Something that I forgot to mention in the last chapter was that names like; Dark Chaser, Spine Tail, Wind Slicer etc are based off the fanfic called;Dragon Age: Dragon Vilking by: seafury on Fanfic.net and on The_Jonbergdahl account on WebNovel (don't know if they're the same person but it doesn't matter, it's a good book that you should read) I couldn't remember all the dragon specific species names.
Also check out Lordexplosionmrder stories on Wattpad, as I technically got the Snaptrapper idea from her(it's her favorite dragon) and no one has included in their books (as far as I know)
Alt-title: "new" dragons
"Speech"
'Thought'
———————————
(3rd POV)
He finally found it. After another two days of searching, Cinderwing had finally arrived at Huttsgalor. While he observed from high above, he noticed some things about the island. To be honest, it looked more like a mountain in the middle of the ocean than a traditional island, as most of the ground sloped upwards to connect with the mountain, leaving very little flat space for the village.
From his perspective high in the sky, there wasn't much room for buildings. On the bright side, he was able to see the Rescue Riders' tower in its pristine condition, which meant they were already occupying it.
"Oh. And there's their Great Hall," he noted out loud after spotting the building built into the mountain.
After minutes of observation, Cinderwing finally decided to land on the island. He chose a spot far away from the village and the Rescue Riders' tower just to be safe. While he could easily beat them all in a fight, he would rather not fight children.
Landing on the lush, green grass—which felt surprisingly soft under his claws—he began his search for the Belzium-filled cave somewhere up the mountain. From what he could remember, there was a slope close to the cavern that led up to the village. He continued his trek through the woods in search of the slope, but he was in no hurry and took his time.
Cinder paused for a moment, taking cover under a tree as he saw the Swiftwing and his rider speed by. "Whoo-hoo!" followed by "Yeah!"
While it wouldn't really matter if he was spotted, he'd much rather find the Belzium first to see if there was even enough for him to bring back, considering how that Magnus fellow used so much of the magnetic rock to make a "mecha" dragon. He could also just ask, as they'd most likely give him some, but he much preferred to do it himself.
He soon reached a sandstone deposit and quickly took out the Gronckle Iron shard from his pouch. The Gronckle Iron should be more than enough to not only attract smaller pieces of Belzium but also help him find larger pieces by feeling its pull towards them.
Shifting to a bipedal stance so he could more easily walk while holding the shard, he felt the vibrations as two small pieces of Belzium flew towards and stuck to the Gronckle Iron. Cinder plucked the crystalline rocks and placed them in his pouch before continuing his search.
He paused when he saw a hut with an older woman in front, being harassed by three Slinkwings. "Shoo!" The old woman attempted to hit one of the dragons with her staff, only for the dragon to spit a large glob of a green glue-like substance from its mouth, sticking the staff and her hand to the hut wall.
A Slinkwing—the leader—chuckled. "Well, well. No Rescue brats to save you now." He snarked, knowing she couldn't understand him. "What are we going to do with her?" the other male asked.
Cinderwing placed the shard back into his pouch and activated his cloaked state, stealthily walking behind the dragons.
The third one licked her lips, her stomach rumbling with hunger. "I say we eat her, I'm starving. And we've never tasted human before." The smaller male looked at her strangely, while the slightly larger male laughed with malice.
"You know, Vizza? I think that's the best idea you've had all day." He laughed harder at what Cinder had assumed was his mate's suggestion. The smaller male nervously looked away, not wanting to take part in such an action.
The two Slinkwings were about to strike the woman, aiming to bite into her flesh when Cinderwing spoke up, still cloaked.
"I would advise against that. Human flesh is far too stringy and tastes too oily."
The three Slinkwings' heads snapped to look behind them, but they saw nothing. "Where are you?" the leader demanded. "Show yourself!" Vizza snarled. "Y-yeah, show y-yourself," the smaller male stuttered.
"And why should I?" Cinder asked, a grin hidden under his cloaked state as he flexed his claws. He then snatched the leader by his neck, pulling him closer as his cloaked state dissipated. "Tell me your name." he demanded.
"It's Lurke," Lurke coughed out, with the other two Slinkwings watching in fear, mostly due to Cinderwing's larger size compared to them.
The old woman, Marena if he remembered correctly, just stared with a blank expression. "I'm too old for this shit," she muttered to herself in Spanish, a language he could not understand. She then unstuck herself and her staff, smashing it against Vizza's head before walking towards the village.
Cinderwing chuckled, tightening his grip. "Did you know, Dark Chasers are among the more predatory dragons?" Lurke's eyes widened. "Dark Chaser?!"
"It means that in more desperate times, we would hunt and eat other dragons. Now, I wonder what you taste like." He said, unsheathing his teeth.
But before Cinder took a bite, he threw the dragon to the ground, slamming his tail against its chest. Lurke groaned in pain.
Cinder looked down on Lurke with disinterest. "Leave this island." His eyes narrowed. "And you will not return as long as I'm here." The Slinkwings instantly nodded. "Yes! Yes, of course!" Cinderwing watched as they flew away before continuing his search for the cave, which should be pretty close to where he was, especially since the slope was right there.
(Scene break)
In the Belzium-filled cavern, a sound similar to that of plasma cutting through stone echoed as Cinderwing used his plasma beam to cut an area around a fairly large Belzium boulder. He was deeper into the cavern than the Rescue Riders were, or had the chance to be, as it was clear that they hadn't returned to the cave. The only sign of disturbed earth was near the roof of the entrance.
There were still fallen boulders near the entrance as well. He had already extracted multiple small to medium-sized boulders of Belzium, but the only problem he faced now was how to carry it all back home.
He could ask the resident dragon riders, but the amount of explaining he would have to do annoyed him. Though the more he thought about it, the more it seemed that it would be worth it, as it had been too long since he had a normal conversation.
Well, a normal, HUMAN, conversation.
(Scene break)
(Rescue Riders)
The Rescue Riders—mainly two dragons and a young boy—were hanging out in their tower. Aggro, a Fire Fury, and Winger, a Swiftwing, were arguing about who was faster. Winger insisted that a Swiftwing such as himself was the fastest, while Aggro argued that it was a dragon that few had ever seen in person: a Dark Chaser.
Neither of them knew that the humans called them Night Furies.
"No way. We Swiftwings are the fastest dragons alive," Winger boldly claimed. His head was more proportionate to his body, and his wings were larger, making him appear smaller to fit his younger age than what was shown in the television series.
Aggro scoffed with a tilt of her head. Her body was slightly larger, with a smaller head proportional to her body, larger wings, and slightly longer horns. "Well, hate to break it to you, but Dark Chasers are the fastest dragons."
"Oh, yeah?" He playfully retorted. Aggro rolled her eyes but nodded. "Yeah. Based on what the oldest members of my old flock told me, Dark Chasers are one of, if not the fastest dragons they've ever seen," She said with enthusiastic amazement. "And that includes ADULT Swiftwings." She added before Winger could rebut.
"What are you two arguing about now?" A young girl who looked to be the same age as the boy asked, with a Fastfin walking up behind her.
The Fastfin, Summer, had a more muscular build, but not by much. She also had a slightly longer and more narrow face than the show's version, but still more than wide enough for the many kinds of sea creatures her species usually ate.
The boy, Dak, got up from his leaning position on the wall and walked toward his sister, Leyla. "They've been arguing about who's fastest, a Swiftwing or a Dark Chaser. But to be honest, Leyla, I've never heard of that dragon before. Have you?"
Leyla shook her head. "No. Never heard of it either." She turned to Aggro. "Aggro, how much do you know about this 'Dark Chaser'?" Aggro shook her head. "Only that it's one of the fastest dragons. Most younger dragons don't even know what they are, let alone actually see them."
"Do you know why?" Dak asked, rubbing Aggro's snout. "Like, are they super secretive, or maybe they prefer to be alone?" Aggro shook her head in disagreement. "Nope. They're basically extinct." She said with a nonchalant tone. Everyone else's eyes widened in horror at the sudden bombshell of information.
Leyla covered her mouth. "No dragon just goes extinct like that." She said knowingly. Dak moved to comfort her. "I know, Leyla. But not all humans actually like dragons." He said, reminding her of a past experience—one that had nothing to do with Magnus or anyone else they'd faced since living in Huttsgalor, except maybe pirates.
Just then, a Relentless Razorwing, Cutter, whose features were sharper, especially his tail spines, along with a more muscular but agile build, landed. "Hey guys," He called, getting their attention and distracting them from the previous information for a time. "Marena is outside. She also looks exhausted and tired of everything." He said with his usual mannerism.
