There was a collective gasp, and muttering began among the gathered pets.

"Please, please, let me continue," Kyruggi said, raising her voice to be heard. "A great beast has risen out of the volcano, " pointing to the red mountains in the distance. "Made from burning rock and molten lava, it is virtually indestructible."

"Where is Battle Master Grarrg? Surely his strength is enough to defeat it!" yelled a voice from the crowd.

Sabre-X stepped forward to address the question. "Sadly, he has already tried. He bravely sought out the monster in hopes of destroying it before it got close to our lands, but even he was unable to overcome it. He survived the encounter, but is far too wounded to help us for some time." He said solemnly.

There were more murmurings from the crowd, more panicked and fearful than before.

"Do not fear my people," Kyruggi assured them. "For Myncha, our master of reconnaissance, has discovered a way to defeat the beast. We will reveal how to one brave Tyrannian who has the courage to accept this dangerous quest. We would gladly go ourselves, but the council is needed here to lead the people in their time of need."

Kyruggi's eyes scanned the crowd of pets, sad for the burden she must place on one of them. "If any of you are brave enough to accept this quest, please, step forward now."

There was a hushed silence, as the pets looked around amongst themselves, fearful they would have to step up if no one else would.

Then, a figure stepped out from among them, and approached the council fire.

"I will accept the quest. My name is...

"Ah, a Kougra, and a stranger by the look of her. And what makes you think that we would entrust this quest to a stranger of this land?" said Sabre-X, sizing her up.

"I am no stranger to Tyrannia, I have lived here since my birth. And I expect you to entrust this to me because my battle record is 1,523 wins, 1 loss. The same as your Battle Master Grarrg if I'm not mistaken. Oh, and unless my memory fails me, it is also three times yours." The fire Kougra replied.

"GRRRRRRR!" the angered Lupe advanced.

"Stop it Sabre-X," said Kyruggi, putting a paw on his chest, "her record is certainly exceptional."

"I want something more substantial. She could have gone around beating up children. Anyone could get such record that way," growled the Lupe.

"More substantial hmmm? How could the daughter of Dianna, the greatest battler Tyrannia has ever seen, stoop so low as to have her honor questioned by a mere Lupe? Oh and besides, I don't know about you, but I didn't exactly see anyone else volunteering," the Kougra purred.

"The Great Mother of Tyrannia!" gasped Kyruggi.

"Who am I to refuse the daughter of Tyrannia's founder?" growled Sabre-X. "Come with us to the Town Hall tent so that we can disclose the beast's weakness."

As they entered the tent Kylin looked around at the place where her mother had once held council. Approaching the center, she waited for Myncha to begin speaking.

The wizened Mynci approached the Kougra and kneeled. Taking her paw in his he kissed it and said, "The loss of your mother was a tragic blow to all of Tyrannia. I will surely miss her, but her beauty and honor live on in you."

Straightening he said, "Now to the business at hand. The beast's weakness is...

...carrot-fed Flouds."

"Pardon?" Kylin asked, bewildered.

"Carrot-fed Flouds," the Mynci repeated slowly.

"When you feed a Floud a carrot, something horrible happens. Well, anyway, you feed the Floud a carrot. Flouds, as you know, hate heat. As soon as the Floud feels the heat of the lava, they will, go crazy."

Kylin stared at the Mynci, eyes wide. "Are you sure? And how would you know?"

"It's happened before, long ago," the wise Mynci said gravely.

"Please tell me how and why. It might help."

Taking a deep breath, the Mynci started the legend:

"A long time ago, Tekel�s great great great grandfather, Typin, was making a new type of potion. Now, Typin lived at the bottom of the volcano in a small shack. The same volcano where the lava monster lives now. Anyways, it required three main ingredients: carrots, molten rocks, and Floud fins. However, something went wrong. Before anything was mixed together, the Floud, who was hungry, ate one of the carrots. This caused the Floud to turn into..."

"An ice dragon?" Kylin asked. "Wait a second, I think I've heard of that from an ancient poem! It went something like:

"Yes," Myncha said, "that was by my great great great great great Grandfather. He always had a knack for poetry, didn't care for politics all that much though. But that was his warning. I see you understand it?" Myncha asked.

"Of course! The Floud will serve its purpose as an ice monster then it will melt," Kylin replied sharply.

"Fine then! We have a Floud for you. His name is Skipponoi, Skippy for short," Sabre-X said while handing over an ice blue Floud.

"And the carrot?" Kylin asked.

"Right here!" Myncha said as he gave it to Kylin. "Use it only when you see the monster! The impact is instant!"

Kylin took the carrot and walked outside.

"I'll be back," she whispered to no one in particular.

"I hope I will!" said another voice that seemed to come from...

