of it, was a familiar figure with bright pink hair. Natsu, the fire dragon slayer and Katai's friend, was eating the fire; all dragon slayers ate their own element for power.

Katai groaned. "That ain't fair Natsu! So much fire."

Natsu cackled.

Katai looked up at the sky, mentally cursing that his element - space - was too far away for him to eat. Nemmie flew faster with the dragon right on their heels. As soon as Katai spotted his brother on the ground with Rell, his exceed, hiding in a building behind him, Katai turned to look over his shoulder at Nemmie. "Put me on the ground and go hide with Rell."

Nemmie sat him down next to his brother and flew off to go hide.

Before Koetsu could ask, Katai grinned. "I brought the dragon to you, little brother!"

Koetsu groaned. "As if I didn't have enough problems before!"

Katai's dragon landed beside Koetsu's, one blue, one purple. Both dragons glared down at them, their hulking figures ten times bigger than the two dragon slayer brothers. Distantly, the echoes of battle reached Katai's ears.

"You ready for this?" Katai met his brother's gaze, determined to fight and to win.

Cracking his knuckles, Koetsu nodded. "Oh yeah."

*****

Fighting a dragon was way out of Aria's league. All her life, she had saved both magical and non-magical creatures, so fighting one was definitely something that she hated, but even she was smart enough to realize that dragons weren't a creature to be messed with.

At least these are smaller ones, she thought to herself.

Four of them charged toward her as she stood back-to-back with Rhavvi and were soon joined by two members of Sage's team, Navae and Kotomi. "Need some help?" Kotomi asked. Aria didn't know much about the Japanese girl, other than she was a wizard, which made her familiar in Aria's eyes, and that she was Matthew's cousin.

"Aguamenti!" Aria shouted, pointing her wand to the mini-dragon in front of her - the one on the far left. A jet of water streamed from her wand, slamming against it.

"Aqua eructo!" Kotomi gestured with her wand, controlling the jet of water Aria had created to slam against not only the min-dragon on the far left, but two on the beside it who were facing Kotomi.

Rhavvi conjured a warrior wielding a sword, who immediately began attacking the three lunging toward her and with her other hand conjured a martial artist who attacked the one in front of Aria on the far right. Meanwhile, Navae, clutching her butterfly swords, twirled around three who had charged toward her, slicing through them quickly.

The two in the center heading straight for Aria closed in. "Bombarda!" she shouted, sending a small explosion toward them. "Maxima!" With that command, the explosion swelled, growing bigger in size. It consumed both of the ones in the center.

Twelve more immediately surrounded the four girls - Three more in front of Aria and two in front of Rhavvi who was behind Aria. Then, three more attacking Kotomi to Aria's left and four darting toward Navae, toward Aria's right.

"Deletrius!" As her spell disintegrated one of the three dragons, Aria backed up, panting. "There's no end to them!" Her muscles ached and her tired eyes blinked, heavy.

"I'm exhausted." Rhavvi sagged, but Aria caught her with her left hand, pointing her wand toward the other two with her right.

"Bombarda maxima!" A huge explosion flew from her wand, pulverizing the last two mini-dragons.

The two charging toward Rhavvi were killed by her conjured warrior, but he soon disappeared as Rhavvi completely collapsed.

Aria grunted beneath her weight. "I can't carry her and fight at the same time!" They were surrounded and completely exhausted, but Aria thought of her family. As she briefly met the gazes of the others, she knew they felt the same. They all knew what was at stake.

They couldn't give up.

A beam of light shot out of Kotomi's wand, piercing one of the mini-dragons, but another one opened its mouth.

"Down!" Navae shouted. As a warm beam of energy blasted out of the mini-dragon's mouth, Aria slammed against the ground on top of Rhavvi, clutching her bag beneath her. Kotomi and Navae collapsed on the ground near them.

One of the mini-dragons stomped down on Navae, digging into her flesh with its metal talons. Aria and Kotomi screamed as another beam of energy exploded toward them. Even though the energy didn't hit them directly, it sent Kotomi flying across the street, landing in a heap. Aria saw that the Japanese wizard could move, but that was all she had time to see before the explosion sent her and Rhavvi flying backward.

"Rhavvi - " Aria choked and she looked down. She had landed on a pile of rubble, her back bent backward against a huge boulder. The boulder had a sharp piece of metal stuck on it and the metal pierced her back, protruding out of her right side. "I can't... I can't feel anything..." Aria's voice trailed off, but she tasted the metallic tang of blood in her mouth. Deep inside, she knew the fact that she was numb was an extremely bad sign. Fear pounded in her heart and she felt tears streaming down her face.

