-1Here's a Dragon Booster fanfic, which is going to be a long one, about how Artha is trapped in the Shadow Track for 20 years. The first one or two, or five chapters is before he gets stuck, and then I'll write about when he finally gets out. Yay! Reviews are always appreciated.
Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Booster. sniff
Artha ducked as Moordryd's mag-staff swung in an arc over his head. He pushed himself up and barely blocked another one of Moordryd's attacks. With a groan of frustration he pushed his rival away and nudged Beau to the left of the track. Thankfully, instead of pursuing him, Moordryd stayed on the opposite side of the raceway. Artha looked down at Beau and groaned.
"Artha," Parm said, appearing in Artha's VIDD-screen.
"I know, Beau's energy…"
"Is nearly gone. If you keep fighting Moordryd like this, you won't have enough to finish the race," lectured Parm. Artha tore his eyes from the screen and focused on maneuvering Beau past the obstacles. Decepshun put on a burst of speed and took first place. Artha fell in right behind and followed Moordryd around a turn. "Once you're in the academy, you can't get carried away with winning little fights."
"What?" Artha said incredulously. "I'm just defending myself. He's the one attacking. He won't stop." Parm shook his head and wagged his finger.
"No excuses."
Artha rolled his eyes. "You're starting to sound like my dad."
"I am not!"
Artha grinned at his best friend.
Parm turned to look down at Lance. "Am I?"
Lance just shrugged and peeled the wrapper off yet another draconee-yum bar. "Sure starting to sound like it."
Parm grunted and checked the map with a sour expression on his face. "A few more turns Artha, then a straight. Watch out, because there's an extremely sharp right hand turn, and then the finish line. Can you sneak in front?"
"Ahhh…" Artha thought frantically. "I think so. I have an idea!"
"He has an idea!" Lance echoed with his mouth full of draconee goodness.
"Great!" Parm looked at the floor and after a few seconds mumbled to Lance and Artha.
"Am not…"
Artha stayed right on Decepshun's tail past several more turns. Moordryd looked behind once, and the mixture of frustration and annoyance gave Artha a burst of confidence. Moordryd moved to the left of the track, and Artha went to the right. The oncoming turn that he was rushing towards banked harshly to the right, and ran back alongside the track.
Artha stayed near the side and made sure he was just behind Moordryd. He didn't want to get too close or too far. He glanced quickly beside him. On his right, the finish flashed by as he raced past it.
Moordryd was nearing the bend and was preparing to turn into it. Artha hung his finger over the button for the white rappel gear. He watched Moordryd intently and waited for the right moment. His finger lingered a second longer, then…
Now! Artha thought and pressed hard. The gear shot out ahead, past him and Moordryd, and clung to the bank of the turn. Artha's timing couldn't be better. Moordryd was racing up on the embankment, and failed to see the rappel gear stretched across his path in time. Descepshun ran straight into it, causing it to snap. The 12-tonne dragon stumbled and fell, and slid into the side of the track. Artha smiled. The race was his.
As soon as the white gear shot past his line of sight, Moordryd had frantically tried to make Decepshun jump over, for it was too late to activate his thrusters. Unfortunately, Decepshun had seen it just when Moordryd did. When she felt the taunt line of the rappel gear hit her front legs and snap, she did her best to maintain her footing. She landed heavily on her left side and the impact drove the air out of her lungs. With what control she had left, she frantically tried to avoid hurting and crushing Moordryd. She flipped over several times before hitting the side of the track with a violent thud. She laid on her left side and remained on the track, dazed.
Moordryd groaned in anger from the appalling fall, and put his hand to his head. He tried to get up, but was forced to quickly duck when Artha and Beau thundered past, inches from his head. He yelled in vexation and urged Decepshun to get up and run, knowing all too well that the race had been lost.
Decepshun got up as quick as she could, and using all the strength she could muster, jumped back into a sprint towards the finish. Moordryd just barely made second place as Kitt finished a close third. His dislike, and almost hatred, of the stable brat intensified as he heard the thunderous applause of the crowd aimed at the fantastic win by Artha Penn. Applause which should've been for him. He had been leading for most of the race. He could just see his father hanging his head in shame at yet another loss by his son.