"Wait a minute!" said the Kougra, lifting the Floud up before her. "You can talk? I didn't think Petpets could talk!"

"Well I can," Skippy said in a high, lilting voice. "What's wrong with that?"

"Uh... nothing I guess." Kylin was surprised and confused, but she shrugged it off and continued walking towards the edge of the village. The crowd from the Town Hall spilled out into the street and were cheering and waving and wishing her luck. She hardly heard them as she thought about the little Petpet in her arms. It could talk, and she was about to feed it a carrot and turn it into an ice dragon. She felt odd, but she couldn't put her paw on the reason. When they were outside of the village she lifted Skippy again.

"In that case, how do you feel about this? Are you willing to go through with it? I don't want to put you through this if you are unwilling."

"It's not like the carrot will kill me, right?" replied the Floud. "I am afraid to face the lava monster, but I imagine so was Battle Master Grarrg, and no doubt you too. And if I'm a great big ice dragon I'll have a better chance of beating him. In fact, the idea of being an ice dragon is kinda cool. No pun intended."

The Kougra smiled, glad to see the Petpet wasn't too upset. She had no desire to hurt an innocent creature, and the journey to the volcano would be long and tedious, so having someone to talk to was a relief.

She walked on, carrying the Floud under one arm and the carrot in the paw of the other arm. Kylin started to feel a bit hungry and had to resist the urge to eat the carrot. She and Skippy talked about various different things, from the stars and the rock formations around them, to the weather back in the village. Soon they were near the base of the volcano and Kylin could hear the hissing and rumbling coming from its peak. She paused to listen and smell the breeze coming off the mountain when...

"Have you come to try and defeat me? Ha! I am the greatest fighter ever to be born in Tyrannia, even the great Battle Master Grarrg crawled back home. How do you think YOU could defeat me?"

The lava monster snarled at the small blue Floud currently a shaking bundle in Kylin's arms.

"And with that... that THING as your company! Ha!"

The lava monster circled them, his steaming hot breath brushing against Kylin's fur.

"You know, I could just get this over with and destroy you right here with no problems," the lava monster sneered.

"But I play fair, just not by the rules. I won't destroy you just yet, I'll torture you, just as I did to that little dinosaur, until you run back home to your Mommy." Eyes blazed with pleasure of catching a victim for his violence, the lava monster snorted.

While the monster was considering whether or not to destroy Kylin and her Floud right there on the spot, Kylin had been busy sneaking her hand into her worn bag to reach the carrot. Just as she grabbed the carrot and pulled it out of the bag, the lava monster pounced, his eyes narrowed.

The carrot dropped out of Kylin's hands, right along with the hopes of all Tyrannia. Disgusted with both the lava monster and herself, Kylin clawed at him, her pearly white teeth threatening.

Forgotten for the moment, Skippy swallowed up his courage and silently crept towards the carrot laying on the ground. Before he knew it, a shadow towered over him...

Kylin was pounded with the lava monster's gigantic fist. She was buried into the ground, grasping for the ledge to pull herself up, "Skippy eat it now!" she said while falling back down. The rubble covered her.

"Kylin I will do this for you and all for Tyrannia!" Skippy said with tears in his eyes.

Skippy grabbed the carrot, as the monster flung his head around, making an angry face, and said, "You don't give up do you!?!" He was about to pound Skippy into the ground like he'd done to Kylin, but Skippy devoured the carrot hastily.

The lava monster's fist was right about to hit the puny Floud, when his fist stopped. He tried pushing it more but his arm couldn't go further. Skippy was transforming! The sky turned black, and the lava monster pulled his hand back and looked at the sky, "Wha... what's happening?!" he said with a scared expression on his face.

Radical lights burst out of the Floud, and the ground started shaking violently. Lightning nearly touched the ground. All the pets of Tyrannia were witnessing a once in a lifetime event. Skippy first turned a shiny blue color, then grew a neck, arms, legs, and a silvery tail. His body was radiating with tremendous power. He grew bigger and his neck shot up into the air; his tail, arms, and legs enlargened and became muscular. Finally, two majestic wings emerged from his back.

Then Skippy stopped growing, the flashing lights stopped, and the transformation was complete! The mighty ice dragon, Skippy, looked around and saw that the once-powerful beast had been cowering away. The beast then turned around thinking that if he ran away, he would be remembered as a coward and marched forward to fight the gigantic ice dragon.

The odds were now even. Skippy flew up into the air, then rocketed down towards the lava beast...

Kylin had climbed her way out of the pile of rubble and was now watching in awe as her not-so-little Floud friend bravely charged at the terrible lava beast. She watched as the snowflakes fell, freezing the ground. She couldn't believe her eyes! "What if it freezes me too?!?" she wondered. But as they came closer, the snowflakes fell all around without touching her, as if aware of her presence, and that she was good. She breathed a sigh of relief, and then turned her attention back to the battle.

