"You will create one...?" the massive red centipede dragon repeated while staring down at its prey.
Hugh assumed that one of them might start laughing or sighing anytime soon but from the look on their faces, it seemed like they were completely serious.
"Don't make me laugh!!!" he shouted while raising both fists and proceeding to bring them down, crashing them against the floor and causing an earthquake.
Trevor, Nala, and Kurt jumped away from the attack in order to escape the impact, but Kurt suddenly found himself in danger as a giant red claw began to chase after him in order to grab the boy.
He remained calm and simply calculated the right timing before repelling the hand with a double slash from his metal claws, leaving a scar in the shape of an 'X' in Hugh's palm.
"Gaaghh!!!" the beast cried while setting his hand on fire to heal his wound.
He then tried to stomp Kurt by walking over him with his absurdly large series of legs, but Trevor just appeared next to the boy from under the floor, and after grabbing his shoulder, turned him intangible, completely bypassing the attack.
"You think this is some kind of Saturday morning cartoon?? You can't just change the way the world works!!" Hugh began to scream while continuing to smash the floor with his feet, "If you don't want to die, you need to be ready to kill! And if you don't want to kill, you better be ready to die!!"
Trevor dragged Kurt through Hugh's body while phasing through him until the two reached the back of his head.
The young prince then joined his metal fists and after using Trevor's talent to increase his density, buried his claws on Hugh's skull with a powerful impact.
"Aaargghhh!! Get off of me!!!" the creature complained while shaking himself and spreading fire around his head.
The two boys began to fall and watched as Hugh's mouth began to open wide in order to eat them, but Nala used this chance while everyone was distracted to touch the dragon's leg and turned him into an untouchable being himself, making him pass through the two falling boys as if he was a giant hologram.
"What the!?" Hugh gasped while noticing his entire body starting to sink into the ground as if he was stuck in quicksand.
Before long, his entire lower half was buried beneath the ground, allowing Kurt with his metal claws and the two brothers with increased density to strike at the same time directly into his chest.
"Gaaaaghhh!!!" Hugh shouted yet again.
Even though the three of them were not saying a word to each other, they still kept fighting in complete synchrony. Neither of them ever lost their cool or worried about getting hit by surprise as they fully knew that they were fighting by the side of someone they could rely on to watch their backs.
If one started to fall, someone would catch them. If someone was about to be hit, the other would either intercept it or help them evade it.
The only thing they needed to worry about was keeping track of who Hugh was focusing on in order to know who should need support.
"You three are so annoying..." he groaned while setting his whole body on fire again, but this time without stopping.
"This isn't working!" Nala claimed as all three kids jumped on one of the remaining bleachers, "He can just heal his wounds forever at this rate. How do we beat him?"
Kurt, being a healing flames user himself, began to wonder about how to proceed. He started to think about all his past fights, all the opponents he faced. His mother, Gaby, Saramin. What was the one thing he had to worry about whenever he faced another dragon?
"We have to knock him out with one blow! Can't give him a chance to regenerate if he is unconscious!"
"One blow??" Trevor gasped, "Against that thick skull of his??"
Nala stared at Kurt's arms, "Your claws aren't powerful enough for that. Even if you can damage his body in his second form, he is just too tough!"
"It worked when you increased my density before! Maybe we just need to try harder!"
The girl raised an eyebrow, "Harder? How?? If we increase your density too much you might turn into a statue!"
Kurt lifted his head to stare at the ceiling that was about to fall apart completely as small pieces of rubble began to fall on top of his head, and gazed at the five moons hovering long in the distance above the sky.
He also remembered how Hugh climbed onto the roof before dropping like a bomb that made the entire ground shake for a moment.
Even if Kurt was a terrible student in the dragon world, he still had some of the knowledge from his old world. Something that he learned from his lessons on physics.
"Acceleration... Leads to power..." he mumbled.
""What...?"" the two brothers whispered.
Hugh finally freed himself from the ground and began to search for the three kids while the destruction of the gymnasium continued to rise piles upon piles of smoke and dirt, obscuring their presence.
