A/N I only own Crystal, the species of dragons, and the planet of dragons. Everything else is owned by Disney and Marvel.
The Rainbow Devowerer: Yep :) Glad you like this.
aandm20: Thanks :)
random gal: I figured that would be how Rocket would think at least.
I actually had big writer's block, and was kinda lazy with writing. But I finally got it done.
As Crys settled on a strong tree branch to go to sleep, she thought back to the curious duo who rescued her.
Rocket seemed somewhat rude and greedy. But at the same time, he seemed like he held a lot of secrets. She thought back to when he said he understood what it was like to be in a small cage. And his eyes held sympathy for a minute. So, she wondered what happened to him to cause him to have that sympathy.
And then there was Groot. He was a creature unlike one Crys had ever seen. She had seen trees her whole life, and she had seen her fair share of aliens. But she had never seen an alien tree until that day. Even though most people thought he was simply saying "I am Groot," but to her, and apparently Rocket, he was speaking like any other person. He just didn't say much. And he was quite a friendly and sweet creature. After all, he was the first to see Crys, and actually responded to her plea, and evidently convinced his friend to help as well.
Crys felt Rocket and Groot were one of those duos who when separate, they didn't look like they could go together, but when they were together, they just clicked. And she had seen them in battle. They worked together well in every way.
As she drifted off to sleep, she wondered if they would ever bump into each other again.
Early in the morning, Crys's ear twitched at the sounds of yells from a long ways away. Lifting her head and shaking the sleep from her head, she looked around until she determined which direction the sounds were. Then, she jumped to the ground, stretched, and ran in that direction.
Poking her head through some bushes, she saw Rocket surrounded by several Plalseoes, all holding spears. The furry alien had his ears pinned back, was growling, and his hind leg was bleeding. His gun was held on his back by a leather strap.
Crys leapt up and into the "battlefield," landing near Rocket, on two legs, with a loud thump. The Plalseoes jumped in surprise, but recognized her. "Fancy seein' you again, Crys." Rocket remarked.
"Where's Groot?"
"We got separated. He's probably looking for me."
The Plalseoes finally attacked. Crys leapt into the air, hovered, and spun around, freezing a circle of the Plalseoes and creating a sort of icy crater. Rocket climbed and jumped out of the "crater," but didn't get very far before a Plalseo smacked him to the ground.
Narrowing her eyes, Crys froze the ground under the Plalseoes and Rocket, causing them to slip as they ran. Then, she ran across the ice on all fours, grabbed the back of Rocket's suit in her mouth, and leapt up, pumping her wings.
Blinking in surprise at being suddenly grabbed, Rocket twisted himself around and climbed onto her neck. Her neck spines were short and flexible, and he was able to sit between them directly in front of her usekh.
The Plalseoes didn't give up easily. One who had lost its spear grabbed a rock and threw it at Crys with surprising strength and accuracy. It hit her hard in the leg, causing her to begin falling. She managed to glide further and into a forest before tumbling to the ground, head over heels, making Rocket skid across the ground as well.
Groaning, Crys rubbed the back of her neck, freezing when she didn't feel the hard gold plates. "Oh no!" She gasped. "My usekh!"
"So you lost your necklace," Rocket scoffed standing up slowly. "Big deal."
"You don't understand! I need my…my usekh—" She groaned in pain, clutching her head.
Rocket turned to her, his unspoken harsh words dying in his throat as he saw what the lack of usekh did to Crys. Her cries of pain morphed into angry roars as she grew into a huge dragon, with long back spines, powerful muscles, giant wings, and angry icy-blue eyes. She threw her head back in a mighty roar.
The Plalseoes, who came running, froze at the sight of the angry dragon. Growing, Crys advanced towards them, baring her sharp teeth.
I'm not giving you my usekh. It goes where I go. It's more important to me than just how much it's worth…If it's removed from me…it's dangerous. Rocket's mind played back the hidden warnings Crys gave him and Groot when the furry alien tried to take the usekh for money. He found himself looking around for the gold necklace, hoping the rogue dragon didn't find him as she chased, froze, and fought the Plalseoes.
