After their second enjoyable and relaxing mating session, Cyclone and Aurora felt as close to each other as could be. They were still laying down on the flat stone surface in the middle of the waterfall, partially exhausted.
Cyclone laid on his back, letting out a satisfied sigh. "That was relaxing." He said.
"It was." Said Aurora, also laying on her back. "I feel refreshed." she added. Her body still tingled slightly with pleasure as she closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the roaring waterfall and chirping birds.
"Are we planning to go visit our friends today?" Asked Cyclone, remembering the discussion they had earlier.
Aurora rubbed her chin. "The day is still young, I would say so. We've already accomplished so much in such a short amount of time." She said.
"Well the guys usually start meeting around this time. I should probably start heading over there. Are you going to stay here for a bit?" Asked Cyclone as he started to sit up.
Aurora nodded. "I want to lay here for a bit longer before I go meet up with the others. Unfortunately for female dragons like myself, we're a bit more exhausted after having sex compared to males like yourself." she said with her eyes still closed.
Cyclone nodded with a smile, sympathizing with how she felt. "Alright. I hope it goes well for you, today." He said starting to lean over her a bit. "Goodbye, Sweetheart, I love you." He said lowering his head to give her an affectionate kiss on the lips.
Aurora happily accepted his kiss. "Aww..." She said smiling at the fact he called her Sweetheart for the first time. "I love you too."
The two dragons shared a quick affectionate nuzzle before Cyclone slowly slipped into the river and began paddling down the river while Aurora layed back down to rest. He didn't want to take off and start flying in front of her as he didn't want her to feel jealous of him flying since she no longer could.
Once Cyclone was a safe distance away from her he began to beat his wings until he took off flying in the direction of the spot he knew the guys used to meet.
As Cyclone gracefully soared through the air, he gently closed his eyes as he enjoyed the feeling of the wind at his back and the warm sun beating down on his aerial form. As he enjoyed the flight he started to feel sympathetic for his mate as she couldn't enjoy the same simply pleasure of flying that all dragon's enjoyed. Though he still held on to hope that she would recover.
As he soared over the plains, he looked down to see the group of about six males dragons, his old friends. Cyclone smiled and dove down through the air until he came to a gentle stop on the ground.
All of the male dragons looked surprise. Among them was Thunder, Cyclone's long-time friend.
"Well I'll be damned." Said Thunder perking his head up as his old friend descended upon the plains.
When Cyclone was grounded he began to walk over to them. Both he and Thunder started walking towards each other until they collided into a typical masculine headbutt, which was how most male dragon's greeted each other.
Thunder began to overpower him a bit, causing Cyclone to slide back a bit. Thunder looked up and chuckled. "Not exercising as much nowadays?" he said, poking fun.
Cyclone chuckled and mustered his might. He planted his feet firmly on the ground and tensed his muscles, pushing back hard until Thunder fell backwards onto the ground.
"I assure you I still am." said Cyclone.
The group of friends started laughing and embraced each other with their wings as they all gave Cyclone a friendly head butt.
"You're just in time." Said Thunder as he got back up. "We just got here, and we have plenty of fish." He said.
Cyclone looked down to see a pile of fish, specially for them.
"You remember the guys, Gale, Stone, Typhoon, Boulder, and Spark." Said Thunder as he pointed to each of them.
"Of course." Said Cyclone.
Gale stepped up. "Don't think that we haven't forgotten you." he said cockily. "You and I have a score to settle."
Cyclone huffed and raised an eyebrow. "Ah good ol' Gale. Last time I came to one of these meetings I remember giving you quite the smackdown."
Gale shook his head. "A lot has changed since then." He said getting into a combat stance.
Thunder tried to poke into their conversation. "Getting straight down to business are we? Can't we just settle this over a nice fresh pile of fish?" He said, placing his wings around both of them with a big chummy smile.
Cyclone gently eased Thunder off of him. "Relax. I don't mind. It's been awhile since I've had a good friendly spar."
Thunder nodded and shrugged, backing off as he still kept his smile. "Well good luck. Give them some room boys." He said.
