I felt my eyes opening slowly. Light flooded in and I blinked. When I could see s colour other then white I sat up and shook my head. I was back in my bed, the itchy one, and I could feel a large presence outside. 

I rolled my shoulders back, cracked my fingers then stood up. I summoned one of my swords to my hand and peeked around the canvas covering the enterance to my tent. I stopped in my steps. Outside was a huge dragon, bigger then the tent, almost as large as Sophire. The dragon was currently sleeping, it's huge snores echoing around the campsite. It had a mixture of green, brown and grey scales and horns almost as long as my arm. 

'Reflamen?' I said cautiously.

The big dragon stured and opened one big, yellow eye. 

'Derrick! You're awake,' The big dragon struggled to its feet and put his head down towards me.

'It is you!' I said, 'How did you become so big, so fast!'

'I have grown haven't I, although it feels more like everything else is shrinking,' said Reflamen. He stretched out one wing, which was larger then my whole tent, 'And it looks like I've grown some more while I've been asleep.'

'You are one strange dragon, you've grown big enough to ride in less then a fortnight,' I said, shaking my head.

It was true, Reflamen was definitly big enough to be able to ride, at his size he could carry almost ten people without a problem. 

'I said I would grow big enough for you to ride,' said Reflamen, puffing his chest out, 'And I did it in record time!'

'Yeah, yeah,' I said, 'Don't let your ego grow to big, your not the biggest dragon.'

'Not yet!' said Reflamen.

'Actually I think that you might stop growing all together now, you are already fully grown and matured. I'm guessing that now you will grow a lot more slowly then you have been,' I said.

'And how do you now that,' said Reflamen.

'I just do,' I replied with a smile.

Relfamen snorted. Letting out a small stream of fire, which caught on my tent. I put it out with a quick spell.

'Hey, whatch where you breath that stuff, you could seriously hurt somebody,' I said. 

'Sorry, came out unexpectedly,' said Reflamen shaking his head.

I sighed.

''Hey, somebodies coming,' said Relfamen. 

I looked down the street, around Relfamen's giganitc body, and saw Rogan sprinting down the road towards my tent. 

"Derrick!" he yelled, waving his hand.

"Hey there," I called back. 

Rogan stopped near my tent. He quickly caught his breath and looked up to me. 

"You're awake," he said.

I smiled, "Well, thank you for stating the obvious, what were you doing running down the street like the king himself was coming after you."

Rogan smiled, "It's dragon rider's day."

"Oh yeah!" I said, remembering the special occasion I had imagined into the book, "Let me guess, you're doing that hide 'n' fight game, right?"

"Yep," replied Rogan, "How'd you know, I hadn't even told you about it yet."

I laughed, "Well you better run, looks like Charole's after you," 

Rogan looked down the road and saw Charole sprinting towards him. 

"I better get going!" said Rogan, "If she gets me into her spell range I'm a dead man."

With that he sprinted off.

I watched him go before turning around and recieving a water ball in the face. I fell backwards onto the ground. I coughed and looked up to see a sword pointing at my face. I yelped in surprise and backed up a few inches.

I looked up the blade and saw Charole standing there with at the other end of the sword.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," replied Charole smiling, "Looks like a caught you."

"I'm not playing," I said brushing the dirt of my clothes.

"That's not possible, all riders have to particapate," replied Charole.

"I just woke up! I didn't no rider's day was on, and I definitly didn't know that the games had started," I said. 

Charole smiled sweetly, "So, you still have to play."

"That's just..." I couldn't think of anything to say.

"What?" she replied, still smiling.

"Oh fine, but you have to let me have a ten second head start," I said.

"But I just got you!" she said.

"Yeah, but I wasn't ready and didn't exactly know what we were doing," I said.

"Alright, but you get one chance, after that I'm coming after you, and no magic weapons! A new rule that Rogan made up for people like you and Derrick," said Charole.

"Alright, fine, but you have to let me get ready first," I dashed inside, got some boots on and strapped my sword to my waste. I rushed back outsied to see Charole waiting there swinging her sword in random circles. 

"You ready?" she asked.

"Yep," I said, before I dashed of the way Rogan had gone.

'Hey, Reflamen," I said.

'Yeah.'

'Could you do me a favour and send out a message to all other dragon riders, or other people playing this game, that I'm up and playing as well.'

'Sure, but you better look out, Charole is right on your tale.'

I looked back and saw Charole catching up to me. I groaned and started to push myself to go faster. I dashed around a corner. I was looking frantically for somewhere to hide, luckily this was a small pathway so Charole wouldn't know where I went. I quickly ducked into a clothes shop and hid among some of the brown leather jackets. Charole turned around the corner and ran straight past the shop where I hid. I sighed in relief and waited to get my breath back.

