"So, this is what a dragon is capable of, huh?"Catherina asked as she looked over the landscape, observing the total destruction their battle had caused. "This and many more. For now, let's get back to the others", Samuel said, turning his massive head, looking in the direction of Dr. Michelson, their parents and their friends. "Hmm!" she nodded as they both spread their large wings and leapt off the ground.
They flew to the plateau where the others were and hooked themselves to the sides of the cliff, their massive frames overlooking the entire group. The rest of Catherina's class could do nothing but huddle close to their teacher in fear of the towering monsters looking down on them.
"Catherina!!" Helen shouted as she run up to her friend. Seeing her friend, Catherina smiled and lowered her head to the ground; Helen proceeding to embrace her snout.
"I was really scared for a while there. I thought I could never speak to you again", Helen said as she wiped a tear from her eues. "I am glad you are all safe. I'm sorry for scaring you, but everything is okay now", Catherina assured. "But still, it's super cool that you can transform into a dragon. Your body is so beautiful; so smooth, shiny and blue. I would have preferred pink but whatever", Helen added while gently rubbing the scales on Catherina's head.
"My baby girl", Vivian mumbled in tears as she came towards Catherina and hugged her as well followed by Bernard who simply patted her snout. "I'm happy to see you again Mom and Dad", Catherina said as a tear drop fell from her large eyes.
"Sorry to interrupt but, We've run out of time. There isn't a moment to spare. Hurry and change back to your human forms; Lisia has released her control and the satellite is only seconds away from capturing your images, and ours", Dr. Michelson warned.
Samuel immediately transformed back into his human form and joined the others. "I still don't know how to transform back into my human form", Catherina announced with a worried look on her face. "Yes, you can, I've already showed you how. It's almost like closing a door and opening another. Dig deep in your consciousness, you will find the way", Samuel instructed.
Catherina closed her eyes and after a second, succeeded in transforming back into her human form.
"Lisia, do it", Dr. Michelson instructed. "ACKNOWLEDGED!" Lisia responded and a large transparent hologram projected above their heads and camouflaged with their surroundings creating the impression that, they were never there. They were just in the nick of time as the Satellite passed over them a second later.
"Kyaaa!!" Catherina screamed out in embarrassment due to her nudity and hid behind her brother.
Dr. Michelson quickly tossed her a small box. "Press the button", he instructed. She obeyed and immediately, a series of tiny, interconnected micro bots surrounded her and mimicked her school uniform. "What the...?" she asked totally surprised.
"It's similar to Samuel's outfit. You'll never end up nude after a transformation", Dr. Michelson explained. "Thanks", she said blushing. This was a very embarrassing situation for her. Even with clothes on now, she still stuck to her brother.
"So, what are we going to do about her class?" Samuel asked Dr. Michelson. "Well, given the circumstances, we can't let them go just like that. They may divulge what they have seen here even if they don't intend to. Even if most people do not believe them, there will be a few curious ones. I guess you are going to have to erase all their memories of today's battle", Dr. Michelson informed.
"What!!" both girls screamed simultaneously. "We have no other choice; do it Sam!" Dr. Michelson instructed as Samuel's eyes glowed and hypnotized every member of Catherina's class putting them in a trance; everyone, except Helen. He erased every memory of everything that happened from the moment their bus fell off the cliff. He then replaced the memory of the battle with the students simply waiting for help after their accident.
After the glow in his eyes dimmed, they all collapsed together on the floor of the tour bus. The twins entered the bus and carried them to their seats in the bus and fastened their seat belts.
"Why didn't you erase my memories?" Helen asked as she realized she still had her memories. "It is a favour to my sister and besides, when I analyzed your mind and all your memories, I realized that you showed an unusual strength of will and courage for someone who just came into contact with an eighty-foot...ish mystical beast".
"I guess being in close proximity to Catherina all this time could be the cause. Your prior knowledge and connection to her kept you out of shock and I've deemed you safe enough to trust you with her secret. Besides, I have made it so that, even if you are queried about today's events or you try to divulge anything about today, your memories will be replaced permanently. It would mean you could not be trusted, so I hope it will not come to that. And, as I said before, this is a favour to my sister; you are her best friend and she trusts you completely", Samuel said with a smile as he pat his little sister on the head.
"Thank you", Helen said as she run to hug her best friend once again. "Isn't my brother so cool", Catherina asked Helen with a smile. "Yeah! Very cool", Helen responded with a teary smile.
"We're good. We are done here for now but I think we forgot something. We better fix that mountain first", Dr. Michelson said while pointing to the previous mountain now lava puddle.
The lava pool was still burning hot, seeping outwards and spreading to the trees close by. "I'm on it", Samuel said as he morphed into his hybrid form and shot off the ground towards the lava pool. Reaching it, he proceeded to freeze the entire thing, leaving nothing exposed, forcing the lava to cool down. Upon completion, he flew back to the others and de-transformed.
"That should fix it. It would just be rocks after it completely thaws out", Samuel said to the group. "I think it's about time we get out of here", Dr. Michelson suggested after taking a look at his pager. They turned to go but stopped in their tracks. The driver had fully regained consciousness and was staring through the window looking totally confused and disorganized.
"What the hell is going on here? What happened to us? Why is everyone unconscious? And how did the bus get all the way up here?" he kept asking but got no response. He then suddenly fell to the floor by his seat unconscious again, slightly foaming at the mouth. "Took you long enough!" Sylvia said as she lifted the man off the bus floor by his collar and secured him on his seat.
"Yeah, yeah! Let's just get out of here" Samuel said as he and Catherina changed into their hybrid forms. As her wings emerged, her tail and horns quickly followed; Samuel's horns being bigger than Catherina's, and her skin started turning to scales, "Oh my, what's going on?" she asked Samuel, shocked by what was going on. Her finger nails and toe nails were then replaced by claws and talons. Her bone structure changed as well as the dress she was wearing, creating allowances for all her new 'extra' appendages.
"I guess that's it. Let's go", Dr. Michelson said as he turned towards his SUV. "Wait a minute, something is happening", Sylvester called out to him. He turned back and what he saw surprised him more than anything. Some sort of smallish bone spikes started emerging along their spines all the way to the tip of their tails.
A sudden mild wave of power was emitted from both of them that sent slight tremors through the ground. "What's going on?" Samuel asked. "I may be wrong but I think by fortifying the telepathic link between you and your sister your dragon instincts have recognized you both as a 'flight or horde' (whatever you'll call it) of dragons', hence the simultaneous emergence of the bone spikes as well as the tremors", Dr. Michelson hypothesized. "Well, we can't worry about that now. Let's get going", Samuel said and they agreed.