Leyla looked at her brother, who nodded. "Okay. Let's go see what she might need."
As they approached the door, a question came to Aggro's mind, one that might not go unanswered. "You know, I wonder what our power crystals would do to a Dark Chaser?" she said aloud. "Aggro. We don't even know what all of them do to you all. We can't test them on other dragons," Leyla said with a stern tone.
(Aggro)
Aggro was flying over the island, searching for the mysterious dragon that saved Marena from the Slinkwing trio. The first place the team checked was Marena's hut before splitting up to cover more ground.
She checked the sheep pens, then Boiling Springs Valley, Thornbane Valley, and finally, but regrettably, the Icy Northern Tip. Oh, how she hated that place; it had always messed with her firepower due to her young age.
As she was flying over a Belzium deposit—mainly the cavern that they'd gotten the large Belzium boulders from—she heard a sound coming from the cavern. She tilted her head in confusion. To her, it sounded like something or someone was blasting through stone.
"Probably just Magnus," Aggro muttered with annoyance and a roll of her eyes, choosing to ignore it, assuming that Magnus was using a new invention he made to more effectively collect Belzium for his Mechano-dragon. Before she stopped mid-flight. "Or, maybe, it's the mystery dragon!" She exclaimed aloud, quickly flying down and landing at the cave entrance.
The first thing Aggro noticed was the many Belzium boulders that littered the interior of the cave entrance, leaving only enough room to walk in and out.
"Weird?" She murmured, going deeper into the cave. The sound was getting louder as she got closer. She was slowly regretting rushing in by herself, as she only now realized that the dragon might be hostile.
Looking around a corner, Aggro finally saw the dragon from behind. From her perspective, the dragon had a lot of similarities to Winger, only much larger and had movable ear nubs instead of static head spikes. It also had a mainly black color scheme with orange stripes.
She saw the dragon using some sort of beam to cut through the stone around the Belzium, before pulling it out of the ground.
"If you're just gonna stand there and watch, then at least introduce yourself." The dragon said, not bothering to turn around to face her. She was no threat to him.
Aggro jumped, more startled by the realization that he'd known she was here than by his sudden request.
"Uh, uhm. Aggro, my name is Aggro, the Fire Fury." She stumbled over her words. The dragon turned his head to glance at her, his eyes full of amusement. This also caused her to notice his dark green eyes.
"Cinderwing," he replied, giving her his name, before finally turning to face her, revealing more of his orange markings. "Cinderwing the Dark Chaser." Cinder added, placing a paw on his chest.
Aggro's eyes widened in surprise. "You're a Dark Chaser?!" Her tail was wagging with excitement. "A real Dark Chaser." She whispered, before calming herself down and fully realizing that he was collecting Belzium.
"What are you digging out Belzium for?" Aggro said, trying to keep her voice as stern and mature as possible.
Cinderwing chuckled, seeing no reason not to tell her. Especially since he was going to have to ask for their assistance, he'd already know what he could possibly give in return for the magnetic material. "I'm collecting it because my... team needs it to see if we can make a stronger, more flexible, and lighter armor for dragons."
Aggro was confused. 'Why does he need armor?' She thought, staring at a boulder of Belzium that was larger than herself. Cinderwing began rolling the boulders outside one by one.
"Why do you even need armor for? And you know that you could've just asked for the Belzium?"
"I know, but I would rather see how much you even have before bothering to take or ask for some," Cinderwing replied. "And the island where I live is attacked by dragon hunters every so often. They also use dragon-root arrows that disorient a dragon and inhibit their ability to fly."
A slightly frightened expression formed on Aggro's face before she shook her head. "How are you going to carry it all anyway?" A small smile formed on Cinderwing's lips. "I was actually thinking about employing the Rescue Riders for a bit of help getting all these to my island, though it's pretty far from here," He answered. "And if you're unable to help me bring them to my island, then at least allow me to get others from my home to help out. Of course, I will give something in return. Such as information on dragons that you normally wouldn't find."
"Well, as much as I would love to help out, or to know any secret powers that I might have, you'll have to speak with Dak and Leyla back at our roost." She said while following him outside as he was moving another boulder.
(Scene break)
(Cinderwing)
Cinderwing followed Aggro across the island, after excavating a few more smaller pieces of Belzium he'd dropped in his pouch. They passed by Magnus's hut, who exclaimed in anger about having a ruffian dragon on the island and how his intellect and Mechano-dragon was superior.
"You know, I've only heard stories about Dark Chasers, but I never thought that I'd actually meet one," Aggro struck up a conversation with enthusiasm, turning to fly backwards as Cinderwing slowed his pace and remained gliding.
"I would be surprised if you did." He began, noting how her body glowed as she let out small puffs of fire. "Toothless is the only other one that I know of." Just as they were about to fly above the village, the villagers who were not inside their huts noticed a massive shadow moving along the ground. They all looked up with awe as they saw Cinder's massive form high above the village.
Those who haven't seen the larger dragons that the Rescue Riders have helped out were especially amazed. To them, Cinderwing was huge compared to Aggro, who was still in her late juvenile stage of life.
He could see their roost from the sky as the remaining Rescue Riders were talking amongst themselves, hearing snippets of their conversation such as: "Do you think she found them?" and "Could she have gotten hurt?"
Their conversation stopped abruptly when Aggro called out to them. "Hey guys! I found our mystery dragon." Excitement filled her voice as she landed in front of Dak and Leyla, with Cinder landing a few feet away.
The two twin siblings walked up to Cinderwing; they were not only amazed at seeing a new dragon, but also his size. While they've seen and interacted with bigger dragons, they had a feeling that he was much bigger than normal.
"Whoa. What kind of dragon are you?" Dak wondered aloud. Leyla flipped through the pages of her notebook before shaking her head. "No, I don't have anything on this dragon." She looked up at Cinderwing, who remained silent, looking down at her. "I, am a Dark Chaser. One of the last of my kind."
"Isn't that what Aggro and Winger were arguing about for what dragon is the fastest?" Burple, the Rockspitter, asked with a confused tone. "Yes, Burps, that's what we were arguing about." Winger answered.
"Skrill." Cinderwing suddenly said, getting everyone's attention. "Huh? What do you mean?" Leyla asked, hoping to get new info on a dragon that she had very little knowledge about. "The Skrill has the ability to travel through lightning bolts, so taking it into account they are the fastest dragon by default. Though only if there's a lightning storm, otherwise, it's Dark Chasers such as myself."
"Could you tell us more about your species?" Leyla asked, just before Cutter butted in. "Wait a minute." He began, pointing a wing tip at Cinderwing. "Why aren't you surprised that Leyla can understand you? That's suspicious." He said with obvious suspicion.
Cinderwing simply gave him a disarming smile. "Pipe down, youngling, I came to this island for two reasons. Belzium. And to confirm the rumors of two human children who could understand Draconic language."
"Wait, so you knew about us?" Dak asked with a pointed finger. Cinderwing nodded. "Yup. Now before I tell you, I would like you to make a guess on what the humans call my species, because it's not Dark Chaser. I'm sure you have something about my species in that book; I'll even give you a hint." He said, before turning to Aggro. "Could you do me a favor, and not tell them?" He asked. Aggro slowly nodded. "Uh, yeah, sure, I guess."
Leyla opened her notebook, determination visible in her eyes. "Okay, I'm ready," she said, with Cinder nodding in acknowledgment.
"Speed: unknown. Size: unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon, your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you." As he spoke, the Rescue Riders slowly became more and more creeped out. Only once he finished did Leyla speak with a nervous voice. "Uhh. I don't have any of that in my book."
Cinderwing was slightly surprised, which was clearly shown by his expression. "Really? You don't have even a speck of info on Night Furies?"
Leyla and Dak's eyes widened with shocked surprise. "You're a Night Fury?!" Leyla exclaimed. Her enthusiasm reminded him of Hiccup, maybe even Fishlegs. "Oh, this is incredible! The things we could learn and—." Cinderwing gently placed his paw on her head.
"Okay, slow down, hatchling. I get it. But right now I'm going to need to make a... exchange of sorts." Most of them tilted their heads. "An exchange? Is it for the Belzium?" Leyla asked. And this time, it was Aggro who answered. "Yeah. And lots of it. Said he needed help taking it home, or to at least let him bring others to help him get it home."
