Eric was still stuck in a dream like state during that time. He had just heard a voice and began to look around to see where it had came from.
"Hello?" Eric called out. "Is there someone there?"
No answered as he continued to fly over to no where. He didn't know what else to do. As he floated for a little while, he then stopped as he saw someone in front of him. It was a young man about 14 or so, with burgundy red hair that went to his shoulders. He was dressed in a dark brown coat with a white shirt, green vest and the same color brown pants with black shoes. Chained to his vest appeared to be a strange object. The metal part of the object was almost a smooth oval shape, but on top of it had four curved corners that made it look dragon's head (with four "horns" on top. Two on one side and two on the other) In the middle of the strange pendant was a large ruby gem. Upon the man's ruffle collar was also a red ruby.
When the boy opened his eyes, he revealed to have unusual golden eyes and in his hands was a scythe. At the top where the blade came out, was a large round disk with a large ruby just like the pendant on his vest and collar jewel. This disk was on both sides of the scythe. Upon his back were large reddish brown wings.
Despite the usual appearance, the young man had a kind and warm expression in his face. There just wasn't a scary feeling about him. His appearance just didn't matter. The wings, the scythe, the gold coin eyes and the strange jewels didn't matter. The warmth in his face and just the aura around him, didn't make you care about that. You just felt he was good.
Least to Eric, who was cautious but approached the strange young man anyway.
"Um..." Eric began to say "Hi...uh...Who are you?"
"My name is Rosario Harmoni." The young man said. The young boy spoke in a soft and light tone of voice. There wasn't a specific accent. (If you want picture his voice as being the same as the English voice of Takato from Digimon Tamers except slightly deeper being he's 14).
"I'm Eric Vanheart." Eric introduced himself.
"Oh, those no need to tell me who you are." Rosario said "I know."
"You do? How's that?" Eric asked
"Because I'm a vampire too." Rosario explained then he chuckled "Well its not just that. You see, I came here because I too possess the crystal heart of a dragon and it called upon me to come to you in this dream."
"What do you mean?"
****
"Woo hoo!" Nuka cheered as he leaped around in air in celebration. “We are finally winning against the knights and we did it without that trump, Nny!"
“Oh quit your obnoxious yelling!" Anne snapped. “It’s just as bad as your sniveling! "
“Jee, Anne would you just lighten up?" Nuka whined.
“Shut up the both of you!" Mr. Eff snapped at the both of them. “We still haven’t finished them off yet!"
“Do we have to kill them right now though? " Nuka asked in a slobbering kind of way. “I was hoping to torture the pigtail girl in front of Nny… Maybe have some ‘special’ time too, if you know what I mean."
“Ugh!" A disturbed shiver went down Anne’s back as he said this. “Please keep your sick fantasies to yourself!"
“Enough! " said the annoyed voice of Johnny who floated behind them in his armor form. He floated down between Anne and Nuka.
“Nny…" Anne said in surprise.
“I’ll finish them off." Nny said
Hearing Nny’s voice Devi look up at him. “Nny…"
Nuka gawked in shock and huffed “Hey why should you…"
“Lay a finger on her and I’ll turn you inside out." Johnny eyed him threatenly.
Anne just stayed quiet like she wisely should. Not even uttering a breath to him.
“Well Devi looks like you get to hang out with Nny after all!" Anne said in a fake cheery voice.
“Shut up." Nny told her causing her to back away slowly.
“Alright!" Mr. Eff said “Nny means business! About f@#$ time! Go get them!"
With that Nny flew forward at Devi.
****
“What do you mean you were called upon into this dream and what do you mean like me you have a stone of a dragon? I have a stone of a dragon?" Eric asked Rosario.
Rosario chuckled “You sound just like me when I first became a vampire and a hero."
“Huh?" Eric replied in confusion. Then Eric looked in shock when something appeared behind Rosario. It was a red medieval type dragon appeared behind Rosario.
