I finally have access to Fall of Cybertron again!!! It's so beautiful, bask in its glory!
Alt-title: A Lineages Extinction
"Speech"
'Thought'
—————————————
(3rd POV)
(Morning)
It took a while before Cinderwing had begun to convince Heather to follow him to Huttsgalor, something that took a mixture of charades and writing "follow" in the dirt, but he did it in the end. The flight to Huttsgalor was mostly silent, with the only sounds coming from Windshear's wings, the waves of the ocean, and the occasional tidal class dragon that jumped out of the water, before making a large splash as they hit the water. All in all, it was pretty relaxing, and it definitely helped Heather calm down and process whatever she was thinking about.
Cinderwing slowed his pace until he was somewhat next to Windshear—more so in front of her—before doing a quick spin, splashing water in the air that got both her and Heather lightly soaked as they flew through it. Heather grunted with displeasure, whilst Windshear's eyes narrowed as she growled playfully, engaging with Cinder in their water fight whilst being mindful of her rider. Over time, a soft smile grew on Heather's lips, followed closely behind by a chuckle. 'Thank you, Cinder.' She slipped her hand under one of Windshear's scale-plates—more specifically on her neck—and began to gently scratch affectionately. Heather could feel the tension leaving her dragon's muscles, both from her light scratches and from playing with Cinder. Windshear glanced back at her rider, a glimmer of fondness in her eyes. Laughter ensued as the two dragons continued their playful water fight, with Heather joining in the fun a while later—not that she could do much due to having had to stay on Windshear's saddle, though she still managed to enjoy the moment.
They had continued this until midday, only stopping to avoid being completely exhausted lest they end up being unable to make it to Huttsgalor in one trip. Windshear exhaled loudly, visibly slowing down before taking a breath. "So... you said that there were two kids that could understand us, right?" Cinderwing nodded, not nearly as tired as her. "That's the simplest way of putting it." He replied, before taking a breath of his own. "So, just to be clear, they can translate what I say to Heather, yes?" He nodded once more. Windshear couldn't help the enthusiastic expression growing on her face, nor the giddy feeling in her spines at all the things she could ask Heather.
Cinderwing chuckled. "Hey, don't get too excited. Heather won't talk about her current turmoils in front of strangers, let alone children." He said, spotting one of the first islands that came before Huttsgalor. "Emphasis on the fact that Dak and Leyla are children. Sure they can translate for us, but if all we go to Huttsgalor is that, then are we really friends with them?" Windshear narrowed her eyes in thought, her enthusiasm slowly boiling down to a simmer before glancing at the Night Fury. "I'll try to keep it to 2-3 questions and/or short conversations." Cinderwing smiled, a thoughtful glint came to his eyes when he noticed the silver dragon slowing down unintentionally.
"Hey," he began, getting Windshear's attention. "Since this is obviously not going to be a one-flight trip, so let's take a short break." He smiled as a familiar island came into view. "Come on, this is an island I've been to before. You know, the one with the hybrid dragon I told you about." He added, leading Windshear towards the island until they reached the shore of a rocky beach.
Windshear moved her head left and right, getting a quick glance of the area as Heather dismounted her saddle, gently rubbing her head before walking over to Cinder and scratching under an ear nub. "Is this where you wanted to bring me, Cinder?" Cinderwing shook his head at Heather's query before attempting to write "rest" in the sand, only to fail and have to perform multiple gestures to get the point across.
"It still baffles me that you can write." Heather muttered, scooping up some sand, watching as it instantly fell between her fingers. "Even though this sand doesn't really let you. You still have other ways to... communicate, no matter how crude they may be." Smoke puffed out of Cinderwing's nostrils to show his annoyance—mainly because of how many times he had to repeat those gestures, hence why he called it a terrible game of charades. Cinderwing softly warbled to get Heather to follow him as he moved to get out of the beach and into the nearby forest, until both Heather and Windshear got startled at a native Nadder who got too curious, with Heather instinctively drawing her axe, and Windshear unsheathing her recently acquired back quills.
The three stared at each other for a moment before the Nadder flared its tail spines, growling threateningly, suddenly freezing when it saw Cinder's intense gaze aimed at him before immediately backing away into the dense forest. Windshear turned to him. "What was that about?" Cinderwing smiled. "It has to do with the last time I was here. Though I didn't think the hybrid had that much of a hold on the other dragons, might only be other Nadders though." He mused aloud after answering. "Oh, and you might wanna keep your quills out." He added as they continued trekking through the forest, with Heather and Windshear following behind on foot.