One of the mini-dragons clamped down on Rhavvi's throat, making Aria cry out in horror. As blood spurted from the teenager's open neck wound, forming a pool beneath her body, another dragon shot energy away from it. The energy missed her, but it shot directly toward her bag, which had fallen on the street closer to Rhavvi's body. When the dust settled, all that was left of her precious bag were ashes fluttering in the wind. Horror twisted Aria's stomach, but deep inside she did feel some relief, knowing it would soon be over for her.

More dragons than she could count surrounded her and all at once, they sent energy shooting toward her in a massive explosion.

*****

Matt's body reacted before his mind could keep up. There were no thoughts, no emotions. He was just a soldier, firing round after round into dragon after dragon that showed up. They seemed to have unlimited numbers; when he killed one, four more took its place.

He slid and ducked behind the cover of a wall which had collapsed - the stones were large enough to hide him from the surrounding ten mini-dragons or so. Matt cursed, checking his ammo. "Last round. I'm almost out."

The man from Sage's team who Matt had somehow ended up with, named Quint nodded. "They're too fast. I can hardly get close enough to cut them."

"I'll cover you," Matt said. With that, he jumped up from behind the boulder, aiming and firing at each dragon in a line. Quint slid out from beneath the stone and stayed low as he charged toward the others, cutlass in hand.

With another curse, Matt through his rifle to the ground. "I'm out." Unsheathing his katana, he joined Quint, who stabbed one on the right.

The mini-dragon Matt lunged toward raked its claw toward his chest, but he ducked, slicing his katana across its lower stomach. As it fell to the ground, two more on either side attacked him; he blocked the claws of one with his blade and kicked the other, which sent it flying backward.

The dragon he was blocking opened its mouth, forming a white-green energy in it. Matt dropped his blade and tackled it to the ground, which gave him an advantage. While it was stunned, he reached over to grab his katana, but another mini-dragon stepped on it.

It dug its claws toward his chest, but he placed up his arm in defense. Its claws tore through his flesh, making him grunt, while the one beneath him stirred. Quint was cornered by three more of them up against a building, so Matt was on his own.

"Lumos Solem!" A bright beam of light stabbed the mini-dragon on top of him. Matt grabbed his blade and jammed it into the dragon beneath him, jumping to his feet.

Aiming her wand toward him with blood pouring down the side of her face, was Kotomi. Tears poured from her eyes as she darted toward him. As he reached out his arms to embrace her, she opened her mouth to speak. Blood poured from it, just as Matt realized there was a mini-dragon behind her.

"Kotomi!" His warning came too late. As the dragon ripped its claws out of her chest, her body collapsed to the ground, so he plunged his blade deep into the dragon's chest, reaching its spine. Dropping his weapon, he held her body as she collapsed in his arms. She coughed, crimson blood staining her lips. "Kotomi! No! No!" His voice cracked as horror formed a lump in his throat, stopping his words.

Her body trembled as she reached out for him. He clutched her cold hands as her eyes widened in fear and pain. "I'm... I'm scared..." Kotomi whispered. She choked, gagging on blood that oozed out of her mouth. Seeing his precious cousin like that, etched scars deep onto Matt's soul, joined by the dozens of others already there.

Blinking his eyes as his tears dripped onto her face, Matt held her, pressing his forehead against hers. "I'm here, Kotomi. It's alright." Matt had never spoken a bigger lie. Tears dripped from his lips as he had whispered it, barely a breath on her cold, clammy skin.

She exhaled and her eyes stared at him, lifeless.

His entire body shook with rage as Kotomi's blood stained his hands. Her blood was all he could see as he stared at the world in shades of crimson. Rage and pain warred inside his body for control as his katana called out to him. Clenching his blood-stained fists around the hilt, he stood up, facing dozens of mini-dragons all around him.

Matthew charged toward them, fighting away his grief.

*****

"These blokes just won't stop comin'." Blake grunted as he leapt off a boulder, landing on the back of one of the mini-dragons to stab it.

Skye and one of the Jedi, named Akali, stood back-to-back, their dagger and lightsaber slicing left and right, taking down dragon after dragon.

Kanan twirled and jumped near Blake, cutting down several of the creatures. Blake leapt off the mini-dragon he just killed and then swiped his blade across the chest of one, before whirling around to stab another in the chest.

