Chapter 3

Abyss

Earth landed at his camp where the Seawing and Mudwing he's been traveling with were waiting. The Seawing looked at Earth as he landed.

"What took you? And where's your food?" the Seawing asked. "Don't tell me you forgot how to hunt."

"Wouldn't surprise me if he did," the Mudwing remarked. "He was never very bright."

"Shut up, Muck!" Earth said hotly. "There was an issue. I ran into Abyss." This caught their attention.

"Where?" the Seawing demanded. "Where did you see him?"

"I know what you're thinking Ocean and we can't," Earth responded. "He has protection. A Seawing—"

"One Seawing. You think I'm afraid of one Seawing!?" Ocean exclaimed as he walked up to Earth. "Now listen hear you thick-headed flying lizard," he growled. "You are going to show me where you saw him and the three of us are going to get payback. If you don't, Muck and I will make sure you don't get to see dawn!"

Earth gulped. He took to the sky with Ocean and Muck following. They flew for a little until Earth landed where he first saw Abyss. "I first saw him here. He escaped and flew towards the beach."

They looked around for a little bit. "I don't think he came back," Muck said.

"Show us where you lost him," Ocean growled at Earth before the group flew off again to where Abyss dove into the ocean. The light of the day was almost gone when they arrived at the beach.

"He dove into the ocean and then that's when this other dragon showed up," Earth said.

Ocean looked at the beach. He could see three tracks leading away from the water. One went away from the other two. "We have a lead," Ocean smiled.

"Ocean, we can't mess with Abyss. That dragon will kill us!" Earth said frantically. "She's dangerous!"

Ocean laughed. "Really? You think one Seawing will be able to take all three of us down?" Ocean laughed more. "If you believe that you are dafter then I thought!"

"She's not an easy mark like the others! She can fight! That Seawing-Rainwing hybrid almost killed me and she said she would if we messed with her, Abyss, or any other hybrids!" Earth responded with fear ringing in his voice.

"So it was also a hybrid. You are disappointing," Ocean frowned. "I'll show you how tough this freak really is once we find her. For now, let's see where these tracks lead." Ocean started following the tracks off the beach with Muck and a reluctant Earth in pursuit. The tracks ended soon after the beach, but they saw a campsite not too far away. "They stayed here," Ocean said.

"What's the plan Ocean?" Muck asked. "Are we going hunting?"

"As much as I would love attacking under the cover of night, you two are somehow even more useless in the dark!" Ocean said in frustration. "We'll camp for the rest of tonight and then we look for them early in the morning." He looked directly at Earth. "You better not fail me again," he growled. "Abyss will NOT get away this time nor will his girlfriend."

Earth let out an annoyed sigh, and the three started planning where to search tomorrow.


Abyss woke up to the sound of whispering, he wasn't sleeping very deeply. Part of him still distrusted these dragons, so he mostly lied there with his eyes closed.

"Why are you just looking at him?" a voice said. Sounds like Tide, he thought.

"He looks so peaceful. I don't want to disturb him," another voice answered. Another female voice. Must be Amethyst.

"Either you wake him or I will," Tide told Amethyst.

"Tide don't yell in his ear!" Amethyst said back.

"I won't if he gets up," Tide responded.

"I just hate to do it," Amethyst answered. "He looks calm and relaxed. I always feel like he's on guard when traveling."

"Well, he's only known us for two days," Tide reasoned. There was some silence. "Look when Inferno and Sandstone get back with prey, he needs to be up. Sandstone was already mad that you're letting him sleep in, and we need to get a good start today. I'm going to get some more berries. He needs to be up before Sandstone gets back." Then Tide lowered her voice and made it sound threatening. "Or else."

"Ha! Or else what?" Amethyst asked.

Tide kept the same tone. "Or else Sandstone will give me a headache with all of his whining."

Amethyst laughed. "Go get the berries."

"Alright alright. Geez. You don't have to push!" Abyss heard the beat of wings fade off into the distance.

There was a long silence. Well, I guess now is as good of a time as any to get up, Abyss thought. He opened his eyes to see Amethyst right by him. Abyss and Amethyst were both startled and jumped back.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you. I just was about to wake you up," Amethyst said nervously. "Didn't expect you to wake right in front of me."

"It's fine," Abyss responded. "I just wasn't expecting that. I mean, it's surprising to wake up to a dragon in front of your face, ya know?"

"Heh. Yeah. I'd imagine." Amethyst nervously scratched behind her left horn as Abyss started to stretch. "So, uh. Did you… sleep well?"