It didn't take long for Cinderwing to find the path towards Snap-trap's territory—only a small portion of this surprisingly vast forest. He even began climbing up and jumping from tree to tree just to make sure he was going the same way as last time. The girls were pretty baffled to see him do it so effortlessly, with his larger size compared to Toothless, who barely even climbed trees to begin with. "Shouldn't take much longer, we're close to her garden." Cinder said as he jumped down from a tree. "Why were you climbing up the trees?" Cinderwing glanced at the silver dragon. "I did the same when I was last here, though the route I had taken at the time had quite a bit of blue oleander." Windshear hummed at the answer, warily glancing at the brush whenever something moved through it—namely small critters like squirrels, lizards, etc.—stepping ever closer to her rider as a precaution.
It hadn't taken them much longer until they began entering a clearing, and even less for them to reach an area covered in flowers. Cinderwing's nostrils began twitching as he sniffed for Snap-trap's chocolatey scent, continuing to follow it until he reached four camouflage flower-like jaws.
"Hi." The four jaws closed, revealing the faces of the four-headed dragon. "Hello!" Flowie greeted in reply, clearly happy to see him. Latte chuckled at her sister. "It's nice to see you again, Cinder." She said, and Cinderwing nodded in agreement. "Ooh, are those two your friends?" Coco questioned, though she was slightly wary of Heather, Snaps even more so, something that was expressed when she spoke up. "You brought a human."
Cinderwing nodded to Coco's query. "Yea, these two are some of my friends." He gestured behind him with a wing, then glanced at Snaps. "And you don't have to worry about Heather, she's cool." He said to stave off her wariness, something that only boiled down to a simmer as she simply huffed.
"Anyway, would it be alright if we rested here for a while?" Cinder asked, getting Snap-trap to begin pondering. "It's alright if not, your abode is just the only safe space I'm familiar with on this, and it's not like I can't just forcibly make my own, it's just... well you know." After a short while of the sisters silently nodding and shaking their heads at each other, Latte was the one to give their answer. "You may rest her for a while, you're a friend after all." She spared a quick glance at Heather before returning her gaze to him. "We don't... particularly mind her, but would you mind keeping her away from our nest? Snaps is already wary enough as is."
Cinderwing nodded, glancing back at Windshear who also nodded. "That won't be a problem, we're keeping an eye on her anyway. Family drama and all." He said with a slightly awkward smile. "We were heading straight for Huttsgalor, but we ended up getting a bit too playful on the way, and ended up having to take a break." Cinderwing tapped the crystal on his chest. "Had to bring this thing back, and I think her having a two-way conversation with Windshear could help her a bit." He added, his smile softening. It ended up being infectious as all four of Snap-trap's heads smiled as well.
(Scene break)
The group of three rested within Snap-trap's garden. Windshear was taking a nap in a bed of flowers with Heather laying against her chest whilst drawing Snap-trap on a small notebook, all the while Cinderwing was hanging from a tree by his tail, napping like a bat. It was pretty peaceful, like the wind blowing through the garden, or the singing of the birds, sometimes the occasional snap of Coco's jaws when she ate a spider that she lured into her mouth using the chocolate-scented nectar produced in her tongue, or Flowie when she used the same method to lure a spider to use it to catch a bird that was hunting the spider.
Another of the many things that could be heard was Cinder's mumblings, peeking a glance through his wings as he counted and recounted a few times. It didn't take long before Snaps took notice of his mumbling, especially when he was hanging from the tree branch closest to her yellow flower bed. These ones were her favorite as they often attracted her preferred insects to eat. Snaps stretched out her long neck until she was just in front of Cinder when he cracked open his wings. "What'cha doing?" She asked, noting how he surprisingly flinched when he had opened his wings—no matter how small of a flinch it was.
Cinderwing huffed, pulling his wings away before shifting their position to cover his body, leaving his head to look at Snaps. "Counting." She tilted her head at his answer. "What for?" She queried. He sighed. "Because I've just realized something." Seeing her confused gaze, he continued. "Whether or not I include you and your sister, as well as Barf & Belch separately, I have more female friends than male. 7 to 4, not including any of the Rescue Riders." Cinder tilted his head. "You think that's weird?"
If Snaps could shrug at this moment, she would have already done so, therefore she just shook her head. "Don't know. We've never had many friends, if any at all. Until recently, that is." Cinderwing hummed at her response to his query, before shifting his wings to their normal position, uncovering his body before he climbed onto the thick branch he had hung from, shifting upright until he could lay on his stomach, legs hanging but more than ready to grasp the branch. He looked down at Snaps. "Does the hybrid still live here? On the island, I mean."
