Once the sun rose over the horizon, it shone brightly into Jo-Jo’s window. The sunlight touched her, warming her body. Jo-Jo squinted as the sun light hit her eyes. She leaned up, threw the sheets over and scratched her sides. “This is way too early for me to be getting up,” she yawned. Jo-Jo stood up and went to change clothes. Once she was dressed she opened the window. Seeing how nice it was, she decided to take a walk.
Jo-Jo walked out into her front yard. Her pupils turned to a slit, adjusting from dark to light. Her dark, baggy clothes took in the sun, making her feel even warmer. “Oh well,” she sighed. Bare-foot, she walked out to the dragon fountain in the front of her mansion. This was her favorite spot to hang out when she had nothing else better to do, which was perfect for the occasion. Jo-Jo jumped on to the fountain side and wadded through the water. She hugged the large concrete dragon statue, which stood in the middle. The statue reminded her of Zapphire, who didn’t seem to be around today. She glanced from left to right, but Zapphire wasn’t in sight. He usually sleeps in until Jo-Jo goes to wake him, but today he must have gotten up early. Strange, Spike wasn’t around either. “Hmm,” she thought out loud. “He’s probably out riding Niphe or training Shadow.”
She walked around back covering the east side where a unicorn fountain stood. Passing that, she continued southward, taking in the beautiful surroundings. Coming upon her gryphon fountain, she jumped over the water and twirled around it. Perhaps she should go see Spelepstro; it has been quite a while since she had seen him. Looking ahead, an open field stretched about her for three hundred acres from east to west. Her brother owned quite a bit of land, which was great for running the unicorns when needed.
Walking on, she passed through the Choragi Forest. Not much commotion was going on. A few birds sang here and there, crickets chirping every now and then. ‘Oh, what a boring day,’ she thought. Her soft padded feet made hardly any noise on the wet ground of the forest. Some dragonfly fairies flew past her face, buzzing about. She swatted them out of her way and continued on.
Exiting the Choragi Forest, something caught her attention from the west. She perked her ears up to listen. “Errrrrrr, ourrrrrr,” the sound echoed.
“What a beautiful sound,” she thought. “It sounds, familiar…” The mysterious melody seemed to lull Jo-Jo into a trance. “Dragon Song?” she asked herself.
“Larrrrrr, rourrrrr,” the distant music echoed again. “It must be...” With those final words, she began to run across the sunlit fields. The faint cry of Dragon Song filled Jo-Jo’s mind. “Wow, it’s been so long since I’ve heard Dragon Song,” she exclaimed. Running even faster now, she was anxious to see what dragon was crying out
After running for quite some time, Jo-Jo began to tire. “Where is it coming from!?” Soon the dragon cry got clearer, louder. Jo-Jo panted and kept on. Alas, she came upon Senthophia’s shoreline. Out before her, the ocean stretched as far as the eye could see. “What?” Jo-Jo stuttered. “The song….it’s coming from the ocean? Well, so much for a boring day.” She took a deep breath and backed up a couple of feet from the shore. Then she stretched out her wings and began flapping. She took off out across the sea. Jo-Jo just had to find where that song was coming from.
Across the ocean she flew. Jo-Jo morphed her wings to a larger size so she could fly faster; she was getting impatient. Below her, the water seemed to be racing against her. Flying low, she beat her wings hard and kicked up some water. The music was making her adrenaline rush and she was feeling exhilarated. But then, Jo-Jo lowered an eyebrow to see she was approaching an island. “What? I don’t remember an island being this close to Senthophia” she said to herself. “There’s no way I could’ve flown that far in such a short amount of time.” The Dragon Song was ringing in her ear now. She came upon the island and set her feet upon the sand. The breeze gently touched her face, as if it was greeting her. “Odd…there’s another spirit here.”
