Last time: "a map? I thought you said she had the gem?" "Hah, you're so cute. You hear that Dad? He's a smart kid, just doesn't know how quests work" Barley laughed. Madi goes up to him, while still holding the baby dragon and asked "is there anything else you're forgetting to tell us?" "Hmm, no" he replied. He then goes to open the door and....
Before them, a family sings happy birthday to a little girl, who had the brightest smile on her face. All three of them stood there silently for a bit. Madi and Ian turn their faces towards Barley, expecting an explanation. "Ok, so the place has been renovated over the years, but the Manticore is the real deal" he explains. They look around and see some kids playing games and families enjoying themselves. They then approach a cyclops hostess and Barley said "madam, we request an audience with the Manticore" "But of course, my lord" she replied as she takes out a horn and blows it. Then, a person wearing a manticore costume comes up to the group to give a big hug. He goes up to Ian for a hug, but he just moves away from him. The 'manticore' then goes over to Madi, who tries to do the same thing, but wasn't as lucky as her friend/crush was. She was then engulfed by the hug. Both her and the baby dragon were very uncomfortable. "I don't think this is what he meant by the manticore" Madi breathed.
Barley helps remove them out from the hug and Ian goes right beside them to make sure that they're ok. The baby dragon then moves onto Madi's shoulders and growled at the person, but Madi calmed her down with a few pets on her head. "No, no, I meant the real manticore" Barley said to the hostess, which caused the guy in the costume to let out a sad sigh. "You mean Corey? She's over there" she said, pointing behind her. Madi, Ian, Barley and the baby dragon look at where she's pointing, which was the kitchen doors. Then, out of the doors, comes the Manticore herself, carrying some fine in her arms and tail. "Quick, somebody help me! This griffin nuggets were suppose to go out ten minutes ago!" she said, as people came to help her. This Manticore, was not what Madi and Ian were expecting. "That's the Manticore?" Ian said, in a questionable voice. "I was thinking the same thing, to be honest" Madi said in the same tone. Barley goes up to her and bows down to her. "Oh great and mighty Manticore, we've come to-" he was about to say, but was interrupted by Corey. "Woah, sir, you're right in the hot zone" she said, holding some more food in her hands.
Then, a goblin wearing a wizard's outfit comes in through the kitchen doors. "You're late again, Adolphis" Corey said (I don't know if that's how the guy's name is spelled, so I'm just gonna leave it at that). The goblin speaks in another language as he irreparably talks to the Manticore. "I understand that there's traffic, but you really need to plan for that" she said to him. The goblin talks back to her in his own tongue. "Well maybe your mother should have her own car" Corey replied back to him. She sighs as Barley goes to approach her again. "Um, your fearlessness" he said, causing Corey to jump a little. "My brother and companions and I seek a map to the Phoenix Gem" he continued. "Oh, well you've come to the right tavern. I have the parchment you desire right here" Corey said, as she hands the food to another server and walks over to a shelf. There, she presents a kids menu to them. "Behold!" she said.
"Uh, that's a children's menu" Madi said, awkwardly smiling at it. "Isn't that fun. I made these based on my old maps" Corey said to her. She goes back to the shelf and brings out a box of crayons. "The great Manticore sends you off on your adventure with a hero's blessing, and hears some crayons" she said, tossing the crayons to Ian. He goes to catch them, but they just drop from his hands. Madi then goes to help pick up the crayons and put them back on a counter. "That's very amusing, your dominance, but might you have the real map?" Barley asked. "Huh, oh yea, yea, it's right over there" Corey said, not really paying much attention. The teenagers turned around and see the real map pinned on the wall. Ian and Madi smile as they see it. "This is it" Ian said, moving towards it, with Wilden and Madi next to him. Barley removes the map off the wall and examines it. "Perfect" he said with a smile on his face. Corey sees this and goes to take the map away. "Woah, woah, what are you doing? You can't take this" she says to them. Madi kind of steps a foot forward and said "but we have to, so that they can bring back the rest of their father".
As she said that, Barley removes the top half of Wilden's body to show Corey what she's talking about. "What is that?!" she gasps. "It's our dad, and we have a chance to meet him-" Ian was about to say, but was interrupted by his brother. "But, we can't do that without a Phoenix Gem" he said. The manticore quickly said no as she rolls the map back up. "No, my days of sending people on dangerous quests are over" she said. All three of them were surprise to hear that. "What?! Why?" Barley said, confused. "Cause they're dangerous" Corey replies. Then, the cyclops hostess calls her over to fix the karaoke machine. She goes over to fix it, but not before telling the teens that they're not getting the map. "Oh, and also, ma'am, your dragon will have to be outside. Can't really allow pets in here" she said to the elf girl. "But wait, uh-" Before Madi can reply, Corey was already walking away to fix the machine. "Okay, I can handle this" Barley said. The baby dragon chirps while looking at Madi, a look of confusion on her face. Madi then looks over at Ian, who furrows his eyebrows and stands there next to her for a moment, a look of what seemed like determination on his face. Then, he takes a deep breath and goes over to the manticore. "Ian wait" Madi says to him, walking along with him as well.
