A/N: Hello again readers, and welcome to Chapter 3 of Dragon and Hunter. This is currently my third most viewed story, so OH YEAH! We will meet a couple new dragons in this installment, and that something interesting I promised. Please don't be shy to give this story a review, it lets me know what you all think, so please read, review, and enjoy.
Disclaimer: See Prologue.
Zar followed his assigned guides, Spyro and Cynder, through the hallways of the Temple, the other two dragons were obviously familiar with the layout, and Zar made careful note of different halls that his guides pointed out. It was then they entered the dormitory, and many doors lined the hall, and Zar was told that every dragon that lived in the Temple lived in one of the dormitories, and often they had to share with one or two others, the Guardians ensured males and females didn't share rooms though. "Alright, here we are, this is your room," Spyro said to him as the door was opened to one of the rooms, Zar made a note to mark its location, until he became familiar with the Temple's halls.
"You'll be sharing with two others, hope you don't mind," Cynder said to him, and he shook his head.
One of his roommates was in the room already, a dark red dragon with black horns and underbelly, and a club-shaped tail spade that had a rocky appearance; the dragon's eyes were a dark onyx. The other male was twice Zar's size, with a muscular build that belied a warrior's life, and his size indicated he was slightly older, maybe a couple years or so.
"Heh, who's the new guy, and what's with his mask, is he that ugly," the other dragon said with an arrogant smirk, already grating on Zar's nerves.
"Torch, leave him alone, he's not staying forever," Spyro said, and the other dragon snorted derisively, but Zar let it go again.
Cynder looked at Zar, "So, you know where your room is," she asked him, and he nodded.
"Alright, let's take you to the training hall, the Guardians want to test you," Spyro said.
"Ha ha, I want to see this," Torch said, getting up from his seat on the floor and joining them, although his presence seemed to irritate Zar's guides.
The walk to the training hall seemed to take longer than the trip to the dormitory, maybe because it was an actual longer distance, Zar's mask measured the distance and they had passed the marker for the dormitory's distance a few minutes ago.
Cynder came closer to Zar, and she whispered, "Zar, why didn't you defend yourself, Torch is a jerk, he could learn a thing or two from being beaten up."
He looked at her, "He wouldn't be worth my time," he simply said, quiet enough to not risk being overheard.
The rest of the way was spent in silence, and the group came to another set of doors, looking more recently used, and entered the training hall. The hall was a rectangular shape with rounded corners, and dragons of all age groups were training in various forms of combat in the hall, ranging from small dragons striking stationary dummies to sparring with each other for older trainees. Cyril was instructing some of the trainees as they blasted some stationary dummies with various elemental powers, and Zar saw Volteer supervising a pair of dragons as they whipped through the air in aerial combat exercises. Terrador sat at the opposite end of the hall before a circle on the floor that was slightly larger than the others, and the group of four dragons started walking towards the Guardian of Earth immediately.
Many of the trainees, especially those younger than Zar and his company, stopped what they were doing to stare at the strangely armored dragon as he walked past. Zar also saw what appeared to be a young yellow dragoness supervising a pair of younger trainees as they were clawing and beating at dummies, she was a bright almost neon yellow, with a dark grey underbelly and pale lavender horns, and her eyes were a storm cloud grey as she followed the gaze of her trainees to look at him.
Zar blushed under his mask when she caught him looking at her, he didn't know why he was reacting this way, but he quickly returned his attention to their destination, but he could sense the strange dragoness was following them. He noticed that Flame and Ember were also there to watch, but he also noticed them glare at Torch, 'so this 'Torch' is disliked by not just Spyro and Cynder, and myself of course,' he thought to himself. The group then reached the circle, and Zar saw the yellow dragoness from earlier walking around and joining Terrador on his left side, as Spyro, Cynder, and Torch did on his right, Terrador nodding to the younger dragons.
"Zar, are you ready to begin," Terrador asked him, and Zar nodded, already beginning his preparations in his breathing and mental exercises.
Zar stepped into the circle, and only mildly jumped when the edges of the circle erupted with low flames, he had guessed he wasn't supposed to leave the circle, but now it seemed they were ensuring it.
"Enemies will come at you in five distinct waves, each will be more difficult than the last, now, let the evaluation begin," Terrador said. There were small rumbling sounds and half dozen small bipedal shapes popped up from the ground, made of earth and rock, 'easy pickings,' Zar thought. He reared up and stood on his hind legs, and clenched his paws into fists, his wrist blades hissing into place, and some mild exclamations from the observers, he leapt towards the nearest opponent, his blades dismembering the dummy with ease. He spun, his right arm outstretched with blades extended, and decapitated another of the dummies, leaving its headless body to slump to the ground, he deactivated his left wrist blades and reached for a disc, and it unfolded in a few seconds.
He drew it back and threw it, the bladed circle scything through the midsection of another dummy and then bouncing off the wall, cutting a deep groove into the stone, and followed the laser sight of his mask to decapitate another. He caught his disc, and watched the remaining two dummies charge him at once, and just like his teachers taught him, he swung the disc in a deadly arc, cutting the dummies into gravel.
