Here's the second chapter of story! Only a day has passed and I already got three reviews. So far this is pretty successful. Even though Voltage isn't the main character anymore, he is still going to be in this story and I'm not gonna forget about him.
Chapter 2: Homecoming
Jack slowly came to in a forest. He looked through his gas mask lens and saw tall mushrooms around him.
He brought his hand to his head, but was shocked when he saw a black scaled paw instead. He quickly looked himself over and saw more black scales.
Jack saw a puddle to his left and dragged himself to it. He looked into the water and saw his scaled reflection.
Jack realized that he was a dragon or some similar creature. His skin has been replaced with jet black scales and his underbelly is deep blue. The membranes on his wings are dark green, almost black. His head has two silver horns that are serrated. His silver tail blade bears a striking resemblance to his cold steel tomahawk as well. His body is literally covered in scars from his past battles, slash and bullet wounds alike. He couldn't see his face because of his gas mask that he is still wearing.
Jack sighed through his gas mask and slowly stood up on all fours. He took a few experimental steps, but got the hang of it at a surprising speed.
He sighed again and started walking in a random direction, not really caring about his destination. He kept walking for about an hour until he reached some kind of temple. There are many other dragons, all seeming to be young. He noticed that some were even his age.
Jack shook off his curiosity, remembering some bad memories involving him being shot at, and continued walking with his head down.
He saw a flashback of a bunch of men with white trench coats and gas masks shooting at him, each shouting, "white power!"
Jack shook off his uneasiness about the Klan and continued walking; ignoring the curious stares he received.
"Voltage? Is that you?" he heard an excited voice behind him, but chose to ignore it.
"Voltage wait!" the voice called as he heard footsteps run up to him.
Jack reached for his pistol, but sighed when he remembered he was unarmed. He slowly turned around and looked at the big yellow dragon in front of him.
"Volta… oh… you're not Voltage. I'm sorry I mistook you for someone else. Are you here to become a student here at the Temple?" Volteer asked after he realized his mistake.
Jack didn't say a word. The only noise he made was breathing through his gas mask.
"I'll just take that as a yes. If you would follow me please." Volteer said with a smile as he walked into the Temple.
Jack followed the elder dragon, but made sure to be prepared for an attack. Past carelessness has resulted in near fatal consequences. The two dragons walked for awhile until Volteer stopped them in front of a door.
"Now could you stay stationary while I explain to the other Guardians that you wish to enlist?" Volteer asked with a smile.
Once again, Jack didn't utter a word.
Volteer awkwardly nodded and entered the room. Jack heard a large group of people talking inside, but decided to be silent as always. After a few minutes he heard a new voice.
"You can come in now!" a sweet female voice called.
Jack shuddered at the kind female voice, but entered anyway. Inside the room are ten adult dragons. They were red, blue, yellow, green, dark red, gray, black, dark green, another black, and purple.
Jack silently entered the room and stood in front of the dragons.
"By the ancestors! What kind of mask are you wearing!?" Cyril asked in slight disgust.
Jack simply stared at the Ice Guardian, his breathing easily heard through the mask.
"He doesn't like talking." Volteer apologized.
"Anyway, my name is Terrador, Guardian of Earth." the green dragon introduced.
"My name is Volteer, Guardian of Electricity!" the yellow dragon said proudly.
Cyril, Guardian of Ice." the blue dragon stated.
"I'm Tavilla, Guardian of Fire." the red dragoness greeted with a smile.
"Ventus, Guardian of Wind." the gray dragon said quietly.
"I am Venenum, Guardian of Poison." The dark green dragon introduced.
"Name's Vex, the Guardian of Fear!" the dark red dragon said with slight suspense.
"Tenebris, Guardian of Shadow." the black dragon said simply.
"My name is Cynder, I'm not a Guardian, but I teach the art classes here." the black dragoness smiled warmly.
"And I'm Spyro, I teach advanced breath training." the violet dragon greeted.
Once again, Jack didn't utter a word.