By that time, the tail of one swished toward him while one on his right slashed at him with its claws. Blake twisted to the right to avoid the tail and clashed his blade against the claws and pressed down with all his strength. His strength rune flashed and he pushed his seraph blade down, severing the dragon's claw completely. Before he had a chance to react, the mini-dragon whose tail had missed him opened its mouth, forming energy inside it.

He ducked and rolled across the ground, out of the way. When he stood up, Skye was right by his side. "Where are the Jedi?"

Slashing in a criss-cross motion across a dragon's chest, Skye nodded her head across the street, where Kanan and Akalli were surrounded by a group of at least a dozen or more dragons.

Blake jammed his blade into a mini-dragon's chest and as it fell, immediately another dragon pounced on him. He grunted as its claws raked across his chest, igniting a burst of intense pain. Slipping another seraph blade from a sheath at his side, he whispered, "Adriel." At the name, the blade flared to life and he plunged it deep into the dragon's stomach.

"There's no end to them!" Skye hissed as Blake jumped to his feet.

"She'll be apples." Blake wasn't sure whether he was lying or not. This blue was one of the toughest he'd ever been in, and that was saying something.

Skye turned toward him, but the words were lost underneath the sound of raging thunder. Before he even had a chance to look up, the building behind them collapsed. Heavy stones pounded on him, pelting his chest. He couldn't breathe and pain exploded in his body. His vision blackened.

*****

Running in her lion form made Zira feel free. Of course, she much rather prefered better company than two tigers - one black, one white - but Styryn was fighting nearby. The entire situation bothered Zira and not just the dragons. Collapsed buildings all around made it hard to run and attack her prey. In fact, being inside a city this large at all made her uncomfortable. She'd gotten used to the Pride Lands and then Storybrooke. Despite that she hated that place, at least it wasn't a large city like this one.

She pounced on the back of one, digging all four of her claws in as she bit the side of its neck. It tasted metallic, so she spit the metal out and leapt off, landing smoothly on a rock. Two mini-dragons charged toward her, both opening their mouths. She slid down off the rock and fortunately, in her lion form, she was low enough to the ground to avoid their crazy energy beams.

Styryn dual-wielded two axes, hacking at the abdomen of two mini-dragons before quickly piercing two more. Zira admired him, admired how he fought like a beast - which was something she not only enjoyed watching but easily related to.

Both the white tiger and the black tiger joined her sides. She hated them both, especially the fact that they were tigers rather than lions, but as a lion she worked better with a pride. I suppose I'll take whatever pride I can get, even if it's these two, she thought bitterly.

Several dragons roared and charged toward them. The two tigers flanked them, while she lunged toward the center.

"Zira! Look out!" Styryn's warning came too late; Zira didn't even see what had hit her. There was only a severe amount of heat over her body and time for her to curse before her heart stopped.

*****

"Gravity Dragon Slayer Roar!"

"Cosmic Dragon Slayer Roar!"

Katai shouted his attack at the same time his brother, Koetsu did. Black energy littered with silver stars exploded out of his mouth, joined by Koetsu's gravity roar. Both attacks slammed against the dragons they faced.

Katai's dragon pounded his claw into the ground, cracking the earth up to where Katai stood. He leapt out of the way, toward Koetsu as both dragons opened their mouths.

"Crap!" Katai yelled as he and Koetsu ducked beneath a boulder for cover. Plasma joined with water to form a massive attack that destroyed the buildings on the entire street. Explosions erupted as stones and foundations were torn apart, falling all around them like a massive hail storm.

Katai covered his head while Koetsu used a piece of plywood to cover his body. "Smart thinking, brother," Katai said with a smirk.

"Smart thinking? What were you thinking when you brought your dragon here?" Koetsu peaked out from behind the wood.

Katai shrugged. "I was thinking that I could use your help!"

Interrupting their conversation, one of the dragons growled. "Where are you hiding, humans? I can smell you!"

"Come on out so we can eat you!"

Katai growled and jumped out from behind the boulder, joined by Koetsu.

Katai met the tear-filled eyes of his old friend, Naolia, who stood beside them, trembling.

Naolia and Koetsu shouted their attacks at the same time Katai did. "Cosmic Dragon Slayer Asteroid Field!" Asteroids appeared out of seemingly nowhere, furiously pelting his blue dragon, who began attacking each asteroid with its claws, talons, and tail. "Don't like it when rocks are pelting you, huh?" Katai yelled up at the dragon.

Both dragons roared, ear-splitting sounds that made Katai, Koetsu, and Naolia groan and grab their heads. The dragons flew up into the sky and as Katai watched them, he got a sinking feeling in his stomach. "What are they doing?" he asked.