"In exchange for something in return, of course." Cinder added. "Secrets about dragons perhaps? I'll even throw in a valuable metal as well. A dragon-proof metal known as Gronckle iron."
"I don't think any of us have heard of that metal before. Maybe Hannahr?" Dak suggested.
"Probably not. The metal is usually used by dragon hunters due to it being very resistant to dragon blasts of all types. This does not apply to a Razorwhip's sharp tail and spines, and a mixture of Gronckle lava and a Deadly Nadder's magnesium blast, and a few dragons who can crush the metal with their strength alone," Cinderwing stated. "Do not, and I repeat, do not, follow me home and try to stop the dragon hunters from capturing dragons. You are far too inexperienced to attempt such a thing." Warning them of the dangers of the dragon hunters and their use of the metal was an added bonus.
"Okay, okay. We won't unless they attack the dragon near here." He narrowed his eyes at Dak's unintentional counter, before nodding. "That is acceptable."
Cinderwing then grabbed the Gronckle Iron shard from his pouch—something that they'd somehow missed—and handed it over to Leyla. She inspected the shard before throwing it to Cutter, who tried slicing it into pieces with his sharp tail, only for a screeching sound to signify the failed attempt.
Winger used his power blast, only for it to ricochet off it, with Cinder grunting as it hit him. "Sorry." Winger apologized. "It's fine." Cinder brushed it off.
Aggro blasted it with a stream of fire, only heating the shard but nowhere near enough to melt it. "Nothing." She sighed, before turning to Summer. "Don't look at me, blasting water at it won't do anything."
Dak grabbed the shard, nearly dropping it as he forgot how hot it got due to Aggro's fire. Summer blasted it with water to cool it off, allowing him to grab it off the ground. "Not even a scratch." He muttered, handing it back to the Night Fury.
The sun was beginning to set, as the Rescue Riders yawned tiredly, with the exception of Aggro. "We can tell Chief Duggard about it tomorrow. But right now, it's time to hit the hay," Leyla said as she followed the others inside the roost.
Both Aggro and Cinderwing, however, stayed outside. Aggro due to not really being tired yet, and Cinder because he knew that their nest was most likely too small for him to fit in with them comfortably.
He lifted the Gronckle Iron shard to his mouth, making sure to aim away from the young Fire Fury as he was about to do something that he'd only just thought about.
"What questions did you want to ask, little flame?"
Aggro tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at the nickname, before shaking her head dismissively. "I was wondering, you said that you needed the Belzium to make armor. That means you have humans on your island, right?" Cinderwing nodded affirmatively. "You'd be correct, yes."
"Can they—."
"No, they cannot understand the dragon language." Cinderwing interrupted. "But, they do ride dragons. They are simply known as the Dragon Riders."
Aggro nodded. "What are you doing?"
"We're both about to find out." He answered, charging a plasma beam, his dorsal spines glowing. But instead of the usual beam of plasma, he instead shot out a smaller, but more focused beam, similar to the blowtorch method used by many dragons to heat up a sleeping stone.
Of course, unlike when he used the blowtorch method, he was shooting out a stream of super-focused dark purple plasma that had little trouble cutting through the shard. This, of course, was not quiet as Aggro was wincing at the sound. Luckily, it didn't wake the others. The experiment had the intended effect, as the shard was now without its sharp tip, which Aggro now held in her claws.
"Cool. Did you know you could do that?" She asked. "Nope. Didn't even think about it until now, though it's definitely not quiet." He admitted. "You should head to bed, I'll just sleep out here."
Aggro yawned. "O-okay." She said, before trudging herself inside. He looked at the archway before climbing onto it, wrapped his tail around the middle and hanging like a bat, closing his wings around his body.
(Scene break)
(Day without dragons)
Cinderwing was in the front yard of the roost, where a pile of fish lay in front of Burple, Cutter, and Aggro, though Burple had quickly devoured the fish. "Mmm. All four stomachs filled." Aggro scoffed. "Uh, and all our stomachs are still empty." She said with a small growl. "Oops, sorry about that. Sometimes my tongue has a mind of its own." He apologized.
Cutter turned to Dak, who was next to a barrel of fish along with Winger and Cinderwing, the latter eating from the barrel, only enough to wait until he caught his own fish. "Dak, mind grabbing us some more fish from the barrel?"
"On it." Dak grabbed a small handful of fish before hopping on Winger's saddle, who then flew above the three dragons as Dak dropped the fish and Winger landed back in his previous spot.
The three dragons had watched in confusion. "Thanks," Aggro thanked. "But wouldn't walking have been easier?" She asked with a small amount of exasperation. "Why walk when you can fly a dragon?" Dak countered, giving his dragon a high-five, with Winger using his wing.
"Because if you rely too much on your dragon, you won't be able to get anything done without them. While it's understandable for more strenuous tasks, such as the rescues you all do, relying upon a dragon for something as simple as moving a few feet and back is not a good thing, unless you're unable to walk in the first place," Cinderwing countered Dak's counter, giving a sound reasoning as to why he shouldn't always rely on his dragon.
"I'll let you guys eat first this time. I've gotta clear some room anyway," Burple said, before regurgitating fish bones, as well as red crystals, causing Aggro and Cutter to flinch away. "Huh? Don't know when I ate those." He muttered.
"Well, get 'em away from me!" Aggro softly hissed. "Red crystals take away our powers, remember?" This intrigued Cinder, who walked up to grab one of the crystals. "Is that so?" He didn't feel any different while holding it. "I don't feel any different."
"We don't know how it really works, but the red crystals usually prevent dragons from using their blasts and/or tail spine shots. But it doesn't work on Rockspitters like Burple," Leyla stated. Cinderwing attempted to use his plasma blast, only for a small dot of plasma to exit his maw with smoke. He did the same with his plasma beam, and instead began coughing up sparks of lightning.
"That's... just bullshit. Excuse my language." Cinder shot out a profanity, then apologized for saying such things around children.
"There are more, the blue ones make our blasts stronger," Winger said. "The clear crystal is a mood crystal, and as far as we know, it only works when you're angry," Summer added, just before Dak interrupted. "Yeah, but it gave Burps here super strength! The Incredible Burple!" He said, waving his hand exaggeratedly.
"These red crystals would be devastating in the hands of the dragon hunters," Cinder stated. "The ability to capture just about any dragon, and the only way to fight against it is physical combat, but they wouldn't get close with the dragon-root arrows being shot at them."
The young group of dragons and riders looked nervous at that, before Leyla spoke up. "Okay. Let's take a break from talking about dragon hunters. Dak could you please put the crystals away?"
"I sure can! Wing?" He glanced at Winger, who power blasted the crystals which then ricocheted into the basket next to him. Cinderwing rolled his eyes at the blatant, and obviousness of what he said earlier being ignored, after placing the crystal he held in the basket. Dak sighed. "I love cleaning up."
Leyla giggled. "Ley? What's so funny?" He asked. "You can't do anything without Winger, can you?" She stated more than asked. "Sure I can!" Dak rebutted nervously. "I just... don't want to. Anyway, you're one to talk." He pointed.
Leyla looked at him with irritation. "What does that mean?" Dak pointed out that Summer was using her wing to shield his sister from the sun. "What? It's a very sunny day!"
After Leyla's retort, Cinderwing began to ignore their argument. And instead grabbed a blue crystal from the basket. He began to charge a minuscule amount of plasma, attempting to use the blowtorch method. Instead, he shot out a larger than average plasma blast, something that somehow went unnoticed to the arguing siblings.
"Whoa." Aggro awed. Cinderwing nodded in agreement. "Yes. Whoa indeed."
Before the two could find out more of the crystals' effect on him, Dak and Leyla had finally decided on something: a day without dragons. "You hear that, guys? You're on your own today," Dak said. "Just don't come back to Huttsgalor until after sundown. And... you know we never really got your name," Leyla said, before mentioning how they'd forgotten to ask for Cinderwing's name.
"It's Cinderwing. And yeah, I'll go with the others." He nodded.
"A day without humans?" Winger asked himself. "That could be fun, I guess."
"Yeah, might be nice to be just us dragons for a little while," Summer said, agreeing with the idea. "You kiddin'? It's gonna be awesome!" Cutter exclaimed with excitement as he flew around, before following everyone away from the island with Cinderwing in the lead.
(Scene break)
"So, where are we going anyway?" Aggro asked Cinderwing, who was still leading the group. "We're gonna visit an island to meet a friend I recently made. You ever see a Snaptrapper?" They all gasped with surprise evident on their faces. "You've actually met a Snaptrapper?! Do you know how aggressive they are?" Summer exclaimed questioningly.
