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By the time the friends arrived home, news of what had happened in New Zealand was everywhere. It was the only subject of interest on the monorail carriages that they'd been in, as well as across all the stations, not to mention every single telepathic paper. Questions were supposedly being asked at the highest level... How did it happen? Who would do such a thing? Is it likely to happen again? Can safety be assured at other laminium ball matches? All these, plus the obvious questions about Steel's wellbeing. The outpouring of anger over the incident paled in comparison with the well wishes the Indigo Warriors superstar had received from around the world. Ordinary and famous dragons alike had left messages in telepathic get well books across the world, some of which had made it into the telepathic papers. The mood of the dragon world was one of shock that something like this could happen, anger and rage at whoever was behind it, and pride at the bravery and selflessness of Steel's heroic deeds.
Sitting on the concourse, enjoying a bite to eat, the friends had just disembarked at Pudding Lane and were waiting for the arrival of their monorail. All three had faraway looks on their faces, due to the fact that each of them was currently reading a different telepathic paper. For Peter, it was his usual 'Daily Telepath'. Tank was enjoying 'Sol', while Flash had taken to 'Speculum'. Each paper had its own take on the previous day's events, but none could sum up the terror the three of them had experienced. Again, it was Flash who'd saved them, like the calm in the middle of the storm, like the cool eye of a hurricane. As tons of rock and rubble fell all around them he, using all his experience and acumen, guided all the dragons around him to safety, once or twice throwing out minor mantras to deflect barrages of stone and debris. As well as his actions, what made it all the more impressive was his humility afterwards, not wanting any thanks from others he didn't seem to think that he'd done anything special. Both Peter and Tank were glad to be able to call him their friend.
Halfway through a paragraph outlining Steel's current condition, Flash felt the tiniest of niggles towards the back of his mind. Pausing momentarily, he searched for the cause of the interruption. It didn't take long to find it. In another part of his rather open plan mind, an image had appeared and was currently jabbering away. Dispensing with the paper, Flash zoomed over to take a look at this unusual development. On closer inspection, the image appeared to be the king, albeit in his human form, presented in some kind of hologram, waving this way and that, continuously talking. Scanning the image from all sides, it was only when Flash dived inside with his mind that he found the words 'The Date Of The Battle Of Pucallpa' reading vertically from top to bottom.
'Uhhhh?' was Flash's first thought. But then he recalled one of the long conversations he'd had with the king on first arriving at his private residence. It had turned out that the king, just like Flash, was something of a history buff and liked nothing more than discussing historic events and battles that had taken place, dissecting them in microscopic detail, even speculating on what would have happened had the outcome been different. They'd both spent many a night doing just that, when the King's schedule allowed it, with Flash being more than a little intimidated and nervous at first, but quickly put at ease by the king's pleasant manner and welcoming demeanour, after which both dragons had gone on to express totally opposite points of view. They hadn't done that in a while, with Flash knowing full well it was because of the king's mountain of work that he had to get through. He missed those nights. But his mind, having wandered off a little, returned to the holographic inscription. As he read it again, it was all he could do to keep himself from laughing. And it would look very odd to everyone around if he suddenly burst out laughing in the middle of reading about the laminium ball disaster at the monorail station. Fighting back a smirk, he thought about the words. 'The Date Of The Battle Of Pucallpa.' It had to be a message, something that only he would know, a kind of kingly encryption.
Recalling a conversation on one of those late nights about Pucallpa, there had been no battle there, but the premise had centred around 'if there had been'. Pucallpa, a beautiful city in Peru, almost became the turning point in a South American Crusade in the late 18th century, but for a brilliant seek and capture initiative led by the famous dragon lawmaker, Alvin Comet. Nailed into history as one of the most audacious tactics ever to be played out, the capture of two of the most dangerous rogue dragons to have inhabited the world in centuries led to the cessation of hostilities and in turn spared tens of thousands of lives. Alvin Comet's name will forever be remembered in dragon lore. But Flash and the king had liked to play the 'what if?' game. During those late night discussions, both dragons had begun speculating about what would have happened if the capture of the dark dragons had never occurred. After much argument and discussion, both reached roughly the same conclusion, albeit they got there in rather different ways, the result being that the war to end all wars would have taken place, in Pucallpa! Hence the cryptic message.
'But,' Flash thought to himself, 'what am I supposed to do with it?' In his mind, he tried moving the letters around. Nothing happened. Next he summoned up the words 'Alvin Comet', thinking that might unlock the hologram and make it talk. Just as he was about to give up and try and contact the king another way... a thought occurred to him. THE DATE! Although both dragons had reached the same conclusion with their speculation, neither could agree exactly when the battle would have happened. Flash had told the king in no uncertain terms that the date would have been 1769. Disagreeing wholeheartedly, the king laid out his theory as to why the battle would have taken place much later, in 1791. Both dragons had refused to yield after that, eventually agreeing to disagree.
'I wonder...' thought Flash, thinking about the date he'd suggested to the king. But he knew that wouldn't work. If any date at all was going to unlock the hologram, it would most certainly be the one the king had decided on. Instantly he whistled up the numbers 1791 in his head, and tossed them into the middle of the image of the king. Numbers and letters collided and then suddenly exploded outwards, causing Flash to instinctively squeeze his eyes closed, even though he knew he couldn't be hurt.
The next thing he knew, the holographic king sprang back to life, only this time... it talked!