"What?" Abyss asked mid-stretch.

"Did you sleep well?" Amethyst asked again.

"Oh. Uh, yeah," Abyss said as he finished stretching. "It wasn't too bad."

"That's good," Amethyst said.

"What about you? Did you sleep well?" Abyss asked Amethyst.

"If by 'well' you mean 'hardly at all' then yes," Amethyst answered.

"Oh. Sorry to hear that," Abyss responded.

"Yeah. It's hard for me. You know, being a Nightwing and all, so I have trouble sleeping at night." she looked at him. "You get what I'm talking about don't you?"

"Well, I'm assuming you are referring to me being a Nightwing, but I don't really. All my life I've slept at night," Abyss told her. "Still, I can easily stay up at night if I try."

"Did your mother stay up during the day, too?" Amethyst questioned.

"I wouldn't know," Abyss said. "She died before I was born."

Amethyst covered her mouth "Oh. I'm so sorry to have brought that up."

"It's fine. You didn't know," Abyss responded.

"Do you mind if I ask what happened?" Amethyst carefully requested.

Abyss didn't like talking about this, but he slightly felt like he wanted to with her. She's not malicious. She's nice and maybe a little too energetic, but she's not going to use anything against me. Abyss thought as he looked at Amethyst. I don't think she wants to hurt me…. I should try to be open with her. Actually, maybe I judged the group wrong. None of them seem aggressive towards me. Maybe I should try to be more open with the entire group. There's no reason for me to mistrust them. "Well, she—"

"Hey guys I got some berries!" Abyss and Amethyst looked at Tide as she landed. "Oh, I'm sorry. Was I interrupting something?"

"No. We were just chatting," Amethyst said.

"Oh. Ok." Tide started looking for something to put the berries in. "Sandstone and Inferno shouldn't be too much longer. I saw them not too far away. Inferno got a few rabbits and Sandstone was looking under rocks for lizards. Or, well, I'm guessing that's what he was doing."

"Awesome! I figured out where we are going to go today," Amethyst told her.

"Yeah. The Skywing Kingdom," Tide said. "Does anyone have a bowl-like object?"

"No and no," Amethyst replied with after a giggle. "You should've grabbed the branches."

"True, but then the berries will take longer to regrow." Tide let out an annoyed sigh. "Look we are the only three that eat fruits so just take what you want." Abyss and Amethyst took some of the berries out of her talons.

"Better?" Abyss inquired.

"Much," Tide responded. She then turned to Amethyst. "So where are we going now?"

"I'll tell you when everyone gets back," Amethyst said as she started to eat her berries. "It's going to be thrilling!"

Tide shivered again. She then sat down. "Alright, so what were—" Inferno and Sandstone landed slightly away from the three.

"We're back!" Inferno said. "Rabbits anyone?" He had two more left.

"Yeah. I'll take one," Amethyst said. Inferno threw Amethyst one and then walked over to Tide and sat down next to her.

"Anyone want this one?" Inferno asked. No one responded. "Alright. Mine then."

"So where are we going?" Tide questioned Amethyst.

"Wait, we aren't going to the Skywing Kingdom?" Sandstone asked.

"Not yet. We are going to take a small detour," Amethyst answered. "We are going to explore the Seawing Kingdom!"

"What?" Tide exclaimed in shock.

"Yeah, Tide! You said you missed your home. I figured we'd go there. You want to go back and I'd love to see it. It's a win-win!" Amethyst said excitedly.

"Uhh, that's really nice of you, but I don't really feel comfortable with this," Tide frantically said. "I mean there's mostly ocean and I don't know if we can go to the Summer Palace and I don't know if I feel comfortable returning yet. It's just so boring. Let's just not go."

"Oh come on Tide. Don't be so dramatic. We don't need to go to the Summer Palace either. Just an island or two," Amethyst reasoned.

"I'm not being dramatic!" Tide responded. "Look, we aren't going. I'm the only one who knows their way around the ocean and I'm not going."

"Is that final?" Amethyst asked.

"Yes," Tide responded sternly. "No discussion."

Amethyst nodded and stood up. "Alright. Let's go!"

"Are we going to the Skywing Kingdom again?" Abyss asked a little nervously.

"Nope. We go as planned. We'll go to the Seawing Kingdom then the Skywing Kingdom," Amethyst told everyone.

"What? You'll never find it!" Tide said outraged. "You'll be lost at sea!"

