RoA- Memory End

The monsters had taken their toll on the racers. Hawthorn's tattered cast had slipped off and much to his horror; he discovered his leg no longer straightened properly. To make matters worse, his entire body was covered in burns and bites from the monsters, and his right eye was already swelling and turning a nasty shade of purple.

Echo had fared better, but the monster attack had done little to quell her fears. Her ears twitched anticipating the next painful tremor.

"Thanks echo…" Hawthorn said. Echo solemnly smiled.
"Thanks… not Ymp." She replied. Hawthorn smirked.
"It's Hawthorn."

Silence followed. The two had little to say to each other, and were grateful for the calm. Echo's ears tiled forwards, suddenly alert.

"Hear… portal…"
"Oh?" Hawthorn brought himself to his feet and strenuously made his way to the edge of the peak they had been resting on. Sudden movements caught his eye. A thousand angry red eyes glared up at him from the below, growing ever closer.

"Oh."
"…w-what?" Echo asked stepping forward, her foot sinking deeply into the muddy earth as she approached. The ground below her collapsed inward, sending cracks all along the peak, and from the earth swarmed hundreds of monsters.

Echo wasted no time getting away. Her wings instantly lifted her into the sky, leaving Hawthorn only a moment to fend for himself before she retrieved him. Quickly she flew away while he swatted off a few clinging lava monsters. Confident she was now safe; she began to bank towards another peak.

"Don't land!" Hawthorn commanded.
"Have to…" Echo responded, oblivious to her passengers inability to hear her.
"Don't land!" He repeated.
"They hurt…"  She nearly whispered.

No sooner did her claw scrape the ground did Lava monsters appear. They swarmed relentlessly up her foot and burned their fire breath into her toes. Shrieking in pain, she leapt back into the sky and didn't look back. Higher, higher, higher she flew, above the clouds, above the mountains, far away from the painful burns and bites.
Slowly Hawthorn wrapped his long tail around Echo's neck and pulled himself out of her grip. He treacherously hung himself under her neck and held himself so he was facing the dragon face to face.

"Where is the portal Echo?"
"Nearby."
"Do you think you can get there?"
"Not going down there."
"We can't stay up here forever."
"I can."

Hawthorn was silent a moment, unable to contain his frustration. Finally his face hardened and his expression became very stern.

"Get us to the portal, or I'll hurt you worse."  Echo lowered her ears in confusion.
"You say mean things… but your voice isn't scary."

Hawthorn did not respond, he just slowly began to tighten his grip around Echo's neck.

"Ahhh!" she squealed, but Hawthorn's chokehold continued to tightened. Slowly, the dragon began to descend.

The portal's bright light illuminated one of the many caverns that riddled the landscape. It seemed like it would be simple just to fly in and teleport away, but the pair knew better. Sure enough, as they approached, angry red eyes appeared to guard the entrance.  

"Careful."  Hawthorn warned, but his only response was a low pitched, persistent whine. Echo entered the cave, careful not to land and eyeing the lava monsters. They congregated above the intruders head and hissed fire on her, prompting her to fly faster.  A few brave ones leapt from the roof and immediately began to bite Echo, reacting quickly Hawthorn released his grip on Echo's neck and swing his tail to swat the monsters away.

Down fell the monsters, and down fell Hawthorn. He tumbled onto the ground and was immediately swarmed over. Bitten, burned, tugged, the monsters were not happy to see him.

Hawthorn screamed.  He tried to swat them away, but the monster overcame him and pinned him down, helpless.

Echo looked back, hesitating to leave him to be torn apart. Her eyes darted to the glowing portal. It was the only way to save him now.

"…please help." She whispered.
She saw the tusk-dog drowning slowly in the tar.
"No…"
She saw the deer and red wolf badly hurt, barely hanging on.
"…lie…"

With new resolve Echo turned and descended on the monsters, attempting to grab Hawthorn. She managed to get a decent grip on him but the monsters were beginning to swarm over her too. She strained against their added weight and struggled to keep aloft. Eventually the monsters managed to pin her wings down, causing the pair to crash into the ground, only a few feet away from the portal.

The monsters swarmed over them, crawling crawling crawling. Burning. Biting. Burning. Biting. It was hopeless. They were destined to be lava monster food.