Artha felt exhilarated as Beau ran proudly across the finish, running like it had been no big deal. He pumped his hands up in the air and smiled as the roar from the crowd grew larger. His VIDD-screen came to life.
"Did you see that?" Artha quickly blurted before Parm or Lance could say anything.
"Great move Artha!" Parm said.
"Yeah! That was really drac!" Lance agreed.
Parm leaned forward excitedly. "And now thanks to your latest win…" Artha had to grin at that. "…Moordryd is only one point ahead. Win the next race, and you're both tied to go into the final race."
"In which I shall come home as the victor." Artha stated. Beau snorted and looked up at him. "Oops, I mean, in which we, shall come home ever victorious!" Beau nodded his head, satisfied with with his revised statement.
"But if you fail to beat Moordryd, you'll be out of the running for the academy." Parm stated, and Artha sighed at his friend's dismal words. He slowed Beau to a walk, then stopped when he saw the third place finisher come.
"Parm, don't worry." Artha said and looked up as Kitt and Wyldfyr approached.
"Nice move with Moordryd back there." Kitt put a hand on her hip and looked Artha straight in the eye. "For a minute there I thought he had you." Artha looked at her in disbelief.
"What? Oh come on."
"What?"
"Moordryd never 'has' me. I can beat him easy."
Of course, Artha's objection didn't fool Kitt "And of course," she said slyly, "you let him lead most of the race I suppose."
"Well, yeah. I… just… wanted him to get … overconfident."
"Uh huh. Sure. And I'm guessing you let Cain bump you down to last place at the beginning too."
"…sure. I just wanted to make a comeback, that's all." Beau rolled his eyes and shook his head, almost making Artha fall at the unexpected movement. Kitt and Wyldfyr both laughed but stopped when they saw Artha staring past them.
"Time to rub it in." Artha said and stretched his arms. Beau grinned. Being the dragon of legend didn't mean he couldn't flaunt his victories once in a while. Kitt followed Artha's eyes and saw Moordryd and Cain on their dragons. To her amusement, Moordryd was practically seething.
"Why Moordryd, there you are." Artha said, much too polite. Moordryd sneered in response as Artha approached. "Are you okay? I mean, that fall must have really, really hurt."
"Don't fret your tiny little brain about it. If I were you, I'd be more worried about watching your back in the next race."
Artha sighed, "I suppose, but I can't help it, I'm a nice guy." Artha spread his arms helplessly. "I mean, you were winning the entire race. And you only lose because of a simple trick by me?" Moordryd narrowed his eyes and fumed. Artha interrupted him when he tried to speak by continuing. "If I were you, I'd be worried about making it into the academy." Beau looked at Moordryd and Decepshun and nodded his head to add further support to Artha's point. Decepshun hissed back at him.
Moordryd growled and pointed his finger at Artha as he spoke in a low, threatening voice. "Don't forget Penn, if you don't beat me in the next race, there's no way you'll make it into the academy. And trust me, you'll be lucky if you even finish the race." His cold grey eyes convoyed the threat better than his words.
But Artha was unaffected by Moordryd's threats, as they bounced harmlessly of his shield of self-confidence. "Back to threatening me again, are we?"
Moordryd stared hard at Artha, weighing in his mind whether it would be better to leave now, or to continue on with this conversation. Artha smiled triumphantly back, causing Moordryd to grind his teeth. His wrist-comm beeped, indicating a waiting message.
"Come on, Cain." Moordryd finally grunted while glaring at Artha. "We have to go." They raced off, leaving the other two to cough in the billowing cloud of dust.
"You know," Kitt said as she waved here hand in front of her face to clear the dust, "you might want to take his threats a bit more seriously."
Artha looked at where Moordryd and Cain disappeared to. "I guess." Then he brightened and looked back at Kitt and smiled. "But I do have one of the top racers watching my back out on the track."
"Yeah, you do. Do you know how lucky you are, stable boy?" Kitt grinned.
"Artha!" Lance shouted as he and Parm finally reached them.
"Hey!" Artha greeted them.
"What was all that with Moordryd?" Parm inquired.