"I'm good with directions. It'll be fine." Amethyst smiled and waved her talon down.

"I don't believe you," Tide said. "I'm calling your bluff."

"Whatever." Amethyst shrugged. "Let's go guys." Amethyst took flight. She turned to Tide. "We'll probably be back in Bogwater in two days if you want to join us again." Sandstone followed immediately after. Abyss reluctantly took flight too, and they started towards the beach.

Abyss flew to Amethyst. "You're kidding right?"

"No. I'm great with directions!" Amethyst said with a smile.

"You got lost in the desert before you ran across Mirage," Sandstone said drily.

"I just told you that so you'd feel bad for me," Amethyst responded. Sandstone rolled his eyes. "Anyways, I respect Tide's decision. I wish she'd come, but we'll be ok. Once we get back, we can group up with her again!" Amethyst looked and saw that Inferno had stayed behind. "Oh. And Inferno too apparently."

They stopped at the beach where Amethyst started looking around, and it appeared like she was muttering to herself. She looked at the sun and then back at the ocean.

"Alright…. Where are we going?" Sandstone asked after a little.

"I'm thinking," Amethyst said quickly. "Give me a few." She silently hovered for a little longer. "Alright. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. If I remember right, the Seawing Kingdom is to the east of the Mudwing Kingdom. Since we are in the upper part of the Mudwing Kingdom., we just need to go….. that way." She pointed dead ahead. "Let's go!"

They started flying out to seas when Abyss realized something. Wait. Didn't Tide say something about living near the Rainwing Kingdom… Oh no. "Wait a second Amethyst," Abyss said. "Tide said something about growing up near the Rainforest."

"Your point?" Amethyst said with a confused look.

"That's near the South of Pyrrhia…. In the opposite direction of the Skywing Kingdom," Abyss informed her.

"You've been leading us in the wrong direction?" Sandstone asked disbelievingly.

"Oooohhh... So, uh, I may have took directions as if the sun was rising last night, not setting." She started to scratch behind her left horn as she started to blush. "My bad."

"Yeah. No kidding," Sandstone said in an annoyed tone.

"This isn't too big of a deal. Look, we just need to go northeast instead of east. So we go that way." She still pointed out to the sea, but slightly more to her left this time. "Problem solved. Let's go." She started flying away.

Sandstone and Abyss looked at each other. "Are you going?" Abyss questioned.

"Sadly," Sandstone said. He gave a long sigh. "This is getting to be more and more of a talon full." Sandstone started to follow her.

This probably isn't going to go well, Abyss thought. I probably shouldn't go…. But then again, they are some of the only dragons that have been nice to me. I shouldn't abandon them. I might even be able to help in some way. Ah! I can be there connection to the sea! I can get food and possibly even directions! Abyss sped over to them to catch up. They soon heard a voice behind them after flying for a little.

"Hey! Hold up!" Tide yelled as she quickly caught up to them. "Fine. I'll show you where it's at…" Tide looked at Amethyst and angrily added, "Don't think I don't know what you did."

"What are you talking about?" Amethyst asked her with a small laugh.

"Don't play stupid," Tide growled back. Amethyst was taken aback. "It's this way." Tide went more to the left than where Amethyst was going. Sandstone followed.

"Why is she mad?" Amethyst asked Inferno.

"She's mad that you guilt tripped her into taking you to the Seawing Kingdom. She really doesn't want to go," Inferno said. "Personally, I can't believe you did."

"What? That's absurd!" Amethyst exclaimed in shock. "I would never try to manipulate someone like that!"

"Well it really seemed like you were trying to," Inferno responded.

"Oh no." Amethyst looked slightly down and thought for a little. She snapped her claws and looked back up. "I'll just explain myself real fast. Then problem solved!" Amethyst took off after the two of them as Abyss and Inferno followed.

"I don't want to hear it Amethyst." Abyss heard as he and Inferno caught up.

"Tide please just listen," Amethyst begged. "I really wasn't trying to manipulate you. I didn't even think of it that way! Promise!"

"Look Amethyst, just leave me alone right now. I'm not in the mood to hear this alright?" Tide growled. "Besides, I need to focus on where I'm going, and you better hope another Seawing doesn't see us."

Or at least me, Abyss thought. Well, maybe as long as no one knows whom my father is everything will be ok.

Tide sped up slightly and left Amethyst by herself. They flew for a while. Inferno went to try to calm Tide down and Sandstone was being anti-social like usual. He had tried talking to Amethyst earlier, but it didn't seem like it worked to well. Abyss flew near the back. He was still nervous about going to the Kingdom of the Sea since he was worried about what would happen to him if they discovered his heritage. Amethyst had been unusually quiet most the trip. Strangely, Abyss hated it.

