Chapter 4

It has been a few days since Granite told Maroon to confront Stone. Maroon had decided to not provoke Stone and stick to not starting something that he was unsure if he could finish. It was a perfectly normal day. The group dismissed for lunch.

"Granite. Stay in here. I need to talk to you for a second," the instructor commanded as he and Maroon were about to leave. Maroon decided to wait by the door. "You can go Maroon. Unlike you, he doesn't need someone to hold his talon. He'll be at lunch soon."

Maroon frowned. He hated the way the instructor talked to him. Maroon left with the few stragglers that were still in the class. He had almost made it to the lunchroom when Stone stopped in front of him.

"Hello, Pebble. It's been a while," Stone grinned.

"Look Stone, I don't want any trouble. So just let me through–" Maroon tried to reason as Stone pushed him.

"What makes you think you can give orders to me? Perhaps you need a reminder." Stone growled as he grabbed Maroon's arm. Maroon stepped back and pulled his arm to him while pushing Stone from him. "Oooooo, look who's finally standing up for himself! If you think you no longer need your bodyguard, you are sadly mistaken. Besides, he'll be preoccupied." Stone started approaching him.

"Look Stone. I don't want to hurt you," Maroon said as he took a step back.

"As if you could!" Stone laughed. Stone then hit Maroon in the head twice and chest once. While he was dazed, Stone hit him in the back of the head and sent him to the floor. He circled Maroon as he tried to get up. Once he did, he grabbed Maroon from behind and started twisting his arm painfully.

"Arrggghhh!" Maroon yelled. The pain was excruciating. Tears were beginning to form in the corners of his eyes.

"See Pebble," Stone whispered in his ear. "You are nothing. Insignificant. This place is to train soldiers for the Skywings and you are making a mockery of it! So weak and pathetic. You are a disgrace to the Skywings!"

In this moment, something happened. Maroon wasn't crying anymore. He felt no pain. The only thing he felt was rage. He started pulling away from Stone.

"What are you doing you idiot? If you keep pulling, you'll dislocate your arm!" Stone said alarmed. Maroon kept pulling until there was a pop. "Aaaahhhhhh" Maroon yelled at the sudden burst of pain as Stone released him and took a few steps back. Maroon turned and looked at Stone breathing heavily. He grabbed his dislocated arm and rammed it back into place. Maroon yelled again. He flexed his arm and focused on Stone.

"Alright. Fine. No more going easy on you." Stone roared as he charged Maroon again. This time was different. Maroon was prepared. He kept evading Stone's attacks. On one of Maroon's dodges, he hit Stone in the back of the head. When Stone turned, Maroon hit him with a left hook to his snout. Stone roared in anger and started using with his claws. Maroon ducked and side stepped Stone's claw attacks. Then Maroon saw his opportunity. Maroon dodged to the left and punched Stone at the base of his throat. Stone grabbed his throat with both his talons as he started uncontrollably coughing and sputtering. Next Maroon shoved Stone to the ground. Once Stone hit the ground with a thud, Maroon started choking him with his left talon and punching him with his right. Maroon couldn't hear or notice anything but his target. No screaming or trainees running for help or someone yelling for him to stop. A dragon tore him away from Stone who had almost passed out. In his rage, Maroon roared and spun, swinging his clutched talon at the new enemy while only barely making it stop in time. There, flinching away, was Granite. This made Maroon's rage almost instantly vanish. He started becoming more aware of everything around him again.

He could finally hear what he was saying. "That's enough Maroon," he soothed. "You won." Maroon slowly turned to Stone who was gasping for air.

"You– You almost–" Stone goes into a small coughing fit. "You almost killed me you lunatic!" Stone choked.

"Yeah and he will next time because I won't stop him," Granite threatened. He then put his wing around Maroon and escorted him outside. Shortly after they left the lunchroom, Maroon broke down.

"That wasn't me," Maroon sobbed. "That wasn't me at all. I– I don't know what happened. I just had enough and… and…" he continued to sob a little harder.

"You don't know what happened there?" Granite asked. Maroon shook his head. "I'll tell you what happened. You turned into the most epic fighter in Pyrrhia!" Granite exclaimed.

"But that wasn't me! It didn't feel like me!" Maroon cried.

"But that was so amazing! I got there while he had you in that hold. I was about to step in when you decided to almost rip your own arm off. I mean that was CRAZY COOL! Then popped it back in and fought! There can't be another dragon in Pyrrhia that can say they've done that! Then no matter what Stone did, you evaded, you countered, and then you pinned him! You have been holding out on me!" Granite gave him a friendly nudge. A small smile was building on Maroon's face as Granite talked to him.

Maroon sniffled. "Was I really that fierce?"

"Yeah! The coolest, most epic, fiercest dragon in this place!" Granite excitedly exclaimed. "I guarantee you won't have to worry about Stone or his cronies again!"

Maroon smiled at him. Somehow this comforted him. Then Maroon saw his friend had a black eye. I didn't think I hit him! "Oh. Granite." Maroon cringed. "I'm so, so sorry. I thought I stopped my punch in time."

"What are you talking about? Oh wait. You mean the black eye. Don't worry. That wasn't you. Stone had kept his gang back to distract me. One suckered punched me while I was turning around. It's fine though. Doesn't hurt. They got what was coming to them." Granite frowned. "Cowards."

"What did you do to them?" Maroon questioned.

"Once I caught them, I tied their wings together and threw them down the mountain," Granite responded nonchalantly.

"Granite!"

"Alright, alright. So maybe I didn't do that," Granite admitted. "Maybe I just wanted to. I heard you scream and ran in the other direction. You got a loud voice for such a tiny body," Granite observed. Maroon smiled, but then noticed a dragon approaching them.

"Oh great. Here comes karma," Maroon stated in a weakened tone.

"Hmm?" Granite turned around and saw Garnet walking towards them. "Oh…"

"Maroon. Come with me," Garnet growled. "You go to training Granite. This has nothing to do with you." Granite frowned but knew he had no choice. He nudged Maroon with his wing and smiled to reassure him before going to class. Maroon then began to follow Granite.