"SCATTER!" Lucy's voice called out a brief wind spell and the bird slammed into the invisible force that was suddenly sent flying at it, causing the flames of the bird's body to rip apart and fan out in separate directions. The creature let out an enraged shriek as its outline spliced, being pulled apart by the sudden wind caused from Lucy's spell. The trio took the suddenly delay to turn and race back towards the woods, a deep hiss echoing behind them as the flames of the Red Bird began to form together again and soon the creature was once more in its entirety. A sigh was heard and Ravyn's voice called out from behind the group.

"Well now you've gone and made it mad..."

A line of fire lashed out in front of the trio, stopping them in their tracks as the flames circled around them and enveloped them in a ring of fire. Another loud cry from the Red Bird, its sound echoing all around the three and suddenly the flames in front of the group leapt forward, forming themselves into the fire beast as it dove down on Ray and the windians. Lucy called out another scatter spell, and once more the fire was diverted from the group as a large wind picked up, pulling the flames apart before they reformed back together and an enraged Red Bird appeared once more, letting out a cry of frustration.

"These spells won't hold it back forever." Lucy watched as the Red Bird took to the air, circling above the trio. "And I don't think wind hurts it at all." The windian shook her head, trying to remember what she had read about the bird back in Windia.

"Well, if wind doesn't hurt it, at least it's slowing it down a bit. Does anyone else find something a little weird in the way it looks?" Ray was staring up at the bird uneasily. Janet raised her eyebrow at the dragon.

"Look weird? For crying out loud, it's made of FIRE for Landon's sake! Of course it looks weird!"

"No..." Ray shook his head. "I mean its colors are different now, it looks brighter."

"That's strange." Lucy scratched her head. "Why would it... oh no..."

"What?" Janet shot her friend a worried look. "What is it?"

"I just remembered, wind doesn't hurt the bird, but it does raise its offense for a period of time..."

Ray and Janet both turned and stared at Lucy.

"You mean to tell me..." Janet started to say, "that you've been blasting that thing with spells that will only make it stronger?"

"Well I forgot..." Lucy gave Janet a sheepish look. Her friend just groaned loudly.

"I don't believe this!"

"But on the plus side wind does keep it away from us..." Lucy did her best to reassure her friend.

"Yes! But now when it does hit us it'll-"

"RUN!" Ray's sudden shout of warning was followed by a loud screech and the Red Bird dived at the trio, sending the three scattering away from each other as they rushed to get away from the bird. The fire beast hit the ground hard where the three used to be standing, the force of the animal's impact sending out a shock wave of fiery wind that rushed over the three as they fled, knocking them over with its sudden blast. The body of the fire creature exploded into a splash of flames that washed over the ground in a large radius around the Red Bird's impact point, reaching out for the three fallen forms before the flames resided back, pooling together and once more they took the shape of the Red Bird. The beast let out another ear-piercing cry before it took to the air again.

"Oh how sweet." Ravyn's coo could be heard echoing through the air. "It's playing with you!"

"Yea, that's really sweet." Janet growled. "Lucy!" She rushed over to her friend and helped her up. "Do you have any idea how we're supposed to fight this thing?"

Lucy groaned and brushed herself off as Ray approached the two windians. The raven-haired girl thought for a second. "Water I think hurts it... does anyone here know any water spells?" Lucy and Janet exchanged glances before they both turned to Ray. Ray gave them both a questioning look.

"What?"

"Well?" Janet started at Ray expectantly.

"Well what?" The dragon rubbed the back of his neck uneasily.

"YOU'RE A DRAGON FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" Janet threw her hands up in the air in annoyance. "Can't you like, turn into something and beat that thing up?"

"Well um..." Ray rubbed the back of his neck again uneasily before turning to the other windian. "Lucy? Do you remember anything about the Red Bird's strengths and weaknesses."

Lucy sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, a thoughtful look in her eyes. "I think so... what do you need to know?"

Ray took a quick glance at his surroundings. "Well... it's too hot here to use water, most of the attacks would be weakened from the heat. Does lightning affect the bird any?"

Lucy was silent for a moment as she thought. "I think it might..."

