Zero walked into the newly created passageway and arrived in a small room with ten silver beetles on the wall. Curiously he examined it.
Queen Silver Beetle
The Queen Silver Beetle has created a nest in the volcanic walls of the Draconis flying village. A special beetle that burrows and eats the volcanic soil. It is considered to be lucky if one is found, though, at the same time, these Beetle has a nasty habit of eating the volcanic rocks for food. It is best for young dragons to eat these beetles to help with their growth spurt and quell the rapid population increase of these bugs. Its body has a large amount of magical energy packed into its small body. These Silver Beetle only appears in crisis times because of the lure of heavy dragon magic.
"What in the world?" Zero reached over and plucked one of the beetles from the wall. When he did, a swarm of smaller beetles came out of the ground and swamped him.
Zero reeled back in surprise and almost dropped the wiggling silver beetle in his hand. Instead, he stomped viciously at the smaller beetles from them, crawling on them. Without thinking, the smell of the Queen Silver Beetle let out a sweet aroma that he could not resist.
Chomp!
In one gulp, he ate the Beetle. Zero realized what he just did. He ate it without a second thought. He didn't realize how sweet the Silver Beetle tasted. It reminded him of skittles.
"Zero!" Valiant walked over toward Zero with a gleeful expression. He stopped and stared at Zero, wondering what he was doing.
"Cough! Cough! Hack! Cough!"
I just ate a bug. The thought ran rampant in his mind. He unconsciously did it too.
"Are you okay?"
Zero racked his throat as he felt the Beetle that he ate go down into his belly. The sweet sensation of candy was left in his mouth. Then suddenly, he felt a pain in his heart that radiated outwards from his body. He fell onto the floor, clutching his chest.
"Zero! Are you okay?" Valiant ran up to him, trying to see if something had attacked his body.
Smoke erupted from his body, and he crawled his way out of the small cramp room.
"Guys! Zero's hurt!" Valiant yelled.
Everyone came running towards him in worry.
"What happens?"
"Did he get injured?"
"What's going on?"
The smoke that enveloped his body became even more apparent covering the large cave. A constant pain erupted outwards from his heart and to the ends of his toes. He could not stop the pain. His body was forced to change one at a time.
"Everyone get back! He's changing! Something's wrong!" Valiant pushed Reed from getting too close.
The others sprinted away before they could get tangled up with Zero's transformation. They did not want to get squashed.
Zero's hands were the first to transform, followed were his legs, then his body. Finally, his face became larger with dangerous glistening teeth and horns. His long tail thrashed around in chaos, whipping around like a whip.
Everyone was in a rush to not get hurt. They were jumping around, dodging, and even rolling away before they got smashed by Zero's tail.
"Zero! Why are you doing this!" Valiant yelled. He jumped over Zero's tail and rushed forward. Then, with all his might, he headbutted Zero in the head. From their headbutt, Zero's senses slowly began to come back.
Fssshhhhhhh!
The smoke cleared away, leaving behind a large black and gold dragon that took up half the cave. Extra spines grew on his back, and tribal gold markings glowed all over his body. Even his muscles were three times thicker and stronger than his previous self.
Zero slowly got up and shook his head. Valiant and the rest gaped at the enormous size that Zero had grown. He was now as big as a two-story house. He could feel the pain vanishing away, and his mind became clear. Opening his eyes, his vision became sharp.
"What's wrong?" Zero voice thunder throughout the cave.
Everyone squeaked in fright from the sudden dangerous aura that Zero gave off. They thought Zero was scary enough in his dragon form, but now he did not compare. Even though he did not have wings sprouting out his back, he still now looked and felt like a dragon.
His body's gold marking faded, and his scales reverted to their usual shine. His gold eyes dangerously glowed bright even in the dimly light room, making everyone shudder.
"Is everyone alright?" Steam escaped his mouth and nose. His belly glowed gold, indicating that fire was churning.
"Y-Yes." Squeaked Valiant. He shakily walked over in front of Zero. Valiant dwarfed in comparison to Zero by so much that Valiant looks like a mouse sitting in front of a hungry lion.
"W-w-we were just w-w-worried that something happened to you."
"Me?" Zero slowly laid down so Valiant did not have to strain his neck. He gently rested his head on his claws and stared down at Valiant. Even his head was considered enormous compared to Valiant's small black body.
A puff of smoke escaped Zero's lips and wrapped around Valiant. "I'm not sure what happened. Did you all become smaller?"
Valiant shook his head. "You got bigger."
"Bigger?"
A message appeared before Zero.
Adolescent growth!
The silver Beatles' magical power stimulated your growth. No more are you a dragon child instead, your dragon body has gone into a rapid period of growth. Your body will continually grow over time into adulthood. A silver beetle is necessary to develop young dragons during dangerous times. Your power, strength, magic, and ability have strengthened. Without it, one would naturally grow slowly over time throughout the decades.
