A/N I only own Crystal, the species of dragons, and the planet of dragons. Everything else is owned by Disney and Marvel.


The first thing she felt was pain. It was similar to the pain that shrunk and rearranged her body months before. Now it was not only rearranging her body again, but stretching everything as well. And it was just as painful.

But there was something else. Something Crystal couldn't quite decipher. As she hunched on the ground, crying out in pain, she became aware that her self-control was being slowly taken over by something bigger. It was as if something, or someone, had hypnotized her, and was starting to try and manipulate her. She tried to fight it, but wasn't strong enough.

All she could do was watch.

As soon as she was in her huge true form, Crystal glared at the Vruttoms with eyes that seemed to be purely icy-blue orbs, baring her sharp teeth. She threw her head back with a mighty roar, and reared up on her hind legs, causing the Vruttoms holding the ropes attached to her front legs to fly into the air, screaming and clinging to the ropes. She swiped her tail around, roaring and chasing the eight Vruttoms that were still unfrozen from her previous fight. She fired her icy breath, freezing two more of the yellow aliens.

This went on for several minutes, and she still didn't calm down. "Put her necklace back on!" The Vruttom leader yelled.

"What?! Why?" The Vruttom asked, clutching the usekh to his chest.

"Did you not see what happened?! She is out of control, unless that necklace is around her neck!"

"How will we put it on though? She won't stop moving for anything!"

The leader grabbed the rope Crystal shook off previously, and managed to lasso her mouth, clamping it shut. Two other Vruttom helped pulled rope down, keeping Crystal's head down, and trying to keep her from moving around so much.

The Vruttom grabbed the end of the rope, and strung it through the usekh. The three other Vruttoms let it slide past their hands, and another slid it down the rope and around her neck.


While she raged about, attacking the yellow aliens with ice, tooth, and nail, Crystal tried her best to fight against her rage. It was as if her brain had been overtaken by a rage-inducing virus, and she was still critically ill.

Then, through the fuzziness and anger, she felt something cool and heavy settle around her neck and on her shoulders. Thank the dragons above, my usekh!

The pain came again, this time shrinking her body down to its previous size. And she felt the overpowering rage begin to reside, clearing her mind. But with the pain and rage leaving her, there also came exhaustion, both from pain and raging. As her body slowed down its shrinking, she laid on the ground, panting heavily.

The Vruttoms stood where they were, keeping a hold of the ropes that held Crystal's arms, legs, and mouth. "…I think we can all agree to keep that necklace on her." The leader said breathlessly.

The five Vruttoms, who weren't frozen, nodded in agreement. The two aliens that helped their leader hold Crystal's mouth, and the one that wasn't holding one of her limbs, grabbed some large rocks, and began chipping the ice away, trying to save their four companions. Luckily, they were in the warmer parts of Drakonehm, and the ice was already beginning to melt.

"What should we do with her?" One Vruttom holding Crystal's leg asked. "Kill her?"

"Certainly not!" The leader shook his head, surprising the others. "She seems to be a rare sort of dragon: an Ignis who breathes ice."

"Fire dragons don't breathe ice," Another Vruttom pointed out. "Not normally, anyway."

"That's what makes her so rare. And she should make us a lot of money…all we need is to find the right buyer…and I think I have an idea." The Vruttom tapped his wide chin, and his thin lips curled into a smirk. "Let's tie her up and get her to the aircraft. I'll need to make a call."


Crystal was very confused, angry, and scared when she woke up. Her arms were tied together and against her chest, her legs and tail were tied together, her wings were tied to her body, and she had a muzzle. She was in a dark room all alone, and she was vaguely aware that it was moving. Where am I? This doesn't look like Drakonehm.

Her brain struggled to think back to what had happened. I encountered those aliens…they tried to capture me, and they took my usekh…She shuddered at the memory of losing the usekh, and essentially losing her sanity briefly. It reminded her of what happened to her clan that day.

Crystal shook her head, snorting as best she could. Don't think about that; try to think about what happened to you.

She remembered when the usekh was placed back around her neck. At that time, it was the best feeling in the world. She smiled at the thought of it. But then I fell unconscious…did those aliens take me back to their aircraft?

Crystal growled at the thought of being kidnapped. At least they know not to steal my usekh. Otherwise…She didn't finish her thought.

Outside, the Vruttom leader, K'Dhae, was finishing up a visual call with his friend, a Plalseo named Gikan. He was a short, light-orange alien with a big belly, a flat round nose, and small, black eyes. He had a mop of darker orange hair, and wore an official-looking red trench coat over a black shirt and pants.

