The light blazed brighter before the three of them could even move. In that split second, Yoshi threw up her hands, as if it would ward off whatever the dragon was about to do. The ring on her finger caught fire seemingly on its own, and streamers of blackness began to hiss off of her arms--

And then the light exploded from the dragon's jaws, bleaching everything white, and Yoshi half-dissolved against it.

Bits of her streamed off to the sides like cast shadows, and even in the bright light they were pure blackness, spangled in their depths with stars. The light couldn't penetrate them, and so didn't hit Hawk or Vlad full in in the face; they both looked around in surprise at the starry blackness, which swayed gently as it got further from the light.

And then just as abruptly, it was done. Yoshi was standing there looking taken aback, the blackness settling back down into her skin. Parts of her arms, as well as the hand with the ring on it, seemed to have patches of liquid fire swimming beneath the surface of her skin, which didn't seem to bother her.

"Holy cow," Vlad remarked. "Was that on purpose?"

"Er...sort of," Yoshi answered, staring at the ring on her blazing hand. Hawk started.

"Hey!" he shouted, dashing forward, because he'd spotted the dragon, who had used the flash of light to take off completely. He was well in the air already, but they could hear him yelling as he streaked away from them in the blue sky:

"I quit! Fuck you, Aries! I didn't agree to none of this shit!"

Hawk opened his wings, roaring after him, "What, that's it? That's all you got??"