https://padlet.com/BarefootxSocks/vug04hi1c55x Chapter 1 - A Slightly Not-Average Life - Midna sighed and rested her snout on her talons, her wings pulled in close to her sides; she was curled up in her den, neighboring Onyx’s, the dragon she disliked most. Dislike, as in, hate, Midna just didn’t like to “hate” anyone. Called it rude. But who was REALLY the rude one was Onyx, and, well, Midna was stuck with him as a neighbor. Currently he was droning on about how he was better than everyone else: “I mean, I am OBVIOUSLY the best Shadow Dragon. You would know, right, because you’re the last Wind Dragon--” Midna cut him off, growling, “Gust Dragon”-- “Yeah, yeah, Gust Dragon… And you can definitely see I’m the best. Am I right or am I right?” Onyx stuck his highly overrated night-black snout into the air, nodding. Midna didn’t say anything. “Oh, I see, you’re lost for words,” Onyx said. “My charm can do that to people.” Then he added under his breath, “Unlike you. Useless mute.” Midna’s sharp hearing picked the insult up and she shouted, her fangs gleaming, “I am NOT mute!” Onyx rolled his eyes. “Well, you sure seem it.” Midna stood up angrily, fuming, and stomped out of the den, heading into the Shadow Dragon camp. Now you’re probably wondering what these “Tribes” are. You’ll learn about that later on though. Right now, I think we might’ve been focusing on Onyx’s snootiness… Oh, right, we were talking about the Gust Dragons. The Gust Dragons are (or WERE) a large variety of colors, and they were very easy to tell apart because of their markings. There is only one living dragon that knew the Gust Dragons, and that is a wise old Shadow Dragon by the name of “Darkness Falling”, though many call him Darkness. Midna always went to Darkness to talk to him about her Tribe, and her heritage. So, as you might’ve guessed, that’s where she’s going now. Midna growled and bared her teeth at any Shadow Dragons that gave her looks as she made her way to Darkness. The sun was slowly setting below the stretching trees that she called the woods, her home. But one day, maybe she could find where she BELONGED. The place where she SHOULD be right now, instead of curled up in a cave with Onyx for a neighbor. Midna took a deep breath as she stepped through the bracken covering the entrance to Darkness’ den. She closed her eyes and muttered, “Hi, Darkness.” The old Shadow Dragon had always been fatherly to her, and sometimes insisted on kissing the top of her head, so she braced herself for the oncoming slop. But no slop came, and as she opened her eyes and when she saw that Darkness Falling was sitting in a pile of moss, relaxed, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief. “Hello, Midna. Come for a chat?” Midna nodded. “Of course. Would you like to know about your parents?” Darkness asked, yawning. Midna’s eyes widened. “You KNEW my PARENTS?!! What, did they die, like, a day after my birth?” Darkness Falling slowly nodded. “2 days, to be exact.” Every word was a choke for the old dragon. “You knew my parents and you DIDN’T EVEN TELL ME?!” she hissed. “I would’ve told you earlier, but you never seemed interested. Your mother’s name was Leaf. She was mostly green, and second in command of the Gust Dragon Tribe. Everyone in the Tribe liked her, and she was praised for her kindness and courage. Your father, on the other hand-- he was hated throughout the Tribe, though I never figured out why. Must’ve had untrustworthy parents of some sort,” Darkness croaked in his oily voice. Midna narrowed her eyes. “Is there anything ELSE you want to tell me?” Darkness shook his head slowly, his eyes closed. “Then I’ll be going,” Midna muttered and stalked out of the stuffy cave. Later in the night, Midna was sitting next to her best friend, Sunny. Sunny was a Light Dragon, so, of course, Midna had had to fly over the boundaries to meet Sunny. She was now on the white-and-yellow dragons’ territory, though the Light Tribe allowed it due to their friendship. “Sunny, I’m telling you, there’s something wrong with Darkness! He hid the fact he knew my parents from me all these years!” Midna whined. “Midna, there’s gotta be an explanation. I mean, he’s just an old kook! He probably never knew your parents.” Midna sighed. “Whatever, Sunny. Something’s up, I can tell. Darkness usually NEVER hides things from me, but I have a feeling he is this time,” she muttered. “If you say so. Anyway, how’re things going with Onyx?” Sunny wiggled her eyebrows, which made the two of them burst out laughing. “Oh, just the usual, he’s telling me about how great he is and how lame everyone else is. No biggie.” Midna grinned. “Oh, wow, that’s a smidge of improvement! Maybe next time he’ll mock his own Tribe instead of just you!” Sunny said sarcastically, giggling. It was now midnight, which was the deadline for Midna to be back at camp. “I gotta go. It’s midnight, Sunny. Bye!” Midna said and took off, her mix of colors bleached silver in the