"You brats!!! When I find you I'm going to crush all of your skeletons one by one and use your bones to clean my teeth!!"
The giant started to go into a mad rampage destroying everything around him, just stomping and smacking the whole place around him like a hurricane.
"Where are you!!!?? ANSWER ME!!!"
It was clear that trying to fight in synchrony wasn't going to work anymore. It appeared that Kurt's resolve really pressed some of Hugh's buttons more than he intended. If anyone even tried to get closer to him, they would be dead on the spot.
Luckily he was so enraged that he didn't try to activate his ability to enhance his senses in order to locate them.
The lad began to focus on his plan again, "I need one of you to take me high up and drop me on top of Hugh's head! I'm gonna hit him with everything I have!"
"Are you crazy??" Trevor gasped, "A fall like this might break your whole body!"
"It's fine, I will be okay!"
"It's not fine!!" Trevor shouted out loud while grabbing his shirt, letting Hugh be aware of their location, "Just because you can heal you think you can put yourself in danger all the time?? What if something happens to you??"
"Trevor, I'll be fine."
"You always say that!! It's just like Saramin said! You always try to do everything yourself! All because you don't trust us!"
"I do trust you!!" Kurt shouted back, "I trust that you will make sure I'm safe and sound by the end of it! You can use your power to increase my density so that I can survive the fall! That's the only reason I can come up with such a crazy plan!"
Trevor looked directly into Kurt's eyes. He wasn't lying, nor was he scared. He didn't felt like he was going to fail and get hurt. He had complete trust in Trevor and Nala.
"Guys!!" the girl yelled as one of Hugh's legs hovered above them moments before coming down and crashing the stand.
Trevor grabbed Kurt's hand and helped him phase through the red dragon before landing on the center of the arena.
"See? You guys always have my back!" Kurt claimed, "Everything will be fine! I trust you!"
"But... Those kids... I..."
"You didn't kill them! And you didn't let them die!" Kurt shouted while grabbing his shoulders, "I don't know the full story but I know you! You're not someone that would let innocents get hurt! You're just a dork that gets excited when talking about dragons and was put in a bad situation!
It wasn't your fault!"
The giant dragon began to chase after them one more time and forced Kurt to jump towards him in order to intercept his path with a punch from his metal claw.
Hugh responded by throwing his own punch and the two fists clashed, sending Kurt flying away after putting a hole in the beast's hand that closed in a matter of seconds.
"I got your back! And you got mine!" Kurt shouted while keeping an eye out for Hugh as he charged again, "Just trust yourself a little, Trevor!"
"But... But..."
The sound of all the kids screaming as Trevor walked away from the mansion during the night of the ceremony many years ago echoed in his ears. The Sight of Evans about to be pierced by Park before Nala blocked his view also flashed before his eyes.
They were right there next to him, and he still couldn't do anything for them. Why would this time be any different? What if Kurt or Nala died because of him?
"YOU CAN DO THIS!!!" Nala suddenly shouted from all the way across the room with tears in her eyes.
"N- Nala?" Trevor whispered nearly about to choke.
"I know you feel guilty over what happened in the past! But feeling bad about it won't change anything!! We need you here now!! The prince needs you now!!" she continued while running in front of Hugh and using her phasing ability to sink him into the ground one more time.
"Aarghhh!! You pests!!"
Hugh grabbed Nala with his massive hand and launched her far away against the ground.
"Kyaaaahh!!" she cried before getting knocked out cold.
"Nala!!" Trevor shouted.
Hugh tried to move but Nala had buried him way deeper underground this time. However, with his powerful physique, it would take him less than a minute to get out.
"I'm going to kill you all!! You hear me, little bro!!?? Your buddies are all gonna become my snack while you watch!!! They will all die because of you!!!"
"Trevor!! We have to go!! Now!!" Kurt shouted.
"I... I..." Trevor mumbled as the words 'die because of you' stabbed him.
"You did not kill those kids!! Trevor!!"
The boy flinched at Kurt's scream.
The prince knew he still needed one final push. One final reason to give him the last piece of courage to start moving forward and away from his trauma, "And you won't let me die either!! You value life way too much for that! You never abandoned me or your sister or anyone ever since I met you!! You always tried to help us! You were born to save lives!! That's why...