Rosario just smiled and answer “We’re actually just both dreaming. I guess you can say we’re sharing a dream. "
“We are?" Eric asked
Then Rosario nodded and then explained “As for the dragon stone, hold out your wrist you wear your special item on."
“My special item? " Eric replied and then he held out his right hand. With that the gauntlet appeared on his wrist.
Rosario nodded as he said “That stone is actually the spiritual heart of a dragon. Just like mine."as he held the strange dragon head shape pendant of his.
Eric gasped in surprise.
Rosario’ s face became a bit serious. “But that’s why it backfired on you. Since it’s the heart of a dragon, it wants lend it’s power to someone that’s worthy of it’s power."
Eric looked at him in surprise again but a small sad expression came on his face.
“A dragon’s heart is to be used by those willing to protect." Rosario explained
“And I’m not worthy of it’s powers…" Eric said sadly.
“Course you are." Rosario said, his face returning to a gentle expression for a moment. “But something in your heart is holding you back and preventing you from wielding it's power. You need to reflect. What do you think is holding you back? What are you afraid of?"
“I don’t understand…" Eric said “I thought I was just afraid of getting hurt by this thing. I didn’t want to tell my friends that because I didn’t want them to worry or get hurt…"
“Is that really what you believe it is?" Rosario asked.
"Huh?" Eric replied
“Eric, are those the real reasons that you think that caused that Black Dragon Stone to backfire on you?" Rosario asked again.
Eric looked down as he thought about it.
"Well..." Eric replied Putting his right hand in a relaxed fist to his chest. He started to remember something from long ago.
Eric looked at him for a moment and a memory flashed back into his mind.
Eric suddenly got a twinge of pain from the gauntlet. Even in his dream he felt like something piercing through his heart. In real life, Eric while in bed, gasped in pain. This caught the sight of Edgar, who had finally gotten back and was checking up on Eric in the room. Eric began to glow as his gauntlet appeared and his body began to twinge, his facial expression clearly showing grief and pain.
"Oh my..." Edgar said worriedly "Please hang in there, Eric!"
Magnus who had been waiting for Mina to get ready, also caught sight of what was going on. A sad expression appeared on his face, but the elderly vampire simply looked away and tried focusing on what he and Mina had to do.
Back in his dream, Eric remembered his mother was being abused both physical and verbally by his tyrant of a dad. A 6 year old Eric looked on in horror. He was on the left side of the room between his mom and dad.
“Stop that!" Eric cried out. “Please dad stop right now!" The little boy dressed in a white, baggy, long sleeve shirt and black pants, ran in front of his mother and got slapped across the left cheek by his father’s furious hand.
“Eric!" His mother cried. As the boy tried to get up, his dad grabbed him by the arm and threw him against the wall. The boy fell to the ground with a thud, shivering from pain and fear.
“Eric! " His mother cried out again. “No! How could you do that to your own son!?"
“Shut up!" His dad snapped “That brat of yours deserves it for being a little wimp he is!"
Eric tried getting up. His dad practically growled “I didn’t say you could get up boy!"
Eric’s father was about to slam his foot down on him, but his mother intervened by covering her son with her body.
“No mother!" He cried out
His father finally left the room, leaving the poor boy in tears in his mother’s arms.
“That day I never felt so helpless." Eric said in tears as he remembered. “I hated seeing someone getting hurt because of me. That’s my fear. Of people getting hurt because of me and not being be able to do anything about it...."
Then he paused for a moment and as he crossed his arms and held them tightly in an expression of insecurity or longing, he finally said " I felt like people shouldn't worry about me. I never felt my life was worth anyone else's time. With the few that cared, I still hated myself. Maybe for being weak. Maybe I just felt too useless to be loved, but I guess I still wanted try. I wanted to be someone opposite of my dad, someone that could at least make someone smile and show them what I long to feel. I thought maybe that could little by little, close that hole that was inside my heart."