moonlight. “Goodbye!” came the call of Sunny from behind her. Chapter 2 - Sound the Alarm - Midna slowly lifted her head and yawned, revealing razor sharp, pearly white teeth. Her blinded eyes slowly flickered open, but no sight came in one eye. Just darkness. She had been blinded by a sinister Lava dragon when she was just a baby. He had been an evil, bloodthirsty Lava Dragon, with eyes and scales the same color as blood. Midna had described him to Darkness, and Darkness Falling had recognized him as “BloodScar”. Midna had no idea how Darkness had known BloodScar, though Lava Tribe and Shadow Tribe WERE allies. She had considered asking him about it, but she had never worked up the nerve. She headed towards the prey pile, where Onyx was seated nearby. “What’s the problem?” he growled. Wow, that’s rare, Midna thought, on most occasions he would’ve said, “What’s the problem, nerd?” She sniggered under her breath. “Oh, I dunno, maybe I’m just here because THIS IS WHERE I LIVE.” She saw Onyx grin a little, but he quickly set his face straight again. She selected a plump pig and sat down in the shade, as far away from Onyx as she could get. She gnawed on it absent mindedly, letting the frequent gusts of wind relax her into a tranquil state. She stayed that way for about an hour, until a yowl from Onyx sounded. She jumped up. “What?!” Midna yelled angrily. “B-bloodScar… BloodScar is attacking camp!” Onyx’s eyes were wide and terrified, and they didn’t show any evidence that this was a prank. Chapter 3 - The Return of BloodScar - “What… H-how?!” Midna stuttered frantically, and an image came to her: A forest full of fire, the flames licking at dragons’ talons, scorching their scales; The menacing, red eyes of the cackling BloodScar watching over them all; And on top of it all: BloodScar, with the Shadow Tribe leader pinned under his vicious talons. Midna yelled as a splitting headache came to her and she shook her head. “No, stop! Stop!” The vision came to an abrupt end. Fast, heavy breaths came from Midna where she laid on the damp ground. “What happened?” Onyx asked, eyeing her nervously. Not like he cares, Midna said to herself. “I… I know it’s hard to believe, but… I… I think I had some sort of future vision!” “What? How is that even possible?” Onyx growled. “I don’t know. But that doesn’t matter right now-- What matters is that I had it, and it’s probably real.” “If it’s real, get on with it and just TELL ME WHAT YOU SAW.” “I saw… I saw fire everywhere… I saw evil dragons watching over it all, laughing…” She paused and Onyx nodded. “No matter how bad it is, I need to know it,” Onyx hissed, “and FAST.” Midna gulped. “And Mystery--” Mystery was that was their leader’s name-- “being.. Being pinned down my BloodScar and--” “STOP, STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP.” Onyx clutched his head in his talons. “I can’t bear to hear this.” “What happened to ‘No matter how bad it is, I HAVE to know it, wah wah wah I’m a little baby’?” Midna mocked. “Not a time for joking, Midna. We need to find Mystery and warn her!” Midna nodded and the pair rushed off into the main clearing. There was already a bit of flame springing up, and a Lava Dragon was on the giant rock in the middle of the clearing, mid-speech. “Shadow Dragons, we are here for your Gust Dragon. We shall keep it prisoner until one of you has the guts to get it back.” Midna was about ready to waltz up to the dragon and shout, “I AM NOT AN IT!” but she couldn’t. The dragon was much bigger than her, and just by looks she could tell he was stronger, too. The Lava Dragon speaking thrust his snout into the air. Midna felt a tug on her tail and fell backwards into the bush where Onyx was crouched. “Are you crazy, Midna? He was going to see you, and didn’t you hear what he said? He’s gonna take you!” The Lava Dragon continued, “If you refuse, then we will declare war on all Shadow Dragons.” Midna’s heart lurched. War? The Lava Dragons would surely overpower Onyx’s Tribe. They exchanged glances. Suddenly, a black shape crept up onto the rock to stand next to the Lava Dragon above the dancing flames. “Cardinal, I can tell you where to find the Gust Dragon,” the shape hissed, sounding a bit like… No, that couldn’t be. He wouldn’t be involved in this. The Lava Dragon, whose name was apparently Cardinal, nodded and the Shadow Dragon next to him flicked his tail and whispered into Cardinal’s ear. “Search to the South!” Cardinal suddenly boomed and a group of sergeants appearing and stomped off… Coming towards Onyx and Midna. Midna’s heart lurched. “Run,” Onyx suddenly whisper-hissed in her ear. The sergeants were much closer now, and one was running ahead of the group as if she had seen something. “There!” the sergeant at the head of the group suddenly shouted, pointing a long, red talon at the bush the two were hiding in. “Go!” Onyx yelped and pushed Midna out. Onyx jumped out behind her in battle stance, his tail lashing. But it was too late. Blazing