Moonlight shines down onto Wyre as dragons of all kinds gather at the Gronckle resting spot on the basalt formation. In the back, Niether and Rocky are in the far back of the gathering.
Rocky glances at all the dragons gathered, spotting Snips and Spine near the middle, Mulic far off to the side, even Grovel is here. But the Whispering Death is barely poking out of a hole he burrowed.
A loud roar rings out as all the dragons quiet down, as they turn to the front. Grandma Drip stands tall at her resting spot as she looks out to everyone, bits of lava dripping from her jaw.
"Thank you all for coming." Grandma Drip roars loudly. "I hate to say this, but the Dragon Hunters are growing more bold. Today, they attacked Mutton island with a large force, but with our new comers intervening, they didn't get anyone."
All the dragons look to Niether and Rocky. The two just nervously wave, and chuckle. Then all the dragons turn back to Grandma Drip.
"So you know what this means, everyone that leaves the island chain will have to leave with a buddy. And we'll need to start stocking up on food. But I we won't have to worry to much, as long as the Briskwind and the human are around."
The dragons all start roaring amongst themselves. Rocky's lips purse.
"That's a lot of responsibility but onto us."
"I think we can manage, we did rough up their boats yesterday. What are they gonna come back with, more boats? We'll just blow them up as well."
Rocky chuckles as he pats Niether on the neck. "They can't have that many, right?"
Grandma Dragon roars again. "So everyone, stay on alert, these Dragon Hunters are mean. They won't stop until we're all dead or captured. So we must be ready for their next attack. But this is all for now, so I hope you all have a good night."
All the gathered dragons start to disperse. Spine, Snips and Mulic fly over to Niether and Rocky.
"Had a fight with Hunter, eh?" Mulic questions as he tilts his head.
"Oh, I hate those kind of humans!" Snips growls as she hops.
"Yeah, not a big fan of them either." Rocky states as he crosses his arms.
"How long do you think they'll be gone for." Spine questions.
Suddenly Leafwisp appears between everyone with a smug look. "Well, given how stubborn humans are, probably won't be very long."
"Ugh, you." Spine gurmbles.
Mulic grumbles as he glares at the changewing. "It's you, you've been stealing my fish."
"Eh, I didn't see your name from it." Leafwisp chuckles and Mulic growls loudly at him. "Besides, you should be more worried about the Hunters, then some measly fish."
Mulic grumbles as he shakes himself slightly, before setting himself on fire. "Hunters use big wooden boats, and I like fire. So you know, not a lot of them are great swimmers."
Rocky chuckles as he reaches over to Mulic, who puts himself out, and pats him on the wing. "Well, if we need it, I hope you'll assist us."
Mulic nods as he lets out a loud roar. "I'll be happy to assist in protecting my home."
Snips pushes her way between them. "Oh, I'll help too!"
Leafwisp sits on his hunches. "I guess since I'm taking a vacation here, I could help with the humans."
Spine lets out a sigh as he speaks up. "If my sister is help, I'll help to."
"Awww, you're the best." Snips chuckles.
Rocky lets out a yawn. "Well, I think tomorrow, Niether and I are gonna finish exploring the other Islands. So we can get used to the land."
"Mutton and Poultry Islands?" Snips questions.
"If that's there names, sure."
Then Rocky and Niether both let out a yawn.
"But I think we had enough excitement for today/But I think we had enough excitement for today." The two say together.
"So I think we're heading to bed." Niether starts trotting away with Rocky on his back.
"Have a goodnight!" Rocky waves to the four dragons.
The four dragons watch the two leave, and Snips speaks up.
"Feels weird Grandma Drip is leaving most of our protection to the new comers."
"Well, one's a Briskwind Boltren, and the other is a strange human." Leafwisp points out. "Well, ones pretty powerful and the other is...uh... a human!"
"Well, those two do work very well together." Spine points out.
"We'll be fine, many of the dragons here have had some experience with Hunters." Mulic points out. "But with a Briskwind, we'll be fine."
But up at the mountain, Niether and Rocky land in their cave. Rocky slides off his back and walks over to an open coconut. He picks it up and drinks its contents.
Rocky then sets the coconut down, as Niether walks outside and drinks from the small pond. Rocky lets outs a grunt as he sits down on the ground, and reaches into his pouch and eats a few berries from it.
Niether walks back inside, shaking himself and walks over to Rocky. Rocky builds a small campfire, before scooting back as Niether lights it with a weak Power Blast.