Snaps pondered for a moment before shaking her head in denial. "No, he's essentially been banished by the other dragons on the island." She began, her triple split jaw moving a bit out of sync as she spoke. "But I do know that he's moved to one of the smaller nearby islands. I've also heard from other dragons that he's found a strange red crystal that stops them from using their fire, and messes with their other abilities." Cinderwing's eyes narrowed into slits, teeth unsheathing. "Well, I know where I'm going after she wakes up." He said, gesturing towards Windshear, before glancing back at Snaps with a toothy smile. "So, anything interesting happen since I was last here?" Snaps matched him with her own grin. "Oh, I have a few stories to tell."
They soon began conversing with each other—with Latte, Coco and Flowie joining in a while later—until the rest of the evening, giving Windshear—soon followed by Heather—time to continue her much-needed nap without being disturbed.
(Scene break)
A while after both Heather and Windshear had woken up from their nap, and after saying their goodbyes, Cinderwing began to lead them towards the island Snaps had mentioned. The island wasn't far from Huttsgalor either, so that in itself was a good bonus. As they began to fly above the island, they noticed how it was more rocky than anything; to Cinderwing it was quite like how Fishlegs described Dark Deep island. After hovering above the island for a while before they moved to land, with Cinderwing skidding on the ground as he did for dramatic flare, they began trotting along the rocky plains, having had yet to see any other dragons—though there were many signs of dragons having had some scuffles.
Cinderwing hummed thoughtfully as they neared a ravaged forest, most trees being burned, splintered, or knocked down. He suddenly fired a "low" power plasma blast to his right, tearing through some of the still standing trees before hitting a large, silver dragon: a female Ironclaw. The stunned Ironclaw shook her head, before noticing the Night Fury. "Hey! Watch where you're shooting! You could've hit my babies!" She snapped, growling when she noticed Cinder walked toward her.
Cinderwing stopped before moving to stand on his haunches, placing a paw on his chest. "I apologize for shooting you." He began, genuinely surprising the mother dragon, as dragons didn't usually apologize in such a straightforward manner. "I'm just a bit more skittish than usual due to being warned about a hybrid dragon that is abusing the power of a red crystal. Do you happen to know where he is?" He added with a query.
Heather and Windshear watched the interaction with confused curiosity as the Ironclaw took a moment to muse over the apology.
"I... suppose it's alright." She began, accepting the apology. The Ironclaw pointed her head east, further inward toward the center of the island. "He's just about that away, further east into the island." She glanced at Cinderwing. "The Rescue Riders—if you've heard of them—are trying to get him to stop terrorizing other dragons that live here, in fact, they just rescued my babies from him." She added, though her barely quelled motherly rage could be heard in her tone.
Cinderwing narrowed his eyes with a growl, something that was followed by the sound of Windshear flaring her tail spines, and a nod when he glanced back. All the while Heather looked slightly confused, but brandished her axe, but did not unfold it.
(Rescue Riders)
"Whoa!" Aggro exclaimed as she quickly increased her altitude to dodge a volley of large tail spines clearly aimed at her head, before returning fire with her own fireball that sadly didn't do much against the hybrid dragon. She growled with irritation, only to smirk when Winger had shot a power blast into the hybrid's face. "Aggro, you alright?" He asked, about to fire another blast only for it to expel from his maws as smoke when a red crystal shard flew past his head. "Man, this guy's getting annoying."
Cutter erratically flew left, right, up, then down to dodge continuous blasts of fire. "You're telling me! If this was a game of dodge-rock, I would be winning!" He yelled out, weaving around a ball of magnesium fire before launching his tail spines at the hybrid dragon. "Just... argh! Stop moving so I can impale you with my spines!" The hybrid yelled, his voice full of irritated rage before getting hit by a rock. "You know, if this wasn't so scary, it would be kind of funny." Burple stated, currently flying much higher up in the air than the others. "The way he's yelling is like the storybook Fishlegs left us." He added, reminiscing about the Hiccup and Fishlegs' last visit. Summer flew next to the purple rock dragon. "Focus, Burple. You can reminisce later." She said, with Leyla nodding in agreement. "Yeah, I'll even read it to you again." Leyla's eyes widened when she noticed the hybrid flaring his large tail spines. "Everyone, dodge!"
However, before the hybrid could swing his tail far enough to launch his tail spines—in what seemed to be slow motion—Heather's dual-bladed axe—charged with lightning—spun through the air at high speeds toward the hybrid, slicing off a portion of his tail—just barely cutting between the joint—which fell to the ground with a thud.