He paused again as he thought how he left his friends and said as tears ran down his face "It did when I gained friends who actually cared about me, but sometimes it didn't...Sometimes it felt like the hole was getting wider...I was too scared to let anyone know what I was going through or my true feelings...I didn't want to face my friends when I became a vampire...I felt scared that they would reject me and leave me all alone. I couldn't face that head on...Out all the feelings in this world, nothing feels worse than feeling unloved...."
Rosario finally said "If that's so why would you wish for that on yourself and others?"
Eric looked at him in surprise as Rosario continue on saying with a smile on his face. "You made so many people feel good about themselves and saved others countless times. With so many people drawn to you by your kindness and consideration of others, how can you say you hate yourself or even say you're weak? Most people who would have gone through what you have, would end up being depressed or full of anger at the world. You chose to be the better person all the way through, no matter what pain you went up against. That to me is true strength right there."
As Rosario said this, Eric heard a couple voices around him. They were of his friends and he thought of what he had said to Magnus, about all the good came when he turned into a vampire. Then a leaf shape light appeared in front of him.
"What's this...?" Eric replied as he touched the leaf. He then smiled as he felt a warm light from it.
Rosario finally spoke again, his tone of voice full of warmth. "Your friends care about you and they want you to be happy, that includes feeling good about your own self. Loving yourself is just as important as loving others. It will give you the strength to go through anything."
Eric thought about it for a moment, letting what Rosario had said to him sink into him before he warmly replied "That is true..."
"I do understand how you felt about that whole rejection thing." Rosario said to him. "I was born different than most people due to my eyes that would glow. However, running away isn't a way to solve the problem. Even if you're scared, you never know until you face it. At least, if someone ever did reject you for who you are, you'll know and not have to linger on those thoughts. And hey, if they don't reject you, those are the ones worth keeping, right?"
Eric looked at him a bit surprised by this and in an upbeat tone replied "Yeah!" He then looked down at his gauntlet.
“Trust yourself, Eric. " Rosario told him. “Trust you and the bond you have with your friends. That's where true strength comes from and the dragon's heart will sense that and trust you as well."
“I think I understand that now." Eric said.
“Your friends need you now." Rosario warned. “The Rose Dragon told me they're endanger. "
“You serious!?" Eric asked in a shock.
"You must awaken now and go to them." Rosario said but with a voice of another, what seem to be his own dragon channeling through him. "Let the power of the Black Onyx Dragon guide you!"
Eric nodded as he held out his item, then the black onyx dragon appeared. It had a long slender head like that of a normal western dragon with black spines and scales that shimmered like black onyx stones. It let out a loud hiss like roar. It looked at the vampire who wield it's heart, with eyes as blue as Eric's. Eric let out a surprise gulp but nodded to assure it he was going to make things right.
Eric looked at Rosario and asked "Will I ever see you again?"
“Probably some day." Rosario assured him with a warm smile.
Eric lifted his gauntlet arm out and said to the dragon. “Kay, I understand now of what I need to do and I won't run anymore! So please give me the strength I need to protect everyone!"
The dragon let out another roar as if to agree and ready to fight.
The black stone glimmered as if to agree as well. With that Eric focused his powers and finally awakened. He sat up quickly. Then he looked at the leaf that was left on him. He knew it was that of Tenna and Devi as well as their familiars.
"Eric, hold on!" Edgar said in concern. "You're not going to fight are you?! You just practically came out of a coma!"
Eric smiled at him "I have to! My friends need me and I'm not going to abandon them!" He then gave Edgar the leaf. "Keep this safe until I get back." He told Edgar and held his gauntlet out and transformed into his armor. “Take me to my friends…" He told it. With that Eric disappeared. By now Mina and Magnus were at the mountain side.
****
Thanks to the fact that Nny wanted to work alone and that Tenna and Devi had managed to scatter and hide like mice in a house, they managed to survive for this whole time. Hiding behind whatever they could find to rest and take turns taking a few shots at him.
However, they couldn’t keep up and finally they couldn’t hold their transformation any more. Nny exhausted but still enough energy, he turned to Tenna and was about to do the finishing blow.