Finally, he found the usekh. It had grown when it fell off of Crys's neck, but was the same as it had been before: same golden plates, and same large purple diamonds.
Rocket stared at the large necklace with greedy eyes, trying to calculate how much it would go for in the black market. But the small logical part of his mind said that Crys would continue to rage without the usekh, and possibly go after him should he run with it.
Finally, a familiar alien ran through the trees, black eyes lighting up when he saw his friend. He froze when he saw Crys as a raging, huge dragon, and stared at Rocket, who still held the usekh. "I am Groot?" [What's happened?]
"This is why she needs her necklace, buddy." Rocket said, standing. He looped the usekh around his shoulder and stood up, finally making a decision. "Distract her, and I'll try and get it back on her. Just be careful, she has ice breath."
Groot nodded, and lifted Rocket onto his own broad shoulders. He ran with long strides to the still-roaring dragon, who had just frozen the last Plalseo.
Crys turned to the Flora Colossus running towards her, and narrowed her eyes. She breathed an ice beam to him, but he jumped to the side with surprising speed, and threw out his long arm towards her. His arm and fingers grew and grabbed her snout, clamping it shut. Rocket ran up Groot's arm and clung to the dragon's neck as she pulled away from Groot, ripping his arm in half, and began tossing her head around.
Groot backed away from her, roaring at her to keep her distracted. She chased after him, growing, with steam appearing to blow out of her nose, similar to one's breath being seen when the air was cold.
Rocket scurried up to Crys's head, hanging on as tight as he could with his legs just behind her horns. He pulled the usekh off of his shoulder, stretched forward, and swung the necklace, managing to hook it around the end of her snout. Before she could notice him, he pulled it down over her ears and horns, and slid backwards down her neck.
Crys began shrinking, groaning in pain again as her body shrunk and rearranged its bones and limbs. Rocket fell off of her, but was caught by Groot before he hit the ground. Cry collapsed on the ground as her body was finally back to the form she had lived as for over a year. She pushed herself up, groaning in pain, as the memories of the past several minutes came back: finding Rocket, helping and rescuing him from the Plalseoes, losing her usekh, and thus going rogue.
She held a hand over her eyes, sighing heavily. She had endangered both of her new friends—she vaguely remembered Groot coming and distracting her—and they had seen how dangerous she could be without her usekh. Part of her was glad Rocket had seen the dangers, but she still felt bad.
Groot slowly approached Crys, ignoring Rocket's hisses to leave her alone, and crouched on one knee by her. He felt her guilt and sorrow, and somehow knew she hadn't meant to go rogue. Rocket had told him all he knew about dragons the previous night, including that they normally looked like how Crys looked today without her usekh. So her usekh must have some form of magic concealing her true form.
He laid his hand on her shoulder, ignoring her flinch, and smiled gently down at her as she turned to look at him, tears in her eyes. He moved his hand up to stroke down her head and rub behind one ear.
Sniffling, Crys nudged her head against his chest, muttering that she was sorry. Groot said nothing, and wrapped his arm across her shoulders.
Rocket stood off to the side, staring at the strange sight of a dragon, who had previously roared and attacked like a wild animal, being comforted by a gentle giant of a Flora Colossus. He slowly approached them, eyeing Crys as tears ran down her round furry cheeks.
She saw him out of the corner of her eye. She turned to him and said, "Rocket…I'm so sorry."
"…Now I know what you meant by it being dangerous if you lost your usekh." He chuckled dryly. One eye squinted as a small pulse of pain shot through his still-injured leg.
Crys's ears perked up at the dried blood on the furry alien's pants, remembering when she first saw him among the Plalseoes. "You're injured!"
Eyes widening, Groot left the dragon, grabbed up his friend, and ran out of the forest. Cocking her head, Crys followed after them.
They came upon a small camp, with a put-out fire, small sleeping bag, and a white box with a red plus on it. It was a wonder no one found the camp.
Groot set Rocket down and managed to open the box with one hand, as his other had been reduced to a few roots. He took out some wide bandages as Rocket pulled the leg of his pants up.