red talons closed around Midna’s mouth and nose, and she struggled to breath. And then the world went black, and the last fading sounds Midna heard before she passed out were Onyx’s desperate yelp and the crackle of flames. Chapter 4 - The Kingdom of Lava - Midna’s good eye slowly opened, the world spinning around her. She coughed and spluttered, trying move. Instead, she found that she was chained to the wall by heavy shackles. She breathed a plume of flame on them, but it didn't have any effect on the chains. Finally she realized that there was someone in there with her. “Hello?” A whisper came softly but evilly from the other dragon. “Hello.” She realized with a jolt that she recognized this voice. “... Darkness Falling?” The blurry shape nodded. “They got you too?” A pause, and then, “No, not quite.” A small smirk was visible-- even though Midna’s vision was blurry-- on Darkness’ face. Then, all at once, Midna understood. Darkness had been the one to tell Cardinal and his troops where to find Midna back at camp. It had been him, all along, that was against Midna. Not Onyx, not anyone. Darkness. “It was you!” she roared furiously, pulling at her shackles, lunging at Darkness Falling, her teeth snapping. “Oh, don’t even try. I had those chains carefully measured so that you could not reached me,” the Shadow Dragon softly growled. “What did you do with Onyx?!” she spat, suddenly caring. Did I really just ask that, even after all those years of him hating me? Do I care? “What, your little friend? Oh, I didn’t take him. No reward for him turned in. Just knocked him out and put him in his den.” Midna growled angrily. “I need to go get something. Be right back; don’t get anywhere! Not like you can,” Darkness said, a low laugh rumbling in his throat, and slipped out of the room. There’s a door, Midna realized. Maybe I can get out… She’d spent the next 30 minutes trying, frustrated, to get to the door. The 6 attempts had all failed. Right when she was about to give up, she heard a strange slurping coming from a pipe. It was hard to believe that the dragons here even needed pipes, it was so smokey. There must be a volcano in their territory, Midna thought in the back of her mind, but most of it was focused on the pipe. Then, abruptly, the slurping stopped and the lid on top of the pipe blasted off with such force that it flew all the way up into the air and then missed Midna’s head by inches. “Hey-- What?” Midna yelped, jumping back. “Oh, sorry! Oh, sorry! Oh, sorry!” A voice echoed through the pipes and then a sky-blue head popped out of the pipe, smiling playfully. “Ahh! What the..” A dragon started climbing out of the pipe, dripping wet and smelling like sewage. “Hi. I’m Tidal Wave.” The dragon held out his foul-smelling, wet hand. Midna flinched and then shook it. “I’m here to rescue you. I can see my the look on your face that you hope we don’t have to go back into the pipes; But, unfortunately, that’s exactly what we have to do.” Midna sighed. She had eventually gave in to Tidal Wave and was now splashing along grumpily in the pipes beside him. “I’m taking you to someone who will know what to do with you-- To help you.” “Whatever.. I don’t understand why we had to take the pipes, though. There was a perfectly inviting door waiting for us,” Midna complained. Tidal Wave rolled his eyes, lashing his tail through the murky sewage water. They splashed on in the pipes for 2 hours that seemed endless until Tidal Wave abruptly stopped. His claws slid out and then he dug them into the pipe above them, taloning his way up the pipe. Midna followed as Tidal Wave slid the lid off and poked his head out of the pipes. “Hey, Pearl!” Tidal Wave called. The two clambered out of the pipes. But as Midna clawed her way up into the polluted air, heavy talons closed around her shoulder and brought her to the ground. Someone was attacking her. Chapter 5 - The Ender Dragon - The dragon held Midna’s snout onto the floor from where it was standing on top of her. Glowing purple eyes matched with deep black scales stared at Midna and a questioning hiss came from the attacking dragon. “Who are you, and why were you following Tidal Wave? Are you doing business with the Lava Dragons? What kind of dragon are you?” Midna ignored all the questions and studied the room around her. It was closed in, with one small tunnel barely fit for a dragon her attacker’s size. The walls around them with black rock, and didn’t look very easily breakable. Was this some kind of prison, meant to keep this dragon in especially? “Pearl, GET OFF MY FRIEND,” Tidal Wave demanded sternly. “What? She’s your friend? Oh…” The black talons slid off her and the weight was removed. Midna got up, breathing hard, and stared at her “attacker”. She was a dragon that was fully black, like a Shadow Dragon, but darker. And, Midna noted, her eyes were a fierce, bright purple, unlike any Shadow Dragon, who had darker eyes. “Stop it, I can tell you’re trying to figure