“Johnny no!’ Devi cried out.
Tenna looked in horror as his blade was held above her head. As he swung down, he was suddenly was paralyzed and then something forced him back. Everyone witnessing were surprised.
Tenna who had braced herself for impact, looked up to see what stopped him. There standing in front of her, facing Johnny was Eric.
“Eric?" Tenna said quietly, expecting the gauntlet to have taken over him again.
Eric turned his head to look behind him at Tenna. He smiled at her.
“Eric, you’re alright! " Tenna cheered.
Eric smirked and said “Was there ever a doubt?"
“Eric!" Devi said in relief.
“Sorry I’m late." Eric said “I had to do some reflecting but we’ll talk about it later. Take a breather. I’ll handle this!"
Johnny looked him as cringed and struggle to get up.
“How that little bat boy get here!?" Anne exclaim. She and the other Dark members looked still were in surprise.
“Why because," Eric said and he introduced himself. “Fueled by the determination to protect my friends. Armor black as pitch. I'm the Onyx Dragon Knight!"
Eric arched his sword up and said “As long I have my friends and love ones, I won’t give up the fight."
“Ek…" Anne cringed “Spare me the friendship speech!"
Eric just smirked at her comment and then looked at Johnny who growled tiredly “I don’t need anyone! Not friends or family nor anyone else!"
“Johnny…" Devi said sadly
“Someone’s arrogant…" Anne commented quietly.
“Well you know Johnny," Eric said as he lean on his sword in a sarcastic, slightly prideful tone. “That’s lousy way of thinking. You should really change that."
“Stop your yapping!" Nny snapped
“Right" Eric agreed. He jumped and the two collided blades with each other. As they did energy from their attacks started shatter out, which caused some of the other minions to leave, except Mr. Eff and Anne who tried attacking together at Eric , but Devi and Tenna transformed and quickly to take them out.
As they slam their swords together, Eric also heard a faint voice coming out of no where, desiring help.
Eric stopped for a moment in surprise, but then had to block Nny's attack once, but Nny was getting tired and Eric having been fully rested up, managed to push Nny back and away enough to do a finishing move.
Eric arched up his sword over his shoulder and called out “Ready, set! Black Thunder!" Then as he swung his sword down he shouted “Raider!"
With that his sword blasted tremendous amount of the black and white electrical energy. Nny blocked it with his energy shield. The blast was so big though, it was firing sparks in the opposite direction, right at him and his friends. Mr. Eff and Anne decided to head out knowing they wouldn't be strong with all three of them together.
“Everyone, gather behind me!" Eric told them. As they did, Eric put his free hand over the cross on his belt, while keeping his other hand on his sword and threw what appeared transparent image. As he did a faint image of a cross like the one on his belt appeared in front of him.
“Vampire’s Shield!" Eric called out. Suddenly a faint black sphere went around them and made a force field, protecting them from the attack. Nny collapsed as his shield broke taking part of the attack.
When it was finally over, Tenna and Devi along with their familiars, looked in astonishment. They had won.
“Whoa!" Tenna said “That was awesome!"
Eric panted and nearly fell back. Tenna caught him just in time.
“Eric!" Tenna said worryingly. “Are you alright?!"
Eric opened his eyes and turned his head to her and assured her “Yeah, just a bit worn out that’s all."
“Well, you got out of a coma and took down Nny. " Devi stated as she walked up to them. “Can’t blame ya for that."
“Well you two had done most of the fighting." Eric said as Tenna helped him up. “I just did the finishing move on him. You even took down two of his minions coming after me. Thanks for that. Wish I was here sooner. "
“Least you got here, " Tenna said “and you saved us! "
“And you’re alright." Devi added
Eric nodded and then Tenna asked “Um, how are we gonna get out of here?"
Eric’s gem blinked which Eric noticed and then he said “Hey, I have an idea. "
“Hmm?" They looked at him.
