Disclaimer: - puts on ghost impression - I doooooon't oooooown Draaaaaaaaaagooooon Booooooooosteeeeeer! Wooooooooooo!
The sleek, turquoise monitors flickered with static. The person with cyan hair sitting at them sighed and began punching in commands on the control panel. She gave an exasperated sigh as it flickered even more. Why did she have to be in charge of security this week? This wasn't her job.
The doors slid open, and a man wearing blue and turquoise stepped in. "So," he drawled, walking up next to the woman. "Monitors are finally working?"
"What do you think?" the woman responded, a sarcastic edge in her smooth voice. "Look, I'm not the biggest tech-head around here. What happened to Sonar?"
"Pulled himself out," the man said, running a hand back through his pink hair. He walked up to the monitors and smacked them, which made them even more staticky. "We're losing members by the minute, Spynn, and that ain't good for us."
"Maybe it has to do with the fact that we're the most deceptive crew out there," the woman called Spynn replied, and pressed a couple more buttons on the panel. She hid a smirk as she saw the man frown.
"We'll, that's their loss," he said, leaning down on the chair Spynn sat on. "The Voice of the Dragon could change that opinion easily." He suddenly lost his balance and fell down on the ground.
Spynn guffawed as he sat up with a groan. "Sad to say, Vociferous, it won't be that easy," she said. "Think about it. There are about a million people and dragons out there in Dragon City, and twelve other different crews that want new recruits by the second."
"Translate 'different crews' to 'Dragon Eyes'," Vociferous said, standing up and dusting off his pants. He rolled his eyes. "The Eyes are the ones really desperate for new members. They're really starting to get on my nerves."
"They're practically the most dangerous crew out there, Vociferous," Spynn pointed out. "They've been taking dragons from the streets and from other people here and there. They're getting even more recruits than we are. Compare them to us."
"No thanks," the green-eyed man replied flatly, but Spynn continued on.
"We're both on the same side in general, we both use the same tactics, and yet they're our rivals and they have the upper hand," she explained.
"Probably because their leader is the son of the wealthiest man in Dragon City," Vociferous countered back, folding his arms. He gave a wry grin. "You know, rumor has it that those dragons they're stealing are going to good use for Word. Something about invisible dragons, what was the name...phantom dragons? Wreath dragons?"
"Wraith dragons," Spynn corrected, though she knew he was only joking. "Seems like poor little Moordryd can't win a race unless he has the help of his daddy's scary pets."
The duo chuckled. "You know, if I was the kid of the wealthiest man in Dragon City, I'd be using this as an advantage," Vociferous mused. "Besides, we need members, and we need money."
"Keep dreaming, Vociferous," his assistant said, turning back to the monitors. "None of ours seem to have the potential of being a racer, probably due to the fact that our dragons aren't that built for it. Echo and Shrykk once tried with our more built-in turquoise dragons, but now all of them are in the Dragon City Medical Center. See? We're just not the racing type."
"Amen, Spynn," Vociferous murmured. "So just how are we gonna get a big break from these problems?"
"Sell cheap stuff for big bucks?" Spynn suggested with a hopeless shrug.
"Remember what happened to Boomer?" the Voice of the Dragon leader said. "Charged for swindling. Not gonna work that easily."
"I hear you there. Boomer was a newbie, though. You think he would've been like the ones that stayed around here a bit longer?"
"He was a Dragon Eye before, Spynn; the expectations of him being good were just by judgement," Vociferous said.
"And what was that saying?" Spynn mocked. "You can't judge a book by its cover, or from what it says on the back of the book, in his case."
"This is ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous," Vociferous growled, shaking his head. "C'mon, for once, can't the sun shine down on us?"
Spynn's eyes shifted towards Vociferous. "Well, this is Down City..." she murmured.
"Oh, shut up, Spynn," he snapped.
"Try this on for size and take this into consideration, Vociferous," she said, turning around to face him. "If we allied with the Dragon Eyes, we can use that to our advantage. Know what I'm saying?"
Vociferous thought about this for some time. "Well, it is an idea, so crazy that it just might work," he said, his tone pointing out obvious sarcasm. Spynn sighed.
They came to attention as Vociferous' wrist-comm started ringing. Vociferous pressed a small button. "Look, whatever it is you wanna sell us, I'm pretty sure it's a fake, so buzz off," he said.
"You should really get a caller ID for that wrist-comm, Vociferous," a voice drawled. "And fix those monitors; I spent the last few minutes wasting my time trying to call you from them."
Vociferous gasped as Word's face popped up from a comm-screen. "Oh, M-Mr. Paynn!" Vociferous stammered, his eyes widening. He grinned nervously. "What a lovely surprise!"
"Pathetic," Spynn muttered under her breath with an eye roll. Vociferous punched her in the arm, then turned back to the screen.
