As they sauntered towards the nearest monorail station, Tim could barely keep his eyes and tongue in his newly formed, oversized head. It was all so new and different. Things that Peter took for granted astounded the normally unflappable Tim. Buildings and walkways, far off ceilings, sizzling streams of lava dribbling down walls and running beneath floors. Dragons in every conceivable shape and size, walking, flying, bounding in, around and across their route. And then of course there was the... MONORAIL! Turning up at the station, unusually with no train already there, Peter pointed out the time the next one was due (10.24 and 32 seconds). Tim, convinced Peter was having him on about the 32 seconds, watched in amazement as the clock hanging over the station platform displayed 10.24 and 28 seconds, and a huge rush of air preceded the rounded silver nose of the lead monorail carriage pulling up right in front of them, exactly at the time stated. It was all the new dragon could do to remain upright.
With dragons boarding and embarking all around them, Peter guided Tim onto the carriage, the ex-human giggling uncontrollably when shown the seats with the holes in the back for tails to go through, much to the consternation of other passengers. And so they'd made their way to Purbeck Peninsula, one of Peter's favourite places and the one he thought of as his second home, having grown up in the nursery ring there.
Throughout their entire journey, dragons old and young hadn't been able to take their eyes off Tim. Those with just the faintest smidgen of white adorning their bodies were something of a rarity, but with this much white on show (his face and tail,) he proved to be something of a curiosity. It was a good job they hadn't cottoned on to exactly how white he actually was, and that Peter had thought to cover most of him up.
Having criss-crossed the highly populated urban part of Purbeck, Peter led as Tim followed on the well worn, secretive trail that led to the wonder that was Lava Falls, a little known phenomenon, only really known to locals and the nursery ring students, who were all very solemnly sworn to secrecy about its location. Excited to see what Tim's response would be, he wasn't disappointed when Tim went mad on seeing the falls themselves. Raging river rapids of lava thundered off to their right, churning and swirling, spitting and hissing, the fiery madness rumbling over the lip of the cliff they were both standing on, tumbling into the chasm of despair below, all the time producing a fine, toxic mist that washed high into the air all around them, reflecting light in almost a rainbow of colours for all to see. Like something out of a fairytale, albeit one with deadly fumes that could overcome in a matter of seconds in the wrong condition, the temperatures would almost put to shame any of the planets closer to the sun.
Both sitting down not far from the rocky, underground entrance, a long way back from the edge of the falls, Tim asked why they'd come here. Explaining that this was where he'd learnt to fly, purposefully neglecting to mention the concentric ringed structure from which young dragons took their first glided flights in the nursery ring itself, Peter hoped that this would spur the newly formed dragon into giving things a go. Unfortunately it seemed to totally backfire, with Tim becoming frightened, shaky and unsure, wanting to return back to his confined quarters. Using all his skills, Peter just about managed to turn things around, getting the white dragon to reluctantly agree to stay, although he got the impression that he could bolt at any moment. Instead of pressuring the brand new dragon into doing something he really didn't want to, they just sat and talked. Peter recalled his time in the nursery ring, recounting some of his adventures with Tank and Richie. Tim listened intently, lost in thought at the mere mention of her name. The two understood what it was to love her, albeit in very different ways.
"You love her," declared Tim, after hearing another one of Peter's endless tales.
More than a little perturbed, Peter wouldn't have wanted to have this conversation with himself in the privacy of his own home, let alone with Tim who was very obviously still in love with Richie and had quite a lot of issues of his own to deal with at the moment. Still, he considered his answer carefully, determined to let this newly fledged dragon hear the truth.
"I do," he replied after some time, "but not in the way you think."
Tim tilted his large head to one side inquisitively.
"Go on."
"For years I wanted her to notice me as a potential mate and not just her best friend. But it never happened. Not for the want of trying on my part either, I might add. I always assumed I'd get my chance. But the more I've seen of her recently, the more I know I could never compete, or be what she's looking for. She wants something more... something I just can't give her. I can't tell you what it is, or even how I know. But she does. And whatever it is that she's looking for, I truly hope she can find it. On the occasions I've seen the two of you together, she's looked happy... truly happy, which came as something of a revelation I must admit. If I'm honest, a part of me is glad. I value our friendship far too much to risk doing something stupid to mess it up. I would be devastated if something ever happened to that, so in reality nothing was ever going to happen. It was all a made up fantasy. But that's all a moot point with everything that's happened recently. I just hope she finds some small crumb of comfort and happiness with whoever she ends up with in her controlled human existence."
Tim nodded his agreement, not really sure whether he meant it or not. But he did pick up on the bitterness Peter's words carried. Clearly, he thought, the other dragon was none too happy about the turn of events leading up to Richie being banished from the dragon world and living out the rest of her days as fully human.
And so here they were, standing on the edge of Lava Falls, both as nervous as each other. Tim didn't want to jump, scared that all the theory about flight which had been drummed into him would fail to work when it most counted, while Peter was more and more convinced with every second that passed that this was a bad idea and that he could go down in history as the dragon responsible for the demise of the famed white dragon from THE prophecy. Things were more tense than the final hole of the Ryder Cup.
But somewhere deep inside Tim, a little spark of humanity jumped up and said, "To hell with it!" So he jumped. The best that could be said of it was... ungainly. Truth be told it was about the least perfect leap a dragon could make off a cliff. Both wings were for the most part still folded, and he'd fallen (for that's what had really happened) at something of an angle. It wasn't helped by a vicious updraft that had caught his right side the moment he'd cleared the edge, spinning him violently.
Looking on open mouthed, Peter was too stunned to move. At first, anyway. A mere fraction of a second later his brain started screaming "EMERGENCY!" at the top of its voice, prompting him into action. Hurling himself off the cliff, cursing the fact that he'd worn his favourite pair of light blue jeans, tears dribbled from his eyes as a howling gale blew his long 80's hair back over his shoulders and the noxious gases seared the back of his throat. Unleashing his own personalised mantra that would affect the change to his bodily form, the twisted tingling sensation in his stomach exploded into action. Shooting off like a champagne cork, the button on his jeans disappeared into the misty haze of thundering lava, as his clothes screamed at the sudden pressure they found themselves under. The contest was short lived, with the rest of his human clothes ripping at the seams before fluttering off into the smog as he arrowed into the depths, all the time watching the out of control Tim far below him.
In the meantime, Tim had gone from full blown panic, to resignation to a fiery death, to... hmmmm, I might just be getting the hang of this. Opening up his wings, which any dragon egg could have told you was a good place to start, he was currently shifting his strong, muscle laden tail back and forth, flexing it in the middle, trying desperately to control his direction. Amazed at just how easy it was to move and how much of an effect it was having, up until now he'd only really thought of the cumbersome appendage as nothing more than a complete waste of time. It was, however, starting to make some sense. And just at that point, it all went horribly wrong.