The utter carnage he had wrought in the first wave carried on to the next wave, a larger number of the small dummies with some that were larger. He decided to use both discs as he spun in a dervish of blades through the dummies, using his tail blade as much as his discs to cut his opponents to ribbons.
He came to the third wave which had a small number, about four, of the small ones, and had one that dwarfed them and him, wielding a large wooden mallet. He opened his jaws and breathed fire through his specially hinged mask and setting two of the smaller dummies alight, who started running around in panic. Zar whipped his combi-stick into his paws and it telescoped into its full length, earning him some more gasps from the onlookers that had gathered. The other two dummies charged and he batted the first one away with a sharp blow, nearly caving in its shoulder, and he spun to stab backwards, impaling the other charging dummy on its point. He jerked the weapon free, the dummy falling unmoving, and the large dummy charged, Zar leaping out of the way as the mallet impacted the floor with a mighty crack. Zar finished the other dummy with a quick stab through the head; the dummies he had set on fire had fallen to the flames, leaving the mallet-wielding dummy standing.
Zar turned to face the large dummy, combi-stick in hand, the dummy charged, mallet swinging wildly, Zar parried the weapon and the mallet's head slid off the spear, sending the dummy reeling. Zar collapsed the spear and leapt on the dummy's shoulders, paws taking position on its head. The dummy tried flailing at him to get him off, but Zar quickly started wrenching the head to the side, with a sound of cracking stone the head was violently twisted to the side, and then torn off, Zar leaping off of the construct as it fell to the ground, the head still held in his paws. He dropped the head as he realized there were no more waves coming, he was on the third, then he heard leather creaking and looked to find some sort of flying construct swoop down on him.
He flattened himself against the ground and managed to avoid the talons of the construct, it shrieked as it missed him, but he quickly gathered and leapt, landing on the back of the dummy, forcing it down. The two crashed into the ground, nearly skidding into the flaming border of the circle, but Zar leapt off of the construct's back, and stood in a half hunched position, his wrist blades hissing into place, he then retracted them and thought he'd have some fun, and pressed a button on his gauntlet, causing him to turn invisible. There were fewer exclamations, most likely from the younger trainees, and Zar smirked under his mask, and the construct looked around in confusion, unable to see Zar as he sauntered up to it.
He grabbed the construct in his paws, uncloaking as he did so, and threw it to the other side of the circle, charging after it, then he grasped at the shoulder, and tore the winged arm out of its socket through brute force, causing the construct to squeal in pain he doubted it really felt, and then retrieved his dagger from its sheath. He kicked the construct onto its back, sand leaking from its missing arm socket, and pinned it under himself, standing over it, and held the dagger high, and brought it down in a flash, stabbing the construct through the chest. It gave a final twitch and lay still, Zar pulled his dagger free and returned it to its sheath.
'Final wave,' Zar thought. The ground shook as a massive construct of stone pulled itself out of the floor, dwarfing the adult dragons in height. Its arms hung nearly to the floor as it turned and regarded the hybrid. Zar put his weapons down, letting them drop onto the floor, even the dagger.
"What is he doing?" asked Ember, but she was quickly shushed by the other dragons around her, the dragoness cringing slightly.
Weapons discarded, Zar reached up, and took off his mask with a hiss of air. Many murmurings from the audience reached his hearing, but he wasn't listening as he focused on the fight to come.
The golem drew its stone fist back with a grinding sound, before the limb shot forward towards the hybrid. Zar leapt aside as the fist crashed into floor with a thunderous boom, missing his tail by inches. Zar took this time to analyze his opponent; the legs were smaller than the torso itself, and seemed to bear a lot of the construct's weight, the head was dwarfed by the golem's shoulders, and the joints ground against each other as it turned towards him.
The golem's right fist pulled back, and lunged forward towards Zar. The hybrid ducked under and ran on all fours towards the golem's leg. Sliding into a standing position, Zar unsheathed the wrist blades, and slashed back and forth at the golem's knee, cutting grooves and weakening the joint. The golem made a guttural cry that sounded like crashing boulders, and attempted to stomp on Zar with the foot he had attacked.
Jumping back with enhanced agility, Zar again attacked the golem's knee, until finally the lower leg was separated from the rest of it. The golem crashed to one knee, and it madly swiped with its arms to attempt to get at the hybrid, but its own bulky torso left it unable to reach.
Standing on two legs, Zar backed up, and then ran towards the golem's back. Leaping forward, Zar ran on his hind legs up the golem's back, dragging his blades along it as he went, drawing sparks and small grooves. Reaching the middle of the shoulders, Zar jumped, twisting in midair. Reaching out, Zar grabbed hold of the golem's head, taking a foothold on the lip of the construct's collar. Zar brought his other limb out, blades unsheathed, looking into the gems that substituted eyes for the golem. The gems seemed to flash in recognition of its imminent "death," and Zar quickly ended the fight, slashing his blades through the stone neck, severing the head.
As the golem's body crashed to the ground, Zar leapt off and stood with his trophy. Raising it, he inhaled deeply, and ROARED, raising his own head upwards as his mandibles flared full width.