"I don't know..." Koetsu's voice trailed off.

"We need to - " Whatever Naolia had been about to say was interrupted. Both dragons swooped down and slammed against the earth. The street itself split apart, cracking open wide as it trembled. Katai lost his footing and collapsed against the ground, hitting his head. His vision blurred and distantly he heard two people screaming.

"Koetsu? Naolia?" Katai asked but there was no response. He blinked back his blurry vision to look inside the gaping hole.

Koetsu and Naolia had fallen in. There was nothing he could do.

*****

Time stood still, as heroes from all realms and lands fought together to save the city of Crocus. Many of them had lost their lives and many more were about to. Hope was as distant as the sun at midnight - nonexistent. Yet they clung to it. They held it in their hands and cherished it as they fought together to the last man.

Time, it seemed, had a different idea. One minute. That was all it took for entire teams to be killed and wiped out. One minute was all it took for them to lose the battle. It was enough for the dragons to succeed and take over.

One woman gave her entire life to reverse time. How much is my life worth? she asked herself. One minute. That was it.

Yet that short, simple period of sixty seconds was enough. It was enough to save the lives of entire teams. One minute was enough for them to win the battle. That was all it took for them to defeat the dragons and win.

*****

Valica, Droshin's precious sister, was viciously shredded by one of the mini-dragons. Droshin blinked, diving toward Valica. "Valica!" As he called out to her, he tackled her to the ground and slid upward, slicing his dagger into the throat of one while throwing his chakram at the mini-dragon behind her that would have killed her.

Her widened eyes met his. "I - I saw..."

He nodded, rolling forward as he pushed her into the cover of a building. "I am unsure how we saw the future, but - we caught a glimpse."

Valica nodded, breathing heavily. "What do we do now?"

Droshin clenched the center of his dual-bladed dagger. "We must fight from the shadows. Out in the open will only result in our deaths." Fighting in the shadows was where he excelled; in a way, he was glad he had so much training as an assassin. Darting outside, he stayed behind the rubble until he made his way to the body of the dragon his chakram had landed in. He took it out and threw it in a wide arc, watching as it sliced through three mini-dragons.

On the other side of the street, Valica slowly made her way from one pile of rubble to the other. Droshin had taught her what was necessary. Now, he hoped, she would put his lessons into practice.

Their lives depended on it.

*****

Rhavvi, Navae, Aria, and Kotomi stood back-to-back fighting hoards of mini-dragons. Rhavvi collapsed. Navae was jumped onto and clawed. Kotomi thrown across the street. I was thrown backward and stabbed. Aria's eyes widened as she blinked. "We need to move!" Aria shouted. She met Kotomi's gaze and they nodded. "Apparate!" Upon their command, their entire group teleported inside a building. The blast of energy from the mini-dragons didn't hit them and their lives were saved.

*****

Zira whirled around after hearing the thud of a body falling behind her. Styryn's axe was lodged in a mini-dragon's back and he nodded to her.

She nodded back, trying not to think about the fact that she had just seen her own death. Fortunately, Styryn had saved her.

*****

Nakia and Myriil were both out of arrows. They had run out what felt like hours ago. Myriil used a sword-spear and fought the mini-dragons away from them, but Nakia only knew how to use a bow and arrow, leaving her defenseless.

Desperate, she tried pulling the arrows out of the mini-dragon's bodies to reuse them. The stones beneath her feet made them ache since she was unused to walking on anything other than soft grass. Her body throbbed with the other scratches she had on her face, arms, and legs from the dragons' talons and claws. I must find high ground to shoot from, Nakia thought.

There were no trees in sight, but the pile of rocks from collapsed stone huts made due. Nakia darted toward them and climbed as high as the pile would allow. Aiming her bow at two dragons stalking her, she fired one arrow into the first one, which was climbing toward her, and then fired her last arrow at the other one, who was charging in her direction.

Suddenly, it opened its mouth and blew energy, like a flowing river, toward the pile of stones before Nakia had a chance to react. The pile of stones collapsed from beneath her and she fell to the ground, landing in a heap.

One of the mini-dragons towered over her. Its eyes was the last thing she saw before -

Nakia blinked. She was back on the ground, firing her last arrow just before she made the decision to collect her arrows and stand atop the pile of stones.

Her gaze met Myriil's and he shook his head. "Don't." It was all he had time to say, before he continued slashing and stabbing the mini-dragons that circled him.

