Marshal froze, his magic sort of went into standby, as he took in those words. It would make sense, in a way, he was here who was to say there could not be others, but to check, "Where would we meet up?"

The newly Named Josef smiled, "Edge of the Lunch area, next to the Gym."

Marshal let out a happy huff as he released his tension and stood up normally, his magic dispersing returning the area to normal, "I...Damn man, it is good to see you."

Josef had an ever growing smile, "I can say the same about you. Can't even begin to tell how many people are going be happy to see you, myself included."

Marshal's head pulled up, his neck stiffening, "Wait, there's more from home?"

Josef nodded, "Yea a whole lot of us not far from here. It has been hard, but were living...more or less." There was a bit of bite at the end there.

Marshal smirked, he knew his friend, "Really? Sounds like you have an ax to grind."

Josef snorted/growled, "More just how everyone is being an idiot. They're not even trying to find others or explore, or even see if more families around."

"Families?"

"Yup, I said there were a lot of us. but there isn't a single one over 18, sure a few are a bit close, but they are still 18."

Spyro entered the conversation, "There isn't a single adult? Sounds like a dream."

Josef looked at the purple dragon, "You haven't dealt with 4 to 11-year-olds who are used to be attached to their parents at the hip."

Marshal sighed, cutting off anything further, "Alright. So this is definitely something." He looks to those he arrived with, "Would you be alright with checking it out."

While Spyro and Cynder nodded in unison Cypha simply rolled his eyes and got up from his sitting position. He was at the point where he was figuring that moving in numbers was better than anything else. If the number dreadwings kept on the currently rising course his forest was not going to calm any time soon, so why not see where all this was going.

Josef blinked a few times before responding, "Um...Alright. I guess I can take you there. Just...watch out."

Marshal sighed, "Josef, I can take care of myself. Now come on, Lead the way."

Josef gave one last shrug before turning and started to walk, the four of them following directly behind.

The walk was silent, all five of them on edge. The reasonings were all slightly different but it all mostly revolved around what was to come. So when the ground started to rise and then give way to reveal a hole in the rising dirt, they did not even stop but were at least glad to know they were close.

It was a long tunnel, but well worth the wait and darkness though. When they reached the other side, it could be said they found a wonder of nature.

It was a half-dome cave, taller than most skyscrapers. Crystals covered most of the upper reaches producing a soft yet sufficient light. At the end of the cave, instead of open air, there was instead some of the largest trees to ever have existed. These things made Redwood trees Look small. You could barely even see the actual canopies; they were almost level with the roof of the cave. There were thousands of branches all most all the way down the truck, some even looking liking trees in their own right. And the roots, the only way to describe them were a tangled mess which was so massive a dragon could be inside, and you would never know.

Marshal had to squint, but it also looked like there was something along some of the lower branches and near the roots of the trees but it was way too far away to see.

What did catch his attention was much closer, and he was not the only one.

All around the non-tree covered area, everything truly within the cave was dragons. And just like Josef said, there was not a single adult in sight. But what shocked Marshal, and at the same time horrified Spyro and Cynder, was the condition of the dragons. If it could be summed in a word, it would be they looked Homeless.

Almost every single dragon looked roughed, underfeed, uncleaned, some defeated, and overall lost. This was a group of dragons who had nowhere to go, and had no clue what to do and were slowly waisting for it. It almost made the three of them angry, but they rained it in, they needed more information.

Cypha was almost entirely unaffected; he was more impressed with the numbers than any emotions brought up by their conditions. He had personally been in worse.

Josef noticed their reactions, but before he could turn to address it, there was an interruption.

"Josef! Where the hell have you been, we told everyone not to exit the cave."

Josef turned his head back forward to look at the speaker, while Marshal, Spyro, Cynder, and Cypha all leaned to one side or the other to see the speaker past the one in front of them.