The other male dragons backed off to give the battling dragons some space.
Cyclone cracked his neck a bit and stretched. "Alright. Show me what you've learned since last time." He said assuming a steady combat stance, with one front foot forward, the other front foot back. His shoulder and wing faced forward to embrace a heavy blow. It was a defensive combat stance.
Gale immediately began charging forward, expecting Cyclone to budge. However, Cyclone remained firm. When Gale collided with Cyclone, Cyclone's steady stance allowed him to block most of the force.
When they pushed against each other, separating, Gale began unleashing a flurry of swipes from his front claws.
Cyclone began expertly deflecting, blocking, and evading each one of his attacks. Cyclone was a natural combatant. Time seemed to slow down for him, even though Gale was attacking very quickly, Cyclone could see each blow coming as if they were in slow-motion.
Cyclone continued blocking and deflecting his attacks, using his front feet to swat away each and every strike. Once he found a gap in between Gales attacks, he quickly did a 360 degree spin, swiping his tail across the ground.
Gale was swept off of the ground by Cyclone's tail, becoming airborne for a brief moment. During that brief moment Cyclone gave a rough shoulder charge which sent Gale backwards a couple feet before he hit the ground with a thud.
Gale was resilient. He quickly got back up and began to channel the fury of the storm within him. His throat began to glow blue with magical energy until he opened his mouth and unleashed a continuously flowing stream of lightning.
Cyclone held out his front foot, catching the stream of lightning. At first he was a bit overwhelmed but he quickly turned the tide and began absorbing all the energy.
Gale continued breathing lightning continuously, hoping to down him. However, Cyclone grinned as he got the hang of absorbing magic. He kept his foot extended, absorbing all of Gale's damage.
Eventually Gale couldn't keep it up anymore. His stream of lightning stopped and he collapsed to the ground on his belly. Cyclone finished absorbing the rest of his attack until he was done, at which point Cyclone clenched his talons and took a deep breath, feeling invigorated.
He had too much power inside of him and he needed to release it. Cyclone reared up on his hind legs, charging his front ones with Lightning power. After a while of charging up, Cyclone reared back down with a tremendous stomp.
The lightning power traveled underground until it gathered beneath Gale. Gale looked down to see the ground beneath him turn from lush green to bright white. "Damn..." he said before the ground beneath him erupted, sending Gale about thirty feet into the air.
Gale came back down, landing on the grass with a loud thud. Before he could open his eyes, Cyclone was standing above him with his front foot on top of his throat. Though instead of killing him, Cyclone offered his talon to Gale to help him up.
The other Male dragons began clapping, happy to see that their old buddy, Cyclone, hadn't lost a step when it came to combat. There was a sense of brotherly respect and closeness amongst the group. Whenever one of them did something impressive, the others were always ready to support them with pats on the back and a round of cheers.
"You still have much to learn, friend." He said with a smile as he extended his grasp to his good friend to help him up.
Gale sighed and grabbed onto him, getting helped back up to the ground before letting out a sigh. "I guess that's why they call you the best?"
Cyclone chuckled. "You gotta mix brawn with brain. Don't unleash all your power at once, save it for bursts and waves spread out over time." he said, trying to help.
Gale rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah...whatever."
Thunder chuckled and walked forward again, bringing his wings around both of them. "Well done Cyclone. You never cease to amaze." He said with a smile.
Cyclone shrugged and smiled too. "It's what I do." he said cockily.
Thunder turned to Gale. "Don't worry, you're still a drake. When you become a full-grown dragon, you'll learn the ropes, just like all of us." finished Thunder as he looked at both of them with a brotherly smile. "Now who's hungry? We got fish!" He said happily.
Cyclone turned to Gale and gestured toward the fire. "Let's eat." He said with a tone that suggested no hard feelings.
Once the males were gathered around the fire they began to dig into the pile of freshly caught fish and began talking amongst themselves as they enjoyed the healthy benefits of socializing with their fellow brothers.
They all gathered in a circle around the pile of fish as they began to talk to each other.
"So where you been? Why haven't you been seeing us lately?" Asked Spark to Cyclone.