I thought I would enjoy the silence. Amethyst is nice and all, but she talks a lot. It's nothing against her, it's just a little much to me. Now that she's stopped…. I miss it. It just doesn't feel right for her to be quiet and withdrawn. It's so unlike her. Abyss thought for a little. I'm going to try to cheer her up, he decided. Abyss flew a little faster and caught up to Amethyst whom gave a small smile when she saw him.

"Hey Abyss," Amethyst said without her usual cheerful tone.

"Hey," Abyss greeted back. "You doing ok?"

"Yeah. I just feel bad. Tide's really mad," Amethyst told him.

"She'll calm down," Abyss comforted.

"What if she doesn't? I don't want her to hate me," Amethyst confessed.

"I'm pretty sure the only thing she hates is the word 'thrilling'," Abyss said. Amethyst's smile grew a little. "She'll get over it. Once she's calm, she'll realize you didn't try to twist her wing."

"How can you be so sure?" Amethyst asked.

"Ha! Come on. Who can stay mad at you?" Abyss said. "You're so kind, sweet, and thoughtful."

Amethyst blushed and smiled. "You really feel that way?"

"Of course!" Abyss replied. "I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true."

Amethyst's smile got a little bigger. "Thanks Abyss."

They flew a little longer and made idle chat as the sun slowly sunk into the sea. Tide stopped and hovered above an island causing everyone to stop behind her.

"We're here," Tide said in a strange, strained voice.

"I expected a Palace or something," Sandstone said drily.

"We have two, but we can't go to one of them. Well, Abyss can. One's in the sea. Never even been myself. The other one is the Summer Palace and I'm not going there, nor would they appreciate a Sandwing, Nightwing, Skywing, and strange Seawing popping up," Tide said crossly. "I don't mean 'strange' in a mean way, Abyss. I just mean they've never seen you before."

"It's fine," Abyss responded indifferently.

"We're stopping here," Tide said. She started to fly down towards the small forested island, and started to walk around in an almost disconnected manner.

"Wow! This island is beautiful!" Amethyst said in awe. "White sand beach and a pretty forest."

"I have to admit, it's not bad up close," Sandstone said.

"Place must be cursed or something. I think Sandstone just gave a compliment." Inferno smirked and Sandstone frowned at him.

"Come on you two. Just enjoy the scenery!" Amethyst said.

Abyss shook his head. He walked to the beach where he looked out over the ocean. This is where my father grew up, Abyss thought. He spent his whole life under these peaceful waves until he met my mother on one of these islands. I wonder which one it was. Abyss stood there and enjoyed the sea breeze which was his favorite part of being on the coast line.

"Hey Abyss." Abyss turned and saw Inferno a couple steps away. "We are going to start setting up camp. I saw some berries near where we landed. Figured I'd let you know."

"Thanks. I'll get some in a few," Abyss told him. Inferno nodded and walk into the trees while Abyss looked back to the ocean. He watched the waves roll onto the shore for a while until he heard something to his right. He turned and saw a Seawing approaching him. She walked with a very slight limp and one of her wings stuck out a little more than the other. Abyss's eyes went wide. Who is she? What is she doing here?... She doesn't look happy. She was still dripping with water. She must have saw me from the ocean! Abyss realized. Squidbrain!

She stopped not too far away from Abyss and aggressively said, "What are you doing on my island?"

"Your island?" Abyss said in confusion.

"Do you have sponge in your ears? Yes. MY island," the Seawing growled. "Now what are you doing here?"

"A few friends and I are just stopping here for a little," Abyss explained. "Just for the night."

"No you're not. I'm not allowing anyone here. This island means a lot to me and I'm not having you and your friends take it away from me! Leave now or I'll force you out!" she threatened.

"We aren't trying to take anything. We've been flying all day and we're exhausted. Look, we'll be out in the morning," Abyss tried to reason.

"You aren't tainting this place!" the Seawing yelled. "You are leaving now whether you want to or not!"

Abyss had a strange feeling and jumped to his left as the Seawing lunged with surprising swiftness.

"Please calm down! I don't want to fight!" Abyss pleaded.

