"What should I name you? Rainbow? Nah."

We were walking side by side through the forest on top of the mesa*. Pine needles swished under our feet. "How about Aurora?" I asked.

My friend made no acknowledgement.

"Don't like that either, huh?" I asked. "Well, I'll keep trying."

She shook herself, then spread out her wings and lifted off the ground.

"Wait, where are you going?" I cried, reaching after her.

She smiled down at me, flapping her wings enough to stay in one spot. Her wings stopped moving and her claws came down.

"I screamed as her claws gripped my shoulders and I was carried into the air. She lifted me above the trees and over the drop-off. The wind whipped off the cliff side and swirled my hair around my face as we flew alongside. She slowed down, hovered above a shelf, and set me down.

"You could have let me get on, you know." I said, tucking wisps of my white hair back in place. I caught a glimpse of something behind me and spun around.

There was a cave in the cliff wall. I stepped up to it and peered into the darkness.

"How far does it go?" I looked up at my friend.

She made a croaking noise in reply. Suddenly her scales flashed to pale blue and red. A hissing sound echoed from the cave walls.

"What?" I cowered against her body.

With a growl, a bulky form emerged out of the shadows. I backed away. The wild dragon lifted it's blue, boulder-like shoulders and bared its teeth.

My friend's scales were deep red now. She lowered her head and flared her wings, growling.

The blue dragon roared back, then peered under her wings.

Right at me!

The red dragon glanced at me for a split second before warning the blue dragon with a low, low growl. She opened her mouth and hissed. Next thing, a line of flames leaped from her throat and swirled around the blue dragon's face.

The dragon shook its head as the flames subsided. My defender snorted. The enemy looked right at me again, but my friend jumped in front of me and fired.

The flames burst. The enemy dragon growled, but cast me one last glare and flew away.

The scales turned from red to yellow. Her tail and butt waggled back and forth and she smiled at me. Trying not to shake, I smiled back.

She walked into the cave, stopping to look back.

"You want me to go in there?" I jabbed a finger at the dark hole. My throat felt tight. What other dragons were in there, waiting to attack me?

She chirped and jerked her head.

"Alright." I crept after. She waited until I was alongside her to move forward.

The darkness engulfed us. It was all black, not anything to be seen.

I had to squint against the sudden light. When my eyes could open again, they opened wide.

"You can hold fire IN your mouth?" I gawked.

She moved her head from side to side, the walls glowing orange from the fire sitting in her mouth.

"That's too cool!" I grinned. With a gasp, I stopped.

I had almost walked right into a rock in front of me. I studied it. There was something carved in the front. It was a dragon.

A dragon rock in a dragon's cave. I thought. My eyes widened.

Was THIS the Dragon's Rock?

The fire key, did I find it somehow? I scrolled back to what had happened. That was it! My dragon had used to fire to protect me and LET ME IN. As an added bonus, she'd used her fire to lead the way to this dragon rock.

"I found the Dragon's Rock!" I screamed, my voice echoing off the cavern walls. My friend jerked back.

"WE found it! This is the most amazing day of my life!" I cheered, twirling around. I bounced. "I know what to name you now!"

She tilted her head.

"Serendipity!" I squealed. "You're the best surprise ever, Serendipity. I love you so much!"

Serendipity grinned and wagged her tail.

"It's settled, we both like it." I placed my hands on my hips and smiled. "But hey! If this is the Dragon's Rock, that must mean there's a treasure of some sort! Come, let's go!"

Using Serendipity's fire, we made our way down the tunnel. It was cold, but excitement warmed me like Nadder fire. I had my own dragon, and she had a name. Serendipity.

"Or Dipity for short." I told her. Our footsteps rang around the tunnel. "Or Dipper, or Dip."

Serendipity snorted.

"Ok, not that last one."

The fire light expanded. It flickered over the walls as we entered an open cavern. Rocks blocked the floor from sight.

The blue dragon from earlier lifted its head from behind a rock. Another dragon popped up. And more!

I gulped.

One of the dragons charged me with a scream. Feet away, it snapped to a halt. I bit my lip as I checked to see the cause. The reason made my mouth dropped.

The groaning dragon's chain jingled as it got to its feet. Another groan rose from the back of the room. Chains jingled.

"You're all chained." I gasped.

Almost all. A few stalked me, snarling. Serendipity growled, turning red as she held her wings over me.

A dragon snapped. I shrieked and ran, bumping into a chained dragon I hadn't seen. It hissed.

My eyes landed on a small hole in the metal collar. It looked familiar, like something else we had seen on this treasure hunt. It was a lock. I stuck my finger in.

Something shifted inside and I yanked my hand back. The collar snapped and fell to the ground with a clang!

The poor dragon grinned at me and wiggled in excitement. The aggressive guards stopped growling.

"I'm coming guys!"

As I ran around touching each lock and releasing a new dragon, the others grew excited and strained against the chains.

"Ok, settle down!" Finally, I unchained the last dragon.

Every dragon roared, threw back its head and fired at the ceiling. There was an explosion that lit up everything, including my eyes.

Carved into the ceiling were words in a strange language.

I couldn't read it, but I could understand the arrow pointing to the other end of the cave. I followed where it pointed and found a finger sized hole in the rock. Swallowing, I stuck my finger inside.

As prepared as I was, I couldn't help but yelp and jerk back. Something had tried to crush my finger.

There was a crack. Then the entire room shook.

Squawking, Serendipity ran over, grabbed me, and fled. "Woah, hey!" I shouted. The room shook harder. There was a loud roar. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the cave crashing in!

I screamed and shut my eyes. My body jounced against Serendipity's side. There was one loud CRASH and a tide of dust washed over us.

Serendipity stopped and put me down. I blinked dust out of my eyes as I turned around. What I saw made my eyes fly open.

"The treasure!"