~~~~~very rough draft still very much in progress~~~~


On a cool autumn evening in a hollowed out log, a young Popoko named Flizzcuf nibbled an acorn and gazed up at the stars just beginning to make an appearance in the sky. Slowly his eyes dropped to the large smoking silhouette of a mountain menacingly cutting into the otherwise serene skyline. He took a deep breath and fought off a shudder. This was it, his life's journey was right there in front of him. In the morning the last day of his cursed life would begin. He climbed under his blanket of leaves and slowly drifted to sleep trying to convince himself he was ready.

He awoke early the next morning to the sound of Cardies singing. A Loysius late to bed hooted quietly as it drifted to sleep. Flizzcuf yawned and stretched, threw his satchel over his back and began scurrying toward the looming mountain, drawing courage from thoughts of what he was running toward. The legend of the Dragon's Aery, and most importantly the pearl located within. The pearl that would grant anyone with the strength, courage, and wisdom to lay hand (or paw) on it one wish.

He reached the foot of the mountain far faster than he imagined he would, the sun was still below the highest point in the sky. He took out the map his mysterious friend had left for him, located the first cave entrance, and began his climb. She had shown him the shortest route to the Aery, but she had warned it was also the most dangerous. Moving quickly and silently was essential. The most fierce of creatures lived in this mountain, and they did not like intruders.

He reached the cave and cautiously entered. He looked around to find over a hundred Bartholomews hanging from the roof of the cave, who appeared to be sleeping. Silently he crept through the darkest darkness he'd ever experienced. Feeling his way along the right wall, he paws were scurried across by things he had to fight from imagining. He fought back squeaks with each touch and desperately fought the urge to run. After what felt like an eternity he finally saw the faint grey of the exit and ran for it.

He burst out onto a ledge covered in ash and soot and stopped just short of falling off into a pit of lava. After regaining his composure, he again took the map out of his satchel and pin-pointed his next destination. Slowly making his way along the narrowing ledge, he kept his ears perked for any danger he could make out over the sound of the boiling magma. Inch by inch he made his way to the end of the ledge, a vertical wall of volcanic rock. Taking a deep breath, he began the daunting climb.

Halfway up, he heard a terrible screech that startled him into almost losing his footing. He pressed himself against the rock and peered out. Trying his best to control his trembling, his eyes strained to find the source of the horrible sound, but he saw nothing through the smoke. The popoko tentatively reached a paw up to continue his ascent when another screech pierced through the smoke. This time he saw the source. Flying toward him was a fiery bird, talons outstretched. Flizzcuf froze in fear, almost forgetting to hold on to the rocks. He closed his eyes, prepared himself for the worst, heard a thud.,, then another... and another. Flizzcuf slowly looked up where he saw a Torrey on a ledge above, throwing rocks at the bird. With the torrey was a strange looking creature. It looked like creature he had heard many stories about, a human, but this human had large ears and a fluffy tail. He wondered if perhaps he had lost his mind. The human like creature shouted something he couldn't understand and a moment later a rope fell to his side.

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