Niether then lays down behind Rocky, as the human uses the dragon as a backrest. Rocky pats Niether's chest, right where the dragon tattoo over his heart is.
"Can't believe our first interactions with humans in this world, is with Dragon Hunters." Rocky complains as brings his knees to his chest.
"I was gonna say it could be worse, but uh... it is as worse as it gets." Niether lets out a rumble.
Rocky lets out an annoyed groan. "Going to war being one for the first things we did here, greeeeaaat."
"Well, at least we made a good amount of dragon friends. So we're not alone in this war."
"But we can't rely on all them, we are the protectors of the Dragon Drip Isles."
"Naming them after Grandma Drip?"
Rocky shrugs as he pokes at the fire with a stick. "Well, she is the oldest dragon on the Island chain, and she is seemingly the ruler. But I should probably train more."
Rocky flexes his arm and pokes the small muscles he has. He then frowns as he stops flexing. He drops his arms and lets out a sigh.
"You know, going from Engineering student, to a Dragon Riding and going to war with Hunters, in just the span of four days... I'm getting overwhelmed again."
Niether lets out a rumble, before speaking up. "But one thing as me worried, the green stuff on the arrow tips. When I got stuck with one, I got really drowsy. If this is what the Dragon Hunters are using against dragons, I'm pretty worried."
Rocky thinks for a moment, before rubbing his head. "What could we even do against that, other then hope we don't get hit."
Niether shits and flexes one of his massive wings. "Well, they can't pierce my wings. So we at least have something."
Rocky lets out a long yawn and rubs his eyes. "I know I've been getting more sleep, but I'm still tired at the end of every day."
"Probably because you're like, what, 17 again. Part of you was turned into a dragon, and we're in a world that's supposed to be fictional. We're surrounded by dragons that can easily eat you, and only I can translate for you."
"Yeah, I see it now." Rocky lets out another yawn and lays on the stone floor. "Ugh, I can't wait to get some sort of a bed."
"We can scavenge the Hunter ship tomorrow." Niether folds his wing over Rocky.
Rocky closes his eye as he feels the warmth of his dragon around him. "Yeah, we can do that after exploring Poultry island."
"You know, we should get a lay of the Dragon Isles. So far, we've only seen three islands, maybe there's more."
"If there is, then..." Rocky starts to trail off as he falls asleep.
"-there's more dragons..."
Niether lets out a yawn before closing his eye. The fire slowly goes out as the two sleep in darkness.
Then the next early afternoon, Niether and Rocky are on their way to Poultry Island. Niether zips across the top of the water at high speeds, while Rocky lays flat on his back.
Then once they reach the island Niether shots his wings out to the side, and they come to a rough stop on the beach. Rocky yelps as he goes flying of Niether's back, and face plants the beach.
Rocky grunts as he pushes himself up and looks over to Niether. "Gotta work on that fast landing."
"I know it'll be good if we're going after Dragon Hunters, but Fast Landing seems a little much."
Rocky gets up, brushing sand off himself, and grabbing his sword then fell off. "The Hunter's have sleepy arrows, so if we want to take them out, Fast Landing is best. The fast we take out the archers, the fast the dragons can move in and take out the rest."
"When you put it like that, you have a point." Niether steps over to Rocky.
Rocky takes off one of his boost and pours some sand out. Then as he puts his boot, he suddenly smells chocolate in the air. Rocky looks confused as he sniffs the air again, the smell of chocolate coming from deep within the island.
"What's wrong?" Niether notices Rocky starting inland.
"Do you smell that?" Rocky glances as his dragon.
Niether sniffs the air and lets out a confused rumble. "Chocolate?"
Rocky starts walking island, following the smell, as Niehter follows right behind him. They walk through the dense trees, scaring a few chickens away. But then they walk into clearing, and suddenly something snaps at Rocky, but Niether blocks it with a Power Shot.
"Ah, hot!" A dragon roars.
"A big dragon!"
"It has a human with it."
"I'm still hungry."
Niether lowers his wings and Rocky gets a look at what attacked him. And his eye widens at spoting a large dragon with four heads.
"A Snaptrapper..." Rocky mutters, but then notices something. "I thought Snapptrapper's were green?"
This Snaptrapper has four heads and triple-split jaws with more teeth. They have developed a small tuft of pink petal-like structures at the back of their head. They have dark brown wings with some blue spots and yellow network vein-like patterns, as such, their wings resemble dead leaves. Also, their neck is clearly segmented and has spines protruding from the back of their necks, all the way down to their tail, which eventually splits into two yellow tails.