I cannot return to the pile. If I do... Nakia's thoughts trailed off as she quickly searched for a good place to hide. There was a stone hut with the top missing, but the bottom of it appeared sturdy, like an old oak tree. In seconds, Nakia decided it would suffice; the mini-dragons' beam would be too small to knock the stone hut down.

With that, Nakia rushed toward it, using a pile of stones to jump up to the only part left standing. On her world, huts were made from wood or straw and never towered so high. Yet the height gave her what she needed to fire her two arrows into the other mini-dragons stalking toward her. Now that she was out again, she looked on the floor. There were several pieces of clear stone that looked almost like ice and sharpened pieces of metal. She grabbed the longest pieces and aimed her bow back toward the stone path below her.

Nakia used them as makeshift arrows and continued shooting the mini-dragons, protecting Myriil.

*****

Kotomi died in Matt's arms. Looking around the street, Matt shook his head, firing the last round of bullets into three mini-dragons. He darted inside a half-collapsed building with Quint, meeting the explorer's gaze. "Did you... Did you see that?"

Quint nodded. "Whatever we do, we have to stay in here."

"Yeah." Matt had no intention of risking Quint's life, or his own, let alone Kotomi's. Wherever she was, he hoped she was safe.

*****

The Force allowed Vymik to glimpse into the future. It was rare when he saw visions of the future - his skills were stronger with his lightsaber combat skills or Sith abilities, not a deep connection with the Force. Why ever it happened, Vymik saw what mistake would cost him his life - trying to attack the dragon from behind with Jiak, while the poison dragon slayer distracted it. Now, at least, he knew exactly what to do to avoid being killed.

He simply stood back and watched the poison dragon slayer take the dragon on. Vymik wanted to fight, so rather than watch, he traveled down the streets until he found a large group of mini-dragons and there, he unleashed the power of the dark side upon them.

*****

Fighting the mini-dragons rendered Akari's fighting techniques useless. They were made from metal and yet somehow they were still faster than she expected. Many of them were fast enough to avoid her quick-draw. That combined with their magical energy that shot from their mouths made it difficult for Akari to predict their movements and change her techniques to match.

Clenching both her fists around the hilt of her katana, she slashed at one mini-dragon's side, but it met the attack with its tail and then opened its mouth. With a grunt, she slid on her knees beneath the dragon's legs, slicing through it as she did so. On the other side was a collapsed building wall, so Akari darted behind it and jumped to hide. Breathing heavily, she shook her head, desperately trying to think of a strategy to defeat them. These opponents were the hardest she had ever faced. Distantly, she wondered where Kijiro was, but she forced her thoughts into the present fight. She could not allow herself to be distracted now.

Suddenly, five mini-dragons stalked toward her through the inside of the exposed building in front of her hiding place. There were four more behind her - she was completely surrounded.

"Akari!" Cadeyrn shouted.

Akari watched as Cadeyrn darted toward her, shoving her out of the way. The mini-dragons all released nine beams, each one that tore through his body. He landed on top of her, coughing up blood; thick, maroon blood that stuck to her skin. She screamed, calling out his name, but his eyes were lifeless.

Akari blinked, glancing above her. Before he could run over to her, she leapt up as high as she could, clutching tightly to a beam sticking out of the top of the building. The mini-dragons below her all shot the beams out, but Cadeyrn had seen her move, and thus they had both narrowly avoided death.

*****

A mini-dragon leapt onto Blake, raking its claws through the skin on his chest. "Adriel," he whispered, igniting the blade to life.

"There's no end to them!" Skye hissed as Blake jumped to his feet. Blake felt the pain as stone after stone collapsed on them.

He whirled around, glaring at the building that would end their lives. "Crikey! We need to bloody move!" In his free hand, he clutched Skye's hand, ignoring the mini-dragons around them and darted as quickly as he could away from the building. Claws raked across his arms and back, but he didn't care. The heat of the mini-dragons' beams reached him, but he ran until he was sure they were out of the way.

Panting, he and Skye turned around just as the building collapsed, killing the group of mini-dragons.

The two Jedi on the street across from them darted up to stand beside them in a line. Before Blake or the others had a chance to speak, another group of mini-dragons charged toward them from the other adjacent street. Kanan and Akali held their lightsabers high as Blake raised his seraph blade. Skye grabbed two more throwing knives as they prepared to fight for their lives.

*****

Khulan had no idea how he had ended up fighting alongside a samurai from the 1800s and a brutish orc unlike any race he had ever seen in his entire life. Khulan darted among the mini-dragons, taking off head after head but their numbers refused to end.