****
“You sure this will work?" Devi asked after what Eric had told them.
“I saw it in an anime once." Eric said “That and my gauntlet did get me here. Won’t hurt to try."
“Ditto, on that!" Tenna replied
Without saying anything more, the three friends joined hands and began to focus their energy. As they did they began glowing as their energy combined and they floated off the ground slightly. Little did they know that Johnny was also glowing as he watched them. Within a minute, a portal opened up. This caught them off guard a bit as they looked but focused up again and soon they vanished.
Magnus and Mina were concentrating at the foot of the mountain. They were the ones that had opened the portal to help the knights escape. Edgar had called them and told them that Eric had vanished. Magnus,somehow knew that Eric had teleported to the Dark Area by himself.
Suddenly the three knights appeared where they were pulled in before just as they thought. Mina and Magnus fell to their knees, but Mina was able to get up and help Magnus. As Devi and Tenna started to fall, they used their weapons to fly again. Eric of course, had his wings to fly.
As they flew down, Tenna was yelling “Woo hoo!". They laughed in celebration which made Mina smile in excitement and relief. Magnus just smirked a little bit, not wanting to waste energy as much as needed to.
While flying down, Eric spotted something upon one of the mountain cliffs near by. Eric flew closer to get a better look. It was that of a young boy with dark hair and an unusual outfit. It was black and slightly baggy with white trimming and in his hands was a white parasol.
When Eric realize it was a boy, he tried to move closer but all of a sudden, a big gust of wind came up, pushing Eric back. When Eric looked again the boy was gone without a trace. Eric looked where he had seen the boy in confusion, but decided to just join his friends down on the ground.
“Hey Eric, what’s wrong?" Tenna asked
“Oh nothing…" Eric replied brushing off what he saw as just been a trick of the eye. “Just thought I saw something, that’s all."
“It seems like you finally got control of your armor. " Mina said “I’m glad."
“Indeed. " Magnus said with a calm but proud smile. “Nice job."
“Thanks" Eric replied.
“Yeah…" Tenna almost started crying again as she hugged Eric, surprising him a bit. “I’m so glad you’re okay!"
“We were worried about you." Demi from inside Devi’s heart said. Devi nodded in reply.
“Sorry…" Eric said “I should have told you what I was feeling. Didn’t mean to worry you guys. "
Then he returned Tenna's hug warmly as they all enjoyed the warm feeling of relief. It was a small step, but it was an improvement.
****
It was sunset and the three friends and their familiars, walked on a bridged that over looked the city in the distance. Eric was in his normal self, wearing a navy blue long sleeve shirt, black pants, sneakers and red belt. Tenna was in an orange top, green cargo pants and neon green and black high tops. Devi was in a magenta colored midriff, dark blue jeans and black boots.
"You told us your dad was a jerk and hated you, but I didn't know he was that abusive to you too..." Devi replied as Eric had told him what happened and explained a bit of his past. He felt it was time to open up a bit about that. They were a bit surprised.
"He was to the both of us. That's why my mom was desperate to get us out of there, least eventually...My dad was very kind when he first met mom, least from what she told me. Something just snapped in him or maybe was always like that and just showed his true colors later, I dunno." Eric replied.
"That's awful...." Tenna replied as she looked down sadly.
"Yeah..." Eric replied with a smile. "I mean, for the most part I try not to let it bother me so much, especially so I don't live there anymore."
"I guess..." Tenna replied.
"But that's still quite a bit of an ordeal you had to go through..." Devi replied, still a bit baffled, though now it made perfect sense to why he was like that. She remembered that Oblivia had told her, he went through hell. She couldn't imagine anymore ordeals he had went through because of his abusive dad alone.
Tenna thought the same thing. She wasn't too sure how to even respond to that.
"Well, yeah it was." Eric replied. "Sometimes, I even wondered how the hell I went through it, but I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
Tenna was silent for a bit and then touched Eric's wrist as she asked "Y-you don't still hate yourself, do you?"
