Side slipping dark dragons and brutal looking nagas, each of whom paid him little or no attention at all, Flash's beautifully designed form climbed up and over a particularly large and angry dragon, before plummeting down its back at quite a dizzying rate, running almost straight into a vile, blood stained naga that seemed for all the world to be carelessly throwing his magic around on an almost industrial level. Paying little heed to the foul creature, with the king his utmost priority, the ex-Crimson Guard wondered how any magical being could be so stupid.
'He'll have wasted all his power in no time at all. What an idiot!' he thought, as he drew to a halt, wings beating ten to the dozen. The dumb assed naga conjured up a huge bubbling ball of power, and in one powerful, slick motion, tossed it in the direction of the magical shield. As the brightly coloured ball left the naga's grip, the merest glint of light caught the little hummingbird's attention.
'Oh my God!' thought Flash, taken aback at what he'd just spotted. 'It can't be? Can it?' Vectoring in for a closer look, Flash's surprise was there for all to be seen if anyone had been looking. 'It is!' he thought.
On his first trip to Antarctica, something that now seemed like a lifetime ago, he'd gone totally and utterly prepared, as any decent dragon agent would, despite the fact that it was supposed to be a very straightforward assignment. Things had, of course, gone south in almost the blink of an eye. Out in the harsh, snowy wilderness, he'd been captured by two ingenious and resourceful nagas, totally unaware of their true nature. Looking back, it had been one of the most worrying times of his life. Right there and then, escape seemed almost impossible, and a lifetime of imprisonment in that hellhole looked like a fate far worse than death. Luckily for him though, he'd had a little help in the form of the two beings he'd recently returned the favour for: Fredric and Vasuki. Not only that, but he'd had his trusty Polar Surveyor Redesign watch. Luckily for him his captors had forgotten to remove it from his being, and that had helped him break free. At the time though, they'd had the forethought to remove two other items of his, a prized laminium necklace and a matching ring. As he fluttered to a halt, hovering in mid-air as gracefully as any being that could take flight, both missing items swam into view, adorning the depraved serpent sitting there before him. Relief at seeing his prized possessions again swept through him, followed quickly by anger.
'How dare that loathsome being wear those things?' he mused. Quickly though, his mind moved on to the much bigger picture, and whether or not he could regain his lost jewellery. If he could, then it would temporarily solve the problem of powering the shield. Whilst the necklace didn't contain nearly as much laminium as Richie's dagger, it did contain quite a lot and would be able to power that size of shield for some while, providing of course that it hadn't already been depleted. Mind set on a course of action, all the while aware of the king's plight, Flash lost himself to the action and wondered just how best he could use this tiny little form to inflict the maximum amount of damage on the raging, repellent serpent-like monster, curled up there before him.
'Limited' adequately described his options, with only one really standing out. So with no time to lose, he got on with it.
Trading stealth for altitude, knowing time was of the essence, he pulled up into a climb, racing upwards for all he was worth. Reaching the fifth floor, he figured this was high enough for what he had in mind. Ignoring the multitude of rainbow coloured, magic infused blasts exploding all around him, he took one last look at the scene below him and lurched into a dive. Feeling the full force of the air exerting pressure on his multi-hued feathers, he concentrated his vision on his rapidly approaching target, knowing that he'd probably only get one chance to do this right. Carving a path through the atmosphere, the exhilaration of flight threatened momentarily to take him over. Sadness at not having flown in some time, due to the catastrophic injuries he'd suffered by one of the kind he now found himself approaching, was washed instantly away when he remembered what Fredric had done for him back in the Antarctic icy prison. Then the moment arrived. Unable to blink for fear of missing his target, it was then that he knew he'd gotten it right. All the naga had to do was not move his head in the next few moments, and it didn't. With little regard for the tiny little body he currently inhabited, the ex-Crimson Guard flew with all the speed he could muster, using his beak to crash headlong into the naga's right eye. The results were... eye watering in more ways than one. The beast's yell of excruciating pain could be heard above the sound of the explosive magic going off throughout the private residence, and given the number of creatures and the firefight involved, that was quite something. It wasn't the only pain in evidence though. The entire length of Flash's deliciously dark beak felt as though it had been pounded on an anvil with a blacksmith's hammer. This had been negated though by the most satisfying 'POP' in the world, on contact with the creature's vertically slit pupil. With no time to waste, Flash placed his sharp but delicate claws on the naga's cheek, and used them for leverage before pulling out his beak. Free to fly, he had to muster all his wits to avoid flailing, flimsy arms and the muscled length of tail that was smashing its way through the air, mirroring its owner's descent into madness.
Changing from a hummingbird into a magpie in all but physical form, the ex-Crimson Guard went straight for the ring, relieving its current owner of it with his tiny little talons on the very first strike. Darting swiftly up, he knew he might get only a single pass at the necklace. Pumping his wings furiously, he tossed his head up, arched his neck and headed straight for the clasp with his still ringing beak. 'SNAP!' First time it came free and proceeded to tumble down the naga's brightly scaled chest. Punching through the air, Flash hooked onto it with his open beak and pulling a slow loop, pitched away, back in the direction of his friends and the ever present shield, leaving the dastardly naga tormented with pain, wondering what the hell had just happened. Immediately a new problem presented itself, one he hadn't foreseen. How on earth was he going to get the valuables back through the barrier? Seemingly with little choice, he reached out telepathically for anything familiar. Risky at best, particularly given the amount of power he was using to hold this form together, he could think of little alternative, especially knowing that he had to get to the king. Whilst the shield did dull the feel of the presences he would normally have recognised instantly, one amongst them stood out. YOYO! Skimming down a dark dragon's wing, raking its skin with his claws once or twice on the way, all the time holding tightly to the ring and the necklace, he reached out with his mind, giving everything he had to contact his friend.