Come On Now;; Theo/Pandora Job.

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Spoiler:

The entire world was opened to anyone who could fly, nothing at all able to stand in their way considering the sky was far more vast than the ground. Of course? Most people who believed the world small never bothered to look beneath it, which was partly why her kind could live in peace. Large black wings flapped gently as she glided through the clear blue sky, reciting everything she had learned so far in her head. The amount one could discover if they just didn't stride in with anything already in mind, was astounding.

Sunlight reflected against numerous sources of water below and the large cities that humans built, one of these places being near where she was flying. However, it was none of the glittering that caused her altitude to drop. Instead, the dragon's sharp vision had spotted what seemed to be a very familiar head of dark hair heading out towards some cavern in the ground. If he was going somewhere dark? He would likely need her help again, considering she could echolocation and she had since learned Humans lacked night vision, though a select few could glow.

A shadow would block out the sun from behind Theo as large wings extended upwards in order to aid in her landing, large paws extended to hopefully catch onto him. While she did want to kinda 'hug' him as she had seen some humans do, the dragoness was also hoping not to crush him, considering her much larger size.

"Oof, why did it get dark all the sudde--ACK!"

Before he could get fully turned to investigate what he assumed to be a pop-up storm cloud to literally rain on his day, his eyes were met with black scales. The shadow turned into a solid force. Had he bean a frailer man, he may have gotten hurt, but Theo was good and strong for the most part. He took the reserved impact of the eight foot dragon with his usual clumsy grace, legs staggering but arms gripping the 'assailant'. After a fleeting moment he used to realize he wasn't under attack and that it was his dragon friend, his grip turned into a reciprocated embrace. "Gameela!" he called his affectionate nickname for her, meaning 'pretty one' in his native tongue.

After the hug passed, he stepped back and smiled up at the creature. "I was on my way back underground again to take down another nasty criminal. What are the odds?" chuckled Theo, knowing better than to send her back or telling her to stay. She'd follow him, no matter how dangerous. "He shouldn't be too much of a problem. This is a pretty low rank job, but some mages aren't up to the risks anymore, you know? But...someone has to keep people safe from bad guys, explosives or no. Are you following me into this again?"

The Crystal Swan ace started toward the opening into the earth ahead, the mouth of a mine shaft. Hopefully this mission wouldn't be as stinky or wet as the last one. His primary magic was better suited for dry environments.


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She could hear his voice easily, though initially nothing the male said was of any concern to her as it was all typical stuff. When one was unable to speak back in the same language, there was really no reason to do anything extensive in terms of listening, since she could only respond to so much of what he said. Pandora was just happy they had cleared up the fact that she could actually understand every word last time, as she did occasionally encounter humans who could not seem to comprehend that whatsoever. Why did some of the species seem to have difficulty with that? Was it so foreign for someone of a different species to be able to understand another species of creature, so new to the big wide world outside of the underground, she really had no idea. At least she had found a select few humans so far who could fully realize her ability to understand them, it was better than nothing. Little did she know, that she understood much less about humans than she believed.

Going back underground sounded delightful, when accompanied by something that was not another dragon. Plus? This time she knew better how to help him properly, now having the understanding that humans could not see in the dark the same way her kind could, nor did they have echolocation like her. Pandora nodded at him statement, dropping back down onto all fours and following the male as he headed towards the entrance to the mine shaft.

Compared to the narrow pathways she had needed to slink her way through to get out of the grotto? The mineshaft was nothing, easily and comfortably following him, occasionally opening her mouth every few minutes. The peculiar thing? Was that after every time she opened her mouth, the appendages on the side of her head would move.

Pulling out his flashlight once inside, he began his journey under ground with his dragon friend. Feeling an explanation and word of caution was necessary, he spoke up again, voice echoing down the shaft ominously. "So this guy is another bad guy. Everyone they've sent down here to get him or even get intel has never come back and is presumed dead. All we know is he's been seen entering this shaft, and has a particular love and obsession with explosives. Explosives in a mine shaft...is really bad. We both have to be careful."