Cinder nodded. "Yep. But first we're gonna stop at that sea-stack over there." He pointed with a claw. "That way I can figure out how to get there from here."
Winger nodded. "Got it. I bet we could use the time to think about what other things we can do without Dak and Leyla."
The moment they had landed on the sea stack, Cinderwing felt an unknown presence, but familiar scent. Whilst a Night Fury's sense of smell was no where near as powerful as a Deadly Nadders or a Rumblehorn, he could still smell one of the Slinkwings from yesterday behind them. He chose to ignore it for now, and instead payed close attention to the early afternoon sun to give himself a mental map between Huttsgalor and the dragon-filled island.
"Okay so the island northwest, so that way." Cinderwing pointed in the direction. "Now that I actually have directions we will most definitely be back to Huttsgalor by sundown."
"That sounds great, let's go team." Winger said, then turned to Cinderwing. "You lead the way, obviously."
They all launched into the air with incredible speed, only slowing down enough their pace for Burple to allow keep up.
On their way to the island, they passed by multiple flocks of dragons ranging from Deadly Nadders to Fire Fury's.
'I don't have to worry about my old flock. I have a new flock now.' Aggro thought, reminiscing of her biological family. She of course knew that most Fire Fury's would leave their flock at a certain age to either be on their own, or make their own flock with their mate. So, when she really thought about it, she just did that but... earlier.
She misses her old flock of course, but she doesn't regret her decision to stay and become a Rescue Rider.
Cinderwing noticed the small amount of inner turmoil that had begun to creep into her expression, something that went unnoticed to the others because she was flying next to him on his left, leaving Winger who was on his right unable to see her face due to his size.
He silently glided closer to her and let out a variety of soft, comforting chirps, coos, and warbles, in a reassuring manner. Aggro was surprised by this sudden action, but calmed down with a soft smile at the nonetheless.
After reaching the island, Cinderwing had everyone land just beyond the beach. "Uhm." Summer made a confused noise. "I may not know as much as Leyla but, don't Snaptrappers live in the forest?" Cinderwing nodded in response. "They do." He answered, moving to a trot into the forest ahead. "We're going the rest of the way on foot because it's more respectful than just landing straight into her home territory." He added with a chuckle.
As they moved through the forest, Cinderwing had them follow his specific path due to the high chance of running into blue oleander. There were zero arguments about it, as they knew the dangers of the flower.
Not long later, they reached Snap-traps watering hole and Cinder had begun looking for the Snaptrapper only to find out the area was vacant of the four headed dragon.
Cutter huffed. "Is it just me, or is this place empty?" Summer rolled her eyes at his antics. "It's empty, Cutter. Maybe the Snaptrapper is just not here right now." She suggested.
"Hmm." Cinderwing hummed thoughtfully. The only other place he could think to find her at was the large watering. It would be annoying to have to face an encounter with the elder Stormcutter but, they have nothing better to do other than wait for Snap-trap to return.
"Come on, we're going to look for her at the watering hole near the middle of the island." Cinderwing launched into the air, with the other five following shortly behind.
(Scene break)
(Main watering hole)
The main watering hole was surrounded by dragons, including a specific Snaptrapper who was arguing with a hybrid dragon that would later be known as the Deathly Galeslash.
"You can't just keep harassing us like this!" Latte yelled defensively at the Galeslash, who had an innocent expression. "Dear me, what horrible assumptions you're making." His voice was far too innocent, and even his parents were beginning to feel that something was wrong.
"Andalin sweetie, tell us the truth," his mother began in a sickly sweet tone, causing her mate to visibly flinch away. "Are you harassing other dragons?" The now named Andalin was beginning to feel nervous about facing his mother's wrath.
"O-of course not, mother. I would never do such a thing," he lied. Snaps and Coco growled at this before continuing the argument.
This was being watched by Cinderwing and the Rescue Dragons. Why the change in name? Because their human riders were not here.
Aggro, Cinderwing, and even the usually composed Summer, growled with anger at the blatant lie. "How could he just lie to his mother's face like that?" Summer asked, appalled by the fact that the Galeslash could lie so blatantly. "I don't know, but I hate it!" Aggro snarled, her body glowing red hot. "And why are the other dragons believing him so easily?"
Cinderwing happily obliged to answer her question. "Because friendship and trust can blind you from the truth. No one expects to be betrayed by those closest to them. Yet, it is only possible to be truly betrayed by the ones you trust most."
He swooped down, landing between the two arguing dragons, with the others lagging behind and landing next to the Snaptrapper. "Cinderwing?! What are you doing here?" Latte asked with a hint of worry. "Oh, you know the usual. Stopping by for a visit, only to find this happening," Cinderwing said, gesturing to the scene at hand. "It also seems like I'm gonna have to kick some ass!" He added in an attempt to calm her nerves.
Snaps and Flowie snorted in response, while Latte and Coco merely sighed in slight relief. Cinderwing growled at the hybrid when he attempted to get closer to him. Latte turned to the younger group of dragons. "So, who're you? I noticed that you came with him." She asked.
"I'm Winger," Winger introduced himself, before pointing a wing towards the other four and introducing them as well. "That's Cutter, Summer, Burple, and Aggro. We're—."
"Uh, technically, we're not the Rescue Riders for today, Dak and Leyla are back at Huttsgalor," Summer interrupted. Flowie tilted her head. "What are Rescue Riders? And who are Dak and Leyla?" She asked adorably.
"Dak and Leyla are humans who can understand dragon language because my mother took them in when she found them in a shipwreck. They were raised alongside me so they are technically my siblings," Winger said, answering one half of the question. Though any dragon who listened in on the conversation scoffed at the idea of raising a human, let alone two.
Summer answered the other half of the question. "The Rescue Riders help dragons that are in need. An example being that one time we helped out a mama Ironclaw with her injured wing so she could get back to her babies."
Coco nodded at this, before focusing more on Cinderwing's possible fight with the hybrid.
Cinderwing's eyes were thin slits, and he was annoyed by the innocent expression on Andalin's face. He knew better. "Did you know that some dragons, especially Spike Tails, can smell when you're lying?" A frightened expression instantly covered Andalin's face, his eyes wide with surprised shock. "You give off a slightly different scent when you lie." A feral smile curled up Cinder's lips, enough that his sharper than usual teeth showed.
Some of the onlooking dragons flinched, as the only reason they hadn't said anything was because the hybrid's mother didn't want to believe it and continued to defend her son until now.
The hybrid flared his tail spines with a growl, no longer seeing the point in keeping up his act. "You scoundrel!" Andalin snarled with anger, as well as showing everyone his true colors. "I don't care if you're the last of your kind! I will have your head! I'm a hybrid, therefore I am superior!" He claimed.
Cinderwing scoffed at the threat, and the claim, as the mother just stared in horror at how aggressive her son had become. Especially since both Deadly Nadders and Stormcutters were generally gentle dragons unless provoked, and they especially wouldn't harass and terrorize other dragons. Not without a reason such as trauma, something of which her son did not have.
"I'd rather not spill blood in front of younglings." Cinderwing stated, getting a slight fearful expression from the Rescue Dragons. "He wouldn't really do that? Right?" Burple asked worriedly. "I mean, they are all adult dragons so...." Aggro began, only to stop as she was only frightening the young Rockspitter more.
Cutter, as impulsive as he is, walked up to Cinderwing and whispered questioningly. "Are you really gonna fight him?" Cinderwing nodded as he answered. "Yes. But don't worry, I'm not gonna kill him, I won't allow myself to do such a thing in front of younglings. I'll just make him bleed." Cutter was about to ask another question before Cinderwing beat him to it. "And yes, I have killed before, such is the cycle of life."
He sent the young Razorwing away from the increasingly likely battle that would take place.
Cinderwing set his focus on the hybrid dragon, and this time, lightning crackled not just along his dorsal spines, but nearly every part of his body, his inner jaws being the obvious exception.
"I'm going to enjoy this," Cinderwing chuckled as Andalin's maw glowed with fire. Snap-trap pulled the young Rescue Dragons away from the fight to a safe distance.
Andalin fired first, and his blast was a mixture between his parents, a magnesium stream that twisted like a tornado. Cinderwing quickly went bipedal and wrapped himself with his wings, the magnesium fire washing over him, though not without some small burns. He countered by firing a pre-charged plasma beam that cut through the fire and into the hybrid's face just as he closed his mouth to prevent the plasma from entering his mouth and causing internal damage.