Jo-Jo closed her eyes and concentrated, the song seemed to be desperately crying out to her. “There!” she exclaimed while pointing a claw upward. The cry was coming from inside a large mountain. “Since I’m here, I might as well explore.” She shrugged her shoulders and with that, she entered the grove of palm trees and exotic flowers. With so many different flowers around, Jo-Jo’s sensitive nose picked up the faintest smell. “Ew, too many flowers.” she complained. The intoxicating smells were making her light-headed. Jo-Jo pushed through the low hanging limbs and vines to reach the foot of the mountain faster. Finally exiting, she coughed viciously. “Oh man, that was nasty…”
With the song still coming at her from every direction, she looked up the mountain. “Hmmm, I guess I’ll just fly up there,” she said to herself. Jo-Jo started flapping her wings and she took off. After breaching the treetops, she maneuvered around more quickly to get a good look at the mountain. “Ah, here we go. Now where is that song comin’ from?”
She scoped the area and found a gigantic hole entering into the mountain. “That must be the source,” she said while dashing towards the entrance. Landing near the mouth of the cave, she heard the cry of another dragon. “What, another one? I can’t believe it!” she laughed while smacking her forehead. “But I’m gonna take care of this one first.”
Jo-Jo entered the cave; both Dragon Songs were getting louder now. As she walked deeper into the cave, the darker it got. “Dammit! Even being a feline I can’t totally see in the darkness.” Jo-Jo stumbled around for a bit, trying to find her way around. “I hope I find that dragon soon…” she shuddered. Then all of a sudden, both songs stopped. Total silence filled the cave. “Okay….This is nice.”
FROOM! A large noise bounced and echoed off the walls. Jo-Jo looked around frantically. Her eyes rest upon a white egg-shaped ball that began to glow in the corner of the room.
Jo-Jo growled automatically in self-defense, but after a few moments, all that remained to stir was the white glowing ball in the room. A pair of eyes appeared out of the darkness.
“Jo-Jo?” a voice asked.
“Zapphire, is that you?” she asked suspiciously.
“Yes, it’s me.” Then a burst of flame shot out from his nostrils, illuminating the room.
“Ah, okay. I knew I felt another presence here. But, were you the one crying Dragon Song?”
”No, I heard the Dragon Song too, that’s how I got here. But I was going come and get you anyway. Look what I found.” Zapphire opened his massive arms and revealed a glowing pure white dragon egg.
Jo-Jo knelt down and examined it. “Wow, I can’t believe it!” She twirled around with glee. “Zapphire, I thought you were a boy dragon!” she snickered.
“Very funny…” he replied while trying to think of a good retort. “I found this egg here; I didn’t make it. Either way, I’m not very good at being a father, but we should take it to Niphe and Spike. They should know something about this.”
After that, Jo-Jo exited the cave, closely followed by a squirming Zapphire. He edged his way carefully out of the cave.
“Here, get on,” he commanded. Zapphire leaned down and Jo-Jo hopped on.
“You know, I was wondering where you were today.”
“Well, I wasn’t too far from you, was I?” Zapphire smiled and spread his great wings. “Here we go, hold on.” With that he took off carefully, but gracefully. Beating his wings heavily, he wanted to get to Niphe as soon as possible. But he was cautious with the precious cargo he carried.
Meanwhile, at the Isle of Exile, Niphe was apprehending the same situation. Niphe had heard Dragon Song coming from the inside of Vulcan Volcano. Following it he found a coal black dragon egg. While Spike was at the other side of Exile Isle training Jo-jo the hybrid, he had heard Dragon Song too. Hopping on the back of Jo-jo, he headed towards the lulling music. Following it had led him to Niphe. Wondering if Niphe had called him, Spike questioned him. The same thing had happened as with Jo-Jo and Zapphire.
“Where do you think Niphe would be right now?” Jo-Jo yelled to be heard over the roaring wind.
“If the prophecy is true…” Zapphire began.
“Prophecy?” she asked. “It’s a wonderful time to bring that up you know.”
“Yes, I know. I’ve never told you, but I will try to explain it to you as soon as we find your brother and Niphe.”
After a few moments of silence, Zapphire spoke again, “Knowing Niphe, he’s probably meditating or encountering the same situation. Now let’s hurry.” Soaring through the sky, Zapphire flew as fast as he could.