out what kind of dragon I am,” Pearl growled. Midna recoiled, startled, and nodded. “So… What kind are you, then?” Midna questioned. Pearl hesitated and then grumbled, “I’m an Ender Dragon, from a world called Undyine. It was destroyed, but my parents, me, and a few others managed to escape. I'm the only one left,” she explained. Midna hardly believed this dragon. She’d heard stories about this “Undyine”, but couldn’t fathom how or why it existed. Maybe Pearl was just odd. Maybe Pearl had just had one parent a Shadow Dragon, and one a bright-eyed Light Dragon. But that seemed unlikely. There was something… up… about Pearl, and Midna was determined to find out what it was. Midna sighed. “Okay, whatever. HD, yada yada yada.” She rolled her eyes. “What’s ‘yada’?” Pearl asked, tilting her head. “Nothing,” Midna said quickly, shaking her head. She mentally sighed. “So, Tidal Wave, why’d you take me to her?” Midna slightly emphasized “her”, just to make it clear she would’ve rathered someone who wouldn’t have attacked her. “I took you to her because she knows her way around this crazy place,” Tidal Wave said, narrowing his eyes. “Yeah,” Pearl said, standing tall, with high authority. “Just come this way, we’ll get you out of here.” She walked over to the small tunnel and into the opening. Seeing Pearl was much bigger than Midna and Tidal Wave, she had to duck to enter the dark pathway. Pearl blended in almost perfectly to the black walls, and the only thing visible was her glowing, bright purple eyes. Midna’s vision wasn't meant for it to be so dark, so she couldn't see anything but Pearl’s eyes. As the purple eyes led Midna, she trampled on her own tail, but had a feeling they were underground and someone might hear them, so only screamed mentally. After a while Midna finally spotted light up ahead, and they emerged once again into the smoky, clingy air that stuck to their multi-colored scales. “We’re in the volcano now. They are probably a few dragons nearby, so be quiet,” Pearl whispered in a hushed voice. The two dragons nodded, and they continued to sneak through the burning stone palace. They emerged into a clearing where two dragons were guarding a large entrance on the ceiling, hovering in mid-air. The group ducked behind a boulder that was barely any bigger than Pearl herself. “How’re we gonna get past them?” Tidal Wave asked worriedly, for both guards were much bigger than the 3. Pearl stared at him. “I'll tell them you're with me,” she said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “They'll believe me.” Midna eyed the older dragon. “Are you sure? I mean, doesn't it seem suspicious, a GUST dragon walking through here, the last left, they JUST captured?” Pearl’s eyes narrowed, and she was obviously unhappy about this point, especially since it was proved by Midna. “So… We’ll paint you black.” Midna’s eyes widened. “WHAT?” Tidal Wave shook his head. “I’ve listened to the guards from pipes a lot, and they’ve done some horrible things to people that they think are fake. That’s not gonna work.” Pearl’s face fell once more, but she controlled her anger with a deep breath. “Okay, so if that won’t work, I suppose you’ve got an idea yourself, hot shot?” Tidal Wave growled. “No.” Midna suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, and an image like the one back at the Shadow Camp came to her. It showed to two dragons guarding the exit letting Pearl and Midna through, but stopped Tidal Wave. “Wait… Your plan to paint me will work-- But they won’t let Tidal Wave through.” Pearl nodded. “I think I only have a bucket of paint, which will probably only paint one of you. But, how do you know?” Pearl narrowed her eyes at Midna. “Oh… I.. Um, sort of have been having future visions. It happened back at camp, before I was taken prisoner…” Midna’s mind suddenly wandered to Onyx and whether he was okay, but she brushed it quickly away, telling herself that he wouldn't care about her anyway. “Hah, sure,” Pearl scoffed, “if you did, what was it?” Midna thought back to that neck-breakingly painful memory. “There was fire all over the forest, burning dragons. And our leader, Mystery, was getting pinned down my BloodScar…” She gulped. “Doesn't sound too bad to me,” Pearl said, her eyes narrowed. “Well, you don’t live in a place that is COMPLETELY FLAMMABLE,” retorted Midna angrily. “No, she’s right,” Tidal Wave said, but Midna growled and murmured, “Neither do you.” Tidal Wave chortled a little. “Yeah, whatever. But I believe that you’re telling the truth, so we’ll try your plan; If they imprison me, I’ll just escape through the pipes,” he said. Midna’s eyes glowed at the praise from this brave, older dragon. “Okay, sounds great,” Pearl said sarcastically, her eyes unenthusiastically half-closed. “But where are we gonna find the paint?” Tidal Wave suddenly asked. Pearl grumbled grouchily, “I know a place. Hold on.” She stormed out glumly and soon came back with a rattling paint can clamped in