Ian walks in front of her and said "uh, miss, mighty, manticore ma'am". Both Madi and Barley asked him what he was doing, but he didn't reply to either of them. "Kid, this is not a good time" Corey said to him, fixing the machine. "It's just that, I never met my dad and-" Ian goes to say, but Corey replies "I'm sorry about that, but if you get hurt on my quests, guess who gets sued and loses her tavern? I can't take that kind of risk" "But, Ian has wanted to meet his dad his whole life. It's what he always wanted, and you're not even going to help him or his brother out in the slightest?" Madi tells her, stepping up for her friend/crush and his brother. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do. Now if you excuse me, I have better things to do" Corey said to her. Madi can feel the anger and frustration growing inside her, and so did Ian. "Please, we really need the map" he said. "No, you're not getting this map, I'm done talking" the manticore said, her voice very serious. "Well, we're not, okay!" Madi said, voice rising a little. Ian joins in and said "you say you can't take risks losing this place, well look at that manticore (points at a picture of Corey). She looks like she lives to take risks!" Corey then explains how the manticore on the picture didn't have any payroll to cover and how she could just fly off and do her own thing. Then, another elf girl walks up to her to ask when the machine will be fixed, which the manticore replied harshly "yea, in a minute".
Corey then goes on to say that maybe the tavern isn't as adventurous as it use to be and such. "So what, whoever said that you have to take risks in life to have an adventure?!" she said to the teens. "Apparently you did?" Ian said, pointing at a plaque behind the manticore. Corey looks behind and sees the plaque herself. It was then that she had a sudden realization. A server goes up to her about some mozzarella sticks being cold, but she instantly burns them with her fire breath. "What have I done?" she said to herself, clutching the map in her paw. "Well, it's not too late. If you could just give us the map-" Madi said, trying to reach for the map, but was pulled back by Ian. "This place used to be dangerous and wild, I used to be dangerous and wild!" Corey said. The guy in the manticore repeats every word she said, causing her to growl menacingly at him. She then pounces him, making everyone shocked and slightly panicked. Ian wraps his arms around Madi in a protecting manner, which in turn made her clutch her hands on his chest. "I've been living a lie! What have I become!" the manticore said, breathing fire on the costume's head that she removed from the guy. "Oh no" Barley said, who stood in front of Ian and Madi protectively. "Everybody out! This place is closed for remodeling!" Corey roared. She then goes destroying everything around her, causing everyone to flee in fear and panic.
Then, by the flame on the manticore costume's head, the building starts to burn with fire. Ian, Madi and Barley tried to dodge the throwing objects Corey threw as she ran amok through the tavern. At some point, she dropped the map on the floor, but it started going up in flames. Ian and Madi, who puts the baby dragon next to Barley for safety, quickly ran over to it to try to stop it from burning, but it was already too late. The map was already burned to a crisp. Barley goes over to them, Wilden on his right side and the dragon on his shoulder, and gets the younger teens on there feet. "We gotta go!" he said to them. They ran to the front doors, but the little dragon didn't have a good grip on Barley's shoulder and she fell right off. Wilden also had trouble, since the top part was removed and he blindly runs into a toy machine. Madi notices this, looks behind her, and sees the two on the floor, defenseless. "Oh no" she mutters as she runs back for them. Ian takes notice of this and sees the girl running back for his father and the baby dragon.
Then, he notices a pillar, burning, about ready to collapse on to of them. His eyes widen in fear. Then, the pillar collapses. Madi looks up and gasps. She barely had any time to react. Before it crashed onto any of them, she hears Ian shout "Aloft Elivar!" She screams, waiting for the impact while holding the baby dragon tightly to her. The impact never came, though. The elf girl and baby dragon look up and see the pillar being held by a magical force. They look over at Ian, who struggled to keep the pillar afloat. Barley comes to get Madi, the dragon, and Wilden out of that spot and Ian finally releases the spell, causing the pillar to fall and crumble on the floor. They all manage to get out of there and to Guinivere safely and drove away from the tavern.