Unfortunately, the force of which the axe hit the ground broke the hinge that allowed it to unfold, causing it to split into two parts, leaving two separate short-handled axes. The Rescue Riders' eyes widened with shock as they witnessed the event, with both Cinderwing and Windshear flying up beside them a moment later with, of course, Heather on her saddle, though Cinderwing was a bit further away from the silver dragon as he still had residual amounts of lightning crackling over his body.
Heather sighed with slight disbelief. "I made that axe myself, you know." She said to Cinderwing, who warbled an unintelligible—to her at least—reply. "He says that we can have Hannahr repair it when we get back." Dak suddenly said, surprising as well as confusing Heather. Summer flew up next to Windshear to allow Leyla to speak with Heather. "I'm sorry about my brother for suddenly throwing information at you, but the easiest way to explain it right now is that we were raised by a dragon when we were young, well younger, and we can understand the dragon language."
A thoughtful expression crossed Heather's face. 'Is this why—.' Her musings were interrupted by a blood-curdling roar of recently registered pain. Hot blood lightly sprayed out from his semi-cauterized wound, the hybrid's eyes becoming slits as primal rage took hold of his mind, the only thing keeping him from launching volleys of magnesium fire being the red crystal he had unintentionally stepped onto when he had stumbled back in shock earlier. "I'll, I'll kill you!" He snarled, staring up at the group of flying dragons, more focused on Cinderwing. "I'll kill all of you, especially you, you insolent, forsaken Dark Chaser!"
Cinderwing scoffed at the hybrid's pathetic insult before he huffed. "I should've gotten rid of you earlier, the only reason I did not was to not traumatize the young ones, nor engage in a fight with a rageful mother." He clenched his paws, power crystal boosted lightning crackling over his scales. "You've decided to threaten the lives of those I care about, no matter how paltry it may be." His dorsal spines began glowing an electric blue, his eyes flickering the same color as his maw began to glow. "I'm going to put you into the fucking ground."
Cinderwing fired his plasma blast at the hybrid—who had attempted to block it with his wings, only for most of the membrane to burn away as he was pushed back—before he dive-bombed, crashing into the hybrid away from the red crystal. Shaking away their shock, Dak and Leyla quickly took command. "Burple, grab the crystal since its nullifying effects don't work on you. Dak, Winger, please go with him." Leyla said, getting a nod from her brothers and a shaky nod from the purple dragon. "Ooh, I'm gonna be sick." Heather watched on with curiosity, though still very much worried about the fight between Cinder and the hybrid.
Leyla had Summer fly beside Windshear. "Will Cinder really... you know." They had both queried in unison, Leyla to Heather, and Summer to Windshear. "I... honestly don't know. I haven't really spent that much time with him other than when I was meeting with Hiccup, who I assume you know since you know his name." Heather replied—Windshear keeping silent for now—gesturing toward Cinder when she finished speaking. "But, you said you can understand dragons, right? Like actually knowing what they're saying." Leyla nodded. "Then maybe Windshear could tell you, if you really can understand dragon speech." She added, though still not entirely convinced that the younger girl could understand dragons.
"He will." Windshear answered, observing the battle below, if you could even call it a battle. "He's done it before." She added, earning an expression of discomfort from both Leyla and Summer before they relayed what the silver dragon had said to her rider, who only gained a shocked expression that didn't even have anything to do with the fight below, but rather with the fact that Leyla had really understood Windshear.
(Cinder/Aggro)
Aggro watched the one-sided fight with a wondrous glimmer in her eyes. She was—or at least used to be—a fight first and ask questions later kind of dragon, though that didn't mean she wouldn't help someone in need, like those sheep from when she first met the Rescue Riders. But then again, it's been so long since Aggro actually got to fight anyone so she wouldn't really be much of a fighter anymore; even then she never got the chance to get more experience before becoming a rescuer.
Don't get her wrong, she would rather never fight again than give up her family, though she wouldn't outright say it out loud, especially not in front of Cutter. It's probably why she and Cinderwing bonded so quickly; they both love to fight when they have the chance, and though she didn't have any battle stories to tell, he told her a lot about his own fights. But seeing it with her own eyes was something else entirely. The fight was very one-sided—in Cinderwing's favor of course—yet to Aggro, it was beautifully brutal, like a cruel dance of death with each strike the hybrid took from Cinderwing's tail. In short, it was fucking awesome, but don't let Leyla know that Cinderwing had taught Aggro human slurs, not yet at least, when they were all older. Ooh, he just clawed the hybrid's eye out, a little bloody—something that she slightly cringed at—but nothing that a dragon like her hasn't seen before even for being at a young age... well, besides the gouging of the eye but still.