her jaws. In her front talons were paintbrushes. “Okay, paint yourself, Midna.” Pearl did not try to hide the jealousy and the sharp tone in her voice as she thrust the bucket and brushes into Midna’s talons. “It's magic paint, so after it’s on, all you have to do is say the code word, ‘Jellybean’. Don't ask why I made the code word,” Pearl said to the look at Midna’s face, “when you want to wash it off just said ‘I love Tidal Wave and you don't’... Oops. Did I just say that out loud?” Her face flushed red. Tidal Wave just stared at Pearl, but eventually his eyes turned stern and focused and he nodded. “Okay, Midna, go on and paint yourself.” Midna looked down at the paint in her claws and remembered the whole plan. “Oh, right.” She had spent the next twenty minutes plastering they sticky Crimson paint to her scales. “What in the Enders is this stuff made of?!” she had murmured to herself when she was done. “Jellybean!” she said, and she watched as the excess paint magically disappeared off her scales. It had seemed as if her splashed scales had slipped off and underneath there was these dazzling ruby-colored ones. Midna breathed a deep breath and nodded to Pearl and Tidal Wave, who were both gaping at how she looked. Then she flew up the two guards. Being next to them made Midna realize just how much bigger they were than her. She had to struggle not to be blown away by the powerful gusts their wings created, literally. “I do not recognize you,” one guard said, his voice booming. The smaller one, who was still a lot bigger than Midna, offered, “Are you the newcomer? Doomsday, was it?” This one was a girl. “Oh, um, yeah, that's me! Heh heh, yeah, Doomsday!” Midna forced a grin. “I need to, um, speak to someone outside?” The guards exchanged glances. “What small wings you have, and shiny scales, but alright,” the male said after a while. “Doomsday” let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. The guards moved aside to let her pass. What she saw outside the volcano made her jump; The brightness, trees, monkeys, and jungle of the Light Dragon territory. Chapter 6 - An explanation - “What the…?” Had the Lava Dragons been living in another Tribe’s territory this whole time? No, that couldn’t be. Maybe a tragic accident in their territory had forced them to move, and the Light Dragons had been the only ones to accept them. Midna slowly forced herself to say the code word to get rid of the paint. “I love Tidal Wave and you never will..” The paint didn’t leave. Midna thought back frantically to the code word. But a group of Light Dragons was already coming toward her. As the little white-and-yellow blotches got bigger, Midna tried to make some of them out. May one would believe her if she told them she was Midna. Soon they were all hovering in a circle around her. “Lava Dragon, please return to your own territory. You are not permitted nor welcome here,” a big male said. Surely he was the chief, leading a patrol, or at least a head soldier. “But I’m not even a Lava Dragon!” Midna argued. “Shut it, Crimson. You’re probably friends with the one who took Midna.” She whirled around in surprise to see that Sunny was among the patrol. “Sunny?!” Midna’s eyes widened. “How do you know my name, you little Bloodsucker?” Sunny spat. Now Midna felt tears prick her eyes. “Because, Sunny, I’m Midna. I’m your friend. You’re my best friend.” Midna’s friend Light Dragon did a double-take. “Midna?” Something suddenly clicked between them and Sunny knew. “You guys, leave this to me. I can handle this nasty ol’ Lava Dragon.” They both grinned. Later that day, the two were curled up in the shade outside Sunny’s joyful little hut. Sunny had insisted to know the whole story, so Midna was in the middle of telling her all about what had happened the nights before. “Okay, so, lemme get this straight, you were kidnapped?” Sunny asked, awestruck. “Yeah. But this nice Water Dragon named Tidal Wave helped me get out… And that ‘Ender’ Dragon named Pearl, too, I guess,” Midna said, shrugging. “So, you found out about all that territory-sharing thing. It’s a long story. It’ll take some explaining.” Sunny sighed. “So do you wanna hear it?” Midna nodded. “Once, not long ago, there were two great friends; One a Lava Dragon, one a Light Dragon, The Lava named Molten, and the Light named Sunbeam. “Molten lived on the Light Dragons’ territory, for he had been exiled by their cruel leader for befriending Sunbeam. He retreated to the active volcano on the territory. One by one, the good Lava Dragons joined Molten on the Light Dragon territory. “Some of them refused at first, but when their home was destroyed, they were forced to come, even if it wasn’t out of their will. So now they live here,” she finished. “Wow…” Midna mumbled, “Any more shocking secrets for me to find out about you?” Sunny grinned nervously. “Umm… Yeah, actually, come inside.” Chapter 7 - The Hooman - Midna followed Sunny into the joyful little hut, and what