Just before Andalin could regain his bearings, Cinderwing lunged at him with a brutal tail swing to the face, knocking out some fangs and causing him to stumble back. Andalin attempted, and failed, to use his four wings to block the Night Fury from reaching his neck. Cinderwing made sure to only bite hard enough to cause minor bleeding, but not enough for the hybrid to worry about the death that would normally come with such an attack.
Cinderwing clawed at the hybrid's head and the armored part of his neck before he dragged Andalin and slammed him into the ground. Hard! Andalin shot his tail spines at Cinder, most of which hit their target and embedded deep into Cinder's side. But the Night Fury ignored them and merely slammed the hybrid into the ground even harder than before, as well as using his own tail to pin Andalin's to the ground.
"Oh! I can't watch! Tell me when it's over," Burple cried out. Summer flinched, barely even watching the fight as she comforted Burple. Winger and Cutter had actually huddled together with Snap-trap, who had gently placed their wing over them in an awkward attempt at comfort.
Aggro couldn't look away. Her body was hotter than a furnace, the familiar glow of a red-hot, but thin layer of fire spreading from her chest. It usually only happened when she was furious or about to let loose a blast, but now it was a silent, nervous heat, a sign of her nervous anticipation of Cinderwing's victory. 'He's angrier than me,' she commented mentally.
Cinderwing released his hold on Andalin's neck, making sure to keep him pinned with his muscular forearms, and began to charge a plasma blast.
Andalin's eyes widened with horror, his mother covered his face with her wings, and his father stared down at him with disappointment. "Mother! Help me!" His mother quietly sobbed at her hatchling's cry, but did nothing to stop it. "Onyx! Mother, please get this fiend off me!" But his mother, Onyx, just huddled closer into her mate's chest.
Just as he was about to fire his plasma, a puff of smoke poured from his mouth. Not because Cinder was empty, nor because of a red crystal. Simply because. "You're just, not worth it," he said. Andalin looked up at him with disbelief. "W-what?" He sputtered his words as Cinderwing looked down on him with uninterested eyes. "You. Are not worth wasting my plasma on. The first time was a simple show of power."
He harshly pushed himself off of Andalin, using his face as a stool. Cinderwing slightly grunted in pain as he made his way over to the others with little difficulty.
Aggro was closest and was the first to see the full extent of his injuries. "Cinderwing!" She worriedly began, speed-walking up to him. She winced. "Are you sure that you should even move?" She asked, just as the others came up behind her, hovering above him to help remove a spine just out of his reach.
Cinder grunted. "I'm peachy. I've had worse," he said, plucking the remaining tail spines from his side and placing two in his pouch that had somehow remained untouched. He was bleeding, but not much, though the younger dragons were grossed out, their noses wrinkled at the iron-like scent.
"Go wash up, we'll watch over them for a while," Latte said as Cinderwing obliged.
Snap-trap began leading the team of dragons closer toward the forest. "So. Think he'll be okay?" Winger asked. Snaps nodded. "Yeah, he'll be fine. He's a grown dragon." Coco smacked her sister's head, briefly taking control over their tail to do so. "We think so. No need to worry, little ones."
Aggro was slightly irritated at being called "little," but let it slide to ask her own question. "How long have you known him?"
"Not long." Latte answered, mumbling something about Aggro reminding her of two very hyperactive dragons of her species. "Not more than a day. When we first met, we tried to drive him out of our territory." Flowie continued.
"Yeah, then somehow we ended up talking for a while before he left," Coco added with a giggle. "So, how about you tell us about your human friends?" She suggested with hopes of distracting them from the recent battle.
Before Winger could begin, Cutter began speaking of his greatness and about the rescues that mainly involved him. Meanwhile, Summer had gone to check on Burple, who was still slightly shaking from seeing blood, something that they never really saw. "Are you alright, Burple?" He nodded shakily. "Yeah. That was scary." Summer used her wing to rub his back.
"It's okay. Dragons aren't usually so violent without reason, but I guess a hybrid is a bit different."
(Scene break)
Cinderwing had won, though the fight was more a show of dominance than anything.
He licked his wounds after rinsing them with water. Luckily, the spines lacked venom, one of the downsides of hybrids. You don't get everything from both sides of the tree.
Looking down at his pouch, he only just noticed that it was stained with blood from the tail spines he'd placed inside. "Ugh." He grunted. "Fucking annoying, at least there wasn't anything important other than the shard of Gronckle Iron."
Cinderwing sighed. 'I'll still have to figure out how to get Hiccup and Fishlegs to Huttsgalor,' he thought. Maybe he could take the Dragon Eye to get the two to follow him. Or he could just have Dak and Leyla write a letter for him. Yeah, that was a much better idea.
Soon after, Cinderwing left the water and trotted toward the others. "Yo." He greeted casually, which baffled them. He was treating it as though he hadn't fought at all.
"Are you okay, Cinderwing?" Summer asked. He nodded. "Yes, Summer I am fine. See?" He gestured to his barely visible wounds. "Before we continue," Cinderwing turned to the Snaptrapper. "You should probably come back with us to Huttsgalor, because I don't think Andalin will be anything but violent towards you once I'm gone." He suggested.
Latte and her three sisters pondered on it. It took a few minutes before they reluctantly nodded in agreement. "A Snaptrapper wouldn't normally leave their territory permanently," she sighed. "We all think it's for the best."
Cinderwing glanced at the young group of dragons. "I know that it wasn't my place to invite someone to your island, but I do hope that you'll let her stay." Winger and Summer nodded rapidly. "Of course, Dak and Leyla would be happy to have you stay with us at Huttsgalor." Winger said in agreement. "The only problem would be Magnus, but no one really likes him." Cutter added, insulting the "evil" inventor.
"Well, there's also Thornbane Valley to watch out for, and the Boiling Springs Valley, and the—."
"Okay Burple, she gets it." Aggro said, stopping the Rockspitter's rant. "We'll show you around when we get there." Summer said with a smile.
(Scene break)
After they had returned to Huttsgalor—a little earlier than expected—Dak and Leyla saw his injuries and "forced" him to allow them to bandage him up.
They were also very excited when they met Snap-trap, with Leyla asking them questions about their species. They were also excited to hear about the hybrid dragon, especially since they didn't know that a hybrid between two different dragons was possible. Though Cinderwing had mentioned that a true hybrid dragon that had both body features of the parents was incredibly rare.
It didn't take much convincing to keep them from going to the island; it wasn't hard when everyone else was against it. It was a good thing that they had all washed off their scent in the ocean on the way back, otherwise Andalin would most certainly try to use it to find Huttsgalor.
Cinderwing stayed a while longer to explore the island with Snap-trap. They were shown all around the island, with the first place they visited being the village of Huttsgalor.
The villagers were amazed, seeing dragons they'd never seen before. The fact that one was a Night Fury only increased their interest, as even they had heard about Night Furies.
As for Magnus, he had an expected reaction, just his usual yelling about how the "flabby, flying lizards are taking over the island and how they should've been banished long ago."
They had also passed by Thornbane Valley, and it ended up being very unpleasant. Why? Because they ended up flying at a lower altitude, just low enough for the vines to try and snatch them out of the sky. A bonus was that Cinderwing's lightning easily got them out of the situation. His ability to use lightning had also given Leyla another burst of excitement, as she quickly wrote down the new information in her dragon diary.
Next was Boiling Springs Valley. He had nothing to say about the place, but Snaps certainly did, complaining about how hot it was even though they were so high up. Coco was the one to shut her up, as usual.
Cinder hadn't minded the Icy Northern Tip; it was actually pretty refreshing to be somewhere so cold. It was also not just his, but Snap-trap's first time seeing snow. Though they had soon left, as Aggro had already begun to shiver due to underdeveloped pyro-glands.
Before heading back to the village they had stopped by the Belzium cave, with Dak and Winger quickly going to retrieve a large, sturdy net from the roost.
"Whoa. That's a lot more Belzium than we saw last time," Burple commented on the purple boulders that littered the front entrance, more curious than anything.
"Do you really need all of this?" Cutter asked, aimlessly shooting a tail spine at it and watching as it bounced off, falling to the ground. Cinderwing shook his head. "In truth, no, not really," he answered. "But I had an idea when I was searching for this island." Leyla walked over and sat on a Belzium boulder on his right.
"What's the idea?" she asked, garnering everyone's interest.
