ETTING 
OME 
O 
LFANDRA
Shady's Tail, Er, Tale chapter 7 - The Black Rock
ETTING OME O LFANDRA
The two were standing directly outside the castle gate. Even the wooden door was black, like the rest of the castle. Shady felt something heat up inside his pocket. "What the..." he pulled out the Brown rock to see it was glowing fiercely trying to get his attention, once it had it the rock shot a beam of light to a spot only 2 feet away. *Is it another happyrock?* Shady wondered and he walked over to where the light was resting. Moving dirt and fallen leaves out of the way he found a shining green stone. "Lave look at this, its another one of these rocks!" Shady picked it up and instantly a force field sprang up around him.
"Gar... er Shady... what is that?" Shady put the rock in his pocket and the second he let go, the shield vanished. "Oohh, I heard about that one! The Green one sets up an inpenetrable barrier around whoever holds it. That'll come in handy." Shady reached into his pocket and touched the rock and the shield came up again. He thought about testing the shields strength but before he ask his friend someone spoke from the castle walls.
"Hey down there! You got that thing to work for you, you must be one of the Heroes! Come on in, theres something I need you for!" The person opened the main gate and the two gazed inside the castle. Black columns lined a hallway that led to a room in the back, the walls inside wer black and the floor was a dark grey. The only feeble light was provided by torches hanging from the pillars. Lave muttered something about cheerful places but Shady didn't quite hear it.
The two entered and as soon as they cleared the door it slammed shut. At the end of the hall stood a man with fiery red hair. He was holding something but it was too small to make out and it was too dark to see clearly anyway. "Welcome, I noticed you have the green and the brown rocks. Hand them over!" Shady looked at his friend and laughed.
"You've got to be kidding. Even if I did give them to you, they wouldn't work for you." The man snarled, becoming increasingly impatient.
"Listen here, the stones will work for anyone to whom their power is freely given, so hand them over." He held out his hand and Shady saw what he was holding. A small black rock with a deep violet glow around it. The man seeing Shady's response to the stone chuckled. "So you recognize this. Thats right this is the black happyrock, perhaps you'd like to see what it can do." He turned toward one of the pillars and the rock shot a deep purple beam. When the pillar was hit it began dissolving. After a few seconds all that remained was a smoldering pile of ash. "So hand them over if you don't want to get swept out of here next spring cleaning." Shady had to think fast, the man knew he had the green and the brown, but didn't know about the red and blue. He was also sure the man knew what his 4 did. *Thats it!*
"Lave catch!" Throwing the green rock to his friend and diving behind one of the pillars Shady pulled out the blue rock. Lave, upon catching the stone, was surrounded by the same shield that popped up around Shady when he touched it. The red haired man fired the black rock at Lave but it was easily stopped by the shield. He turned his attention toward the pillar Shady was hiding behind.
"That wont help you any, ha!" He exclaimed and melted that pillar too, Shady was prepared and already holding the Blue stone out.
"What do you think of this!" Shady yelled back and tapped into the man's mind to hear his thoughts. *ack, hes got the blue one, if he casts something I'm toast!* And the man dove behind a pillar on the opposite side of the room. Shady ducked behind a column that was still intact and thought to himself *blue increases magical power, thats why I couldn't feel any physical change* Remembering how he had friend the Gi-Ant Shady jumped out into the open and began focusing power through the stone into his hands. "Watts up doc!" He punned, before throwing his arms up and shouting "THUNDER!" again the purple lightning shot down from above and the flash lit up the entire room. Both Shady and Lave looked away from the brightness and one it subsided where the red haired man had stood now was a 4 feet deep crater. Floating lazily within was the black rock, unharmed by the attack. Shady walked over and picked up the rock. It lit up softly at his touch. "I hope I never have to use this." Remembering why they came, they headed to the back room of the castle. Surprisingly it was empty. Shady, more than a little confused, pulled the brown rock and asked again "How do we get to the Gold circle?" The white light shot out and floated at the center of the room. Lave shrugged and stepped closer to it. When he approached the light the room lit up with a light from an unknown source. Lave's image shimmered and then his color inverted before he vanished. Shady panicked ran to where his friend disappeared. The room again lit up but Shady wasn't even close to where Lave had been, Lave re-appeared with a smile on his face.
"It leads to another world, and it's a real eye strain too." His friend told him. "I think we should gather all the happyrocks from here before going to the other side, we might need them." Shady nodded and the two headed out of the castle.
Once outside Shady pulled out the brown rock "Where is the purple rock?" Guessing at a color. The rock shot out a light that floated up and waited to be followed. Shady smiled and turned back to his dragon form. Lowering a wing for his friend to climb on, Lave backed away.
"You go on ahead, I'll wait here." Shady laughed and took off following the light into the distance.