Rhovok, only fighting them with his fists, was stabbed through his heart by the tail of one. Khulan had zipped across the street to save a child who had gotten lost from her mother, not giving him enough time to save Rhovok. Deep inside, he did not regret saving a child over the savage orc.

Kijiro went into his fury form, moving as fast as Khulan. Together, they fought, but there was no end to the mini-dragons. One of them shot Khulan's heart with a beam and as he desiccated, he saw Kijiro being torn to pieces by the ones remaining.

By the time Khulan blinked, he had already grabbed the child and had gotten over to where Rhovok was. As Rhovok ducked down to avoid the blow that had dealt his death, Khulan killed the mini-dragon that he had witnessed killing the orc.

Kijiro zipped over to the three of them as Khulan hid the little girl in a building. "Did you see your own deaths?" the samurai asked.

"Yeah. What of it? I ain't gonna be killed this time." Rhovok spit onto the ground, readying his fists.

Khulan shook his head as he and Kijiro met each others' gazes. "We need to get out of this street. They attacked us from the south, from this street," Khulan said, pointing behind them. The sounds of battle echoed around them, familiar to Khulan's ears. Going after the mini-dragons was something he had do to; even if he died, Khulan had to protect what people he could.

Kijiro nodded. "So if we take this ally here, we should be able to cut them off."

Before either of them answered, the fury and the vampire had already sped down the alleyway, surprising the group of mini-dragons and cut them off.

*****

Katai blinked and met Koetsu and Naolia's gazes. "We just - " Katai's voice trailed off in surprise.

"Matt's alive!" Naolia laughed.

Koetsu shook his head in disbelief. "We need to do something different this time."

"Naolia get in that building! Nemmie!"

As Nemmie conjured her white wings and picked him up, Koetsu's exceed did the same. Both dragons had already flown up into the air. As they dove toward the ground, Naolia and Koetsu were out of the way and Katai sighed in relief, knowing his brother and his best friend was still alive.

Both dragons roared and clambered out of the hole they'd made, shimmering bright yellow.

"What's going on?" Koetsu looked at Katai, who shook his head.

Right before their eyes, the dragons completely disappeared.

Naolia darted out from inside the building. "Guys! The mini-dragons are disappearing too!"

Katai scratched his head. "Where'd they go?"

*****

So many lives had been saved. For that, Lolita was grateful, but as the silence of the aftereffects of the battle continued, Lolita strained to hear anything other than the silence. Her sensitive ears didn't hear any of it - not the footsteps of people rushing about, or the buzz of murmured conversations; none of the celebrations in the distance, or the clanking of the clean up that had begun in the city.

All that her eyes saw was Shane's body. Time had reversed and somehow they had all saw one minute into the future. Sure, it was enough to save many of them, even Lolita herself. Yet...

Shane had died two minutes too soon.

Tears streamed down her face and she sobbed. Her tears came partially because of the sorrow in her heart, but the other reason was the agony, her longing to hear something other than the silence of Shane's lifeless heart.

*****

Isaac and Akane assessed everyone's injuries. They had all been fighting for hours and many of them were severely hurt. Somehow, they were all alive. No one fully understood what had happened, although rumors were that one of the dragon slayers had crashed adragon into the portal that had brought the dragons back, resulting in the dragons' disappearance. The firebenders and Unseelie guards had separated and gathered the teams, counted who had died and then brought them back to the barracks, where they tended to their wounds.

Isaac was thankful his tributes were all okay. His chest clenched at the thought of the little girl Essiah. He wondered what had happened to Nyath, but knew the father would have done everything to protect his daughter.

He thought of Shane and looked at Lolita. She simply sat on her bunk, staring into space. Isaac knew that she couldn't be alone and that there was nothing he could say to help. He walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her. As she leaned into his chest and cried, he looked around the somber room at everyone sleeping, resting, eating, or tending to their wounds.

How much longer will they last? Deep inside, he tried to be glad they were alive and well, but his thoughts kept drifting back to Shane and Essiah. How many more of them would die before this was all over? 

Deaths:

(I wasn't sure if the deaths in the one minute counts, so I went ahead and counted them)

Kotomi

Naolia

Koetsu 

Myenna

(all characters from animallover1321)

My own character deaths (for real):

Essiah (and technically Nyath, but he's her token).

Shane :( 

Ballots:

jesusfreak202 (myself, just because I felt like it. The last ballot punishment of doing a song absolutely killed me, so I figured the extra challenge would be nice).