The Speaker in question was a dark green with a dirt brown chest. He had two horns that leaned back from his skull and were rather short; his tale had the look of a sledgehammer. The fins running down his back looked like small squares. And his wings were almost pure brown. Compared to him Marshal only came halfway up the guy's neck. He also looked just as annoyed as he was angry, at least that is what his gray eyes seemed to broadcast.

Josef had rolled eyes before he responded, "I needed to clear my head, Harild. And even if that was the reason, I don't give a crap about your rules…"

Harild was having none of it. He was instantly in Josef's face, glaring down at him. If Harild was bigger than Marshal, then he was a giant compared to Josef. It was an impressive sight; lesser creatures would have flinched. Josef...did not notice.

"Those rules are there so that you don't get yourself killed. You don't know who could be out there."

Marshal rose an eyeridge; he almost wanted to say something. But instead, he let Josef try and handle it, "Big hairy apes, oversized bats and none of you idiots. That's what out there."

Harild growled, "What does it take to get this through that steel-plated skull of yours. You can't fight, you won't survive if you keep going out there. It is so easy to get the drop you, all of you, that those apes could kill you before you even know they are there."

Marshal could not hold in the snort or the following comment, "He's got a point, Josef. You did look like you were in a bad spot when we got to you."

Harild's head swung up at the snort, his eyes narrowing as Marshal talked, rapidly jumping between Marshal and the three behind him.

Marshal almost did not hear the mumbling that soon came out of Harild's muzzle, the fact that they were in Spanish of all things did not help either, his understanding was rather patchy, "*Four, all three looking weird, what the hell? Is that deer pelt? What is with these guys, we got enough trouble as it is."

Josef did not understand Spanish, but Harild had noticed those with him so he figured he could at least introduce the one he knew. "Marshal, this is Harild. As you can probably guess, he kind of tries and act as the muscle. Harild this is Marshal, he's a friend from school. The other three are friends that he made."

Harild went back to glaring, "I don't care if they taken on army killers, you shouldn't have brought them straight here…"

"Five."

The unexpected response brought Harild up short; he looks straight at the speaker, "What?"

The Purple Dragon shrugged, "I've taken down Five 'army Killers' as you call them." Motioning to Cynder as he continued, "She helped with three of them. The first one when I was twelve, the next not even a year later, and the last three...the first one took out three of the strongest dragons I know before we got a crack at it, but all three of them we took on within hours of each other."

Harild blinked, trying to mentally process that. He was not the only one, there were quite a few overhearing this whole exchange, and the news was spreading just as fast. A group was forming to see what was going on. Say what you will be teens and their juniors, but they are curious as hell.

Harild recovered with a shake of his head, "Great; you can fight, and have power. And I care why?"

Marshal dropped in, trying to at least keep things semi-calm, "They're locals, all three of them. Whatever trouble you seem to be having, and don't lie you are having problems, they can help."

"We already got local help. I doubt more mouths to feed, more bodies to protect is going to be a vast improvement."

Cynder smirked, "We can feed and protect ourselves."

"That's not the Point!"

"Harild! What the heck is going on."

Harild's face flashed through several different levels of anger before becoming neutral and turning to look at the newest arrival. The dragon now arriving on scene was a dark red through much of his body with his chest in a lighter shade. His two horns were coming straight out of his skull and looked like that of ram's, his tale had a dagger look to it, nothing running down his back, and his wings had a brown shade to them. He was almost the same height as Marshal.

"Horhe. I got this. Just Josef finding some strays."

Horhe growled more than snorted, "Great, more guys who don't know how things work." He looked at the group, "I don't know where you came from but get lost. We have enough slackers already."

Marshal raised an eyeridge, "Slackers? To me, it looks more like you have a bunch of kids with too much time on their paws, nothing to do, and no motivation to do anything about it."

"Congratulations, you can see. Now get lost."

Now Marshal was getting aggravated, "What the hell is your problem? We just got here; you don't even know us or what we can do, or even what we've already gone through and you're already making the worst judgment possible."

