This is a short story that's only intended to be a one-shot. I don't know what posessed me to write this exactly but either way, it's written, it's posted.
I hope whoever reads this finds it enjoyable for one reason or another.
It seemed as if it had been forever since I was able to put my paws on this island's land and feel its rich soil under my paws. I could feel the grass press down against the earth beneath my paws as I walked through the woodlands.
I was in a state of nostalgia, this place was familiar to me, clearly. I could even call it my homeland, being raised in this area and all.
I was younger when I lived on this land, of course, I was still under the care of my parents. Well, I call them my parents; really they were young adult humans that took me in but they treated me well enough to be parental figures. I was still young myself, maybe in human years a little younger than them. Nice people, I'll admit...
But aside from that, I was glad to be back in this area. I was glad to be back in this place that I called home.
Even though I was happy to be back, I soon came face-to-face with a large, scarlet-scaled dragon that... wasn't as thrilled as I was. He was actually very angry; his lips were curled up in a snarl, his yellow eyes were sharp and narrow, his large underbite exposed all of his seemingly hundreds of gnashing teeth.
Night Fury... The dragon snarled at me. He stood proudly on his hind legs and wings as he made his body tower over my own, smaller body. The ear-like flaps that stuck out on the back of my head flattened at his tone.
This is no place for you... He grumbled lowly to me.
Why do you say that? I asked him as my ear plates lifted, but not completely. What was he trying to run me out of here for?
My land. I suggest that you spread out those proud wings of yours and fly elsewhere. Is what the Nightmare said to me as a reply.
That's right, I forgot... Nightmare's can be very territorial.
I'm just here for a while. I won't stay here for long. Came my surprisingly calm reply. A short visit should be just fine.
Oh, you would think that, you useless reptile... He huffed a vast amount of smoke from his nostrils in my direction.
The smoke that rushed to my face made me shut my eyes and flatten my ears once again. After the smoke vanished, I opened my eyes again and raised my ear plates; I showed no intention of going anywhere, and this made the red dragon curl his lips up further.
Out of my sight... I can't have you around here. He turned his back to me as if he was going to leave, but that would have been too easy.
It would have been much too easy just to have him walk away.
Instead of him turning from me to walk away, his tail was suddenly set aflame and he lashed it in my direction; his tail sharply hit the side of my head.
The strength of the sudden blow was deafening and I'd even stumbled on my paws. A dizziness spun through my head as I tried to shake off the harsh blow. Not only did it hurt, it burned.
My eyes gazed up to see the blurry, red dragon stare at me from over his wing with a sharp and relentless gaze.
Nightmares are well known for having short tempers and this one really took the cake when it came to the list of dragons that should be sent to obedience school and anger management.
Honestly, I'm not much of a fighter unless I have no choice but to fight. I was only here to revisit a few simple things, conflict wasn't at the top of my list but I'm sure that simply being around a dragon such as this one, it just might come down to that.
I'm... I'm not here t-to fight... A pained groan pushed itself out of my throat. I still felt dizzy from that sharp swing of the Monstrous Nightmare's whip-like tail. I had to steady myself on my paws.
And you shouldn't be here at all... I want you gone. The larger dragon faced me again fully, his long snout near my own short one. He released intentional hot breaths upon my face as a form of intimidation. And I want you gone now.
One night and then I'm gone. You won't even have to see me, I'll stay on the other side of the island.
I just tried to keep an even head while communicating with this rogue dragon. Nightmares were stubborn, no doubt about that, but I can be too. I just really despised having to fight when it wasn't necessary.
Not a chance! The Nightmare snapped his jaws inches from my face, then he arched his neck. What part of 'leave now' is so difficult for you to understand?! Get off of my island!
With that last part, he rammed his head against me and sent me back several feet. Another blow that made me pant to catch my breath again as I forced myself back up onto my quivering paws, my head ached terribly from both of the times that he hit me.
My own eyes began to narrow as I gazed back into the cruel yellow eyes of the Nightmare. The pain began to cloud my mind; and I knew I wasn't going to be able to hold it back after that, not a chance.
This draconian barbarian was not going to run me from this place I deemed to be my home. He was not going to run me off from this place without a fight.
After I knew that I could keep myself supported on my legs, I snarled harshly in return to the larger dragon and put force into my back legs as I pounced at the Nightmare and bit down on an area that was just above one of his wings. He flinched his head with sharp grunt of pain from the bite, but it hadn't taken him long to lift up the wing on his other side and swipe it towards me, his sharp claws scraping across one of my forelegs.
I began to use my claws against the large brute as well. I dug them into his back and near where I was biting him, long slashes were left behind my claws across his side and back. During the clawing, I even began to savagely shake my head around while still biting down on him.
He retaliated against me by slamming down roughly on his side, more specifically, the side I was biting down on. His massive weight of around 5,000 pounds was crushing against my much smaller body that weighed somewhere around a ton, at best.
The sudden slam of both his heavy body and mine against the ground knocked the wind out of me and forced me to let go of the other dragon. My pained groans were higher-pitched and more ragged as I once again tried to gather myself.
This fight was barely starting and I already felt exhausted against this massive dragon. He'd already gotten in three strong hits while I only got to strike him once with my jaws and twice if you count my claws.
This was unbelievable.