Foreboding indeed, those words he spoke. As they wandered slowly deeper, even in all his observant glory, the accident prone man was bound to misstep. They were far enough in to have become a threat. Super sensitive mines hid just under the uneven dirt, and Theo had made a heavy assumption that aforementioned explosions would be visible. Dynamite taped to mine shaft beams or ticking time bombs. As always, he should have thought deeper and further ahead. A click sounded in the relative silence, and that's when Theo knew. Bracing but not having enough time to get him and his dragon pal to safety, he turned his body into jello and expanded enough to absorb most of the blast. Thankfully it was the first mine, so even though it set off some others, it blew him backwards into un-mined tunnel and would most likely not kill either of them unless it started a mine collapse.

His jello self bounced and splattered into pieces, pausing a moment like that is if he had literally been blown to wonderful scented bits. Oh, that hurt. That didn't feel good at all. Blobs of jello trembled after a few dazed seconds, slowly rolling together until it reformed into a translucent blue man. A second more and he became normal flesh and blood, groaning softly in pain. He could only reduce damage, not prevent it. But at least all he had were burns, bruises, and a gash at the leg. It could have been much worse. Despite it all, he turned to check on his scaly sidekick, fearing for her safety the most. "Gameela! Are you hurt?" the words tumbled messily out of his mouth, afraid of what he'd find and dazed from the explosion.

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He was smart enough to bring a light source unlike most other humans venturing into dark spaces she had encountered. Yet? She was also aware that her echolocation could still see further into the darkness than any flashlight, so she'd still make occasional use of it. Explosions, didn't he know that most dragons could not be harmed by a good deal of fire due to the majority of them being fire breathing beasts. Even if her kind had not inherited true fire power, they had inherited the strong ability to defend against such things, it was part of the reason her wings could do the thing they had done the last time. However, the dragoness had yet to fully master her defense powers, actually she had yet to fully master any of her abilities, so eager to explore she had entirely abandoned her training with other shades. What could they teach her that she couldn't eventually discover in the world? Plus she was trouble, everyone always said so.

The explosions were incredibly swift and she wasn't exactly sure what she saw. Had her friend just exploded? When she felt heat she had generated both of her barriers thus not sustaining any real damage as she had two shields to protect her, but she hadn't been able to grab him, the male had slipped through. Had he been vaporized! She had seen some dragons with fire that strong, but she never thought that humans could make such explosions. Could human kind make such dangerous objects that they could compared to the fire of an ancient nearly all powerful dragon alpha?! That was incredibly hard to believe but she hadn't seen him solidly make it out of the explosion, not even detected any solid form being thrown from the explosion!

When it was revealed he had simply somehow changed into liquid, the dragoness rushed over to him, seeing the damage that had been done. Swiftly with her front paw glowing green the dragoness touched him, the glow fading. Would that one heal be enough? Pandora decided she wasn't going to risk it, glowing green before a pulse emitted further healing him. That had to be enough! Right? Large paws carried her back a few steps to see if the healing had done enough to aid him. Nodding she deemed the healing the best she could do for now. That was too close, Pandora had no desire to see anything like that repeated with him. Luckily, the large dragoness had the best way ever to protect the male from getting blown to pieces again, it was the best plan in the world.

Theo would likely in seconds find himself on the dragons back unless he dodged her shoving her large head beneath him and tossing him up so she could catch him on her broad back. If she had gotten the male onto her back, her wings would open to the extent they could in the confined space. Most dragons? Couldn't fly with so little space, but Shades were not most Dragons considering they carried the genetics of many species. The one piece of training she had completed was navigating confined spaces! While she had lacked the wing strength to fly straight out of the hidden grotto, this cave was much simpler. Thus is he didn't resist the jello man would find himself on the back of a dragon who was flying carefully through the tunnels. However, thus was unique to most flying as it involved full flapping her wings very little, instead the wings were used to generate a space she could glide on and propel her forward, tail moving to counteract the upward movement to ensure she remained in the middle. Thus the movement was part flight, part gliding and when something got very narrow a few jumps became involved. He was not getting blown up again!