After gouging the hybrid's eye out, Cinderwing went silent. No more talking, no more quips, no more tormenting the hybrid about how pathetic he was for fighting younglings; instead his maw was glowing with his plasma, though he didn't fire, not yet. The hybrid's current state was laughable: torn wings, partially severed tail, cracked and broken occipital spikes, lightning burns, a dislocated jaw, the holes of which his claws had made as well as the claw marks, and of course one missing eye.
"Why... 'ont 'ou just die?!" The hybrid questioned, his speech jumbled due to his dislocated jaw, as well as somehow not noticing that he had yet to do any real damage to the Night Fury. Lightning began to crackle more violently across his dorsal spines. 'No one can save you from me. Whether or not you survive my fire doesn't matter to me, you're doomed to die either way.' Electric blue flames erupted from Cinder's mouth, engulfing the hybrid as he attempted a counter with his own fire from his dislocated jaw, only to do nothing as the unstable plasma fire devoured the magnesium flame and continued to burn the hybrid.
He didn't stop at his enemy's screams of pain, nor at Windshear's yells to stop. The hybrid would survive; his plasma, in this fiery state, was weaker compared to his plasma blast or beams, though it was still more than enough to burn the flesh off a human against other dragons. However, it wasn't the best unless they were tidal class or had lower resistance to fire than most. This could be seen as contradictory to the fact that any dragon can be harmed by fire, but every dragon had different resistances to heat, an example being how a Night Fury can simply walk through fire with little problem, yet still be burned by the intense heat generated by a Fireworm Queen or a Singetail's fireballs that can be fired from all over its body. In short, in his injured state, the hybrid was especially weak to Cinderwing's plasma in its current state. Cinderwing only cut off his flames when he finally heard the hybrid fall to the ground, allowing him to see its sorry state when it dissipated. Yea, he's not even going to give the hybrid the respect of pronouns anymore.
Aggro was the first of the rescue riders to land next to him, though she had quickly hopped onto his back by the time the others landed a few feet behind him, with Windshear landing beside him, lowering herself to let Heather dismount.
Dak nervously walked up to Cinder. "Is he...?" Cinderwing shook his head. "No, it'll be fine so long as it decides to try to live without its wings and part of its tail." Dak didn't notice Cinder's dismissiveness, but his sister did, especially since she had to relay what he'd said to Heather, who had agreed after checking the hybrid for a pulse. "I know he basically attacked us on sight but, I don't feel comfortable leaving him like this." Dak said, with all but Cinder, Windshear, and Aggro nodding their heads in agreement. That didn't mean Aggro wouldn't try to save the hybrid again if given the chance, just that she wouldn't feel as bad for leaving him here as the other rescue riders. Cinderwing pondered on what to say for a minute before coming to a conclusion.
"You can only save those who want to be saved."
Cinderwing slowly turned around to face the others so as to not disturb Aggro's balance on his back. "That is something you'll experience the more as you get older, continuing to rescue other people and dragons." The rescue riders stared at Cinderwing dumbfoundedly—with Heather not knowing what he'd said—but Windshear agreed with him, as not every dragon she and Heather had saved before joining the hunters to become a spy had appreciated their help, some even downright attacked them right after. "That... that's deep." The rescue riders agreed with Dak's comment. A huff of confusion came from Heather. "What did he say now?" She queried, to which Leyla relayed, getting a sigh of reluctant acceptance. "He's right. Sadly you can't save everyone." Heather began, mounting her dragon's saddle. "...But it doesn't mean you shouldn't try." She added, getting smiles from the rescue riders before all but Cinder and Aggro flew off toward Huttsgalor, the rescue riders obviously in the lead as Heather didn't know where it was. "I technically lied to myself, you know." Cinderwing suddenly said, feeling as Aggro padded up to his neck before resting her head on top of his.
"How'd you do that?" She queried, a low purr erupting from her throat as she felt the comforting heat from his back that came from the residual lighting that still lingered. "I told myself that I would kill it." He gestured to the downed hybrid dragon behind him. "No matter if you and the others were watching." He sighed, walking away slow enough so that Aggro wouldn't fall. "But, as you can see I did not." Aggro creaked an eye open. "So why didn't you?" She queried once more. "I probably would've in your... boots? Paws?" She shifted slightly as she became confused. "You get what I mean." She decided to not continue her mental search for the correct term. Cinderwing nodded in agreement. "I get it. And to answer your question." He paused for a moment. "Because I remembered something." Cinder could feel the young fire dragon tilt her head. "For you to better understand, I'll need to tell you something that I haven't told anyone... not even Stormfly."