Cinder hummed with thought before answering. "Belzium is lighter, but still stronger than normal metals, so I thought that due to its magnetic properties that instead of just mixing it with Gronckle Iron, that we could have a thin layer of Belzium armor plating underneath or as a first layer of armor. Then have the full armor magnetically attached."
Leyla hummed, placing a finger on her chin. "It's not a bad idea, but Belzium is usually used to strengthen other metals, even though Belzium is also dragon-proof to an extent," she said, tapping her quill against the boulder. "It could work, maybe have them be smaller pieces. Like, uhm, like small plates of armor that you could wear comfortably, even when you're not fighting. And on the larger armor pieces you could add a sheet of Belzium that would make the magnetic connection stronger."
Cinderwing nodded. "Yeah, that's a lot better than what I thought previously. It would streamline it more too." He smiled. "How good is your blacksmith?" He added questioningly, just as Dak and Winger arrived with the net.
(Scene break)
"Hey, this is kinda nice," Cinderwing commented, now dawning Belzium armor plates that were strapped to his chest, forearms, just under the shoulder, his hind legs, his back—though there were holes for his dorsal spines—his stomach, some along his tail, his head, and the back of his neck.
It wasn't a full suit of armor, but rather something you'd wear underneath a full suit to keep it from restricting so much movement while making it more comfortable. He didn't really know how to explain it other than saying it was like a thin exoskeleton because the armor didn't truly cover most of his body. He guessed it was more like Anbu armor from Naruto, or assassin armor from various video games.
All in all, Cinderwing really liked the armor so far, and it would serve as proof of the updated concept Leyla helped him with.
"Here ya go." Hannahr handed him his freshly sharpened Gronckle Iron shard before turning to Dak and Leyla. "But I don't suppose you know why he wanted it sharpened?" She got her answer when Cinder placed the shard above his head, allowing it to magnetically attach, making it look as if he had a horn.
"I guess that's why," Dak quipped. "Dak, Leyla, could you tell Cinderwing here that he can just take the Belzium with him? We have more than enough, so we don't really need anything in return," Chief Duggard kindly asked them. Before the two could speak, Cinder beat them to it. "Tell him that I made a deal, and I intend to keep it. Or at least try." He rumbled.
He glanced down at Aggro before reaching just over his shoulder and began to pull off a single scale, grunting as it came off. The others looked slightly shocked and confused at this, staring at the ebony black scale with an orange tip. He then handed it to the young Fire Fury. "Keep it, Little Flame. Think of it as a sign of trust."
Aggro tilted her head, clutching the large scale in her claws. "But, why are you giving it to me?" She asked, unsure of the gesture. He smiled softly. "You remind me of Stormfly, especially when she gets angry." He turned to the other Rescue Riders. "I'll be going now, but I'll see you when I get back. You'll even see another Night Fury."
Cinderwing launched into the air and sped off towards Dragon's Edge.
(Scene break)
(Dragon's Edge)
Cinderwing zipped across the night sky, the wind washing over him as he neared his destination. Now that he actually knew where to go, he got there faster than before, without stopping for breaks, even though it was still about half a day's travel between Huttsgalor and the Edge.
"Ha-ha-ha-haha!" He laughed, as lightning crackled over his semi-armored body, increasing his speed by a good margin. His reserves were freshly refueled as he passed through an earlier storm.
On the island, Hiccup and the other riders were in the clubhouse. The doors were closed as they were looking at the multiple projections of the Dragon Eye, switching between different combinations of lenses, hoping to find something on Night Furies, or at least something that they might have missed.
"Ugh! Why are we still here? This is boring." Tuffnut groaned exaggeratedly, leaning back in his chair, arms dangling. "Oh!" A thought popped into his head as he quickly stood up. "When Cinder gets back, let's try to get him to blow up Snotlout's hut!" He suggested to his sister. "Hey! I'm right here you know!" Ruffnut eagerly nodded, ignoring Snotlout's complaint.
Fishlegs sighed, turning to Hiccup who was focused on a projection that said something about the possibility of hybrid dragons, and whether they even existed. "I'm sorry Hiccup, but we've found nothing new except this. I think we should take a break and get some sleep." Fishlegs yawned.
Astrid placed her hand on his shoulder. "Fishlegs is right, Hiccup." Hiccup sighed, waving for Stormfly to cut off her magnesium fire when they heard a familiar roar.
"I'm back, bitches!"
Cinderwing landed on the wooden floor with a thud, and pulled open the door, leaving him on his haunches. The gang looked at him with surprised shock when they noticed his armored form, with Fishlegs being the first to walk towards him, placing his hand on his Belzium chest-plate.
"Hiccup, this armor is made up of Belzium!" He said excitedly as he turned to Hiccup. "Incredible." Hiccup whispered.
The twins walked over to the Titanwing, admiring the armor. "Whoa, look at this." Tuffnut brushed his hand over the armor. "It looks beautiful, but deadly. Built to protect from vast quantities of damage," he said dramatically referring to the sharper edges. Ruffnut nodded in agreement. "Right so you are, brother nut. And the horn, just look at it." She gestured to the Gronckle Iron shard. "Its silver sheen nicely contrasts with the purple."
Snotlout was annoyed with the twins' drama. "Uh, hello? Why are we not pointing out that he's wearing armor in the first place?" He asked a good question. Surprisingly. "I hate to say it, but he's right, Hiccup. This was man-made," Astrid added.
Stormfly and Toothless walked toward Cinder, with the Deadly Nadder sniffing the armor, catching the faint scent of blood. "You fought a dragon before coming here." She stated factually, not bothering to mention the other scents she picked up. Cinderwing nodded calmly. "Yep. And I don't regret it, I was helping a friend I made." Her eyes softened at the answer, before he pulled out a tail spine that looked similar to hers.
Fishlegs quickly noticed it and gently took it from the dragon, who allowed it. "I don't recognize this tail spine," he muttered, inspecting the spine. "It looks similar to a Deadly Nadder's, but longer and more narrow. More for piercing the target, causing heavy injuries." He added, while Cinder allowed Hiccup to put a hand on his snout. "This has to be from a new dragon," Hiccup said with enthusiasm. "Where did you find this?" He asked rhetorically.
Cinderwing pulled the pouch from his neck, accidentally breaking the strap. It fell to the floor as the few items left inside spilled out: a gold coin, a silver coin, another tail spine, Stormfly's tail spine, and lastly, but most importantly, a letter.
Cinderwing carefully grabbed the letter with his claws before handing it to Hiccup. It read: "Dear Hiccup Haddock III, leader of the Dragon Riders. I, Chief Duggard, welcome you to Huttsgalor to meet our very own Rescue Riders as well as collect the Belzium your dragon had collected." Hiccup read it aloud, before noticing something else at the bottom of the page. "Please don't worry about trading Gronckle Iron for the Belzium, we have plenty to share." There was a smiley face at the end.
"Huttsgalor? Isn't that the place that's won that sheep competition every year so far?" Astrid questioned. "I believe that the true question, my dear Astrid, is how he got the letter," Ruffnut said, with Tuffnut wrapping an arm around her. "Yes, you are correct, sister nut."
Hiccup was humming thoughtfully. On one hand, they could go to Huttsgalor to get the Belzium and figure out how Cinder had managed to communicate with the Chief. On the other hand, they couldn't leave the island unprotected.
"Alright, gang!" Hiccup turned to the other riders. "Two of us are following Cinder to Huttsgalor, while the rest of us stay to protect the Edge." He said, but before he could continue, Cinderwing rushed over to the Dragon Eye, snatching the artifact from the table and handed it to Hiccup before pushing Fishlegs toward Stormfly.
"It's better to do this fast, as we don't want to leave the island for too long," Cinderwing began with visible excitement. "Stormfly, if you don't mind could you take Fishlegs?" She nodded in response. "I can. But why are we bringing him and not Astrid?" She asked.
"Because I made a deal, and I intend to deliver most of what I promised. And because leaving the twins alone with Snotlout and Fishlegs, well you see my point." He answered, as they walked next to Toothless and Hiccup, with Fishlegs confusedly following behind.
Astrid's eyes brightened with realization, but also slight dissatisfaction. "I think Cinder wants you and Fishlegs to go, as well as have him ride Stormfly." Cinderwing let out a small affirmative warble to tell her she was correct. Astrid sighed, walking over to Hiccup. "Which means that I'll be here protecting the Edge again. At least I know that I can rely on the twins, but Snotlout? Not as much." She whispered the latter, but Snotlout stared at her with a feeling of being insulted.