Zapphire flew around to the east side of the isle, scoping the land for Niphe. Finally, they had spotted them. Spike, Niphe, and Jo-jo the hybrid were all gathered around the black dragon egg. Niphe spotted Zapphire and Jo-Jo flying towards them.
“Look,” Niphe said, “I knew they would be here.”
Zapphire landed gently on the dried lava that met the sea. Jo-Jo jumped off his back and fluttered down to the ground. “Hey Spike, have we a story to tell you!” Jo-Jo exclaimed.
”Do you know anything about this?” Spike inquired insistently.
“Ask Zapphire, he seems to know a lot about this,” she said while pointing a claw at her dragon.
“Yes, just as I had imagined,” Niphe stated.
”Please explain,” Spike insisted.
Niphe and Zapphire looked at each other, “I’ll go first, Zapphire. As prophesy states, a long time ago in the time before time, two great creatures roamed the earth; one of great love and one of great hate.”
”They sound like prophets,” Jo-Jo interrupted.
“Yes, indeed. As I was saying, the creature of great love was like, well, an angel. The creature of great hate was like an evil demon. Prophecy also states that in a great battle, they both were overcome by the other’s power. They both had died. As their spiritual bodies ascended and descended to Heaven and Hell, the world was peaceful once more.”
”But what does this mean?” Jo-Jo questioned.
“I think I know,” Spike assumed. “Are these eggs the creatures in the time before time, only in egg form?”
“As far as prophecy goes, we cannot be certain though,” Zapphire added.
“Well, it sure sounds close to it,” Jo-Jo began. “I mean, we have found a white and black dragon egg. White representing love and black representing hate.”
“Sounds logical captain,” Spike chuckled. Jo-Jo glared at her brother.
“Please you two, now is not the time to joke,” scolded Zapphire.
”Sorry, Zaph,” Jo-Jo said. “But what are they doing here? And if these eggs hatch, doesn’t that mean the world will be thrown into chaos?”
“What do you mean?” questioned Spike.
Niphe answered, “Jo-Jo is exactly right. If the prophecy is true and these eggs hatch, the world will be a dreadful place.”
”I agree,” added Zapphire. “In the time before time, the planet was just a huge battle stadium to those great creatures.”
“And if the creatures are released back into the world, then we all will suffer,” commented Spike.
Jo-Jo interrupted, “Hold on. What if we just kill them before this happens all over again? And you still didn’t answer my last question!”
“I thought about disposing the eggs too,” stated Niphe totally ignoring Jo-Jo’s whining. “But we can’t.”
“Why!” Spike exclaimed.
“I shall explain,” Zapphire answered. “At the end of the prophecy, it said that if the creature of great love triumphs over hate, then the planet will be blessed.”
“Then why can’t we just kill the evil egg?” insisted Spike.
“One cannot hatch without the other. Though totally different in beliefs, they share a special bond between each other.” Niphe pointed out.
“Back up for a minute,” Jo-Jo said while throwing her hands up. “Now that I think of it, we’re balancing on a teeter-totter over a toothpick. This all could just be a bunch of hoo-ha.”
Spike nodded in agreement, “I’m goin’ with Jo-Jo on this one. Think back when studying the Code of Gryphon, it had its own prophecy too. And it hasn’t come to be yet, has it?”
“Let’s just keep this at a stand still for now,” said Niphe while making a stopping motion with his claws.
“What about the eggs?” Jo-Jo asked. “Can’t we just kill them both? Forget about the blessing of the world. If all of this is true and we release them from their egg confinement, the world may be plunged into darkness.”
“Are you that intent on killing them Jo-Jo?” Her brother asked.
“Frankly, I don’t give a damn.” she answered.
“Silence!” Niphe bellowed. “We shall keep them at bay until further notice.”
”But won’t they hatch?” Jo-Jo asked.
”Dragon eggs are unique, remember? They won’t emerge from their shells until dragon breath is breathed upon them.” Zapphire answered.
”Wow, I didn’t know that,” she said while scratching her head. "So, who keeps the eggs?”
