Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Knights, Mineko Ohkami does.

Ch.1. Trouble Maker

A patrol of sweating, tired Dragon Fighters strode through through the gates of the

palace in Draqueen. Everyone's uniform was slightly smudged and wrinkled as if they had been in a scuffle, but not a very big one.

"Man!" a red-haired Dragon Fighter exclaimed, wiping his dripping brow with his sleeve, "If it's not bad enough for us to try and keep the local demons in line and maintain peace, we gotta do it in this weather!"

"I agree," said another with spiked yellow hair,"It's so torrid you could drop an egg on the ground and it'd be fried before it hit it!"

"Yeah,well," said a Fighter behind them,"Did we show those demons or what! They took off like scared rabbits once they saw that the Dragon Lord's army can never be defeated!"

"That's right!" the red-haired Dragon Fighter agreed vehemently, unsheathing his sword and pointing it in the air,"Dragon Fighters are strong!"

"Yeah!" came a chorus of cheers as the patrol strode forward across the green palace grounds.

"Dragon Fighters are brave!"

"Yeah!"

"Dragon Fighters are perceptive!"

"Yeah!"

"Nothing can ever sneak up on th-" the red-haired Fighter was abruptly caught off as he and the rest of the Dragon Fighters fell down a huge hole which had been dug quite deeply and had come upon them without their knowing.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHH!" came their screams.

They hit the the bottom roughly three seconds later.

"Oof! Urgh! Ugh!" the red-haired Fighter grunted, pushing his way to the top of the pile of bodies and squinted upwards, exclaiming in angry shock,"HOW THE HELL DID THIS BLASTED HOLE GET HERE!"

Then a small black-haired head came into view, peering down at the Dragon Fighters in surprise.

"You're not demons!" came the dismayed statement.

"I should bloody well hope not!" the Dragon Fighter cried in enraged irritation.

"What's up?" came a voice from the bottom of the heap,"who made this hole!"

"It's Rath again!" came the irked reply.

"Rath!"

"Again!"

"What's this? The fifthteenth time this week!"

One by one the Dragon Fighters shoved and pushed their way out of the hole until they were all standing on the green grass again glaring down at Rath furiously, with dirt clods and roots in their hair for decorations.

"Why did you dig that hole?" the spiked yllow-haired Fighter demanded indignantly.

"I didn't dig the hole,"Rath said innocently, his eyes wide, as he clasped a small shovel firmly between his hands. Beside him, the while demon-dog Crewgar made a snorting noise, while Fire who perched on his head, rolled his eyes.

By now, the Dragon Fighters were at their wit's end. Having their feeling of victory taken away by a child who had made them all look mindless idiots, not noticing a giant hole in the ground right in front of them! It wasn't very soothing to their ego's in the slightest. Who knew what they would have done if they had not been interrupted by an infuriating, wrathful yell:

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattthhhh!"

The black-haired child's eyes grew even wider-if that was possible. Swiveling around, he gasped in a horror-stricken whisper,"Uh-oh!Alfeegi, he found us!"

Everyone immediately looked in the direction of the outraged scream to see a very wrathful Dragon Officer Alfeegi bearing down on them like an infuriated eagle.

"Crewgar!" Rath cried, clambering hurriedly onto the demon-dog's back,"Hurry!Let's go!"

"NOT SO FAST!" came the vengeful exclaimation.

A hand swooped down and caught the back of the young child's shirt before he was able to spur his escape. He was plucked up from the demon-dog and set on the ground firmly.

Rath stared at the grass and waited for the reprimand to come. And waited and waited. Finally, he couldn't it any longer and glanced up to Alfeegi's face. The black-haired boy immediately noticed how the White Dragon Officer's head was covered with a scarf.

Alfeegi, finally getting the young child to look at him, proclaimed vehemently,"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE UNTIL YOU ADMIT YOU DID IT!"

The Dragon Fighters looked on curiously between the two.

"Did what?" Rath asked, though he knew full well what.

"THIS!" Alfeegi screeched, dancing in rage, yanking off the scarf which covered his head.

The Dragon Fighters all immediately burst out laughing, some falling over in glee, and others with tears streaming down their faces.

"Oh, man!" one Dragon Fighter wheezed between fits of laughter,"Who did you pay to get such a funky hair-do!"

The White Dragon Offiicer's strawberry-blond hair looked like someone had done a hack job. It was clipped and sheared all over the place, uneven on both sides, and even balding in some areas. Alfeegi, however, did not seem to find this amusing.

"I WAS FEELING TIRED, SO I WENT TO SLEEP," The Dragon Officer screamed, his face reddening in fury," AND WHEN I WOKE UP, MY HAIR LOOKED LIKE THIS!"

"But that doesn't mean I did it!" Rath declared, defending himself.

"YOU WERE ASKING ME IF I WANTED A HAIR-CUT BEFORE I WENT TO SLEEP!" Alfeegi cried, then reaching forward, he rumaged hurriedly through the child's pockets, pulling out a pair of sciscors,"AND THIS!" he yelled, pointing at them,"PROVES IT!"

All of a sudden, the Dragon Officer spotted the giant hole that lay gaping on the palace grounds. He stared at the hole, then he stared at the Dragon Fighters, taking in the dirt on their uniforms.

"How did this hole get here?" he inquired stainedly,"Or need I ask?"

The Dragon Fighters all pointed at Rath.

Alfeegi wheeled back around to the child, a vein in his temple popped out throbbing dangerously. He was on the verge of loosing his temper(if he hadn't already).

"Any other little charades I have yet to know of?"

Fire began scribbling furiously on a piece of paper, then held it proudly, after he finished. It read:

: The reason you were feeling tired is because Master put a sleeping draught in your drink, so'd you'd go to sleep, so he could cut your hair:

There were several moments of tensed silence as several more veins popped out on the Dragon Officer's forehead; birds chirped. Then:

"GROUNDED! NO PRIVELEDGES! NO SWORD! NO MEALS!"

"Uh, sir?" a Dragon Officer spoke nervously," No meals?"

"FINE! HE CAN HAVE MEALS, BUT HE STAYS INSIDE THE PALACE UNTIL I SAY SO!" The air vibrated with his cries.

"It's a good thing you didn't tell him about eating all his hidden stash of chocolate chip cookies," Rath whispered to Fire. He and Crewgar both nodded.