I hadn't expected a Nightmare to move so quickly and be so precise. I'm a Night Fury! We're supposed to be the quickest and most intelligent, but I hadn't even seen his blows coming.
Now in the midst of my thoughts, I felt a sharp stinging on my side beneath my wing, I soon realised that it was his tail again. Another burning sensation was left in my side from the Nightmare's whip-like tail.
I quickly began to charge up a flame in the back of my throat, I had done it without thought and fired at the larger reptile. The plasma that I shot at him struck him on his stomach, seeing that he was stood on his hind legs to tower himself over me once again, which had been a mistake on his part.
For the first time, I saw that he was now the one that had to gather himself. I didn't know that a blast of my plasma could have done so much damage, but then again, I did strike his stomach.
Regardless, seeing him open to attack, I rushed around him and bit down on one of his hind legs, sharply tugging at it. I knew that I'd done some damage to that leg because I felt the muscles split and grow weak as I held them in my tightly shut jaw. It seemed almost miraculous that I had managed to drag the now flailing Nightmare several inches before his tail struck my head once again, followed by his wing knocking me back further; this time as I shook myself, I felt his horns and his hard head ram roughly into me and throw me against some thick trees with loud thudding noises.
My body visibly shook as I stood myself on all fours again, but I only stayed that way for a second before he headbutt me to fall on my stomach once again. He planted a back leg on the center of my side as he hissed into my face, his injured leg was off the ground but he kept balance with one wing on the ground beside my head.
I flinched my head away from his hissing then stared up at him, he had his mouth open, ready to bite down on my most vulnerable area; my throat. I almost didn't have enough time to react, but thank Odin that I did.
Just before his jaws could sink into me, I fired another shot of plasma at the Nightmare, the blow was not as strong as the one that hit his stomach but it hit him hard enough on the roof of his mouth to make him recoil in pain. His eyes were wide and he seemed to be capturing what all that had happened before I fired.
Again, I had to take the chance to attack, and though I wanted to attack from the sky, it hurt to try flying. I looked to my side to see my right wing stiff and tense. Something had happened to it, and I'll guess that it was when he slammed us both against the ground. Perhaps a nerve was damaged.
However, instead of flying, I settled for a more simple pounce, such as what he would have done to me. A leap at the throat would do.
As I leapt for him, he swung a wing at me, which left gashes on my stomach. I fell back then, I decided that if I could just charge enough fire, I could blast his wing and return the favor.
I charged up my flame, then fired at his wing. Since he was still trying to move with his busted leg, I was luckily able to strike him. He released a screech of pain as he drew up his wing which now appeared to be straining him to move.
I still attempted to figure out, should I end it?
That's what he'd have done to me...
I began to limp towards the downed dragon, his glazed yellow eyes glared up at me as his head was now laid against the cold, hard ground. His eyes were still holding that cruel gaze that he possessed before the fight.
But there... was something else in them... it seemed like... regret.
Just as I had processed this, his eyes gently clenched shut as his mind uttered out an exhausted groan of Forg-...give me...
This didn't sound as if it was directed at me, more or less something or someone else.
I couldn't hold back my usual inquiry.
'Forgive you'? What do you need to be forgiven for...?
His yellow eyes became rueful as he weakly swung his tail at me, the tail only giving my good wing a light graze that was practically unnoticable.
What's it matter? End it already... He turned his head away from me as his back rose and fell with each shaking breath. J-Just don't hurt her...
Her? 'Her' who? I began to question again.
Rider... she'll have my scent... Don't you h-hurt her...
My ears flattened down, now with sympathy. His rider is why he was so protective of his 'territory', it wasn't just Nightmare instinct, he wanted to keep her safe.
I was never going to. I admitted.
He shifted his head away from me slowly and with his face grimacing in pain. How was I supposed to believe that? You can never be too sure...
It should have just been a ch-chance that you'd have to take... now, look... you're a mess...
Don't remind me... and I try to take every opprotunity to make sure she is not injured... Just... need her to be safe...
I stared down at the dragon then, even as I limped, I slid my sleek body beneath one of his large wings. He now looked at me again, this time he was the curious one. I began to push us both up, though the shaking in my own legs was simply dreadful and I was ready to fall.
He began to narrow his eyes once again, What... What are you doing?
I'm not a cold-blooded reptile... I'm going to help you. I awaited for him to approve of this, though I knew that he wouldn't.
I don't need your help. He snarled, then tried to go forward on his own but fell to his battle-damaged stomach with a pained groan. You just go... keep the north side of the island, I'll keep the south...
No! I shakily rushed beneath his wing again and began to push him back up, allowing his heavy body to support itself against my own battered one. Let's... no. We're getting you home.
After... what I did, why? You confuse me... He grumbled to me.
I'm a confusing dragon. I forced a smile, pushing myself to walk with the larger dragon against me but that didn't last long, I fell onto my stomach from the intense shaking in my legs.
I had never recieved a response from the Nightmare before feeling the Nightmare slide off of me and onto the ground. He was not dead, certainly not; but he was exhausted from pain and what I expect is blood loss from his wounds.
Mentioning the... wounds... I feel... a little dizzy as well...
Resting here... that won't be so bad.
My legs gave out from under my shaking body and I could feel myself slipping from consiousness. I remember staring at the resting body of the Nightmare before exhaustion and blood loss had gotten the better of me too, enveloping me into a dark blanket of unconsiousness.