"Then leave!" the Seawing angrily said as she struck at him. Abyss dodged, but as he did she swept her tail to knock him off his feet. Abyss stumbled and the dragon pushed him to the sand where Abyss skidded a little. She went to jump on top of him, but Abyss rolled out the way. He got up and turned to run into the forest. I'll have better cover to hide there! he thought. He started to run when he had another feeling to dodge, but before he could, he felt a tug on his tail. He fell and spun around to see that the Seawing had grabbed it.

She quickly yanked him towards her and raise her claw, formed like a fist. Abyss turned and threw sand at her. She blocked the sand with her wing and then punched at Abyss' snout, which he redirected it before striking her in the snout. Her grip loosened and Abyss got back up and struck at her again; however, she dodged and grabbed his arm. She pulled him to her and punched at the same time. Abyss had the same strange feeling and allowed himself to fall back to the sand. The punch missed as Abyss landed on his back. She was still holding his arm and she stepped on Abyss to pin him. Abyss managed to dodge some but not all of her attacks before getting his hind legs under her stomach and pushing her off of him. Abyss tried to pin her, but got a sudden urge to roll to the right once he did. He rolled as she pushed him over, causing them to roll twice and letting Abyss retain the upper hand. He punched at her and missed. He had a bad feeling and moved his arm right before she tried to bite him. She then tried to punch him in the chest, but Abyss quickly pushed himself off her and it barely missed. Abyss hissed as he started to get a headache. She was up almost immediately and started striking at Abyss. Abyss evaded the attacks; however, he was starting to get a little slower. I don't feel so good, he thought as he dodged a slice at his chest. Right after he dodged, she threw sand at him. Abyss turned, but then he felt a pain in his back as the dragon punched him in the spine.

He stumbled and the dragon tripped him with her tail. She grabbed his left wing and started to twist causing Abyss to cry out in pain. She then locked his head into her right arm causing Abyss to start gasping. Can't…. breath….. He pushed himself up. She held firm as Abyss started walking backwards towards the sea. The dragon started to twist Abyss' wing more to get him to stop, but he fought through the pain. If…. I… can just get to… the ocean. She pulled up and moved him to where he was facing the ocean. Abyss' vision was starting to go obscure as he tried to think of a new plan. He used what little consciousness he had to listen to his ability. He stomped on her foot and elbowed her in the ribs. She let go of him and he turned and punched her in the side of her head, making her stumble slightly to the side. Abyss fell to the ground and started gasping for air when he felt he needed to roll. He did a clumsy roll to the right barely avoiding her kick. Before he fully got up, he had another strange feeling, but couldn't dodge in time. The dragon uppercut Abyss under his jaw causing him to stumbled back. He tried to dodge the flurry of attacks that followed, but more and more started to hit. After a few strikes hit him, he evaded and pushed her with all of his body weight, causing her to fall back into the sand.

Now's my chance to run. Abyss went to flee, but stopped shortly after and started to gag as he started to feel extremely nauseous. He started to shamble away as his vision started to fade in and out and his headache worsened. With an unbearable headache and a feeling like he was about to throw up, he collapsed. Abyss lied there as his vision faded in and out. I pushed myself too far. I have to get away. Abyss raised a talon and tried to drag himself, but he didn't have the strength. He felt someone grab his tail and start to drag him.

"Just had to do this the hard way didn't we?" he heard a voice.

"Abyss!" he barely saw Inferno rush out of the tree line. "Drop him now!"

The Seawing turned around as Inferno charged her. Inferno tackled the Seawing and the two started to battle. Abyss tried to get up and help, but he couldn't even move. As Abyss lied there, he realized Inferno was losing. Inferno tried to breathe fire on her, but she ducked under it and forced Inferno's snout upward. After getting hit a few times, he then tried to punch her, but she dodge and wrapped her arm around his. She hit him in the chest and then swept his rear legs out from under him. She pushed him to the ground as he fell, causing him to slam into it harder, before hitting him on the side of the head. He lied still. She started dragging him by his tail over to Abyss. We're going to die here, Abyss thought. I just got friends and now I'm going to lose them. He weakly struggled to try to get up.

He heard, "Just stay down." as he was pushed back to the ground. The dragon grabbed his tail again and started walking to the ocean. "All you had to do was leave. That's all! This is my island. Mine! I'm not letting you delinquents take away from me the last place I saw my daughter!"

"Just where do you think you are going with my friends?"

The dragon stopped and dropped Inferno and Abyss' tails after a small pause. She then quietly said, "That voice….. I know that voice…." She turned around and gasped. "Tide?"

Tide stood there for a little in shock and before dropping her daggers. "Mother?"