They all looked around and pointed at each other.
“Oi…” Niphe moaned. “I shall keep them in my lair. At least I won’t have to lose sleep about them hatching.”
“Then it’s unanimous,” Jo-Jo exclaimed. “Let’s go home!” Zapphire bent down and Jo-Jo hopped on his back. “Hey Spike, what time will you be home?”
“I have to take Jo-jo back to Apocalypse and Shadow, after that I have some unfinished business to take care of, and then I should be home.”
“Okay,” she hollered while Zapphire took off into the sky. And with a waving paw, she was gone.
Spike waved good-bye and mounted up on Jo-jo they hybrid, “Niphe, keep watch over the eggs. I wouldn’t want something to happen to them.”
“I will Spike,” Niphe assured.
“Hyah!” Spike kicked Jo-jo’s sides and she took off. “Farewell, Niphe!”
Niphe nodded and turned away to look at the eggs that rested at his feet. He picked them up gently and returned to his lair. Inside, lava boiled all around, bursts of hot magma shot up through lava geysers and the smell of sulfur was abundant. Niphe set the eggs down on a pedestal in front of his meditating shrine and admired them. “This isn’t good…” he thought.
Meanwhile…
Zapphire and Jo-Jo had arrived at the Crystal Caverns. “Zapphire, I’m gonna do some exploring, so you stay here or do whatever.”
”Okay, child. If you need me, just call.”
”I will.” Jo-Jo took off with a run and a jump. She was curious about what her brother had said earlier. “Unfinished business?” She asked herself. “What unfinished business?” It didn’t take long for Jo-Jo to reach the Isle of Exile, since the Crystal Caverns were nearby. Jo-Jo flew over to where Apocalypse, Shadow, Spike, and Jo-jo the hybrid were standing. Quietly landing, she hid behind a berry-bush and perked up her ear to listen. She heard Spike speak. “Shadow, I want you to look after Jo-jo while I’m gone. Apocalypse, you and I are going to Senthophia’s library to have a history lesson.”
”How silly of me,” Jo-Jo laughed silently. “Why should I accuse my brother of anything suspicious?” Before taking off to head back home, Jo-Jo waited for Spike and Apocalypse to head out. Once they did, Jo-Jo was about to do the same when a voice from behind spoke.
“Eavesdropping again, are we Jo-Jo?” It was Spike’s other wolffrin, Shadow.
“I can’t hide anything from you, can I?” Jo-Jo chuckled while emerging from her berry-bush hide-away. She walked up to Shadow, who was lying down on the ground near Jo-jo the hybrid and sat down herself.
“What is your reason this time?” Shadow questioned.
”Well,” she began. “Earlier I thought Spike said something suspicious and I just had to check it out.”
”Quite like you, Jo-Jo. What is this, the seventh time this month?” he asked sarcastically.
”Bite your tongue!” she said while gently smacking his nose. “You know me, I’m as curious as a cat, literally!”
“And independent as well, where is Zapphire?”
”He’s back at home.”
Jo-jo the hybrid started nudging Jo-Jo.
“Okay, okay. I’ll pet you!” She then started rubbing Jo-jo’s nose.
”She IS an attention craving little kitten,” Shadow added.
”She’s very much like me, you know.”
”How is that?” he questioned. Shadow looked curiously at Jo-Jo.
“Well, I’m very independent when I want to be alone, but when I want attention, I’ll ask anybody for it.”
”Yes, I see your point.”
Changing the subject Jo-Jo said, “I wonder what Jo-jo would say if she could talk?”
”You do not need words to communicate, Jo-Jo. If you look, she talks with her body language very much like you do when you are around boys.”
Jo-Jo blushed, “I just like to talk to guys…that’s all!”
”Yes, I’m so sure,” Shadow teased.
Jo-Jo ignored him and stood up to stretch. “Well, I’m heading out, farewell Shadow.” She flew away into the clouds as Shadow watched her disappear into a little dot. Shadow rested his head between his paws and fell asleep with a grin on his face.
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