Looking around, panting slightly, Zar observed the crowd. The Guardians looked like they couldn't believe their eyes, even Volteer was speechless. Ember had decided hiding behind Flame would protect her from the hybrid warrior before them, while Flame looked just as flabbergasted as the Guardians. Spyro and Cynder had mouths only slightly less agape than the other dragons due to prior experience, but even they seemed to be taken aback by his raw skill. Torch, and many of the older trainees in the audience seemed to be trying hard to not look impressed, while others were doing a good impression of landlocked fish. Many of the younger trainees took to hiding behind larger dragons, three of which hid behind the yellow dragoness Zar had noticed earlier. The dragoness herself had both of her eye ridges raised and her mouth slightly agape.
Terrador cleared his throat, "Ahem, I believe we have seen enough, you are dismissed Zar."
Inclining his head, Zar gathered his weapons, put on his mask, and stood outside the circle while Spyro and Cynder took up positions on either side of him and led him out of the training hall.
"I've never seen someone fight like that, so brutal," said Spyro to Zar as the group walked to Zar didn't know where.
"It was the way my teachers taught me, nothing more, nothing less," Zar responded. He still had his mask on, lending his voice a metallic tone.
"Wait up," another voice yelled, and the three dragons turned to see the young yellow dragoness trotting to catch up to them.
"Hi Storm," Cynder said to the yellow dragoness as she caught up to them. 'So she is the dragoness that made me act strangely,' thought Zar as he looked at her, and she looked at him with some trepidation, "Where did you learn to fight like that," Storm asked Zar, who needed a moment to recognize she asked a question, and asking him about things was technically a task given to him.
"The Elites of my clan taught me how to use their weapons, and my father taught me of my inherited elemental powers," he explained.
Storm nodded, "So where are you three going," she asked them.
"Lunch," Spyro said simply, causing Cynder to giggle,
"You can think about eating after that," Storm said exasperatedly. Zar heard his own stomach grumble, he had only eaten a small meal from his ship's rations this morning, and the two females giggled.
"Alright, the mess hall is this way," Spyro said, and the group started down the hall to go there.
"Storm, there you are, what are you doing with all the dead weight," said an arrogant voice behind them, and Zar instantly knew it was Torch. The group turned to face the red dragon, which was standing behind them looking expectantly at Storm.
"What, I can't go to lunch with my friends," Storm asked the arrogant dragon heatedly.
"Whatever, come on, let's go get lunch together, not with the losers," Torch said as he walked over and put a wing rather possessively over Storm's shoulders. This action raised Zar's hackles as Storm did not look pleased with having Torch's wing over her shoulders, and he couldn't help growling audibly. "What's your problem Tuskface," Torch said to him with contempt, doing his best to look down on Zar over his snout.
"You need to learn to respect females," Zar said quietly to Torch, who seemed to have heard him and snorted.
"And you need to learn to respect your superiors," he retorted. "Or did they not tell you who I am," Torch added as he pressed Storm closer to his side, earning an unseen death glare from Zar, as a look of mild disgust crossed Storm's face. Zar felt a paw on his shoulder, and looked to see Spyro shake his head at him, Zar was really reluctant, but he followed the other two dragons as they walked away, leaving Storm with Torch.
"Who is Torch exactly," Zar asked as Spyro and Cynder led him to the mess hall.
Cynder answered his question, "Torch is the Prince of the Dragon Kingdom in this region of the world, and he is here to train to the best of his potential," her voice was rather forced, like a speech she had rehearsed over and over. Zar's father had told him of the many kingdoms of dragons in the world, and other nations of other species, it wasn't often the different kingdoms of dragons worked together, usually only when a global threat emerged, but the combined might of the dragons was a force to be reckoned with.
"He's also a spoiled brat, and thinks he can get away with anything because of his status," Spyro added, a frown forming on his face.
"He also seems to think he can act any way he wants with females," Zar added, "Why does Storm even tolerate him," he asked rather snappily.
"It's because he's the Prince," Cynder said, her tone leaving no doubt to Zar that Cynder disliked the situation as much as he did.
"And it keeps him from flirting with others," Spyro said rather venomously. Zar could guess Torch had flirted with Cynder before Storm had stepped in, leading to Spyro's anger.
"Had this been a clan matter, Torch would lose his head for disrespecting her," Zar said. Spyro and Cynder seemed rather surprised, so Zar explained, "Yautja females are highly respected among Yautja society, as they are the ones who raise the next generation of the clan, and also administrate many clan matters." The other two dragons seemed to understand now, so the group settled into silence.
A/N: Well, did I deliver or what? Warning: exposition ahead next chapter. Also would like to say thanks to .Chaos97 for giving this story a review, and I know of my tendency to create run-on paragraphs, I have hopefully fixed that problem.
For those who are wondering, Zar's roar is mixed with the roar you hear from a Predator/Yautja in victory. In addition, I don't really plan for Xenomorphs to make an appearance, except for maybe a cameo of sorts. Until then, see ya next time.