"You know, the usual. I beat him, he gets mad, I beat him again…. Life is good."
"You haven't beaten him yet." Parm pointed out.
"You don't think I can?"
"Of course you can, as long as Moordryd plays fair."
"He wouldn't dare cheat on an academy qualifying race."
"You sure?"
"Well…"
"I mean," Parm continued, "Who's to say he wasn't involved in framing us? Remember? Oh sure, it was all the Shadow Booster's doing. But Moordryd knows the Shadow Booster, he's said so himself. You were thrown in jail," he pointed at Kitt, then Artha, "and you were being chased by Dragon City Security. Remember?"
"No I don't. When was Kitt arrested?" Artha asked innocently. Lance barely stifled a laugh as Parm scowled.
"But it's not just on the raceway, where you have to watch out." Kitt said. "You can count on him doing something sneaky off track."
"Guys, I know." Artha looked at them all. "We'll all be alert."
"Extremely alert!" Lance said and peered around intensively.
Artha chuckled. "What could happen with this kind of surveillance?" Parm and Kitt looked at each other worriedly. Moordryd was unpredictable, and getting into the academy was extremely important for Artha's training. What wouldn't happen?
Word Paynn's citadel.
His footsteps echoed throughout the citadel as he approached the empty chair bathed in artificial light from the numerous monitors. The monitors flickered with imagery. Some were tuned into Dragon City news and a few others showed the entrance to the citadel. But the majority were focused on everyday life in mid city. Moordryd cringed inside when the last monitor kept replaying the day's race. He criticized himself for not looking behind and for under-estimating Artha Penn. He should know by know that he wasn't your everyday average rookie with an ordinary dragon. Moordryd waited patiently in his usual place, watching the monitors. Until something on the desk caught his eye.
The desk was beneath the screens, presenting an open folder with papers spilling out. He thought this rather odd, even more than the fact that his father was absent. Word was never one to leave any type of document lying in the open, no matter its importance. He glanced around. Memories and warnings kept resurfacing in his mind, as his conscience screamed at him to leave it be. As it turns out, curiosity can capture more than a cat.
He held his breath, and only the steady hum of the machines reached his ears. They had never seemed so loud before. His footsteps too, rang with unprecedented sound as he approached the papers. He took a step up onto the dais, and reached out a hand to move the papers from atop one another. He was surprised to see that they all contained mention of the Shadow Track. The majority were written in his father's elegant scribbling, describing the black shadow draconium found within. One file questioned the draconium's ability to entrap humans forever and to release them with no signs of aging. As his eyes further scanned the paper, he noticed that Word kept coming back to this. It seemed as though he wanted to control its strange power. He wasn't surprised about that. His father wanted to control everything.
He paused. His father would never leave anything like this simply lying in plain sight, even if it was in the comfort of his citadel. And the way the papers were scattered looked as if he had left in a hurry. Perhaps he meant to come back really soon…
"Interesting?" Moordryd started and bumped one of the screens with his elbow as he jumped back. His father was standing inches from him, tapping his fingers and claws together in annoyance.
"Uh, ah…" Moordyd stumbled, mortified at having been discovered. Word stared him down, until finally, Moordyd got the hint and returned to his usual spot behind the chair. Word picked up the papers and carefully put them back into the folder, stretching the silence between them. "What was that?" Moordryd demanded more than asked, after he regained his composure.
His father paused a moment to look in his general direction, then carefully placed the papers inside the file. "Nothing that would benefit you." Moordryd frowned as his father seated himself on his throne.
Moordryd changed the subject. "What is it you want now?"
"What I want? What I want is to start the next dragon-human war."
"Well, why did you call me?"
"So you would come here." Word focused his attention on the screens. Moordyrd barely covered an exasperated sigh. This time he chose his words more carefully.
"What do you want to tell me?"
Word turned his chair to face his son. "Many things." He stared into Moordryd's eyes as he went on. "The first of which…how to be rid of the Dragon Booster, once and for all."
Moordryd was unmoved. "And how do you plan on doing it this time?" Word simply smiled and Moordryd looked away, as he couldn't bare to stare into those evil eyes any longer.