she saw there made her jump; A human! They were from another planet, as many special dragons able to breath in space had flown of the planet in search of other planets fitting the dragons’ needs. “Sunny! There’s a human in here! It could be dangerous!” Though as Midna said the words, the realized the human was very relaxed, toying with a doodad. Sunny laughed. “He’s not dangerous! He’s just AZURIT!” The Gust Dragon tilted her head. “Azurit? It has a name?” she asked, confused. The human looked up. “I do have a name. I’ll have you know it’s not Azurit, but that’s what you dragons call me,” it said, surprisingly in the dragon language. “What the enders is even happening right now?!” Midna screeched, her eyes wide. “Midna, chill out! He learned to speak dragon over the years,” Sunny insisted. Midna soon recovered from the shock. Sunny grinned at her. “Isn’t it amazing? Our space-breathing dragon, Galaxi, let me keep him as a p--” The human, apparently Azurit, cut her off and said, “I am NOT a pet!” He pulled an oval-shaped, brown vegetable-looking thing out of his pocket and muttered, “I’m a potato lover.” He gently kissed the potato. Sunny quickly looked at Midna, then back at Azurit, then Midna, then Azurit, eyes gleaming. “Wow, um, I’m really glad you two are getting along okay, but I think we have a more important task at hand than these ‘potatoes’,” Sunny said, breaking the silence. Midna nodded, glad to get away from this human. “Of course, Azurit will come with us too, he’ll be useful being both water AND fire and all,” Sunny pointed out. Her eyes were closed, so she didn’t see the devastated look on Midna’s face as she said it. Midna flew along with Sunny and Azurit. Azurit was placed upon Sunny’s back, and Midna could be put into size perspective. Azurit was barely bigger than one of Sunny’s hands, let alone Midna’s. Midna really couldn’t see how this small, potato-loving creature could be any help with anything. They soared over the treetops in the starlight as they neared the Shadow camp. As they reached it, they landed lightly and gazed around. The fires had been put out, but not Shadow Dragon was anywhere to be seen. The three walked on, Azurit having hopped off of Sunny’s back. A creepy feeling crept its way up Midna’s spine as they saw all the dark dragons huddled around something on the floor. Distressed cries echoed through the moon-bleached clearing. Midna jumped as one of the Shadow dragons turned around. She recognized Onyx right away, and her heart jumped to find out he was okay. But this wasn’t the Onyx she had known before. His eyes were dull grey, without a trace of the usual energetic blue. His face was sad, and his shoulders slumped with the burden of the whole Tribe Mystery sometimes wore. What had happened while she was gone? “Onyx..?” she murmured. At the same time Onyx muttered, “Midna…?” Something sparked in his eye and he seemed to be alive again. “You’re here? Alive?” Onxy gasped. “Yes, but it doesn’t matter, what happened while I was gone…?” Midna questioned, dreading the worse. “Come to our den. The young ones wouldn’t want to hear it..” Onyx’s eyes turned dull once more “... Again.” The two were sitting face-to-face in their shared den, Onyx explaining exactly what had happened. “After they took you, they were happy and done. BloodScar showed up for a little… And that’s when… Your vision came true.” He had been staring at his talons, but now he looked up at Midna. She could see that his eyes were weak and desperate. “He attacked Mystery. I’m the leader now.” He collapsed on himself. “I don’t know what to do…” Midna’s eyes were wide. “Mystery’s… Gone?” She knew how much Onyx had admired her. “Well, you'll be a really great leader too…” Midna tried to cheer him up. Onyx looked up again, shaking. “I won’t! My brother’s gone, my parents left me, and now my beloved leader is gone!” Midna opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn’t think of anything to assure him. Sunny and Azurit peeked through the curtain of lichen covering the entrance to the den. “Are you guys okay…?” Azurit asked, creeped out. Onyx didn’t even acknowledge the fact there was a human in the room. Suddenly, a cry burst out from the main camp. The three dragons and one human scrambled up and came face-to-face with a madly grinning, eye-twitching BloodScar. “I,” he growled, “want to know why my Gust Dragon is gone.” Chapter 8 - The Battle - “You never deserved to have a Gust Dragon anyway!” Onyx snarled, his eyes once again that fierce, energizing blue. “You stole her!” He jumped in front of Azurit, Sunny, and Midna protectively. BloodScar began cackling menacingly, and when he was done, he muttered creepily, “Ah, Onyx.” Onyx’s eyes widened in surprise. “Your parents joined me. Sadly, they proved they were not loyal.” He looked away from Onyx and cast a side-smirk at him. “Don’t talk about my parents!” Onyx barked, and swiped at BloodScar. BloodScar caught Onyx’s arm and threw him into the