That's why you need to get out of here alive, so you can become a doctor in the future!!"
"What!? A... A doctor...?? Me??"
"That's why you can't let Hugh kill you! You have to get out of here, for all the lives you are still going to save in the future!! You have to live! But we need to beat him first!!"
Kurt extended his hand one more time.
"Are you with me!!?"
Trevor didn't even bother replying and just grabbed onto the prince's palm.
Kurt focused to summon the power of the dragon sleeping inside of him and leaped from the ground after gathering all the strength in his legs.
Trevor then acted next by turning both of them intangible in order to nullify the power of gravity on them, making the two boys rise towards the sky like a rocket.
"How long will this last?" Kurt asked.
"Five seconds is my limit right now!! I used too much energy."
"More than enough!"
The two kept rising even further. It reached a point where they could view the entire school from up above, all that was remaining of it at least.
"Now!! Release your power!!" Kurt shouted while he began to focus on expanding the area of his metal scales all the way towards his shoulders.
As the duo began to fall, Trevor used this chance to rest much as he could before he started to cast his talent again.
If he missed the timing for even one second the two of them would turn into puddles on the ground.
He needed to make sure to start increasing their density long enough to gather enough power to take Hugh down, but not for too long to avoid reaching his time limit.
The impact needed to be timed perfectly.
"I'm starting it now!!" Trevor claimed.
"Okay!!"
The school began to grow closer. Hugh was nearly out from the trap Nala had placed him into. The two kids continued to move faster and faster while being pushed back by the cold air of the night.
Kurt could feel Trevor's talent affecting him. His skin, his muscles, his bones, all parts of his being were starting to feel heavier and sturdier.
They were basically acting like a pair of human-shaped cannonballs.
Trevor's nose started to bleed, "I don't think I can keep this up for long!! I'm too tired!!"
"Just a little more!! We are almost there!!"
Hugh finally freed himself from the ground and began to look upwards to see where his brother and Trevor had gone to.
He finally spotted the two approaching right at him at an absurd speed and began to gather all the healing flames he could conjure above his head.
Kurt prepared his attack but he could sense Trevor's talent about to vanish. They were not going to make it.
They needed to speed up the timing of the impact but all he could think of was the intense glare Hugh was throwing at him.
"Hey! Hugh!!!" the boy shouted, gambling everything into his brother's short temper and pride, "Is that all a 'real dragon' has to offer? Can't even deal with three kids by yourself?"
Hugh completely snapped after that taunt and began to roar while losing himself in his own rage even more and jumping after the two of them, allowing the timing for the collision to work just as they wanted.
The young dragon prince saw the red colossal beast flying towards him and with the power of his bodyguard increasing the density of his metal fist, delivered one final punch directly at the beast's head aided by the acceleration of gravity.
Hugh's felt Kurt's fist coming at him with the intensity of a bullet train.
The sound of his knuckle smashing Hugh's flaming skull was enough to send out a shockwave so loud that even Nala and Park ended up waking up from their sleep.
And the first thing they saw after opening their eyes was the massive body of the crimson dragon collapsing unconscious onto the ground while the red-haired boy and his friend-for-hire stood victoriously above his head.
Nala was about to cry again as the cloud of dust and Hugh's curtain of healing flames started to dissipate and revealed the bright sight of Trevor standing by Kurt's side. She never felt as proud of her brother as much as she felt now.
Park could not believe his eye. Kurt, the fake dragon in his first form, had defeated Hugh, a real dragon in his second form.
Not only that, they did that in front of the devices that were transmitting the entire fight for the kids of their class to see.
"No... No, no... No!! It can't be!!" the jet-black scaled lizard cried, "This isn't how it's supposed to go! This power is supposed to be unbeatable!!! How did you do this!!?? How did you defeat him!!?? Answer me!!!"
Kurt and Trevor just exchanged a glance with each other and grinned as they were reminded of Gaby's words.
"Sorry, buddy, but we don't owe you an explanation..." Kurt replied, "Go find out by yourself!"