Before things could get any further out of hand, Yoyo stepped in.
"Enough!" he ordered.
Looking up, Flash knew he'd made his point, and so slipped the concealed blade back where it had come from.
Two other dragons pulled the dazed youngster to his feet.
"Hillier! Apologise. Now!" Yoyo commanded.
A look of scorn on his face, the embarrassed dragon managed to mumble a barely coherent, "Sorry."
Looking on, Flash was pleased that his rightful place in the scheme of things had been returned.
"And you... dumbass!" exclaimed Yoyo, punching Flash fully in the arm, much to the former Crimson Guard's surprise. "I thought you of all beings would know that experience, courage, bravery and more importantly... help, comes in all shapes and sizes, and that you should never judge a book, or more crucially, a dragon, by its cover."
A wave of exhaustion washed over Flash, and suddenly he looked suitably chastised.
"They may not have had the education that you or I have had, one that should be a given right for all dragons, but they're smart, courageous, loyal, brave and undeniably devious. All traits that I think could be put to good use at the moment. Plus, they've spent the last few months working on two things for just this very moment, should it ever come to pass. So for now... take my word that they're worthy allies."
Flash nodded.
"My apologies... to you all. I've had a long, exhausting journey, which of course is no excuse for my behaviour. I... I mean we... need all the help we can get. A bold play for the planet has been set in motion, and if we can't achieve what I came here for, then the dragon world, along with the human one above it, will cease to exist in any recognisable form."
Each and every dragon there looked on, shocked and stunned.
"And as for all of you," cried Yoyo, turning around in a giant circle behind Flash, his wings outstretched, "be sure you know exactly who you're dealing with here. This dragon is the bravest and mightiest warrior I've ever met. And yes... DRAGON! He eats death for breakfast, gorges on him for lunch, before taking him out for evening cocktails and kicking his ass! You saw, or not as the case may be, what he did to young Hillier here. No ordinary dragon is capable of that. So show him your respect, offer him your loyalty, pledge your allegiance to his cause. Because now is the time. Time to make a difference. I know none of you are stupid, and I know you've all been wondering what on earth has been going on over the last few months, about what I've had you doing in particular. Well... now you know. We need to go to the coldest and harshest place on the planet... Antarctica. To what end...? A rescue. Would that be right?" he asked, turning to Flash.
Flash nodded in response.
"Along with several other dragons, the king of the naga race is being imprisoned, and we need to free them all. I won't lie to you, it's not going to be pleasant. It might not even be possible. We might all die in the process. But if we don't at least attempt it, then everything's lost. The entire planet. What you witnessed on the news, the bombings, the devastation, the loss of life, is just the tip of the iceberg and will look like a picnic in the park compared with what's to come. I won't hold it against you if you don't wish to come. A more dangerous mission I can't possibly imagine." (Well, he could... just one! The one his friends on the other side of the planet were attempting, right at this very moment.) "But if Yoyo vouches for you, then you're fine by me. It's time to decide!"
A huddle of dragons on a cold, deserted, dark runway in the middle of nowhere never looked so strange. After fifteen seconds or so, it was decided.
"We're all in!" announced a young female dragon full of confidence.
Yoyo smiled and nodded at Flash.
"Then you'd better show him exactly what we have."
From out of the darkness appeared a huge canvas bag that took two dragons on each side to drag over to the runway. Everyone gathered round as the epic looking zip keeping it held together was run the length of the bag, almost longer than most school sports day races. Spilling open, the bag revealed layer after layer of shimmering material. Huge muscular dragon arms dipped in and pulled out one of the layers of fabric, holding it up to what little moonlight there was. Before Flash's very eyes, the material almost seemed to disappear.
'No... not disappear,' he thought, 'blend in. It blends in seamlessly to whatever the background is. For decades the Crimson Guards had dragons working on something like this, without much luck it had to be said. These youngsters can't possibly have come up with just that, in only a matter of months, can they?'
"I thought it would be much harder to shock you."
"That's quite some feat."
"I knew you'd know what it was. But that's only part of its secret."
That got Flash's attention.
'I wonder what else it does?' he thought, gaining more respect for the youngsters with every second that passed.
"The suit, as that's effectively what it is," announced Yoyo, holding up one of the pieces of material, "is a dynamic insulator, affording whoever wears it the ability to ward off the cold, as well as acting as a regulator for that being's thermal profile. In essence, it should provide suitable protection against even the harshest of environments, as well as providing camouflage so good that it should render its wearer practically invisible to all but the most adapted of species."
As everything Yoyo said sank in, Flash turned just in time to see one of the group of young dragons finish slipping her suit on. As soon as it embraced every living part of her... BAM! She simply disappeared, right in front of him. It was awe inspiring!
And then the thought hit him. All the suits were dragon sized. What was he going to do?
"I don't suppose one size fits all?" he piped up, hopefully.
"I'm afraid not," whispered the young female, who'd only just disappeared, from right behind him. Desperately, he tried to pretend she hadn't startled him as a glum look of disappointment formed on his face.
"But I'm assuming the human shaped one that Yoyo had us make is for you," she exclaimed, her head now the only part visible after having pulled down the hood. Flash turned to stare at his friend, who just smiled back and nodded.
It didn't take long for all the warm stealth suits to be handed out. In fact, it took longer to put them on for the dragons, than it did to pass them round. Some of the youngsters had real issues getting into them, needing assistance, much to the amusement of some of the others. Yoyo also mentioned the heat specific search mantra that the team of brilliant individuals had come up with.
'For the first time in a while,' Flash thought, 'things are starting to look up.'
With them all suited up, Flash hitched a ride on the young female dragon, who was the only one to offer, seemingly amused to let another dragon ride her. Yoyo tucked Flash's boots in a specially designed pocket on his suit, so that they would be tucked away safely, and hidden from view. So in the darkness of the deserted airfield, the small, invisible dragon force took off, heading as fast as they could towards the icy plains of Antarctica, and the frozen hellhole that haunted Flash's nightmares.
The ever dwindling dragon force left alive in the deadly council building had been ordered to fall right back to the entrance of the king's private residence. Small cells of nagas had managed to infiltrate the council building, and that combined with whatever was causing the constantly opening, closing and locking of key doors in all areas of the building had proved costly to the remaining force left to protect the dragon monarch. A small contingent lay in wait just on the private residence side of the steep sided walkway, hugging the shadows of the rock face, barely noticeable at all. Most of the rest were beyond the entrance, a command post having been set up around the plinth, right in the centre circle of the ground floor of the magnificent building. For the most part, the king had been consulted on everything that was being done. Falling back hadn't been ideal, but under the circumstances, they'd had little choice. Taking on the small forces of nagas would have effectively been child's play, but for whatever was opening and shutting those doors at random, which changed the layout of the building almost every second, removing any advantage the dragons had. Whoever had devised that plan had certainly known what they were doing, and indeed it had cost them dearly, both in terms of lives lost and ground given away. Should he ever find out who was behind this, the king had a very specific idea of what he would do to the individuals, or individual, responsible.