Aggro immediately opened her eyes and gave him her full attention, her purr stopping on a dime. "Before I met the dragon riders... I had an accident, one that involved eating a wild boar that had eaten an entire flower bed of blue oleander." Aggro blinked. "What's that?" She questioned. "A flower that's deadly poisonous to dragons, now back to the point. At the time I only thought it ate one flower but when I woke up I later found out it had the whole bed, which I burned leaving no more of that flower on the island."
"Continuing on, after that I've been having... strange dreams that usually gave me ideas like how to train my body and plasma, or random shit that I find funny, or quotes that are actually pretty good." If you thought he would tell her about a part of him once being human then you're dead wrong. He's taking that to the grave. "What I remembered was a quote: 'Be strong enough to be gentle'. Though it's not the entire reason why I didn't kill it."
Aggro smiled softly. "You didn't want to kill in front of Dak and Leyla, right?" She assumed. "Because I'm sure... actually I'm the only one, maybe besides Summer, who has seen a lot of blood let alone a dead dragon." Cinderwing nodded, confirming her assumption. "It's not like I won't kill anymore, I'll just... do it less." He added, glancing up to see that the others were long gone. "We should get going."
Aggro hummed in agreement, getting up and hopping down from his back before stretching. She glanced at the crystal on his chest. "Can I borrow that?"
Cinderwing chuckled. "It's a bit too big, no?" He smiled softly. "I'll carve out a smaller one at the Crystal Coves later, but don't use it around the others."
(Scene break)
A few days had passed since the hybrid's humiliating defeat by Cinderwing's claws, since then Windshear, Heather, and Cinder had been staying at Huttsgalor, with the Rescue Riders more than willing to give Heather one of the spare rooms in their roost. Cinder thought it would be better for her to be around people who were not the Dragon Riders for a while; it was definitely better than her being alone, and he was right as he noticed her barely noticeable smiles as she spent time in the village and with the Rescue Riders.
Cinderwing had gone to Crystal Cove to carve out a crystal similar to his, only smaller and a little thinner in width than his so it could fit on her chest. You'd think with how easy it was for him to carve out a crystal that it'd be pretty fragile, but you'd be surprised to know that he had to use his plasma beam in tandem with his claws to carve it out, not to mention his plasma beam is being heavily boosted by the giant blue and yellow power crystals that surrounded him. Cinderwing had decided to hide the crystals in a loose wall panel he found in the lower room where the dragons slept when no one was there. The loose panel was near Aggro's nest, something which he told her. It was a pretty good hiding place especially since the crystals wouldn't affect the other dragons unless they were pushing themselves against the wall with the loose panel.
Whilst Heather had mostly spent her time in the village, Cinderwing and Windshear had been training the draconic portion of the Rescue Riders in combat so they'd be a little more prepared if they had to fight a dragon, with Heather occasionally training Dak and Leyla, though that mostly consisted of moving as fast as possible for dodging. He and Aggro had also gone to less frequented areas of the island for more intense training per her request. Let's just say the two had to put out multiple fires very quickly before the other Rescue Riders could notice, though there was nothing they could do about all the knocked-down trees. They had also pulled some smelly pranks on Magnus by placing old, soon-to-rot tomatoes around his house. Aggro wasn't usually a prankster type of gal, but she definitely enjoyed seeing the inventor's disgusted expression as he ran around his house, searching for whatever was making the horrible smell.
Another 2 days later, the Rescue Riders had convinced—dragged—Windshear and Cinderwing into a game of volley-rock, with Aggro obviously choosing to be on Cinderwing's team whilst Windshear was on the other team. The first round had to be repeated due to Windshear accidentally slicing the rock in half with her tail. The second was won by Cinder's team, the third ended the same as the last, with Windshear's team winning the next two rounds before losing the final round to Cinderwing's team, giving them overall victory.
The day after, in the afternoon, Cinderwing decided to complete a promise he made. Currently, all of the dragons were congregated at the cliff where they played volley-rock. "Aww. Already?" Cinderwing nodded with an apologetic expression. "Yes. Sorry little flame, but I promised another dragon something, and now that I've returned the crystal I can go complete that promise." Windshear perked up before smoke puffed out from her nostrils. "It's a promise of battle, yes?" Cinderwing nodded.
Windshear huffed. "Always wanting to fight." She said with some sass before she sighed. "At least you didn't leave right after we got here." She added, though she held a glint in her eyes, of what emotion, Cinderwing could not tell. Cinderwing spread his wings. "Don't worry too much. It's not a fight to the death, so I'll come back right after." Windshear smiled at his reply, seemingly about to walk to him before she stopped herself. "Though I will have to return to Dragon's Edge soon after." Her mood immediately shifted, becoming more annoyed, but she kept to herself.