Good. She seemed okay. Relief washed over him, almost allowing him to absorb the fact that he'd been blown up and was in some pain. He hated pain. He feared pain. Having died before, the threat and reminder of pain and death had his mind reeling all over the place, but this dragoness managed to pull him back quickly before he could get out of hand. Another useful thing this beautiful creature could do apparently was heal. How handy! Feeling the pain leave his body took a lot of the panic with it, returning his easy grin to his face. "Wow, thanks!" he chirped, wiggling and touching the formerly damaged parts of his body. Only a small amount of damage remained, and it wasn't enough to spark a response. He didn't freak out over stubbed toes, after all.

He did freak out when large dragons lunged at him, though. The jello man didn't fear that she'd hurt him, though. It was just a shock. Why would she hurt him after healing him? That'd be stupid, unless she suddenly got hungry or had wanted to eat him since meeting him but didn't fancy having dinner in a stinky sewer nor want her meat injured and bloody. He did suppose he might have a nice char aroma after being blown up. That could be a dragon's thing. A dragon's weakness? Shaking the thought out of his head, he told himself it really was just a ride, and this creature was peaceful and kind and maybe even vegetarian. Could dragons be vegetarian??

Flying on her back in this cramped tunnel was actually super fun. A little dangerous and nerve wracking, but being an explorer and tomb raiding treasure hunter had made him a bit of a thrill seeker. Rafters and tons of dirt went by, and though she didn't need it, his light was like a security blanket. See, in addition to pain and death, he also feared the dark for basically the same reasons, for all three had spawned from the same source. In hind sight, taking a mission into a dark mine shaft was a poor decision on his part, but how could he say no after he'd blindly accepted it without reading it? Admittedly, he couldn't read it, but once it was read to him it would be in poor taste for a S rank mage and former Rising Star to back out of a low ranked job because he was afraid of the dark.

Though his laughter from pure joy echoed back at him, he knew it was getting time to become serious. A light source not from his flashlight emanated from ahead. It was still a distance, but he knew it was time to be more cautious. Patting her back, Theo leaned closer to where he assumed her ear holes would be. "We have to land soon. I think there's an opening ahead where this bad guy will be, and I'm sure he has an explosive surprise waiting. It'll be very dangerous...even more so than when I blew up from the mines he set back there. If you don't want to go forward, it's okay."


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Causing legit damage to any species of Dragon was a difficult task, this became even more troubling when Shade was the species one was trying to hurt. Offense wasn't their thing, defense, support and healing were the things they exceled in. As he thanked her for healing him, the dragoness made her own small noise back, nodding her head briefly in regards to his gratitude. She had been running from the cheap shots, not the purpose of her species, so it was good to be able to heal someone.

As she flew the dragoness could hear her echolocation suggesting there was a rather large cavern filled with things almost directly head. Pandora couldn't identify all the item her echolocation was bouncing off, but she did heed the mans warning to land, doing so easily since she had not been flying high to begin with. Rumbling lightly, she flickered to invisible, vanishing but placing her tail on top of his head, seeing if he'd realize that she was still there and could hide both of them from view so that they could sneak into the cavern waiting ahead of them in order to get the upper hand. Plus it was much nicer for her to be invisible, it made her less of a target and let her do the job she was designed for better.

It took Theo a few moments of sneaking with a tail on his head to realize he was invisible, but he did manage to and once he did he could barely contain his excitement. Moving to try and look at the invisible dragon friend in the face, he grinned and held his thumbs up, though it was entirely plausible that she couldn’t see him either and he was just being a big dope and smiling at her butt instead of her face. Either way, into the opening they both went, the young man hyper vigilant for traps and explosives while also keeping an eye out for the evil doer himself. He had to be in here somewhere...

After a few close calls of tipping stuff over and revealing their location but luckily catching it in time to remain silent, a shadowy forum took shape toward the back of the room. It seemed to be taking cover behind a makeshift blasting shed, hunkered as if expecting a blast and wishing to escape damage. That seemed odd. It wasn’t a very good hiding place, but once Theo saw the detonator in the killer’s hand, he understood. He was waiting for his invaders, not knowing they had already arrived! But where was the trap? Peering around, he could see nothing wired to blow. There weren’t really any metal or wooden barrels that looked ready to use, no grey bricks with receivers, no dynamite with some sort of contraption to light the fuse. The ace continued to search. There had to be something somewhere, or else the target of his job wouldn’t be bunkered down so patiently.