Cinderwing lifted Fishlegs and dropped him atop Stormfly's saddle—who was already outside—with the female Nadder adjusting herself to his weight. Of course, she meant no offense towards him even if he had the ability to understand her.
Hiccup hoped onto Toothless's saddle. "Okay then, we'll be back as soon as possible. Astrid, you're in charge." The twins groaned, though not as exaggeratedly as days prior.
Toothless turned to the older Night Fury. "Lead the way." Nodding, Cinder launched into the sky followed by the others, and began their flight toward Huttsgalor.
(Scene break)
(Return to Huttsgalor)
The Rescue Riders were testing the effects of the power crystals on their dragons, with loud explosions heard as a result. So far they had found that the more blue crystals around a dragon, the more powerful the boost to their firepower. They figured that it would be the same with larger crystals.
The effect of multiple crystals on Aggro—three blue crystals to be exact—had her body burst into flames, similar to a Monstrous Nightmare. "Hey! This is amazing!" She exclaimed with excitement as she shot a few larger fireballs, before shooting a white-hot stream of fire.
Leyla waved for her to stop. "Okay, Aggro. Calm down so we can try to see what the yellow crystal will do to you." Aggro landed next to the girl, curiously looking at the crystal. "Isn't that the one that enhances Cutter's eyes?" Leyla nodded, placing the crystal in the specially designed strap on Aggro's saddle. "Yup. It's time to see what this one does to your abilities."
"Alright! Let's see what this little thing can do!" Aggro started off by heating up her body; the usual thin layer of fire spread from her chest to the rest of her body, including her horns which glowed brighter than the rest of her body with a vibrant orange glow. She looked around her body, but couldn't spot or feel any difference. Just as she was about to let out a dissatisfied sigh, she noticed that everyone was farther away from her and sweating. "Why're you guys sweating so much?"
Their breaths were heavy as they walked farther back when Aggro got closer. "I think we know what the yellow crystal does," Dak began, using his hands as makeshift fans. "Yeah, it enhances a dragon's more basic abilities, like how hot your body gets when you fire up." Aggro's tail wagged with excitement, before shooting a fireball into the air. It wasn't any bigger than her usual fireballs, but it was much hotter.
"Heh-heh-ha!" She laughed. "I wonder what would happen if we combine it with the blue one?" She more asked herself than the others, who all were shaking their heads in denial. "Let's save that for another time, okay," Leyla said, switching out the yellow crystal with a clear one, or white depending on how you see it. "Let's try the mood crystal."
"So all I gotta do is get angry, right?" Leyla nodded at Aggro's question. "Yep. But we should also try when you're excited, sad or scared." Aggro scoffed at the thought of being scared, and a cloud of smoke puffed out her nostrils. "Scared? I don't get scared easily." She said with slight anger, causing the crystal to glow a faint purple before returning to its usual white.
Dak stepped closer to Summer with the hopes that she'd be able to protect him from the possible destruction Aggro could cause that would very likely involve fire. The other three dragons doing the same, and getting an annoyed expression from the water dragon.
"Okay, guys. Make her mad," Leyla said, rushing behind her dragon.
"I don't have anything to say, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings," Burple said, before Cutter poked his head out from behind him. "Well, I definitely don't mind. Aggro! You're the smallest dragon I've ever met!" Due to her temper, this immediately angered the young Fire Fury, her body glowing red hot before she shook her head, gaining some composure. She then charged at the nearest tree with the intent of ramming it down, expecting the same effect that the crystal had given Burple: enhanced strength and hopefully, durability.
Aggro's expectations became reality as the tree she rammed into was knocked down. The only downside was her getting dizzy, having to shake her head to clear it from the ringing sound.
"Ow," She groaned, the crystal fading to white as she calmed down, looking at the tree with joy. "I did it!" She jumped into the air and began hovering with excitement, before flying into loops.
Everyone laughed with her as she flew down to allow Leyla to retrieve the crystal.
(Huttsgalor:village)
With Cinder and the two Dragon Riders, they had just arrived on Huttsgalor, with Hiccup and Fishlegs already speaking with the chief about the Belzium.
Suddenly, they heard explosions coming from the forest. Before Hiccup could say something, Duggard already began talking. "Oh, don't mind that." He waved dismissively. "That's just the Rescue Riders testing out some crystals they found. Something about them affecting the dragons' powers."
Hiccup and Fishlegs looked at each other, nodding as if they just had a silent conversation. "We should meet them when we're done preparing the Belzium for takeoff." Hiccup said.
Cinderwing looked toward both Stormfly and Toothless, gesturing for them to follow. As they reached the beginnings of the forest, Cinderwing had begun trotting. "I hope you weren't slacking on your training." He said, as they both began to keep up with his pace. "Let's see if you can keep up." He added, switching to a sprint.
(Scene break)
Stormfly was closing in behind Toothless as they ran across the forest floor. Large balls of fire shot into the sky, garnering their attention as they got closer. Soon after, the sound of a tree falling was heard, and as they came into view, they saw the excited Rescue Riders huddled next to a chest full of crystals.
They slowly came to a halt, before Cinderwing started casually walking towards them. "So." He began, getting the shocked attention of the Rescue Riders. "Who knocked down the tree?"
"Cinderwing! You're back already!" Aggro was the first to respond, rushing toward the Night Fury before Leyla could remove the crystal from her saddle. But due to her immense excitement, the mood crystal began glowing gold, suddenly increasing her speed and causing her to crash into Cinder.
"Oof!"
Luckily for her, Cinderwing was able to catch her, preventing her from hitting him with full force. "Are you okay, little flame?" He asked, carefully removing the crystal from her saddle. "Yeah, I'm fine." She replied. "I just didn't expect to move that fast is all." She shook her head, before looking up at him with a smile and a wagging tail.
"Oh, my Thor!" Leyla exclaimed excitedly as she rushed towards Toothless. "You're also a Night Fury. You must be Toothless." Toothless looked confused. "How does she know my name?" He asked Cinder. "I told her." Cinder answered simply.
"But how could she possibly understand you?" Stormfly questioned. "Oh. That's right, I haven't told you." Cinderwing said with sarcasm.
"We can understand dragons. We were raised along side Winger here." Dak began, gesturing to his dragon. "Yeah, and he's told us about you guys." Leyla added, Cutter walking up behind her. "You said Deadly Nadders are sharp class right? Like me." He asked, only for the girl to shake her head. "They were, but were later moved to tracker class when it was made and found out that Nadders had a great sense of smell."
"So, how powerful is your plasma blast?" Winger asked Toothless. "Cinderwing said his plasma blast was too powerful for a comparison with my power blast." Toothless huffed with slight irritation. "Of course he did. Even if it's true." He said, beginning to talk to the young Swiftwing about his blast.
Whilst the siblings and two young dragons spoke with Toothless and Stormfly, Cinderwing walked towards the slightly burned clearing where Aggro was testing out the crystals. Aggro followed, explaining what the yellow crystal did to her fire. "It was amazing. I didn't feel anything at first, but it made my fire really hot." Cinderwing smiled at her enthusiasm, staring down at the mood crystal clutched in his claws.
"I wanna try something, so stay a far bit away, alright." He said, tightening his grip on the crystal. Aggro nodded, quickly flying a good distance away, wondering how the crystal would affect him. She watched with curious eyes as Cinder had gone bipedal, closing his eyes with small amounts lightning crackling across his body. "I wonder what he's doing?" Burple suddenly asked, oblivious to what Cinderwing was obviously attempting.
She sighed. "He's testing the mood crystal on himself, Burps." The Rockspitter's eyes flashed with realization. "Ooh. Okay."
The crystal soon began glowing purple, and Cinderwing could feel something within him strengthen. He walked over to the nearest tree and simply punched it, tearing away most of the bark, and forcing him to quickly move out of the way as the tree fell to the ground. "Cool." He quipped with a smirk, more than satisfied with the effects of the crystal.
Stormfly and Toothless stared with a deadpanned expression, before Dak grabbed two blue crystals from the chest and attached them to each of their saddles. "Here, you should try it out too." He said. "The blue ones usually affect a dragon's blast, but for Cutter, it also affects his tail spines by making them hit harder."