However, Cinderwing took notice, lifted his arms and gestured for her to come in for a hug. She smiled at the gesture, her tail momentarily wagging before she walked up to him, stood on her hind legs and allowed him to pull her into a hug, the younger dragons smiling at the moment. Cinder could hear her humming happily. "You're a big softie, you know." He said, getting a short huff from her. "No I'm not." She quietly whined in denial. Cinder chuckled. "Well, you're a giant softie around me." He felt Windshear wiggle slightly as he teased her. "You know, I'm pretty sure I'm the only—."
"Yes, yes, you are. Now can you please just shut the f*ck up and let me hug you a little longer." She quickly interrupted, already knowing what he was gonna say. It was something of a sensitive topic as her kind were usually very aggressive towards males, and she couldn't help but feel somewhat smitten for him no matter how unsure she currently was. What no one could currently see is that she had a deep reddish-pink blush on her silver cheeks.
(Scene break)
(Location:u̷̷n̷̷k̷̷n̷̷o̷̷w̷̷n̷ ꈼꌅꌅꂦꌅ... ꓅ꑛꐇꁹꁕꍟ꒓ꌚ꓅ꆂ꒓ꁒ ꏝꋫ꒒꒒ꍟꐟ)
Lightning struck the stone ground in bursts of three every few seconds, scorching what little remained of the greenery. This small island was covered in these thunderstorms—the perfect habitat for a lightning dragon—in which it was currently populated by multiple Skrill. This was the most any Viking would ever see in one place if they ever had the luck to get through the violent storms, not that any of the Skrills would let them get close to their nesting site. There was no doubt that this island's location was held within the Dragon Eye. One Skrill in particular was laying atop a cliff edge, eyes gleaming with anticipation when he took notice of a familiar beam of plasma that pierced through the storm. The other Skrills in the immediate vicinity stared into the horizon, their eyes glimmering in a mixture of curious confusion, and territorial anger at what dared to intrude on their island.
'You're here.' The familiar Skrill mused, chuckling with amusement at how skittish his fellow inhabitants became.
"What is it?" A female Skrill queried."I don't know. Maybe a powerful Lightning Chaser?" Her recently acquired mate answered. "Like one of the young but larger ones." Another female questioned, quickly shuffling away when the other female snapped at her to get away from her mate. A younger female approached the familiar Skrill. "Hey, Stinger, why are you so focused on that?" The now named Stinger glanced at the female Skrill who had been trying to get his attention as a possible mate since not long after season started. "Because I know who and what that was." He answered as he got up, spreading his wings to fly before lightning encased his body as he seemingly evaporated into lightning. After essentially teleporting into the sky he flew deeper into the storm. Stinger began to hear a sharp whistle getting louder as it got closer, and closer until a familiar orange-striped Night Fury came into view at rapid speed.
Cinderwing smiled when he noticed Stinger. "Ahh, there you are." He unsheathed his teeth. "Not only took a few days, but I had to search through so many storms to find you." Stinger chuckled, a rare grin curling up his lips, lightning crackling with each flap of his wings. "I expected you to find me sooner or later." He admitted. "My kind's mating season has already started." Cinderwing actually looked apologetic. "Were you about to...." Stinger immediately shook his head in denial. "No. I am currently not interested in finding a mate." Lightning began to crackle more violently around his body. "I wouldn't have a chance to fight a Dark Chaser if I did. I would be tied to having to take care of a mate." His maw began to glow with raw electricity.
Cinderwing responded in kind, with lightning beginning to crackle over his own body. "Then let's get started!" Cinder did something that Stinger did not expect, wrapping his wings around himself causing him to quickly descend before he spread his wings, twisting in the air before firing a plasma blast into Stinger's face, forcing him to dispel his own blast. Stinger grunted before quickly "teleporting"—it is really just increasing his speed by a very large margin for a very short time—closer to the Dark Chaser and firing a lightning beam at him. Cinderwing dodged the beam just before it reached him before he replied with his plasma beam, tracking Stinger as he flew away, weaving left, right, up and down until he got out of range of the electrified plasma. Cinder flapped his wings to get more altitude, going higher until he was high enough to enter a dive bomb, a familiar high pitched whistle sounding out as his speed increased before he shot a powerful plasma blast that momentarily knocked Stinger out of the sky after Cinder had zoomed past him. Stinger quickly righted himself with a grunt, shaking away his daze, looking around to find where Cinder had gone.