"I don't have to explain myself to you, Just Leave." Horhe was getting worked up; his stance showed that.

Marshal's eyes narrowed, his own stance tensing, "Make me."

There was no thought, no time to change what was to happen. One moment Horhe was glaring, the next his head snapping further letting loose a stream of fire.

Everyone watching instantly jumped back and away. Marshal, however, was unable, the Fire Breath was quick and accurate and in an instant was enveloped in flames.

Horhe soon stopped, but the flames kept a bit thanks to his magic still holding form. "There, now we shouldn't ha…"

Before Horhe could finish, Marshal responded. He had been able to get his left wing between him and the fire, and with a buffering of wind running across it, was able to prevent himself from being harmed. When Horhe started talking, he swept that same wing back, cupping the fire and throwing it up and behind him to quickly go out. With the same motion, his right wing swept up along the ground and snapped to attention pointing at Horhe, this action creating a horizontal cyclone. The attack struck Horhe dead on, sending him tumbling like a rag doll for quite a distance before crashing into the ground.

No one moved, no one acted. Well, almost no one. Cypha was first staring hard at Marshal, then when he counter-attacked, he was looking between where Horhe went and Marshal himself. He eventually shook his head; the guy was a bit of an ass, he did not feel the need to heal him.

The silence was broken by an amazed whistle, "Marshal, You have got to tell me how you did that."

Marshal blinked several times, clearing the fog from his brain. Then he looked at his attack wing, and then at Cynder. "I...I actually don't know how I just did that. I sort of just...did it?"

Cynder chuckled and shook her head while Harild sighed and turned away, "Alright, I give. You think you can do better. Have at it; You can deal with this mess."

Marshal's head snapped to him, "Wait, What."

Harild looked back at Marshal, "You just took out the strongest guy here with, almost literally I might add, a flick of the wrist. I couldn't stop you no matter what I try, so why bother. You think you can do better, prove it. All of these dragons are your problem now."

Marshal could only stare blankly after the retreating form of Harild and wonder what the heck he had just gotten himself into. And he was even trying!

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"And there is nothing we can do?"

"Not easily, the Dark Forces keeping hitting all of the steady supplies trying to keep themselves up. Unless…"

"I get it...Why is it that no good deed goes unpunished?"

"Maybe what we're doing isn't so much a good deed as going overboard. I mean there are over a thousand dragons out there Claw. We CAN'T support them and the village at the same time."

Furred paws were slammed onto the table in front of them, "I am aware of that. But we can't tell them to go away. You know they'll only get killed or worse."

"Then we'd have better figure something out soon."

"We will...we'll have to." The paws reached up and rubbed an equally furry face. "We'll...We will figure something out, Just...Just tell the village to wait a little longer."

"They aren't…"

The paws now flipped over the table, "I don't care if they don't like it." A few deep breaths, "Just...Have faith. The spirits have never failed this Clan before."

A sigh returned, "Alright….alright….I'll…"

A door opened, flooding the rather dark room with light, revealing two, two-legged, leathered covered Foxes within. "Sorry for the interruption, but the dragons are a bit...antsy over something going on near the tunnel."

The table flipper, Claw, sighed, "I'll be right up." He turns to whom he was speaking to before, "Have faith." Without another word he exits the Root Walled room, he had been in and out into the light. The Giant's Trees towered directly above him, having just come out of one the many buildings from within the roots. His Brown colored Fur caught the light, as did the giant edge boomerang attached to his back. Claw spent no time on either, outside he could see what the Guard meant, the Dragons were agitated, and agitated dragons usually meant bad things for the village.

So with no hesitation, Claw headed into the mass of dragons. Four additional Foxes, his Personal Guard followed directly behind him.

The first sign of what was going on was the sight of a familiar Red Colored Dragon tumbling through the air as if he was nothing more than a leaf in the wind.

Typically Claw would be looking for that dragon, but at that time his only thought was, "I hope he didn't land on anyone.." Beyond that, it was moving to discover what had caused such a sight.