But the portal was so close.

It wouldn't take much. Granted, he didn't know how the portals worked. It was entirely likely he would end up without a tail, but he had to try.

Hawthorn grabbed Echo's paw with his own two, and wildly lashed his tail forward, his tail landing on the portal. He closed his eyes, hoping for the best.

Pop.
----
Water splashed. Burning flames sizzled, and died. Lava monsters twitched their last twitches, and Hawthorn and Echo were back in the safety of the Alerian check point.

He tried to stand up, to get a hold of his surroundings, but standing was nearly impossible. His legs shook violently and his stomach protested. His vision became spotted and the room spun.

He awoke just a few minutes later lying flat on his back surrounded by barley perceivable, but familiar faces.

"Come on man… can you see us?"
"mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" he mumbled.
"Syra, hurry!"
"I got it, I got it."

Hawthorn felt experienced hands slowly lift his head up and pour a foul tasting substance down his throat. He gagged, and rolled over coughing, trying to get rid of the unpleasant sensation.

"His skin isn't as badly burned as I would have expected from watching the tape. He should recover in a week or two. Though, there really isn't anything we can do about that leg. He shouldn't have been allowed to race on it." Syra noted.

"We're still left with the problem of who the victor should be."  Nah'Yair glowered.
"Why is there a problem?"  Hitch asked.
"He stepped on the bad first. He should be the victor." Tasman's eyes burned holes into the ground as he spoke.
"And since when were you two his cheerleaders." Nah'Yair snapped, then regaining her composure sighed. "Fine, Hawthorn wins. Let's send him to go be dragon chow!"

No one laughed, and Nah'Yair stomped away.

Hawthorn still just barely cognitive of what was going on began to struggle violently. A calming, maternal hand began to stroke his fur, and he stopped moving, still breathing deeply in panic.

"We still need to get some bandages on you." Riley cooed, and Hawthorn relaxed.

---
A few hours later, Hawthorn was walking alone through the halls, desperately trying to find a Echo.

"Hawthorn… we need to talk." A voice spoke, but Hawthorn didn't hear it. A gentle, but very painful poke roused his attention. Wincing he turned around, to see his round 1 opponents. The two he could have left for dead, but saved. The same two who had conspired to get him arrested.

"Come on man… just listen." Tasman pleaded. Hawthorn only raised his eyebrows and turned away, leaving the duo puzzled. "huh… oh… Oh $^%!" The tree kangaroos ran to catch up with Hawthorn.
"Hey he didn't mean that!" Hitch insisted. Hawthorn didn't look.
"We're sorry okay?" Tasman said." Hawthorn couldn't hear.
Refusing to acknowledge their presence, Hawthorn continued forward.
"Ugh, fine!" Tasman yelled at Hawthorn's retreating figure. Pissed, he and his brother turned around and stormed off.
"Yeah, yelling at the deaf guy. How'd that work out for you?" Roach said.
"Shut up."

It took Hawthorn a few more minutes, but he eventually found the dragon in question. She was curled into a ball in a small corner of the hallway, her companion, the little black creature called Ymp sleeping under her wing. Hawthorn lowered his ears, and slowly approached her. Gently he placed his paw on her nose, and her eyes fluttered open.

"Are… you alright?" He asked, his ears growing ever lower.
"…fine."
"Look… I'm sorry about earlier." Echo's ears twirled in confusion.
"Why sorry?"
"You… you don't remember?"
"Not well… sorry. I remember… friend."

Hawthorn felt as though a great weight had been taken off of his shoulders. He wasn't sure why she didn't remember his threats, but he was enormously grateful she didn't hold it against him. At a random urge he slowly began to climb onto her head.

"Your ears got pretty badly burnt."
"…"

Slowly he took one of the damaged ears between his paws and gently began to clean them with his tongue. Echo was alarmed at first, but slowly relaxed, and slowly drifted back to sleep. She heaved a heavy relaxed sigh.

"I'm going to miss you."
"…not leavin…"
"Not yet, no. But soon, you're a smart kid. You won't want to stay here forever. You're going to have a great life someday. And I will miss you."

Hawthorn paused cleaning Echo's burns for a moment and stared forward.

"…I miss you too."