Chapter 97 - We meet again

Ian can be seen with his crew walking inside the island side by side. Their clothes all changed to ones more durable for the trip.

He had already explained what they were doing to the crew. And also explained about the mysterious island.

To say that they were only excited at the news would be an understatement. All of them were anticipating the trip with bated breaths.

They walked on the road of the forest while chatting among themselves. Mainly guessing what the cause for the island always moving could be. With each of them providing a guess.

"My guess would be that someone strong had used some sort of power on it to stay always moving." This was Ian's guess. To which Robin and Elene nodded. Someone could have in fact used some space-related power to make the island hard to find.

"Well, I think that there is some sort of device in the water moving it around." Stella too had a solid guess. Making Robin nod again. This was highly probable too with the people who lived there originally creating some sort of device to make the island hard to find.

Elene looked at them for a moment before she said her opinion.

"I have a feeling that whatever we would find would not be something you would expect at all." She said. There was a playful smile on her lovely face.

"My guess, however, would be that the island is naturally moving with no devices or powers. As in this had occurred naturally" She said her guess. The rest gave nods after a bit of thinking. There were many islands in the new world with similar weird happenings.

Bert just stayed silent. He didn't know how the island would be moving and didn't want to sound stupid and say something irrelevant.

The island was pretty big so unless had them all running, they would be spending the whole night walking and only probably reach the end the next morning.

As such he told them to stop for a bit. They did and looked at him waiting for him to talk.

"At this rate, we're moving at we are going to be spending the night out. So I'm going to speed things up" Ian told them. And as they nodded he used his energy to make a platform for them to stand on before he lifted off the air and brought them all with him as he headed inside the forest in a much faster way than before. They were used to this so they didn't panic or anything.

Using this method to venture even deeper inside the island had them very quickly reach the usual part where all who reach it return scared. Including Ian in the past when he was still young.

This time, however, Ian and co only felt something gaze at them very briefly before withdrawing its gaze just as fast as it swept by them.

They had only held their breath for a few seconds, but to them, it felt like they were holding their breaths for years. They took deep breaths to calm their selves down.

Then Ian the strongest of them recovered faster than the rest and said.

"Well we have permission from my father so we can continue." He said. And then continued flying them forward even deeper inside.

****

After a while, they had already emerged from the forest and reached the end of the island. But for a bit, they weren't able to see anything. Until suddenly the ground started shaking as if there was an earthquake.

They all watched nervously but still excited to see what was happening.

Ian and Elene the calmest of them all observed as something was making its way up from the end of the island.

Something huge. Something who's eye alone was as big as the odyssey.

When it emerged at whole did Ian finally know what it was?

It was a dragon's head. And since he and the rest were pretty high in the air they were able to see its front flippers. And with Ian taking them even higher at a sudden realization he had, they were able to see its back flippers too. Plus a tail at the very beck.

It was a huge turtle-like creature with a long tail and neck with large, taloned flippers. Its head was that of a dragon and had a golden crest down the center.

The energy he was able to feel from it was the highest he had ever seen so far. He finally knew what the danger that drove him from reaching the end of the island all those years before. Even now he was sure that this dragon turtle would be able to dispose of him easily.

"Greetings… son of the guardian." A voice suddenly spoke inside Ian's head.

Ian instinctively knew that it was the turtle island creature.

"Guardian?" He asked. Was it talking about his father?

"Your father is the appointed guardian of this island on my back," It said.

"Who appointed him as such?" Ian asked.

"I, of course." It replied in a matter of fact tone.

He nodded. He lowered himself and rest to the ground before he eyed the creature.

"But why does he need to protect the island?" Ian asked.

"It's not my place to tell you that." It replied after staying silent for a while.

He was about to ask what that meant when he saw the turtle's eyes change color. They were green when they suddenly became yellow. Along with new yellow lines that suddenly appeared on its head.

Then a very familiar voice that Ian couldn't forget spoke in his mind.

"We meet again young Ian." The voice said.