"And your name is…" Vex encouraged politely.
Jack still didn't speak, he just silently stood there. Even if he wanted to speak, he wouldn't know what to say.
Before the dragons could continue, the door opened and two dragons walked in. One is an adult dragoness and the other is a dragon the same age as Jack.
"Hello everyone, we're here to…" Umbra started to speak, but stopped when she saw Jack.
She walked up to him and looked at him closely. She looked at his serrated horns and his coloration very closely.
"Is… is your father's name… Isaac Bedage?" she asked hopefully.
Jack reeled back slightly in shock, but slowly nodded after a short wait. Umbra gasped and brought Jack into a close embrace.
"You're my son!" she sobbed with happiness as she held him close.
Jack didn't move a muscle; he just stood there in surprise. He had a flashback of a Flyer latching onto him and scratching him with its razor sharp claws, but he quickly shook it off before anyone noticed his distress.
Umbra finally let go and looked at the dragon that entered with her.
"Come here Bedagi, I want you to meet your brother that I've told you about." Umbra told at her other son.
Bedagi is a black scaled dragon with gray eyes. His underbelly is lime green and his wing membranes are deep blue. His two silver horns curve like Umbra's and his tail blade resembles a serrated combat knife.
Bedagi walked up to the two of them with a happy smile.
'That mask is kinda creepy, but I can't believe I'm finally meeting my brother!' he thought to himself as he approached his mother and twin brother.
"What's your name? Is your father here?" Umbra asked sweetly.
Once again, Jack didn't speak.
"He must be really shy. I think he'll get along with you just fine, Ventus" Vex chuckled.
The Wind Guardian simply rolled his eyes at her joke.
"Didn't Voltage use the Pool of Visions to see his memories? Perhaps we could do that instead." the Ice Guardian thought aloud.
"That's a good idea, Cyril. Would you like to do that, young one?" Spyro asked with a friendly smile.
Jack stood there in thought for a moment, but eventually nodded slowly.
"Okay let's set everything up." Umbra announced.
Venenum took one of the seating pillows and dragged it in front of the pool.
"Lay down on your back here please. No need to be shy." the Poison Guardian smiled warmly.
Jack cautiously approached the pillow and slowly layed down, making sure his head was near the pool. If they were telling the truth, then he knew they wouldn't like what they see.
"There you go. Now just close your eyes and think of a memory that mentions your name and where your dad is." Venenum instructed.
Jack couldn't tell if they were friendly or not, or if the pool would even work, but he decided to do as instructed. He closed his eyes and thought about his past as everyone crowded around the pool to see the memory.
It is a bright and sunny day in Boston, Massachusetts. It is a busy work day and everyone is driving home from work. On the sidewalk is a hooded man with a leather jacket. The man is holding a one year old baby. This man is known as Isaac Bedage in this world.
Isaac continued walking down the sidewalk, but stopped in front of an electronics store and looked at the TVs that are showing the news.
"…and in other news; today North Korea has warned America and its allies that if the government don't join their war against Japan and Russia, then there would be dire consequences. They weren't specific with what the penalty however, but…" the anchor woman was cut off at that point when the screens were replaced with static.
"They should probably fix that." Isaac mumbled to himself as he started to walk away again.
All of a sudden, a loud air horn sounded in the sky. Isaac looked at the TVs again and saw that they displayed a red screen.
"Evacuate the area immediately." Isaac read aloud, starting to breath heavily.
Apparently everyone else got the message because the streets were quickly flooded with screaming people.
Isaac gasped as he held the baby close to himself. He started sprinting, secretly using his electric powers to speed himself up. He kept running with the crowd, until he came across a large metal bunker with armed soldiers at the door. People ran inside like a flock of sheep.
"We're almost there, hang on." Isaac told the baby in his arms.
He ran up to the door with a horde of civilians behind him. One of the soldiers stopped them from entering however.
"I'm sorry, but the bunker is already full. You all will have to relocate to another shelter!" the African American soldier instructed everyone.