Suddenly one of the heads spits acid at the two, and they jump back as it burns away at the ground.
"Woah, woah, woah!" Rocky holds his hands out. "We're friends, we're working for Grandma Drip!"
"Grandma Drip?" Head number one asks.
"He said Grandma Drip." The second head says.
"Why does the human know Grandma Drip?" The third head questions.
"Food?" The fourth head questions.
The first head leans closer to the human and dragon. "How do you know, Grandma Drip?"
Rocky glances at Niether, and the dragon steps forward. "We live over on her island, and with the recent large Hunter attack, she's asked out assistance in helping with protecting the Dragon isles."
All four heads growl loudly. "Dragon Hunters!"
Rocky holds his hands out. "Yes, they attacked Mutton Isle yesterday, and we helped drive them back. But they'll most likely be back, so uh... please don't eat me."
The first head lifts away from Rocky. "A Friend of Grandma Drip is a friend of ours. So now that we are friends, I'm An."
The second head leans in. "I'm Dr."
The third head perks up. "I'm Un."
The fourth head stares for a moment. "...Oh, I'm In."
"Andrunin?" Rocky mutters to Niether.
An leans back down to him. "We promise not to eat you now, but we are hopping you are not tricking us."
Rocky shakes his head. "I think it'd rather be hard to trick a bunch of dragons. We just want to help everyone here, since they you know, aren't eating me."
Dr leans forward. "Well, we are one of the main defenses of this island. With Drurg and Sqil being the others."
"Drurg and Sqil?" Niether questions.
Un leans forward. "A Typhoomerang and a Silquifier. Both are pretty big and strong."
In then leans forward. "...But Drurg is rather mean, she uh... doesn't like company. But Sqil is a very talkative and she likes other dragons, but can be very mean if people mess with her."
Rocky steps forward and holds his hands out, and the four heads move in. Rocky then scratches them under their chins, and they all purr. He chuckles as he scratches their chins.
"This is cool."
Niether lets out a rumble and suddenly pushes Rocky away. "We should meet some of the other defenders. So they don't kill us when we're exploring."
Neither flips Rocky into the air with his head, making the human yell out in surprise, before landing on his back. Niether then takes off to the sky as the Snaptrapper roars to them.
Rocky looks around the island, spotting dozens of different dragons. But then they hear an angry roar and a spiraling tornado of fire shoots up at them.
Niether flips to the side and they look down to see a massive dragon with a dark black body with grey patches scattered across its massive wings. It has striking red highlights cover its wings bones, wingtips, underbelly folds and sharp foot claws. Its large horns have bright red tips.
"You must be Drurg." Niether calls out as the Typhoomerang glares up at him.
"Leave dragon." It's deep female voice yells. "This place is not for you!"
"Hold up, lady." Rocky calls out. "We're just exploring the isles, we working under Grandma Drip."
The Typhoomerang narrows her eyes at him. "A human, talking to dragons. Rather odd I must say."
"I translate for him, cause he can understand me." Niehter informs as the Typhoomerang huffs.
The Typhoomerang takes flight and flies in front of them, Niether is barely smaller then her. She looks Niether over and grumbles, and Rocky notices that she has scars all over her body.
"A Briskwind, I haven't seen one of your kind in a very long time. You very well could be the last of your kind."
"So I've been told." Niether rumbles.
"But for a human to ride you, that's odd for such a proud race. But I won't judge, given you have Drips' respect. She's a very old friend of mine, so if she trusts you, I will tolerate you."
Drurg flies back down onto the ground, and lays down. Niether fly down and land beside her.
"So, what are you two even doing away from the main isle?" Drurg turns to them.
"Well, Dragon Hunters attacked Mutton island yesterday, so Grandma Drips has kinda put us on the main protection detail."
Drurg growls in anger. "Hunters. Vile kinds of humans."
"Yeah, we know." Niether rumbles. "But we're going to war with them, no one messes with our home."
Drurg chuckles as she seemingly smiles. "Nice to see the younger generations taking up the mantle. But I ask that you leave now, I am rather tired." She closes her eyes.
"Well it was nice to meet you/Well it was nice to meet you!" Niether takes off, leaving the large Typhoomerang behind.
The two fly over to the water and start circling the island.
"Think we'll see Sqil?" Rocky questions.
"If I remember, a Silquifier is a underwater dragon. So maybe not." Niether looks around, and spots something speeding under the water. "That could be her."