den, ripping the lichen. Onyx hit his head on the wall, falling to his knees. He shakily pulled himself up again. “Midna… Watch out!” Midna whipped around just in time to see BloodScar, about to hit her hard on the head with his spiked tail. She dodged right at the last second and managed a little blow to BloodScar. She looked back at Onyx, who managed a weak smile back before closing his eyes. Sunny rushed over to help him. Azurit was just standing there, wondering what to do. “Come on, help!” Midna urged him. Azurit suddenly seemed to realize what was happening and drew a long, blue and red katana from his back. He dashed quickly behind BloodScar and sliced at BloodScar’s back. “Take that!” Azurit yelled in victory. But slowly, lava oozed through the cut and the scales came back. “What the..?” Then Azurit saw that his potato was on the floor at BloodScar’s talons, from when he had pulled out his katana. “POTATO!!” he cried, and scrambled to get the potato before it was crushed. The last thing Midna was paying attention to was the little human crawling around at the fighting dragons’ talons; she was more focussed on how BloodScar had healed. “How’d he do that?” Midna thought aloud. “Simple, Gust Dragon,” BloodScar said, smirking. “I was never a real dragon in the first place. I was crafted out of dried lava, and my parents, well, they called me… Molten.” He grinned viciously. Now it all came together. Once, when Midna had been visiting Sunny, she had heard a rustle in a bush nearby and seen a flash of red scales. The story about Molten… And how BloodScar healed, it all made sense now! “You, you only ‘befriended’ Sunbeam to get to the Gust Dragons! You were the one who captured them! They're in the volcano, aren't they?!” Midna snarled, anger whipping through her. BloodScar’s evil grin came back onto his face. “That's right. Finally, someone's figured it out! Not even my most loyal soldiers discovered the secret I'd been hiding in the volcano. And it's not like those ditzy Light Dragons could have figured it out.” In the background, Sunny yelled, “Hey!” Midna saw that Sunny had spread her wings out as cover to Onyx, but there were barely covering any of him. Suddenly a yelp sounded under Midna. “What…?” She looked down and saw that trapped under her talons was the leg of Azurit. “Ow ow ow ow ow!” he cried. “Oh my enders, I am SO sorry!” Midna hurried to get off of Azurit and picked the little human up in her claws, then carefully set him down at Sunny’s side. She took one look at Azurit and was helping him like crazy. Midna was on her own now. Her mind was whirring, thinking of a plan. A sudden spark appeared in her mind. It was a vision, but not the kind that had her writhing. It showed her, red-scaled once more, fooling BloodScar into thinking he had missed an important meeting. It was a dumb plan, and would take a lot of wit, but it was worth a shot. Now she just needed an explanation why she was leaving. She'd decided on this: She would fly off like she was running away, then double-back on the ground and get the bucket of magic paint from the last day. She would paint herself to look exactly like Cardinal and then fulfill the vision. Midna began to carry out her plan. She lifted off the ground, her powerful wingbeats blowing leaves around. Then she turned tail and flew, until BloodScar was out of sight. She then dived down and landed lightly in the forest. She wandered until she made it to the camp, making sure to choose spots to walk out of sight from the sky. When Midna reached the camp, it was deserted. She quickly went into the den where she had stored the magic paint, and coated herself in it until she looked just like Cardinal from the long days before. She quickly sealed it with the code word and then took to the sky again, scouting for BloodScar. She found him easily; Scarlet red wasn't exactly hard to spot against light blue. BloodScar stopped in front of Midna. “Cardinal?” Midna nodded, making sure to keep eyes stern like Cardinal’s. “Yes, sir.” Midna sounded exactly the same as Cardinal. Onyx had explained that if you wanted to look like someone in particular, then you could also sound just like them, but you needed to know their voice. Midna knew Cardinal’s voice, of course, so it had worked. BloodScar looked surprised on so many levels. “Why are you here? I was chasing that pesky Gust Dragon,” he grumbled, and Midna had to stifle a laugh. “I was sent here to warn you that you are going to be late a mandatory meeting at 6:30 AM,” Midna said, quite convincingly. “It is for your yearly lava filling. They would like you to meet them at the top of Mount Glacier.” The Lava Dragon leader in front of her looked startled, and mostly confused, but nodded. “Alright, but I wonder why there?” he asked. “I am not authorized to tell you,” Midna answered. The truth was that Midna and Onyx were going to trap him in the ice there. Without warmth, he would surely lose his lava supply. Sunny and