Outside the mouth of the cave, Adrian and his friends had just arrived at another Burrly colony. Outside the cave, there was a sign with two arrows, one pointing past the cave saying "To Baldiu." The other arrow Barnes read out loud. "Be... Beware the Shiftevils..." Barnes and Wedge started to giggle. But Zeno wasn't as amused. "Adrian, you're not really going to let your brother die down there, are you?" he asked. Adrian looked inside the cave, but couldn't see anything past the darkness of the cave. "I'm sure he'll be fine," Adrian said as he tried to walk away. Zeno looked inside the cave as well. "Adrian, I'm not joking. Letting him die in this cave is going too far." Adrian tilted his head several times before looking back at the cave. "Oh, alright," he said before looking at Barnes and Wedge.

"Wedge, you go in and make sure my brother doesn't perish." Wedge started to choke upon being called out. "Baa duh, me? Why me?" Wedge asked. "Make Barnes do it!" That caused Barnes to stutter as well. "No way, man. He asked you!" Adrian could tell it would result in an argument, so he decided to conclude "Why don't you both go?" Both Barnes and Wedge froze in their tracks. They both start to stutter. Wedge started to near the cave first, followed by Barns. But as they got close, they noticed a flash inside the cave. An odd purple flash that illuminated the cave for a second.

"They're fine, let's go," Adrian said as he started to walk away. Wedge, Barnes, and Zeno all started to stutter. Adrian could tell they were questioning what he just said. "That was my brother, in case you were wondering. My brother and I have a lot of abilities, including those that are known to dragons. If I'm right, Salazar has not forgotten how to use the fire of the dragons." Wedge and Barnes were still near the cave. Wedge noticed something inside the cave. "Hey look guys, money." Inside the cave, there appeared to be some coins, possibly dropped by scared Grounderls or Werederls that ventured into the cave and dropped them. But before Wedge could grab any, Barnes started to drag him away from the mouth of the cave as Adrian and Zeno were leaving.

In the cave, Salazar and Groundy where wondering what to do with the Shiftevils. Salazar was thinking about their bodies. They were very slinky and hard to hit, but they weren't very sturdy. "Groundy, maybe we should try punching them," he suggested. "How will that help?" Groundy asked. "We might as well try, besides I'm pretty sure their bodies are subseptable to a blunt throw like a punch." Groundy simply nodded and they did as Salazar said. Salazar managed to punch one in the gut, and Groundy got one in the face.

But then the Shiftevils started to get rowdy. One of them managed to grab Salazar around the waist, digging it's claws into his skin, which wasn't any stronger than the Shiftevil's. Another caught Groundy by the legs and started to drag her. "Wait, let me try something," Groundy shouted. Groundy started to dig her claws into the ground as the Shiftevil dragged her around. And then, the ground started to rumble. The Shiftevils started to topple over as the ground shook and eventually released Groundy and Salazar, allowing them to escape.

"Wow, how did you do that," Salazar asked Groundy as they were running. "Us Grounderls have natural abilities over Earth. We can use the magnetic pull of..." Salazar just stopped her there. "Alright, I get it now. I learned a lot of that from school. ...Uh oh." Just when the two thought they were safe, more Shiftevils appeared to block them off. Now the two were starting to get nervous. "I think I'm starting to get sick," Salazar noted before clutching his chest with his claws. He then started to cough. After a few coughs, he coughed up a small flame. This gave Salazar an idea. "I think... if I..." Before he finished his own sentence, he started to belch out a long stream of bright purple flame in close proximity. To Salazar's surprise, the Shiftevils started to back off. Some of the poor Shiftevils even caught fire, and eventually the Shiftevils started to flee.

"Are you alright?" Groundy asked Salazar as she noticed him hunched over. Groundy and Salazar started to walk toward the exit of the cave. "Yeah, I think I'll be fine." Groundy was still baffled by what happened. "That didn't look like normal fire," Groundy mentioned. Salazar answered in kind. "It's dragon fire. I was able to breathe that stuff easily as a Marmera. But as a Pash, it takes a lot out of me. ...Ooh, coins!" Salazar pepped up as he saw the coins Wedge noticed before. Salazar started to gather the coins before considering Groundy. "Oh... We should probably share the coins," he said. But Groundy shook her head. "Nah, I don't need them. Help yourself."

Salazar gathered the rest of the coins before taking a look outside and taking in the sights ahead. "Is it... No way!" But it was. It was a Burrly colony. Groundy still had the map that the hermit Shiftevil gave them from before. "According to the map, this is the Veuda Burrly colony. And beyond the colony is Veuda Lake! We're on the right track." Both Salazar and Groundy were happy to know this, but deep down, Salazar wanted to walk around the Veuda Burrly colony first.

There were plenty of Grounderls and Burrlys and Earthurials littering the colony, even Werederls and Wereterrors. A lot of them were eve carrying baskets filled with many things like fruit, papers, toys, and many other things. The colony itself wasn't like the fields of the Baldiu colony, there was more grass and less trees, but still plenty of Burrly homes. As Groundy and Salazar were walking through the colony, Salazar eventually passed by a small Burrly girl carrying a basket filled with bread.

"I don't know about you, Groundy, but I'm hungry." Salazar knelled down to the Burrly and put a pleasant smile on his face. "May we please have a baguette?" The Burrly giggled before handing the baguette to Salazar. "Ask and you shall receive," she said in a high pitched voice. The voice made Salazar feel warm inside. Salazar traded a few coins for the requested baguette. He then broke off a piece of the bread before chewing down his piece. Salazar then handed the baguette to Groundy so she could have some.

"No thanks, I'm not hungry," Groundy said to him as he offered the baguette. "Are you sure?" Salazar asked. "It's going to be a long journey, and we should eat up." As Salazar was talking to Groundy about the baguette, a Wereterror with a basket of paint was walking by. Salazar eyeballed the basket, and then transferred the baguette to his tail. He went up to the wereterror and smiled. "Can I please use some of your paint?" Salazar asked. "Blue and yellow please.

Once again, the Wereterror lowered the basket to allow Salazar to dip his fingers in the paint. Salazar gave the Wereterror some more of his coins before dipping his hands into the blue and yellow paint. Salazar then started to rub his tummy with his paint covered claws. When he was done, there was an S on his chest with dripping blue and yellow paint. Salazar stared at the S before putting on a glum look. He then dropped to the ground and stared at the S, neverminding that the Bread Burrly and Paint Salesman were still watching.

"Groundy, did you notice a picture of me back at my house?" he asked. "When was a Marmera, I branded an S on my chest one day. It helped define and identify myself with the rest of the colony." Groundy couldn't help but feel sad herself. "You really miss being a Marmera, don't you?" she asked rhetorically. "But don't worry, we will get through this adventure together. ...I hope." Groundy and Salazar already came a long way, but the journey would only get harder from here on out.



Groundy, Grounderl, Burrly, and Wereterror belong to  Burgundy-Maroon2012