Down bellow Sliquifier with vibrant, golden-yellow scales and bright blue wings and tails fins, contrasted by cyan accents; swims under them. She jumps into the air, before diving back down deep under the water, disappearing from view.
"I bet that's Sqil." Rocky points out.
"I'm not going out of my way to find her down there."
"Eh, fair." Rocky then pats Niether on his neck. "Let's head to Mutton Isle, and see if the Hunters left anything behind on that ship."
"Hopefully some good stuff." Niether gently dips to the side and flies off towards Mutton isle.
Niether then picks up speed, becoming a blinding speed of purple. They swiftly reach Mutton Isle in the matter of seconds. They speed across it as they find the beached ship.
Niether then as they grow close, Niether throws his wings out, and roughly lands on the ground. Rocky goes flying, and he manages to land on his feet as he goes stumbling.
But then his foot hits a rock and he trips. "Wah!" He then lands face first in the sand again. "Ow..."
Niether lets out a throaty chuckle in the background. Rocky lets out a grunt as he pushes himself up, and shakes his head. Niether walks over and uses his tail to lift Rocky to his feet.
Rocky dusts himself off. "Yeah, we're definitely training on that."
The two then look to the beached ship, it's sails on burned away, and large parts of the hull are missing. But lighting marks scorch what remains of the hull. A few young Nadders run around the ship, but as Rocky and Niether approach they fly away.
The two stop at the bottom of the ramp and look up it. Rocky puts a hand on his sword as he takes the lead. Rocky steps onto the ship, and sees a large hole in the deck, burn marks covering the edge of it. Niether steps onto the deck behind him and sniffs the air, he then sneezes and shakes his head.
Rocky glances around, seeing the broken arrows, bows and spears over the deck. Neither slams his paw onto a set of unbroken arrows, destroying them. Rocky then heads below deck, while Niether looks around with a rumble.
Niether then walks over to the captains quarters and hits the door open with his head. He then tucks his wings and legs in, as he pulls himself inside. He looks around, pushing aside tables and chairs with his massive frame.
Niether sniffs around as he nudges a table to the side and finds a pouch of gold coins.
"Oh!"
He picks it up with his mouth, and continues looking around. But down below deck, Rocky looks around as he keeps a hand on his sword. He finds empty dragon cages, with burn marks all over the ground.
He hums in thought and finds a closed door off to the side. He walks over and pushes the door open. Inside he finds a small store room. His eyes lighten up as he finds some dried meats.
Rocky lunges forward and starts eating away at the meats. "Oh, this is amazing!"
He then hears a low grumble behind him as he stops mid bite. He slowly looks back as sees Niether stares at him with narrowed eyes. Rocky lets out a nervous chuckle as he tosses a large dried piece of meat to him.
Niether catches it out of the air and chomps away at it, before swallowing. "Find anything?"
"Other then this, no..." Rocky looks around the room, and finds a large bag.
Rocky walks over and opens it up, finding some rope, and some wood working tools. Then he pulls out a blanket and a pillow.
"Huh..." Rocky puts everything inside, as a bag of coins lands next to him.
"Well, I found us some money~"
Rocky chuckles as he grabs the bag and looks it over. "Well, we have no way of using it now, but still better keep it." He shoves it inside the bag, before grabbing some dried meat and shoving it in the bag.
Niether shoves his head in and drags some hanging dried sausages. He then tugs on it, but it gets stuck. Niether grunts and growls as he tugs tighter, and suddenly the shelf tips over.
Niether lets out a roar as the shelf gets stuck on the shelf across from it, nearly falling on Rocky. He slowly looks over to Niether with a blank expression.
The dragon just looks away as he slurps up the sausages. Rocky looks back at the shelf and notices something, he crawls under it and looks behind the tipped shelf. Behind the shelf is some large rolls of leather and a couple bottles of salt, and oils.
Rocky leans in and grabs the rolls and tosses them out of the room, before shoving the bottles of salt and oils into his bag.
A few minutes later, the two are outside the ship, with the leather rolls tied onto Niether's back. They look down at the ship and Rocky hums.
"Think we could ask help from Spine and Mulic?" Rocky looks down at his dragon.
"Maybe if we bribe them, think they like cod?" Niether turns and flies off.
"Well, let's hope so, we need almost all the wood in that ship."
Far in the distance a dark clouds loom as flashes go off. But a shadow flashes from within the clouds, as lighting goes off behind it.
6-24-2026
3500 words