Stinger growled with frustration as Cinderwing continued to bombard him with plasma bolts, before finally having enough, roaring as he released a portion of his stored lightning into a shield that quickly dissipated after use. "You know, I assumed you were more into physical combat based on our first encounter." He quickly turned around when he heard Cinder pass by with the Night Fury's signature whistle they make when flying at high speeds. "Instead, you're evading and divebombing me like a coward." He chuckled morbidly. "At least you're putting more of a challenge then the smaller Dark Chaser." Cinderwing dived down from the dark clouds and flew into Stinger, clawing his back as they fell from the sky. "I do prefer physical combat!" Cinderwing exclaimed his reply over the rushing wind. "But I know when I shouldn't use it." He charged a plasma blast only for Stinger to finally shake him off, forcing Cinder to waste his shot by instinctually firing it off target.
Once Cinder got his bearings, he noticed that Stinger had disappeared into the storm. He chuckled. "I guess it's your turn to play this game." He almost immediately noticed lightning beginning to converge in a single spot in the clouds, and began to charge his plasma beam. A powerful beam of lightning suddenly burst from the clouds, blowing them away with enough force to reveal Stinger pulling in the surrounding lightning for this beam. Cinderwing fired his plasma beam, which collided with Stinger's beam just before it hit him, his plasma beam pushing the lightning beam until they began pushing each other back and forth in the middle, fighting for power. Soon after, an orb of unstable energy began to form in the middle, gradually growing in size the longer the two beams collided... until it violently exploded with a powerful shockwave that temporarily knocked both dragons out of the sky.
Stinger huffed in exhaustion as he landed on the cliff, blood dripping mainly from claw wounds. Most of the other Skrills quickly scurried away from the scene, whilst the rest simply gave him space. He glanced around before glancing back, not seeing Cinder anywhere. 'Did he fall into the ocean?' He mentally queried, before continuing to walk away from the cliff edge. 'I win.' A back, clawed paw reached over the cliff edge, scraping against the ground as Cinderwing climbed up—revealing he also was bleeding, though his wounds were from crashing into the stone beach, and a few burns—narrowing his eyes at Stinger who had yet to notice him. He attempted to fire a plasma blast, only for a disappointing blotch of plasma to exit his mouth and drop to the ground, signifying his lack of shots left. Out of ammo if you will. 'Well, that's a little embarrassing.' Cinderwing quickly shook off his embarrassment, prowling toward Stinger, taking quick notice that his lightning reserves were also depleted. No other Skrill warned Stinger of the incoming danger; there were a multitude of reasons: some simply didn't care, while the rest knew it wasn't their place to intervene. They were more often than not, solitary creatures; for the males, if Stinger died it would be less competition.
This is a reason as to why Cinder was able to tackle Stinger, pinning him to the ground. Cinderwing lowered his head into Stinger's view with a growl. "Do you yield?" Stinger struggled in Cinder's grasp with intensity, before finally giving up with an exaggerated sigh. "I yield." The other Skrill began to murmur, before a young but bold male Skrill approached threateningly, trying to take advantage of the exhausted dragons, mainly Stinger. Cinderwing immediately hissed threateningly the moment he noticed. "Don't f*cking try it." He got off Stinger, allowing the Skrill to stand before Cinder walked toward the young Skrill with a threatening aura. "I can and will fight you, or anyone else if you try to attack Stinger right now."
"But... you're a Dark Chaser, and you were both just fighting. Why would you protect him?" The Skrill questioned. "The fight was merely something we agreed upon, it was not to kill each other." Unknown to Cinder his maw glowed a faint orange, "encouraging" the Skrill to back off. Cinder turned to Stinger, moving toward him before grabbing him by his back—something that greatly confused the blue Skrill—and flew off until he reached a secluded area. Stinger took a deep breath before staring at the Night Fury. "Why did you—."
"Because I want to fight you again. Of course we'll both be stronger by then but still." Cinderwing answered, before seeing the look Stinger gave him. "Oh, don't look at me like that. There's no way you would have won that fight with the other Skr... Lightning Chaser." Stinger huffed indignantly, before sighing in defeat. "Fine, but no interruptions next time." Stinger's eyes narrowed. "I have no doubt you would have continued to fight me if those other Lightning Chasers were not there." Cinder chuckled. "Such a short time and you already know me so well."
"Tck. Well, anyway, I gotta go, promised a friend that I'd come back not long after I was done with our battle." Cinderwing added, hopping up with renewed vigor as if he didn't even fight.
Stinger sighed tiredly, closing his eyes for a moment... but when he opened them he quickly noticed that Cinderwing was gone. Quickly standing up and looking around, it took him a while to hear the faint sound of flapping wings, and when he glanced towards the sound, he finally saw Cinder, already so far gone. "Hmph. Dark chasers."
(End)