Crys took the bandages and tore them into thinner strips while Groot cleaned Rocket's leg and covered it in medicine. Crys helped the Flora Colossus dress the furry alien's wound.
"So, what's the deal with that necklace?" Rocket asked. "And what exactly is your story?"
"Like I said, it was a treasure on Drakonehm. It turns the wearer into this form, but at a heavy price: our true forms are constrained, and when the usekh is removed…I have a theory that the magic creates energy in order to constrain our true forms, and when the magic is taken away, and the energy causes us to turn into our true forms, the energy causes our aggression to skyrocket. But sometimes things just can't be explained, I suppose. For me, it's both a gift and a curse."
"I am Groot?" [Why did you steal it in the first place?] Groot asked.
Taking a deep breath, Crys said, "Let's just say in my clan, an Ignis that breathes ice…I'm surprised I'm still alive. Something happened…something horrible…and I just left." She shuddered at the memories. Groot and Rocket glanced at each other in confusion. "I just wanted to be different. Not necessarily when it comes to my ice breath, but…I didn't want to be the same dragon as…that day. The fear of becoming that dragon, of having that rage…that makes me more scared about losing my usekh than any other dragon wearing it."
Rocket and Groot figured they wouldn't get the "something horrible" out of Crys anytime soon, but they mostly understood why she wanted the usekh. "Um…thanks, for back there, I guess." Rocket said.
Crys smiled, understanding that he didn't usually thank people, except for Groot, for helping him. "Certainly. I'm sorry that you had to see me at my worse."
"Well, what're you gonna do now?"
"Honestly…I have no idea. I guess avoid getting caught again? I'm a long, long away from home…but I don't want to go back home."
Suddenly, there was a sharp, short whoosh. Rocket yelped in pain, reaching back to feel his shoulder. His eyes widened when he felt a dart. "Oh, sh—" He fell unconscious.
"I am Groot!" [Run!] Groot exclaimed, grabbing up the furry alien.
Crys took off deeper into the forest, slowing down when she didn't hear the heavy footsteps behind her anymore. Looking back, she saw Groot surrounded by several purple aliens with long hooved legs, large tusks poking out of the corners of their mouths, and blue horse-like tails. They were all wearing gray clothing with golden badges.
Crys ran back to Groot and Rocket, who was still unconscious, and froze one alien. Another alien shot a dart at her, getting her in the left thigh. She growled in pain and staggered on her feet, moaning as she collapsed on the ground. The purple aliens and Groot stared down at her as her vision darkened.
A/N As I said earlier, I had a lot of writer's block with this chapter, and was kinda lazy about getting it done. Hopefully, though, it's still going fine.
One scene I always had in mind, before I wrote this story, was Crys freezing the ground when she and/or Rocket are fighting other aliens; then she slides on her belly, grabbing Rocket by the back of his shirt as she slides by him. This chapter also kinda shows how big she is compared to at least Rocket: he's able to ride on her neck/shoulders just fine.
I'm not sure if I described how her back spines looked when she's in anthro-form (in her true form, they're long and thin like icicles) But I felt it would look better if they were short. I'm not sure if it would be "anatomically-correct" for them to be flexible. I tend to add logic to my stories, but I also try to remember that most of the fanfics I write are based on fantasy.
Now Rocket's seen what the lack of usekh does to Crys. I hope he wasn't too OOC in deciding to give it back to her. But I think even if he tried to leave, Groot would catch him and convince him to give it back to her.
If you're wondering how Rocket can do all that with an injured leg...adrenalin's an interesting thing ;)
I was originally gonna have her join Rocket and Groot after the whole fiasco, but it didn't seem right. I was planning on having them get caught and imprisoned anyway (it's how Crys gets her "criminal reputation") so I felt this would be better.
The aliens that caught them are called Draalps. The name was from Fantasy Name Generators, while the description was briefly taken from Alien Species Generator at Scifi Names. Again, I tend to not be good at coming up with alien species ^^;
Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long to write and upload as this one did.