Huh? Zero was awed at the message that was in front of him. But, of course, he did not expect those silver beetles to be a stimulant for his growth spurt.
"I'm fine. I think I grew once again." Zero chuckled. His chuckle rumbled to the ground, making everyone brace themselves.
"Quit laughing, you lump of lizard meat. You're going to bring the whole cave down!" M2 smacked Zero's face. However, zero's intimidation did not phase him.
"Wh-a-a-t?" Valiant stuttered when he saw what M2 had done. He ran towards Reed in fright for fear of what Zero would do next.
"I can't laugh now?" Zero frowned. He blew smoke into M2's face.
M2 coughed hard and waved the smoke out of his face. "This is like secondhand smoking. Quit that!"
"Have some more for the slap." Zero blew another whiff of smoke in M2's face and smirked.
"Why you," M2 growled.
Both of them glared at each other, creating an intense spark that could start a small-scale battle.
"Please Stop!" Den cried out. The smallest out of all dragons raced up in between both M2 and Zero to quell the spark. "You're going to kill us all!"
Zero turned his gaze toward the white dragon that was on his nose. He blew hard, and Den was flipped into the air and landed on M2's head.
"She's right. I don't think you want to bury us all." M2 spoke. He picked Den off his head and held her in his arm. Gently petting her, he smiled.
"I know. I'm not going to break down this cave just to kill all of us."
"That's good to hear."
"Zero, did you level up?" Den's sweet voice called out to him.
"No, I ate a bug and grew."
Everyone was stumped by what Zero meant.
"A bug?" Den let out a gag. The other were feeling a bit nauseous when they heard what he said.
"Let me show you." Zero pulled himself back into his human form. This time, the transition from one form to another was much more fluid than ever. His magic consumption didn't compare to when he was little when it ate up large amounts when he transformed.
Zero body was now a teenager. His look and age were around sixteen, and he was getting closer and closer to his original height. He was glad that he was getting taller; he missed his height.
Walking back towards the small room with the silver beetles, Zero quickly gathered almost all the beetles stuck to the wall. He left a couple so they could reproduce. He quickly put them in his Zenith pouch and walked out. The swarm of bugs did not happen when he touched the silver beetles. He expected the reason was that he ate one, and the beetles thought the magic energy that Zero was giving off was one of their own.
Zero walked over towards Den and M2. "Open your hands, but don't drop them."
"Wh-hat?" Den opened up her small paws.
Zero felt the squishiness of her paws and placed a Queen Silver Beetle.
"What this?" Den curiously peered towards it. Swarms of silver beetles came toward her attempt to save their queen. Zero swiped it from her and stuffed it in her mouth. Alarmed at what she saw, she screamed. "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkk Buuuuu-"
The whole cave rumbled and shook from the high, piercing scream but was cut short when her body unconsciously ate it. With one gulp, she swallowed it. Her face paled, and she jumped out of M2's arms. She frantically ran around, causing a small-scale dust tornado.
"What the hell is wrong with her?" Turnip's jaws dropped open in complete shock. "The same thing is happening to her like Zero!"
Everyone glanced around nervously at Den, wondering when her chaotic spasm would stop. In a matter of minutes, she flopped onto the ground, exhausted. A blue tribal marking appeared on her body, becoming longer and leaner. She grew to the size of a horse. Finally, the blue markings faded, leaving behind a white pearly skin that looked like opal.
"Are you okay?" Turnip ran up to her and gently nudged her.
"Turnip?" Den shakily got up and glanced around, confused. "Did I miss something?"
"You went freaky on us. What did Zero give you to grow so big?" Turnip sniffed at her. "You have this sweet scent coming off your body."
"Sweet scent? Skittles?"
"Skittles?"
"What the heck are you guys even talking about?" Baku came over with Quill.
"I think Zero just fed some kind of dragon steroids to Den. So that's my only solution." Quill replied chirpily. "Feed Baku one, please!"
"Hell no! If it's a steroid, I don't want it. Don't you know how bad that is to your body?"
"Calm down; it's just a beetle." Zero popped a silver beetle in Baku's mouth.
"B-b-beet*glarb*" Baku's mouth was stuffed with the silver beetle that Zero gave him, and he, too, went into a strange hypnotic transformation. The ground underneath Baku's feet turned completely metallic and spread around him. The metal shifted and changed into a large silver flower, encompassing Baku completely.
Zero eyes gleamed dangerously as he looked at the remaining baby dragons. Everyone shivered and felt like their lives were in even more danger now than when Zero was in his dragon form. Nevertheless, zero was chuckling as he grabbed and stuffed a beetle in Turnip's mouth.
A splash of water erupted around Turnip as it swirled around him. Zero went around and chased after Kai, Val, Bee, and Seka. Each stuffed with a beetle in their mouth. Every single one of them went into a transformation and grew to be the size of a horse.