"So tell us, Mr. Paynn, of all the other crews out there, why was it my crew you decided to call up all of a sudden?" he asked.
Word gave a sly smile. "I've heard many things about the Voice of the Dragon," he said. "Things that aren't very good."
"Well, you know how rumors are and how fast they spread," Vociferous responded with a smile of his own.
"I also hear that you need a few new members, as you are losing them, no?" Word added. "Along with a few money problems, and dragons being stolen?"
Vociferous turned towards Spynn, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, we lost Vibrashun, Sonorous, Tenshun and Vex these past two weeks," Spynn said, her face falling as she listed each valuable dragon.
Vociferous turned back to the comm-screen. "Well, that was because some of our new recruits were hired as security," he lied. "Big mistake, really, especially when they had the potential."
"So they were probably just lazy and careless, as your crew usually is?" Word said, his voice the sarcastic one. Vociferous looked away sheepishly. "Well, I can change that."
"You what?" Vociferous cried, his eyes staring back at the screen. He cleared his throat as Spynn's eyes widened in interest. "I mean, you can change that? How?"
Word chuckled. "I knew you'd be interested," he said. "I have a little errand for you. Have you, by any chance, heard of the stable boy, leader of Penn Racing, and famous street racer, Artha Penn?"
"Do I need anymore titles besides the name?" Vociferous said. "Of course I've heard of Artha Penn. Not that good, though; dull as dirt. Sure, he won a couple of races, saved your son after creaming him on a track..." - Vociferous noticed Word frown at this comment - "...won the Gauntlet, and leapt the Leap of Lorius after fifteen years or so, but still, not good enough in my book."
"Well, it seems quite fine in my book," Word said. He gave a sinister grin. "I want you to steal Artha Penn's dragon. He's quite a magnificant one, and he would make an excellent addition to my stables."
"Yeah, his dragon does look cool, now that you mention it," Vociferous said. "Hey, uh, what's in it for me?"
Word looked absentmindedly at the claws placed on his right hand. "How about, oh, say...500,000 drakkals?" he responded casually. Spynn nearly fell off her chair and Vociferous couldn't help it as his mouth dropped open in shock. "That should be quite enough for your crew. Or should I lower the price if you don't find it enough?"
"No, no, that's really, really good!" Vociferous said, hardly containing the excitement in his voice. "Alright, I'll take the job, Mr. Paynn, sir!"
"There is a catch," Word added, his voice solid. "The Voices have a long history of manipulation, and are known for being quite the deceiving. I need to be sure that I can fully trust you and your crew, without any problems."
"True...but isn't your son's crew practically the same?" Vociferous pointed out.
Word looked coldly at Vociferous, and the leader winced, wishing he hadn't said anything. "Watch that tongue of yours, Vociferous," he said. "So...can I trust you, or do I have to call this off?"
Vociferous thought about this for some time. His lips finally curved into a smirk and he looked straight at the man through the comm-screen. "You can depend on us, Mr. Paynn," Vociferous replied as honestly as he could. "We won't let you own."
"Good to know," Word said. "Once you have the dragon in custody, bring him to me, and I will give you your reward. Fail what I've requested of you, and you get nothing. And try to be as quick as possible." With that he cut off the connection.
Vociferous stood rigidly for a while, blinking in awe, then he and Spynn burst out laughing as Spynn jumped up from her seat, both of them slamming hands. "Can you believe this?" Vociferous laughed. "Can you believe this?"
"I can, and I will!" Spynn said, a grin on her face. "This way we can get more members and more recognition!"
"This is gonna be a snap!" the pink-haired man said, snapping his fingers to emphasize the point. "And if we can manage to pull Word alongside us, we'll be the greatest crew there is! I can see it now, The Voice of the Dragon, Word's right-hand crew!"
"We could even lead the Down City Council!" Spynn added, her violet eyes sparkling.
"And we're can be rich, filthy rich!" Vociferous said, spreading his hands out in front of him.
"The Dragon Eyes are going down," Spynn said.
"Moordryd's expression will be priceless when we overtake him and his crew!" Vociferous chortled. "Baby, we are going all the way to the top!"
They continued laughing, embracing each other, then stopped laughing and stepped away, coughing nervously. "So..." Spynn said, a sly smile crossing her face. "I hear that there's a street race in Mid City that's about to begin. From what I've heard, Artha's competing in it."
"Well, the sooner we get him on our side, the better," Vociferous smirked. "Then we can fulfill all our wants and needs. For now, it's back to reality, and that...being these." He nodded grimly towards the monitors, which were still static.
Spynn kicked the control panel, and the circuits snapped and popped, causing Spynn and Vociferous to jump back. The monitors stopped flickering and blacked out. "Well, that part of reality seems to be solved," Spynn drawled as Vociferous stared at the monitors unimpressively. "You go find the stable boy and call me up once you're done with him. I'll see if I can call a repairman."
End