I felt like I had slept for a million years. When I got up, everyone else was already awake and nearly all of them were present. The only one missing was Zack.

“Um, where’s Zack?” I asked.

“I haven’t seen him all morning.” answered Iris.

“How long have you guys been up?” I asked.

“Most of us got up a few hours ago,” said Matthias, “I was very tempted to pull your lazy ass out of bed.”

“Oh… thanks…” I said, rubbing the back of my head.

“We’re going to be going outside in about a half hour,” said Lucas, “you should probably eat something before we leave.”

“Got it.” I responded.

 

***

As soon as everyone except Zack was ready to go, we left the house.

“Hey, um… Ca-uh-” started Isaac.

“Need help?” I asked.

“No, I got it!” he insisted, “Catherine!”

“I thought it was ‘Cantaloupe’.” responded Catherine.

“Dang it.” was all he could say.

“What did you need?” she asked.

“Have you seen that weird guy?” he asked.

“I’m going to assume you mean Zack.” I replied.

“Yeah, him!” responded Isaac.

“Not since last night.” answered Catherine.

“Does anyone have any idea where he might have gone?” I asked, “We still need that key!”

“But we already have-” started Stuart.

“Stop. Now.” I requested.

“You’re probably just jealous of how big-” started Stuart.

“Shut up!” interrupted Matthias.

“Thanks.” I said.

“If we could focus,” he said, “I would appreciate it.”

“But he never said a word when he left,” said Charles, “how are we going to figure out where he went?”

“Well,” I said, “what sounds like something Zack would do?”

“I guess while we ‘wait’, I could explain something.” suggested Matthias.

“What is it?” asked Lilith.

“There was something I was expecting Ron to ask your sister but he didn’t.” answered Matthias.

“Ah, crap.” I said, “I was too focused on other questions I had.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything earlier?” asked Lucas.

“Well, because I did some of my own research on this particular subject,” answered Matthias, “so we don’t really need to get any more information about it from her.”

“So what do you know?” I asked.

“Those keys are magical and have the ability to protect the entire town they’re held in.” answered Matthias.

“Well, I guess that makes sense.” I commented.

“That’s not all.” said Matthias, “Each key is protected and to get each, we’ll have to fight.”

“Didn’t Zack say he already had the key?” asked Iris.

“I don’t know if we can take him seriously.” responded Matthias, “We just met the guy, after all.”

“What do you know about the key?” asked James.

“It’s supposed to be a dragon key.” answered Matthias.

“That makes sense.” I said, “But what now?”

“That, probably.” answered Isaac, pointing off into the distance.

“Is that…?” I started, seeing someone run toward us while getting chased by a blue dragon.

“That’s Zack, isn’t it?” said Lucas.

“Looks like it.” replied Simon.

“Well, looks like we’ll have to fight.” I said.

“Are you telling me what to do!?” exclaimed Mikaela.

“Not you,” I said, “ALL of you. Although, it was more of a suggestion.”

“I refuse to take orders from a man.” responded Mikaela, seeming frustrated.

“Come on,” I said, “now’s not the time for this bullshit!”

“When did you become a feminist?” asked Simon.

“Just now.” she said, “Because I felt like it.”

“Um… could I get a little help!?” exclaimed Zack as he got closer.

“Got it.” I said, “We should be fine. We haven’t lost-”

Right after that, Charles was crushed by the dragon’s giant foot.

“No!!” exclaimed Iris.

“So of a-” I said, “you know what, let’s split up in different directions or something. Iris, I need you to come with me. I’ll explain why at a safe spot.”

After that, each of us ran in different directions all over town. I went behind a building with Iris and made sure the dragon was at a “safe-enough” distance.

“I’ve got something really important I want to talk to you about.” I said.

“What?” she responded.

“Charles has been hiding something from you.” I answered.

“Why would he do something like that?” she asked.

“Most likely because originally, he didn’t want you to get involved.” I said, “But the truth is, you actually do have a power you can use.”

“There’s no way.” said Iris, “You’re just trying to make me feel better, aren’t you?”

“Try.”

“…Try?”

“It didn’t take long for me to figure out how to use my own powers. It shouldn’t be that hard for you.”

It took a few seconds, but she had done something. Suddenly, she had a sword in her right hand.

“Wha- it worked?” she said, cobnfused.

“Okay,” I said, preparing a cat-sword, “let’s do this.”

That was when we ran out from behind the building and headed straight for the dragon. I ran into Stuart, who was throwing small green dragons at the large blue one.

“That doesn’t seem very efficient.” I commented.

“I’ll do whatever I want.” he responded.

“Whatever.” I said.

The next thing I knew, hundreds of random people flew right into the dragon’s face and then fell to the ground. As soon as I saw Catherine, I felt like I had to say something.

“Isn’t that a little cruel?” I said.

“Not my fault,” she said, “blame the writer.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!?” I exclaimed.

“They’re not real,” Catherine explained, “they can’t even feel pain.”

“Well, I guess that’s fine.” I said, and then I ran toward the blue dragon with my cat-sword.

Everyone else was contributing to the fight. I saw Simon with his katana, swinging it at the dragon, while Lucas ran into it with his magic sword. Isaac had a bow in one hand and kept pulling arrows out of his bucket. Mikaela swung her scythe into the dragon as well.

James and Zack were working together with the latter drawing on his paper and they send out several tornadoes of weapons. After that, Lilith shot at the dragon with a glowing green gun instead of a sword. Next, I saw Stuart riding on a purple dragon. Our battle went on for what felt like hours, but it ended with Iris and myself giving the final blows.

“Glad that’s over.” said James.

“Yeah, glad we didn’t lose anyone else-” started Lucas, who was interrupted by an arrow that got him in the throat.

“Ah, crap.” said Isaac, “I didn’t mean to do that.”

“You couldn’t have tried somewhere else?” asked James, “You could have gotten one of his knees, for example.”

“Dude,” I said, “nice meme.”

“I said it was an accident!” exclaimed Isaac.

“Now,” I said, “we need to get the key to move, and Mikaela, I don’t want to-”

“I’m over it.” she interrupted.

“Huh?” I said.

“I got bored.” said Mikaela, “So I’m done being a feminist.”

“That’s just like you,” I said, “to do something weird like that.”

“Well,” said Zack, “We should go. I have the key and all.”

“Oh yeah,” said Catherine, “what was with that dragon?”

“That is because every key is guarded,” answered Zack, “This one was protected by a dragon.”

“But why would the dragon come out NOW if you were holding onto it this whole time?” asked James?

“Because,” said Zack, “it needed the penguin key to be activated. To enter the hidden dimension, you have to use the penguin key before you can use the dragon key.”

“But what happens if you get them out of order?” asked Catherine.

“First of all, whatever’s guarding it won’t appear,” answered Zack, “but if you end up with the previous key that’s required, then it will activate. It would be better to get these fights over with as soon as they happen.”

“Well,” I said, “since all that’s over for now, we can move on, right?”

“I don’t see why not.” said Matthias, snapping his fingers.

Immediately after that, a large clear tube came out of the ground.

“Everybody in.” said Matthias, “This will take us to Dimension F.”

“Unfortunately, I need to go talk to Jon.” said Lilith.

“That’s fine.” responded Matthias, “Anyways, it’s time.”

The rest of us jumped into the tube, unaware of what was waiting for us.