He soon came across the second one he frequently talked to, "Harild, What is going on? I could have sworn I just saw Horhe imitating leaf in the wind."

Harild looked at Claw his face neutral, "Not all that long story even shorter, Powerful Dragon comes, and thinks he knows better. So after Horhe exited stage left, figured why not let him try. The new Boss is back the way I came. Oh, and did you see where Horhe landed? Need to make sure he didn't fall on someone...or was physically hurt."

Claw quickly pointed the way, but his mind was on those few sentences. He had to figure out what was going on, fast. Horhe was rather strong, and if he got taken out so quickly...just how strong was this new dragon...and more importantly what did it all mean.

Thankfully it was not all that hard to see who the new dragon in charge was, he was surrounded by a lot of other dragons. The dragon himself was also odd, The Leather armor he had on was a style he had never seen before, the wings looked much bigger than they should have been and the tail was one of the more complex he had seen. The most scales he could see was the neck up; whatever had been done to that leather armor it did an excellent job of covering the kid. The only real downside he could see with the kid right now was he looked so lost it would have been funny in a different situation.

Unfortunately, this was not a situation in which this was funny. He needed to know what was going on, and he needed it now. With steal in his spine and determination plastered on his face, he marched onward.

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Marshal was really out of his depth, those near him were not of much help, and those he came with seemed to be watching the fun, while also ignoring the many stares that were being sent their way. And then he sees something out of the corner of his eye, a bizarre something even for what he has already encountered while on this world.

A group of bipedal foxes, full blown anthropomorphic 5 feet something Foxes. And these Foxes were covered in what had to be Leather Armor, some with swords on their hips, others crossbows and all of them with Huge Boomerang strapped to their backs.

The other dragons that had been here awhile where moving out of the way of the advancing foxes creating a clear path towards Marshal. We'll he hoped it was him and not any of the three locals behind him, that would make things real difficult fast.

AN: Dear god...this fought me way too much. Heck, I actually wanted to go further but couldn't figure out how to get there, and thus it ended when it did. Next chapter is going to be a bit of a jump, simply because I can not, For the life of me, figure out how to word it right or even figure out how it goes down. If I do figure that out, you'll be seeing it at some point.

The main reason this gave me so much trouble was that here, I travel even further off what my original draft was and really have to basically start from scratch, and it only gets worse. In the original, I introduced a lot more characters up right and did some weird test for Marshal to take over a lesser position and then in the next chapter he 1v2 Harild and Horhe to gain the top spot. But after thinking it over, I realized that was giving these guys way to much credit. Marshal isn't THAT good yet, and no one here has that grade of leadership skills yet. I find this to make at least a bit more sense, and given the fact that I modified my original timeline to also make more sense, I have time to advance these guys in not only combat skills but other skills as well.

But for this chapter, I wanted the sense to be...they're in a bad place, have no clue what is going on, and the strongest are the only ones with the drive to do anything. Now weather that anything is a good thing or not is up to the reader. Hopefully, next chapter will be able to expand on it more. Speaking of which...I am sorry for the update rate, I am horrible at that.

Hopefully, as this goes on, and I get to more interesting/action packed sections I can do this much faster. For some reason, those areas are more stuck in my brain than any other. Then again that might be because I'm not much for the conversation pieces and it always feels clunky to me for some reason. Don't be surprised if we get entire chapters dedicated a single 1v1 fight in a massive battle (I promise those fights will be important characters and I will get to other important bits of the fight somewhere).

Characters:

Cypha belongs to Syphon Aura.

As for the rest...I think you've gotten the message by now. From here on out, only newly named characters will be shown down here.

Also on a side note, that rendition I mentioned Last chapter...I actually went and worked on it a bit. Figured out a name, "Warriors of the Fallen." I'm still shaky about doing much more than work on it at this point, but if people are interested, I might think about posting it.

And that's all from me, So until we meet again, Happy reading.