Eric looked at her for a moment and smiled as he gently touched her hand. "No. Well, I'm working on that at least..." He said the last bit nervously and then confidently replied. "With everyone including you four needing me, I can't just dwindle in self pity. That's not going to exactly help defeat the dark master."
"Good answer!" Tenna replied happily. "We'll help you boost that confidence up!"
"Mhm!" Demi replied happily next to Devi who smiled warmly in agreement.
Tenna quickly jumped and kept her hands to herself, a bit flustered at what she just did. Eric just looked at Tenna's behavior in oddness, but smiled slightly as he turned his head towards the sun a little bit. Devi, Demi and Spooky let out a silent giggle, covering their mouths with their hands.
"So now your gauntlet can change you into your normal self?" Tenna asked trying to change the subject.
"Yeah." Eric replied happily. "However, I can't do it all the time. Magnus said it can strain on my powers a bit, if I do it a lot, so I still need to stay in bat form in the sun at times. But yeah, if I need to return to my normal self, I can without kissing anyone. "
"Thank goodness..." Devi whispered.
"I'm thankful for that as well.." Eric replied, feeling a bit guilty.
"Is that suppose to mean something?" Tenna teased.
"Nothing!" Eric replied nervously. "I just felt wrong doing that because...well proper etiquette you know..."
"I was just teasing you, Eric!" Tenna giggled.
He then looked down sort of guiltily as he said "I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys how I was feeling."
"It's alright." Tenna insisted worriedly. "I kinda was to blame too...I shouldn't have pressured you like that."
"I needed it though." Eric replied "I was just worried about what would happen if the gauntlet did backfire and well, hurting all of you, but I didn't want you to worry."
"Eric, we're friends." Devi simply put it with a smile. "We're suppose to worry about each other. Having friends worry and care you doesn't mean you're being bothersome. It's part of the deal when you have friends. "
"Yeah, you can always tell us what's bothering you." Tenna replied. "We won't think differently of you or treat you any different. You have our backs and we do the same for you."
"I know that now..." Eric replied warmly "Thanks...." Eric felt his eyes glisten with tears, he had kept so much inside, it was finally just flowing out. He didn't have time earlier to let out his emotions.
Tenna noticed and immediately embrace him warmly. Devi came over and put a comforting hand on his back, while Demi and Spooky landed on both his shoulders. No words were spoken. Everyone just knew how each other felt.
"I wonder...." Eric thought and then smiled. "Ah, forget it. I'm sure one day I'll see my old friends again and when I do, I'll apologize to them and see truly if they still feel the same way as my friends do now. It maybe a little scary but I won't hide away anymore. Right now, I have current friends that I need to protect and care for. I won't lose them, ever!"
After the warm embrace, they separately but not before Eric and Tenna touched the tip of their foreheads together sweetly, as Eric looked warmly at Tenna, who had her eyes closed shyly. As soon as they separated, Eric announced " I promise I''l let you know if something seriously bothering me."
"You better!" Tenna replied with Devi nodding.
Eric then took out the leaf that they made and held it against the sunset.
Demi replied. "That leaf thing was Tenna's idea. She thought it would help remind you that we here for you."
Tenna got a bit flustered and smiled nervously as she rubbed the back of her own head.
"I figured." Eric replied happily. "I felt it when I was knocked out. It even appeared to me in my dream." He then turned to Tenna with a gentle expression of gratitude, he continued "Thanks, you guys and especially to you Tenna."
Tenna got really flustered and quickly in an upbeat tone to hide her feelings said "You're welcome!"
Devi sighed and then let out a laugh with Demi a bit at their hopeless friend. Eric chuckled at his friends warmly as they watched the sunset over the city.
Eric then noted something as he remembered one other thing. "I heard a voice when I clashed my sword with Johnny's."
They all looked at Eric in surprise.
"It wasn't Johnny's voice." Eric explained. "It was like...like someone else was trapped inside him. Who's voice was it...?"
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