"Hey there," someone said.

I looked around and saw another person sitting among the clothes. 

"Are you the new guy, the one who keeps fainting," said the man.

"That's me," I said, "And you are?"

"Peter," said the man, "I ride Yoroton, a large red dragon."

"Derrick," I said holding out my hand.

"When did you wake up?" he asked.

"Just a few minutes ago," I replied.

"And you're already playing," said Peter smiling.

"I didn't have much choice, Charole made me," I said.

"She's hard to argue with, that one," said Peter.

I nodded in agreement. 

"Do you know the rules," said Peter.

"Yes," I replied, 'I practiacally made up the game.'

:"Good," said Peter.

The rules of this game were quite simple. It was kind of like build up chasey, accept the chases had defeat the oppnents in a sword fight. Disarming them, making them give up, or pointing a sword at there throat counted. If the chaser was defeated they had to stay in one spot until a dragon came and set them 'free'. They usually did this by touching the person with there nose. Only chases were allowed to use magic, but only within ten metres of the opponent. The boundries were the whole plateau, you weren't allowed to fly with your dragon, but you could use your dragon to scout out other people. If you were a dragon rider you had to particapate, and other people were able to play as well. Derrick especially excelled at this game. 

"Rogan also said you weren't allowed to use magic weapons either," said Peter, "So no using your flame blades."

"I know," I replied, "Charole told me."

Peter nodded and we went silent. Another person ran past, with someone right on there heals. We heard a yell and the sound of fire. 

"AAAH!" yelled someone, "It burns!"

"Defeated," said someone else, "Now you're on our side." 

"Damn you Leo," said the person who was defeated.

I smiled, it looked like Leo was one of the chases. The Leo and the other guy walked of down the another street. 

"Okay," I said, "I'm leaving this spot. It's getting kind of cramped."

"Suit yourself," said Peter, "I'm staying right here."

I nodded and quietly crawled out of the clothes and onto the street. There were a few pople around but they weren't particapating. I went around the side of the tent the shop was in and started to weave my way through the buildings, making sure to stay low. 

'Hey Reflamen,' I said, 'Could you tell me who's are chaser and who's not.' 

'Sure,' replied Reflamen. He sent me a list of images of the chasers. Leo and Charole were in the list.

'I'm surprised Charole and Leo got taken out so quickly,' I said.

'Well, Charole started of as chaser and the first person she went for was Leo, so I'm honestly not surprised,' said Reflamen. 

I nodded my head, 'Keep me updated.'

'I will.'

I continued to we've through the tents, being careful not to make a noise. I finally made to where I was going to, the small clearing behind Leviete's tent. It was surrounded in a small forrest, so it was pretty easy to get into. I looked up and saw a huge yellow dragon hovering above me.

'Oh know, that looks like Lilly,' I said, 'Charole must not be far away.'

'I'll tell you where she is,' said Reflamen.

'Thanks.' 

I rushed into the bush, trying to stay as low as possible, trying to loose Lilly, who I could tell was flying just above me. She was probably following me with her mind.

'Stop following me Lilly,' I said, knowing she would here me.

'And why might I do that,' replied Lilly.

I sighed and started to run faster. I then found a that was easy enough to climb. I scaled the tree and drew my sword, waiting for Charole to come past.

'Charole just entered the forest,' said Reflamen.

I waited.

'She's approaching your position,' said Reflamen, 'You should be able to see her.'

I looked around, and sure enough, Charole was sprinting down the track I had been on, her sword drawn. She stopped next to the tree and put her hand on it, trying to catch her breath. 

'Perfect,' I thought. 

I lept out of the tree with my sword over my head. Charole looked up, and smiled. She put her sword above her head and let mine clatter against hers. She then struck quickly, I managed to block the first blow, but my sword was loose in my hand and I almost lost my grip. She struck again, this time knocking the blade completely out of my hands. She then pressed the sword to my throat.

"I win," said Charole with a smile.

"You knew I was there, didn't you?" I said.

"The whole time," said Charole, "You know it is a very bad idea to hide when your being stalked by a dragon, they can detect you with there minds."

"I know," I replied smiling, sheepishly, "i knew that I couldn't escape you so I decided to try a different tactic. It obviously didn't work."

"Know, it didn't," replied Charole, "Now pick up your sword, we need to find a few more people yet."

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Hey guys. New chapter, hope you enjoyed. Vote and comment if you did. This is probably the longest chapter so far, I think. Thank you for everyone who has read this book. The support I've been getting is great. Until next time, See Ya!

Pennator^^