"Wouldn't hurt to try." Ray shook his head and sighed. "Alright." The dragon glanced up at the Red Bird for a moment before he took a step back, unsheathing the long sword that had been slung across his back and plunged it into the ground before him, resting his hands over the handle of the weapon as he began to chant quietly. Janet and Lucy exchanged glances and took a few steps back from Ray, giving the dragon more space as he chanted.

"I hope this doesn't take long..." Lucy gazed back up into the sky where the Red Bird was circling.

A small wind kicked up around the chanting dragon, swirling around Ray's form as small electric streaks suddenly seemed to arch up from the ground, weaving around the dragon. Soon the wind effects around Ray strengthened, and the bolts of electricity were caught up in the swirling sphere of wind, surrounding the dragon and blocking him from view of the two windians. The ball of energy that had formed around Ray suddenly darkened to a dome of swirling blackness, expanding quickly until it stopped at a base radius of a few meters. The two windians stared at the dome in wonder for a moment, and suddenly the black form exploded outwards in a rush. A bright flash of light filled the area, followed by Ray's scream and then the roar of a dragon. When the flash finally died down, a large, dark blue wyvern, its long neck hung down with its narrow head resting against the dragon's chest, its large eyes closed as it breathed heavily, now stood where Ray once was. A shriek could be heard from above as the Red Bird, startled by the flash of light continued to circle overhead. The dragon reared its head up, opening its large eyelids to reveal the shining red eyes underneath them as it gazed up at the sky. Opening its large jaws to reveal the rows of fangs in the dragon's mouth, the creature bellowed out a challenge to the Red Bird and leapt into the air, beating its leathery wings quickly as it rose up to meet the bird. Lucy and Janet exchanged uneasy glances.

"Do you think he'll stand a chance against it?" Janet stared back up at the sky where the two great monsters where now circling each other. Lucy shrugged and turned to watch the dragon and bird herself.

"That really depends on which one you're talking about."

Ray bellowed again and reared his head back as he dived away from one of the Red Bird's attacks. The fire beast circled around in mid air and turned again, swooping after the dragon. With a snarl, the dragon pulled his wings up to form a type of shell around him, all the while concentrating on the energy around him as an electrical force began to build up in the back of Ray's throat. The energy expanded, creating a type of electric ball and the dragon's wings spread apart again, dropping their shell-like cover around the dragon as Ray opened his gaping maw and unleashed a breath attack of lightning energy that slammed into the charging Red Bird, causing the creature to shudder lightly and cry out as the attack hit it. With an enraged screech the bird continued its charge, slamming into Ray with enough force to almost knock the dragon out of the sky and the beast beat its leathery wings to keep from falling. Ray let out a cry of pain as the Red Bird's clawed talons dug into the dragon's hide, the fire of the beast enveloping Ray in a blanket of flames that licked at the dragon's skin. The bird opened its mouth in a loud shriek and Ray could just catch sight of the outline of four vicious looking canine teeth that sat inside the bird's beak before the creature snapped at the dragon, sinking its fangs into the dragon's neck. With a loud bellow of pain, the dragon lost the ability to hold himself in the air and fell down to the ground below, Ray's body still engulfed by the flames of the bird as it dropped out of the sky. The two beasts landed with a sickening thud and the Red Bird's body splashed out against the ground on impact once more, reforming itself a feet yards away from the wounded dragon that lay crumpled on the ground.

"RAY!" Lucy raced out to where the broken form of the dragon was currently struggling to get up. The Red Bird saw her approaching and let out a snarl before it leapt at the small windian. Lucy stopped and cast a hurried scatter spell, sending the flames of the Red Bird to swirl away from her as she ran once more to where Ray was now reverting back to his regular form.

"Ray are you alright?" She dropped down beside the blue-haired teen as he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, coughing loudly before glancing up at the newly reformed Red Bird.

"That didn't work too well did it." The dragon pushed himself into a standing position.

"Of course not you silly lizard." Ravyn's voice once again echoed through the area as she laughed at the futile attempts that the dragon had made. "Do you really think you can hurt my dear bird?"