It was stunning how often people never thought to look up. Just as his frosty hues were about to give up, he glanced toward the braces dirt ceiling of the mine shaft above and inhaled sharply. Oh. There was the bomb. Or should he clarify, bombs. Plural. This lunatic was so hard up to remain uncaught, he rigged the shaft to blow up and collapse on whoever found him. It could even kill himself, but he was crazy enough to take that risk. Another look around showed him there was an exit tunnel behind the short, dirty demolitions expert. The plan was obvious.

“Any ideas how to get that detonator out of his hand?” Theo whispered to his scaly accomplice, though he knew he’d receive no answer. He wished she hadn’t come with him. Now she was in danger as well. If he couldn’t figure out how to get that red button away from the man while also taking him down, the roof would explode and an untold amount of land above would bury them alive. “Maybe if we sneak close enough, I can grab it.” It was a shaky plan at best, but the jello man wasn’t really one to think out a plan too well. The more time he took thinking, the more stressed he became, which lead to mistakes. Well, more mistakes than usual.

Scooting ever so closer, they got close enough to smell the grimy mole man, which was offensive on its own. There had to be something said for the bombers dedication, though. He was patiently waiting with moving barely a muscle enough to breath and emit a small devious chuckle of anticipation. It was during one of those that a suddenly visible hand struck out and plucked the detonator away.

“Aha!” Theo exclaimed in triumph, appearing before the foe fully.

“No, my AHA!” Responded the raspy voice of someone who had inhaled too much explosion smoke. A grubby hand whipped out a second detonator, and pushed it.

The next few seconds were crucial. The explosion began slowly as one bomb triggered another. “Gameela!” Theo yelled waving her toward the exit. “We gotta fly fast right now!!”


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WC exceeded.

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The dragoness moved carefully to ensure that Theo remained behind her invisible body, he was only not visible so long as she was the one in front as her invisibility worked in a very exact way. In many senses? Pandora was much like a chameleon, able to hide herself perfectly by blending into the environment flawlessly as her scales acted almost like mirrors when magic flowed through them all at once. Most of this would be up to Theo until they acted, because maintaining their cover was her goal for the moment, ensuring her large body didn't brush anything too closely and that she could stick her wing out to keep his concealment if he moved too much. Luckily, she was used to this sort of thing, while she had not been taken out for retrievals and healing sessions across the world by the other Shades before leaving? Pandora had been part of the section of them who helped hide the dragons they were trying to protect while moving them through the canyon to the grotto. Although she had never been allowed to the surface, just the nearly impossible to navigate tunnels that led down to the hidden entrance.


It seemed as if everything was alright, before another trigger button was pulled out and pressed. At first? The dragoness did not truly know what was going on, but as she heard the first bomb and saw the first part of the cave in; Pure instinct overtook her. The only thing on her mind was to protect them, its what her kind did after all, served as guardians of others! Pandora moved without any trouble to force Theo onto her back once more, lunging forward and grabbing up the thrashing mole man in one arm. The explosions neared closer as her wings took her into the still somewhat narrow tunnel that went upwards, shooting her echolocation through it, following the echo's that never came back. The flames were nearing them, right on the tips of her fireproof tail. Pandora had never preformed her own 'rescue' before, not in such dire conditions, but luckily her kind were trained for this from the day they hatched.

The light of day would hit their faces, but right after the speed they flew upwards at would accelerate impossibly swiftly as her wings finally opened fully. With her full wingspan able to be used, her secondary wing flaps opened and tail expanded all the way, she soared upwards swiftly, leaving the exploding flames far behind on the ground. Landing only when the scent of smoke cleared, her large foot keeping the mole man down as she waited for Theo to dismount. For an impromptu rescue, that had went fairly well in the Shades opinion!