Stormfly hummed in thought before suddenly shooting a barrage of her tail spines. They shot out from her tail with incredible speed, slicing through the tree she'd aimed for, before firing her magnesium blast at another tree. Though she quickly cut it off in shock as her magnesium blast was blue. She glanced toward Cinder. "I've still yet to achieve the blue magnesium blast on my own. But this crystal, it allowed me to do it without a problem. I don't feel any strain either."
Toothless went next, filled with a curious excitement after seeing the power boost the crystal gave Stormfly and shot out a plasma blast that was twice the size of his normal one.
"Incredible." Hiccup commented as he approached the Rescue Riders with Fishlegs following close behind. Toothless excitedly trotted to his rider, showing him the crystal attached to his saddle. "May I?" Leyla nodded with a gesture for him to take the crystal. Hiccup inspected the blue crystal, noting how it looked just like any other, though he noticed it had the smallest glow of blue, something that you wouldn't notice unless you looked at it closely.
"You must be Hiccup, and you must be Fishlegs. Cinderwing's told how you and the other Dragon Riders help dragons too." Dak said, surprising the two older Dragon Riders. "How do you know our names? Did the chief tell you?" Fishlegs asked, grabbing the crystal from Stormfly.
"He told us." Both Fishlegs and Hiccup looked at him strangely. "How did he tell you our names, let alone about who we are with his charades?" Hiccup asked. Leyla answered by repeating what she said to the dragons.
"Hey, little flame." Cinderwing called Aggro. "Uh, yeah?" She responded, following as he moved toward the crystal-filled chest. "What crystals haven't you tried yet?" He asked, rummaging through the chest, taking out one of each color. "So far I've used the blue, yellow and mood crystals. Which leaves the green and orange crystals." She answered as Cinder picked up the green crystal.
"And what does this one do?" He asked, though this time it was Summer who answered. "The green crystal gave Winger an extra power blast." Cinder hummed. "So far, they've all given dragons the same effects. With yellow being the exception, and orange being untested." He glanced down at Aggro. "So, little flame. Wanna see what happens when you combine three different crystals?" Aggro became excited, whilst Summer became slightly anxious. "Are you sure about this? Leyla said—."
"Don't worry about it, Sunshine." Cinderwing interrupted with a smile, giving her a nickname. "I'm a grown adult dragon, if something happens to Aggro I'll deal with it and keep her from getting hurt. Okay?" Summer sighed, reluctantly accepting his argument, but not straying too far just to be safe. She grabbed a blue crystal, more than sure that she could put out the fires Aggro would cause.
Cinderwing placed the green, yellow and blue crystals around Aggro. She started by slowly heating up her fire, though this time a thin layer of blue fire. "Blue fire? Cool! Not exactly my color, but still pretty cool." She positively commented, before suddenly bursting into flames like a Monstrous Nightmare.
"Whoa! Hot-hot-hot!" Summer quickly moved back to get away from the intense heat Aggro was producing, though Cinderwing had seemingly been unbothered by it.
"Okay, this is starting to get a little too hot, even for me!" Aggro stated with worry. "Aggro, shoot some fireballs towards the sky!" Cinderwing exclaimed. "Okay!" She replied, before taking a deep breath. "Bring the heat!" Blue balls of fire were launched into the sky like mortars, causing craters in their wake. About a mile away, one might add.
After Aggro shot the five blue fireballs—one more than usual due to the green crystal—Cinder slapped the blue crystal away toward Hiccup, Fishlegs, Dak, Leyla, Winger, and Cutter, who all stared at the fire dragon with shock.
Summer's eyes twitched with a rare moment of anger at the sight of a newly formed blue forest fire. "Maybe next time aim towards the ocean," she rhetorically suggested in a calm, but angry tone.
Hiccup let out an exasperated sigh, his hand moving towards his forehead. "By Thor, he's worse than the twins." He commented, as Cinderwing gently picked up a slightly exhausted Aggro and held her just above his head.
"I declare thee: The Queen of Flames!" He roared playfully, and Aggro just went along with it, letting out her loudest roar.
"Guys! We really need to take care of that forest fire!" Leyla yelled. "Yeah, like right now!" Dak added.
Cinderwing lowered Aggro to his chest as they stared at the burning blue blaze that could be seen from so far away, a sheepish expression forming on both their faces. "Idiot." Stormfly murmured. Toothless snorted. "But he's your idiot." He quipped, before dodging a swipe of her tail.
(Scene break)
After dealing with the forest fire, both Cinder and Aggro were getting berated by Stormfly, with Summer nodding along.
"What were you two thinking?! You could've done so much damage!" Stormfly was angry, especially since she knew how smart Cinder was. That fact that he did something so reckless, and involving such a young dragon as well.
"What's she saying?" Fishlegs asked, hoping to get insight on how the two spoke to each other, mainly when Stormfly gets angry with Cinder. Leyla nodded and relayed what the Nadder had said, before turning back to the Dragon Eye's projection on the wall to continue copying the information in her dragon diary. Hiccup had actually found something on Swiftwings, making theories with Dak on what the images could mean, as well as the boy translating for both Winger and Toothless whenever they had a question.
Something Hiccup took great joy in answering, as he had always wondered what it would be like to have a conversation with his dragon. The language barrier didn't truly stop them from understanding each other, not with things such as body language.
Outside the roost, just in front of the entrance, lay three fairly large metal crates that held the Belzium boulders, which were cut into ingots courtesy of Hannahr for an easier time bringing them to Dragon's Edge.
Not long later, everyone was walking out of the tower. Nearly all of them were still chatting about the many kinds of dragons they'd come across, especially the recent discovery that hybrid dragons were real, though especially rare.
"Well, as much as we'd like to continue talking about dragons and swapping information." Hiccup sighed. "We have to get going, can't leave the others to defend the Edge for too much longer." He hopped on Toothless's saddle and gave a small wave to the Rescue Riders. "We will try to visit this place again, and maybe bring the twins, but you'd have to be ready for anything because I don't want to think about what pranks they'd do with being able to understand Cinder." He added.
"Damn straight!"
"Definitely keep the power crystals away from the twins." Fishlegs emphasized as Stormfly lowered herself to allow the Viking on her saddle. Hiccup shivered, already knowing what they'd do with such power. "That's way too many explosions."
Aggro snickered, glancing up at Cinder. "They sound fun, but also annoying." Cinder nodded in agreement. "They are very fun and very annoying. A small price to pay for entertainment."
"Snotlout, though... hmm, Snotlout has moved down on the list of people I like. Hate when people touch my collection without permission." He quietly snarled before quickly calming down.
Cinderwing's ears lifted as an idea came to mind. "How many yellow crystals do you have?" Aggro tilted her head with confusion. "I thought you weren't going to take any crystals because of the chance that the Dragon Hunters find out what they do?"
Cinderwing gained a mischievous smirk. "It's not to take with me." He pointed towards Cutter. "How many yellow crystals could you sneak onto his saddle, or place around him?" Aggro grinned, and as quietly as possible, grabbed two yellow crystals in her mouth, as long as she didn't fire up then no one—especially Cutter—wouldn't notice she had them.
She got behind the Razorwing, gently dropping the crystals on the floor before sliding them just under the dragon. "What the?!" The effect was immediate as the now dazed Cutter wobbled his footsteps due to the sudden increase of his sight, allowing him to see the minuscule cracks in the wooden walls.
Luckily for him, the yellow crystals didn't have as far a range as the others, so as soon as Cutter wobbled far enough away, his eyesight returned to normal.
He shook his head, before turning to the snickering duo of fire and plasma dragons. "Not funny!" Cutter complained as Cinder and Aggro snickered harder. "It was pretty funny watching you wobble around the room." Aggro confessed, not that she needed to with how she was obviously a culprit.
When Cinderwing's snickers ceased, he walked over to the bigger metal crate of the three with a happy sigh. "Well, little flame, it's time for us to leave." He said with a soft grin. "I'll try to get Hookfang to come with us the next time I visit." Aggro giggled. "Even if that means having Snotlout come along?" He nodded. "Yes. Even if Snotlout has to come along."
Cinderwing clutched the crate, his claws slipping into the special groves that were added to it to allow for better grip, he then flapped his wings and slowly lifted into the air.
Stormfly and Toothless did the same, with Stormfly having to grab her crate while she was flying to get a better grip on it.
The Rescue Riders waved their arms and wings goodbye as the Dragon Riders flew off towards Dragon's Edge.
As they headed back into the roost, Aggro kicked a yellow crystal towards Cutter, hitting him in the face and enhancing his sight for a few moments before she rushed inside, brimming with laughter as the Razorwing chased her.
(End)