"I've been taking care of Aurora." Cyclone said.
Thunder perked his eyebrows. "Oh interesting. Last time we spoke you were talking to me about how you had feelings for her. I assume you two are getting close now?" He asked.
Cyclone chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck a bit. "Well actually... we're mates now." he said.
The group started to cheer and clap for him all at once, surprised by his news. Cyclone smiled as he enjoyed their reactions.
Cyclone nodded. "Yeah she hurt her wings so I've been taken care of her, helping her to recover. It's been an interesting past couple of days." he said.
"Best be careful and stay on her good side. Being mated isn't always a walk in the park. My mate is a real bitch." Said Stone.
Cyclone narrowed his eyes and tilted his head back a bit, not expecting a bombshell like that to be dropped. "Wow." he said chuckling. "That's cold." he said.
"Whats wrong, Stone?" Asked Gale.
"Ah, lately all she does is nag nag nag complain complain complain, and talk my head off. I look forward to these meetings every day so I can get a break from it all." Said Stone.
Boulder nodded. "Same here. Can't get my mate off my ass for nothing." He said frustrated as he tossed a fish bone into the pile of other fishbones.
"Here here." Said Typhoon. "In the same boat myself."
Cyclone's eyes darted back and forth to each one of them as he was taken away by their gripes. "Wow. I didn't know your mates made you all so unhappy."
"Enough about us, tell us about you and Aurora." Said Spark. "You guys fight often?" he asked.
Cyclone shook his head with a smile. "Never."
Typhoon scoffed. "Come on... there's no such thing as a couple who doesn't fight. There has to be something about her that grinds your gears." he prodded.
Cyclone shook his head. "Sorry to disappoint you all. My relationship with Aurora couldn't be any better. She's nice, she understands me, she doesn't shut me out. We understand each other, we have empathy for each other, and we're always there for each other in the good times and bad." He said.
"Have you guys actually done it yet?" Said boulder with a perked eyebrow.
Cyclone chuckled at his question. "That's inappropriate." he said.
"Come on... you guys have to have done it atleast once. We're all guys here, you can share it with us." Prodded Boulder.
Cyclone shook his head, keeping his warm smile. "Sorry. I know it sounds 'lame' for me to not talk to you about this, but this is how I feel. What me and Aurora do together when we're alone is our privacy. I know we're all guys here, and we can swap stories with each other but I don't think Aurora would be happy if she found out I was telling everyone about our sex life. I certainly wouldn't want her talking about it to her friends." He finished.
Thunder budged in. "Alright alright you guys...leave Cyclone alone. If he doesn't want to talk about it then he doesn't have to." He said as he looked to Cyclone. "I'm really happy for you guys, and I wish you all the best. Sounds like you two have a pretty much perfect relationship." He said with a smile as he patted Cyclone on the back.
Stone scoffed. "No such thing as a perfect relationship. All females have a bitchy side deep down. You may not see it yet but you will soon enough."
Cyclone tilted his head. "What are you talking about?"
Stone looked up to him. "You guys are all happy and lovey-dovey for now. Every relationship starts off easy and happy. Once you guys get used to each other and you get comfortable living together, that's when the fights start happening, and the arguments, and the differences." He said.
Thunder leaned over to speak to Stone. "Do you have to be such a buzzkill?" He said trying to reason with him.
Stone shrugged. "I'm just telling you like it is. I want you to be prepared. One of these days Aurora is going to be all over you, complaining and fussing and throwing a tantrum, just you wait. All women turn into bitches eventually." He said taking a bite out of another fish before throwing the bone into the pile. "One of these days, you'll be so anxious to get away from her that going to these male-only gatherings will be the highlight of your week.
Thunder leaned over to Stone again, trying to scold him for being so negative and ruining their good time.
Cyclone didn't hear what Thunder was saying to Stone. Right now he was looking down at the ground, his eyebrows lowered and a frown on his face. He began to wonder if eventually he and Aurora would be having problems with their relationship. Even the very thought of arguing and being mean to Aurora felt like a dagger in his heart.