Skippy was flying in circles around the lava beast, gradually freezing the ground that surrounded the fiery pit of the volcano.

"Ha, ha, ha!" the lava beast laughed, "You think you can stop me with a few flurries? NEVER!!!"

Skippy said nothing, but kept making more and more circles around the beast, who was so busy laughing, he didn't even notice the snow piling up around him.

After a while of doing this, Skippy was finally ready to finish the lava beast off for good. Here goes, he thought to himself, more afraid than ever. "Hey, lava beast!!!" he called.

"Hmm?" The lava beast stopped laughing, and looked around, in shock! There was a 50 foot wall of snow surrounding him. But his worst nightmare was yet to come. Skippy flew up into the sky, higher and higher, and then, when he was almost out of sight, he turned around.

He flew with all his might toward the lava beast, who now was getting quite scared. When Skippy was about 100 feet from the lava beast, he took a deep breath, and with all his might blew an icy wind straight at the fire beast. His breath was colder than the deepest freeze, and swifter than the mightiest hurricane winds.

As it hit the fire beast, an amazing thing happened. The icy breeze started at the top of his head, and worked its way all the way down to the very last scale on his long fiery tail: he turned into ice! Clear, smooth ice. But that was not enough to destroy him, for when the spell had worn off, he would return to his fiery self. So with the last bit of energy Skippy still had, he got within two feet of the beast and flung his tail around, shattering the frozen monster into thousands of tiny pieces.

"Kylin, I did it!" he shouted, flying back to where his Kougra friend was standing. But as he flew toward her, all of a sudden, he collapsed, and fell to the ground. "SKIPPY!" Kylin yelled, fighting back tears. As she ran to him, she saw that...

"SKIPPY!" Kylin yelled again, dropping to the ground beside him. She placed his icy head in her lap, ignoring the cold, and looked into the sad blue eyes of her friend. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again as a wave of tears poured down her face and onto Skippy's nose.

"Don't cry," Skippy said, his voice shaking slightly. "I did it for all of Tyrannia. And, I did it for you."

"But, Skippy," Kylin began.

"I knew the risks," Skippy interrupted, "And I knew what would happen to me." He closed his eyes as his face began to melt. "Goodbye, my friend," he whispered. Before Kylin could respond, Skippy was gone. Leaving only a trace of water on her clothes.

Kylin scooped up a puddle of water in her hands and gazed into it, as if hoping to see some trace of her friend. Yet, all she could see was her own sad reflection. "Goodbye," she whispered to the puddle. "I always thought myself to be brave, but you showed me what real courage is. You were a true warrior."

Something cold touched Kylin's shoulder and she looked up only to see that it was snowing. The flakes, which fell from a clear blue sky, were so beautiful and flawless in design that the Kougra couldn't help but smile through her sadness. But then, she received another surprise...

"Skippy," she said while jumping up. She smiled. Then she started clawing at the sky trying to reach her friend. "Skippy" she said again. But the image did not answer.

She was then filled with a great sadness as she realised that her friend was gone- forever. Silent tears fell down her face, down to the ground and flowed through the puddles.

An amazing thing happened just then. The puddles began to twist and turn, and grass sprouted out of the water at a tremendous pace. Plants shot out of the frozen ground all around her. But these were no ordinary plants, they formed into the most beautiful plants of ice she had ever seen. She smiled with delight.

"Kylin, Kylin wake up." An large figure towered over her. It was Sabre-X. "That was a mighty battle you fought."

"Huh?" she was suprised by these words. "But, I-"

"Come on Kylin, everyones waiting for you."

He pulled her outside to a big crowd. They all began to clap and cheer. "All hail Kylin, the hero of Tyrannia!"

There was a great feast to celebrate Kylin's victory.

"Ah hem," Sabre-X cleared his voice. The clearing in which they were having the feast became silent.

"We have a suprise. To end this great feast we have a little something for Kylin. Bring out the statue!"

A crowd of about 8 pets brought out a huge item covered with a cloth. "In honour of Kylin!" Sabre-X pulled the large cloth to reveal a great statue of Kylin. The whole crowd clapped.

As the years went by, great stories were passed down about the hero of Tyrannia. And if you go to that place where Skippy won his battle, you will not only see that great ice garden, but you will also see the most magnificent statue ever, made of glistening crystal.

The statue was of a great ice dragon; wings spread, and Kylin with an ice blue Floud in her arms, standing together on a crystalized fire beast broken into millions of pieces. And underneath were these words engraved on a stone slab: "Skipponoi (Skippy), the TRUE hero of Tyrannia."

The End