Lucy scowled at the demon for a moment before turning to Ray. "Ray listen, I was thinking about the Red Bird. I don't think it's the bird you want to focus your attacks on at all."

"What?" Ray gave Lucy a hopelessly confused look. "Then what do I do?"

Lucy thought for a moment. "The book that I read about the Red Bird in, it mentioned that the creature came out during war and sided with one of the fighting sides. The bird was supposed to display the strength of the side it was fighting with. When the side was strong and victorious, the bird was aggressive and fierce. When the side began to lose and weaken, the bird began to lose interest until the side was defeated and the bird went away."

"So if we're going to get rid of the bird..." Ray cast a glance to where Ravyn was hovering before the volcano. "We have to get rid of the one it's fighting for."

Lucy nodded. "If you go against Ravyn, I think Janet and I can distract the Red Bird enough so that it won't bother you."

Ray sighed and glanced at the golden-eyed demon. She was too busy watching the bird as it began to circle in the air again to notice Ray and Lucy. The dragon nodded at Lucy weakly. "Alright, I'll see what I can do then." As Lucy headed back over to where she had left Janet standing alone, Ray began to chant once more in preparation of his transformation. Lucy reached her friend just as a blast of bright light lit up behind her and the bellow of a dragon could be heard.

"He's trying it again?" Janet stared at Ray in wonder as the wyvern took to the sky once more.

"Not exactly." Lucy gazed up in the air, scanning for the Red Bird. "Where'd the bird go?" Janet joined her friend in searching the area for the fire beast, and uneasy feeling rising up in her throat.

"This isn't good... where could it have gone?"

Janet's question was answered by a loud shriek and suddenly the fireball of a bird came rushing out from forest behind the two windians with great force, the flames of its body engulfing the trees around it as it moved and reducing the wood to smoking charcoal as it charged Janet and Lucy. With a startled cry the two windians shouting their own version of a wind spell, their magical blast hitting the bird and causing the flames to rush by them harmlessly as the swirling wind around them formed a type of safe barrier. With an infuriated cry, the fire beast formed together again on the other side of the windians and leapt at them, arches of its powerful flames reaching out to engulf the two girls in the inferno of the beast's attack. Janet and Lucy barely managed to rush out of the way before the creature splashed onto the ground behind them, reforming itself once more as it charged at the fleeing windians.

"Move move move." Janet repeated her chant to herself as she caught a glimpse of the Red Bird's fire spreading out along the trees around the two running windians, the flames quickly working to catch Lucy and Janet in a deadly trap.

"Split up!" Lucy and Janet shot off in two different directions, ducking around the flaming wall of trees as they hurried away from the charging bird. With a screech of fury, the bird skidded to a halt, its fires regrouping together before it turned and charged after Janet.

"DAMMIT! Why me??" Janet glanced over her shoulder at the charging bird that was quickly gaining on her. The windian sucked in a gulp of breath and pushed herself to move faster. You know, this would be a lot easier if I didn't have this stupid crossbow on my back right now... the aching of the weight of the weapon along with the weakening of Janet's knees was enough to make the windian stumble, and she lost her footing and tumbled to the ground. With a groan the windian tried to push herself up in an attempt to keep going. A cry from behind her startled her into glancing over her shoulder, and Janet's eyes went wide as she found the Red Bird to be almost on top of her. With a shudder, Janet closed her eyes and waited to feel the attack of the fire beast. It never came.

What... Janet opened her eyes and looked up at the fire bird that was perched in almost a crouch just a few yards in front of her. Why isn't it attacking?

The Red Bird seemed almost uneasy as it gazed down at Janet from its crouch, the flames of its body flickering around its outlined form as it shifted around in its position and peered down at Janet. With a low hiss, the bird shook its head, sending sprays of flames dancing through the air, and reared up again, leaping at Janet with a cry of attack.

"TORNADO!" Lucy's spell ripped into the Red Bird and tore the flaming form of the creature apart for a brief moment as the raven-haired windian rushed to help her friend up. "Come on, we'll lead it back to the volcano."

Janet nodded and she and her friend raced once more towards the volcano, the enraged Red Bird following quickly behind them.