Gikan ran a traveling zoo, which was a giant saucer-shaped spaceship, filled with exotic animals from various planets. As a poacher, K'Dhae said that during his travels, he would keep an eye out for any animals that looked promising.

And promising the Ignis dragon that breathed ice did.

"You tellin' me the thing normally should breathe fire, but breathes ice instead?" Gikan asked incredulously.

"Believe me, old friend, I didn't believe it when I saw it." K'Dhae sighed. "She's a fighter even without her necklace. Froze two of my men, she did."

"'Without her necklace'?"

"Yeah. She's wearing some wide, golden necklace with purple gems. When we took it off, she suddenly turned into a bigger dragon and went on a rampage like you wouldn't believe. Froze two more men." He glanced back at the four Vruttoms laying side-by-side in a clear box that was slightly fogged from the heat inside. They were going to be dropped off at the hospital once they landed on the planet Gikan's zoo ship was currently residing. "So, keep the necklace on her."

Gikan nodded, stroking his chin. "How big is she?"

"Six feet tall, I think. Maybe a bit bigger. Her wings are probably about as wide as she is tall, and she has a long tail."

Gikan was already calculating how big a cage he would need to keep her in. "How much?"

"20,000 units."

"What?! 10,000 units."

"15,000."

"12,000. Last offer, K'Dhae."

Humming, the Vruttom nodded, "All right, you've got a deal. We'll be arriving in a couple hours, I suspect. And Gikan…don't take off her necklace." The visual message ended.


K'Dhae's small poacher ship soon found the planet, Slomia, where Gikan was stationed. Gikan stepped onto the smaller ship, leaving a large carrier on a low truck outside. "Welcome, old friend." D'Khae greeted, arms stretched outwards.

"It's good to see you too, K'Dhae. Do you still have the dragon?"

"Indeed. Men! Bring her in!"

Four Vruttoms came out of a room, two of each dragging something by a rope. Dragged into the room was Crystal, with her arms and wings still tied up, though her legs were released so she could walk. Her snout was also tied shut by the ropes which she was being dragged by. She tossed her head around, huffing through her nostrils angrily. She glared at all of the aliens in the room, including the new light-orange one.

"So, this is the dragon you picked up from Drakonehm?" Gikan asked.

K'Dhae nodded. Gikan circled around Crystal, who eyed him untrustingly. "Quite an interesting specimen." He said. "And she breathes ice?"

"Just ask our still-critically-cold Vruttoms."

"And she has light-blue stripes and eyes instead of red." One of the Vruttoms holding the dragon added.

"Hmm. She'll make a good addition to my zoo."

"Do you have the units?" K'Dhae asked, rubbing his webbed hands.

Gikan nodded, tossing a closed, metallic box to the yellow alien. "Her carrier is outside. Follow me."

The Vruttoms dragged Crystal, still tossing her head and growling, out of the ship, and into the carrier, where she had to lay down and curl her tail around herself. They reached through closable holes, loosened the ropes around her upper body and snout, and pulled them out and quickly shut the holes.

Crystal shoved her shoulders against the sides of the carrier, roaring and blowing ice out through small holes in the door. All that did was throw tiny ice balls out of her carrier and freeze the inside of the carrier's door.

Gikan laughed loudly. "She does breathe ice! She'll be the star of my collection! She is money well-spent."

"You're welcome, Gikan. Now, if you excuse me, I must escort my thawing Vruttoms to the hospital." D'Khae and the four other Vruttoms turned and went back into the airship.

Gikan grinned down at the carrier. "Yes, money well-spent indeed. Not only do I have a dragon, but one who is almost the size of us aliens, and can breathe ice, despite being born a fire-breather. Today must be my lucky day." Chuckling, he boarded the truck and began driving into his large airship.


A/N I've been kinda influenced in my writing by Stephen King lately (I've been reading Cujo for the past month) It really shows it in Crystal's POV during her "Hulk-out" (unless someone suggests something better, that's what I'll call it when she loses her usekh and turns into her true form) I'm also trying to write action-y scenes, including battle/war scenes a bit more detailed. Speaking of which, I've noticed when I'm describing a scene from a movie, I do pretty well; when I'm describing something in my head, that's another story. Not sure why it is...

I was originally gonna have Crystal be bought by a circus, and put in a lion tamer-esque act. But after a while, I realized this wouldn't really do so well with the story. So, I decided to put her in a zoo, though in this alien's case, "zoo" is used in a loose term. It's more of a collection of animals. I suppose like the Collector from the movie (kind of a weird dude, in my opinion) but with strictly animals.

So, if I write correctly, we should be meeting Rocket and Groot in the next chapter. After that, chapters won't come daily anymore; there'll be a bit of space in between updates.