"THE CLOSEST BUNKER IS FIVE MILES FROM HERE!" one of the civilians screamed.
"I'm sorry, but you need to move now!" the soldier said as his squad mates prepped their weapons just in case.
"I have a child goddammit!" Isaac yelled in desperation, holding the baby up for emphasis.
The black soldier looked at Isaac with pity in his brown eyes.
"I can't let you in." he said weakly.
"PLEASE!" Isaac literally begged.
The soldier just stood there as the air horns blasted with all there might. After about half a minute, he came to a conclusion.
"Okay, give him here!" he finally said.
Isaac reluctantly handed the baby over to the soldier, crying as he did so.
"Take care of Jack!" he told the soldier.
The soldier nodded and ran into the bunker as the other soldiers locked the door behind him.
Everyone screamed loudly and began pounding on the door, trying desperately to get inside.
"Oh my god… I'm gonna die…" Isaac said with wide eyes as he shook in fear.
There was a whistling noise above him and he looked up, only to see a white flash and hear a loud explosion. The vision ended with a very bright flash and a very loud boom.
Jack slowly opened his eyes and sat up. He looked to his right to see Umbra crying while being held by Venenum. He also saw Bedagi crying next to him.
"Is dad really… gone?" he asked with loud sobs.
Jack nodded emotionlessly, earning another sob from his brother.
Everyone sat there in silence for awhile, all absorbing the scene they just witnessed.
Voltage is dead.
Once Umbra calmed down enough, she let go of her Uncle and walked up to Jack to hug him. He took a step back however in retaliation.
"You don't need to be scared, Jack. I'm your mother." Umbra comforted, but Jack still backed off.
She sighed sadly and sat on one of the pillows. Bedagi nuzzled her foreleg to comfort her.
'What could you possibly have experienced to make you this way?' Umbra thought to herself.
"Could you at least take your mask off so we can see your face? I think you owe your mother that much." Cynder said with a disapproving frown.
Jack stood there in silence, but slowly took off the gas mask. He looked at them all with his dark brown eyes. His face bears a striking resemblance to Voltage's, but he has a nasty scar going across his entire face. It starts at the left side of his forehead and ends at his lower right jaw.
"No one that young should have that many scars." Tenebris mumbled as Terrador nodded in agreement.
"Um… shouldn't we give Jack a dragon name?" Bedagi tried to change the subject.
Umbra brought her head up at this.
"Me and Voltage thought of two good names. One was Bedagi which is taken of course, but the other is Tamhigan. It's Abenaki Native American for tomahawk." Umbra recalled.
"Tamhigan… that's a good name." Spyro complimented with a weak smile.
"Do you like that name?" Umbra asked Jack.
He simply gave a small shrug, but in reality, he really liked that name.
"Tamhigan it is then! Bedagi, could you introduce your brother to your friends?" Umbra asked with a cracked voice.
Her son took the hint and motioned for Tamhigan to follow him. His brother put his gas mask back on and followed him out of the room.
Once they left the room and shut the door, Umbra released a heavy sigh.
"I can't believe he's gone…" she said under her breath.
Spyro and Cynder sat on both sides of her and rested a wing over her shoulders.
"Remember what Ignitus said? When a dragon dies, they become one with nature. I'm sure Voltage is happy where he is. He's probably watching over us right now." Spyro comforted softly.
"You think so?" Umbra asked quietly.
"I know he is." he confirmed with a smile.
"He's probably thinking, 'Why is my crazy mate sad when she should be happy that she met our other son?'" Cynder hypothesized.
Umbra giggled at her friend's silly remark.
"Thanks guys… you always know what to say." she smiled with gratitude.
"No problem. We're always here for you." Spyro said with a nod.
All the adult dragons sat there in silence, each thinking of the events they just witnessed.
"I wonder where he got all those scars." Tavilla said quietly.
Everyone looked at the pool again, each wondering how exactly Tamhigan got the scars he has and if they could get him to use the Vision Pool again.