Onyx were already on their way to the mountain. Azurit was actually waiting cleverly in a bush on the ground below Midna and BloodScar with his potato, which had been half-smushed. Azurit wasn't too badly hurt, but like his potato, half of him had been crushed. His left leg was broken, so Sunny had fixed him up with a splint made of strong sticks and vines so he could walk. Midna waited for orders from her “leader”, which was basically just her waiting for permission to get Azurit and fly to the mountain with Sunny and Onyx. “Alright, go back to the volcano. I can deal with the Gust Dragon later,” BloodScar said. The disguised, red Gust Dragon that was covered in magic paint that dried with the word jellybean and came off with the sentence I love Tidal Wave and you don't, flew in the direction of the Light Dragon territory. Midna had painfully rushed through the paint removal sentence and turned around when she knew BloodScar was gone, heading towards the mountain. The crisp, six-in-the-morning air clung to her scales as she flew, the wind making her eyes sting. She loved this kind of morning. There was no warm, golden sun drenching her in sweat. Just the white, cold air freezing her spikes to her neck. Midna was nearing the giant mountain known as Mount Glacier. As the rigid spikes got bigger, she felt at home. Something linked and she knew this must have been the old Gust Dragon camp. She flew around the mountain in circles, searching for where Onyx and Sunny were stationed. Azurit was on her back, shivering. The thin pelts that covered him weren't very much to sustain a human up here. Finally Midna saw a black speck huddled next to a golden speck. She soared down to their setup camp. It was a protected little area with frozen spikes around. Next to it was a steep hill that went straight up. It was a cliff. Midna landed next to them. “He's on his way,” Midna muttered quietly. If there were any other dragons up here, she didn't want them to hear her. But then she realized that there probably wasn't anyone. For a fleeting second she wondered why there were no Ice Dragons. Onyx nodded. “We should paint ourselves to look like Lava Dragons now,” he said. Midna could tell he was still hurting from being slammed into the cave wall. “Alright,” she said. Azurit had been carrying the magic paint during the flight. If Midna had carried it, it probably would've dumped out. The human handed the dragons the paint and they lathered it on themselves, each a different shade of red. Then, after Midna had told them the dry command password, they all repeated, “Jellybean.” The three gazed around at each other. It was like they were all looking at their enemies. Onyx looked even more fierce than usual. Sunny looked like a baby dragon. Midna.. Midna looked just like “Doomsday”. She giggled as she thought of what the actual Doomsday would do when they arrived and found out they had already been there. Sunny suddenly called out, “BloodScar’s coming! Hide, Azurit!” She pointed to the sky, where a big blood red dot was winging its way towards the group. Azurit dashed into a bush, blending in with his camouflage pelts. BloodScar landed heavily on the snowy clearing. “Cardinal sent me,” he growled. “Come this way, if you don't mind.” Onyx hurried ahead and blasted a hole in the ice with his purple fire, that was big enough for a dragon two times bigger than BloodScar. “It's in that hole,” he said, jerking his head towards it. “We discovered it last week in our search,” Sunny put in. BloodScar looked suspicious of them, but walked into the deep hole anyway. As soon as he was in, though, Onyx again blasted the ice. This time, above the hole. Ice and snow tumbled over the entrance to the hole. Sunny jumped for joy. “I can't believe that worked… That plan was so stupid, it has to go wrong somehow,” Onyx said, shaking his head. But as soon as he said it, a pounding came from inside the hole, and the snow started to roll off BloodScar’s prison. en-us 2017-02-26 19:12:56 UTC 2017-09-16 20:28:11 UTC hello@padlet.com BarefootxSocks https://padlet.com/BarefootxSocks/vug04hi1c55x/wish/156265914 Soooo I made this book for a school project -- I know this may be a little confusing to read seeing as it got messed up, but I hope you still like it. ^u^]]> 2017-02-26 19:22:41 UTC https://padlet.com/BarefootxSocks/vug04hi1c55x/wish/156265914 https://padlet.com/BarefootxSocks/vug04hi1c55x/wish/156479735 Awesome! I do think it's a little all over the place, though.]]> 2017-02-27 16:58:38 UTC https://padlet.com/BarefootxSocks/vug04hi1c55x/wish/156479735 BarefootxSocks https://padlet.com/BarefootxSocks/vug04hi1c55x/wish/158405190 Wow... Thanks you guys! It IS all over the place, but seeing as the project it was for is done, I won't be editing it. I made this a long time ago, and I'm sure their are grammar and spelling mistakes, but I improved since then.]]> 2017-03-07 16:37:38 UTC https://padlet.com/BarefootxSocks/vug04hi1c55x/wish/158405190