Finally, a new chapter!
I apologize for the wait. This chapter wasn't really hard to write out, just that I sort of got distracted reading another fanfiction (It was very good!). So good, in fact, that it removed 3 days of writing time from this story. Oops.
Also, if you noticed the chapter count drop by 1, don't worry! I simply merged Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 into one chapter.
Also, every chapter has a name now! This is just to give each chapter more... personality? I don't know, I just had the urge to name all of the chapters.
So, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
POV: Harvey
The sun was shining onto Harvey's skin, threatening to give a sunburn if he stayed too long. Waves crashed onto the beach, just like how it did on Earth. Hell, it even sounded the same. Hissss, shhhhh, hisssss, shhhhh the waves went.
For the first time in weeks, Harvey could finally truly relax. He spent 2 weeks in the Rainforest, trying to replicate a bike and produce some electricity. That didn't really leave any room for relaxing, not even for a bit.
Back on Earth, if he had to pick a place to live, he would have picked a beach house along the coast. Something about the ocean and the beaches of Florida really calmed him down. So it was no surprise that this island immediately relaxed him.
Of course, Darkstalker was still probably hunting for him. And, since he had magic, it was pretty likely that all of the queens were notified of the escape. Come to think of it, why didn't he just teleport to me?
The strange magic blocking properties of the moon rock probably had something to do with it, although the specifics of the properties Harvey didn't quite know. And there was probably no way to figure out what they were, at least until Darkstalker could be defeated.
Assuming, of course, that he can be defeated.
Since Cyclone left to go search for his family about 20 minutes ago, Harvey had been exploring the area around the house. There were various small patches of trees behind it, all of them looking exactly like palm trees on Earth.
Grinning, Harvey sat down under a tree and rested his back on it. Right now, he was feeling much like the characters from the 20th century movies, where they would get stuck on a deserted island. All that's missing is a shipwreck laying on the beach.
Those thoughts about movies lead to Harvey thinking about his life on Earth. It's weird not being surrounded by technology everywhere you go.
He thought about Earth for the whole day, until night was starting to fall. A soft wind began to blow, which reminded Harvey that he needed to build a campfire. Luckily for him, there was a fallen tree in the distance that he could use for wood.
After building a small campfire, he once again sat under the palm tree, contemplating about what to do now. What if Cyclone doesn't come back? He did say he regretted freeing me, but only because it meant he couldn't see his family or friends again.
Well, whatever Cyclone chose, Harvey would accept it. After all, even if aging seemed a little weird for dragons, five years old was still really young. He deserves to pick his life and do whatever he wanted with it.
Harvey let out a yawn. The massive amount of thinking he had done that day was getting to him. Plus, he didn't sleep too well last night.
He closed his eyes, wondering what events would occur the next day.
June 21, 2106. 2:24 AM.
It was late and Harvey was playing some games on his computer. He wasn't tired, his senior year was finally over and some friends asked him to play some weird new game. It reminded him of a game he read in a book once, about an orange who was sentient and had a desire to eliminate the world.
The game was actually pretty fun, and his friends were all laughing at the weird jokes. Harvey was too, of course. As he did, though, his holophone began to ring unexpectedly.
"Be right back", Harvey had said. Who in the world would call at 2:24 in the morning?!
He grabbed the phone and read the number. It seemed unrecognizable, so Harvey just simply let it go into his voicemail. What he heard, though, chilled him down to the bone.
"This is Jimmy Fairfield. I'm here calling for help", the voice began calmly. "I know we had our differences, Harvey Winston, but this is very important. Call me back when you can". BEEP.
Right after, Harvey dialed the number and waited for the other side to pick up. Strangely, though, it went right to voicemail. He tried again, perhaps dialing something wrong, but it did the same thing.
Perhaps he would try again in the morning. So that's what he did; he waited until the next morning. He dialed the number again, but this time, someone did pick up.
"Juke Products Incorporated. How may I help you?", a different voice asked. Thanks to the holophone, it also showed a vague outline of the person on the other side.
"Uh, I'm looking for a 'Jimmy Fairfield'. I received a call last night from this number", Harvey replied.
"Hold on", the person said, holding up a hand. They appeared to be looking up something on a computer off to the side. "I'm sorry, we do not have a 'Jimmy Fairfield' in our employee directory".
"But I received a call from this line last night! 2:24 AM GST!", Harvey protested. "Can't you check the records?".
Once again, the person went off to the side. "I'm sorry, the latest call was at 11:52 PM GST. You must be mistaken, sir", they said after checking.
Harvey hung up the holophone, internally confused. If the number he called was a company, then how did Jimmy call him? The questions swirled through his head as he tried thinking of what happened.
Eventually, however, Harvey simply forgot about it. For a few weeks, nothing happened again. He simply moved on with life, playing games and taking the occasional class.
At least, until July 14. The day of the most popular space festival, where new and old rockets were celebrated. Harvey had taken the nearby tram to the place, which looked as glamorous as ever.
Harvey was walking up to the stand in order to buy tickets, but not before he was abruptly stopped by a stranger. They were wearing a full black outfit, much like an 'undercover' spy from the movies.
"Harvey Winston, correct?", the stranger asked, with the deepest voice ever.
"U-Uh… no?", Harvey replied.
The stranger, instead of walking off, roughly grabbed Harvey's arm and pulled him off to a secluded area of the festival.
"Don't play those tricks, fool", the stranger said ominously. "I can recognize you from anywhere".
"W-What do you mean? Who the hell are you?", Harvey demanded.
"You don't recognize me, Harvey? Wow, I'm mildly offended", they replied. "They call me the biggest rival, the one that began your downfall".
Despite the weird names, Harvey immediately knew who it was. "J-Jimmy?!".
Jimmy let out a laugh. "Oh, NOW you know. Of course", he said. "I saw you called back the number".
"Yeah. Why did you call me?", Harvey asked. He forgot about that, until Jimmy brought it up.
He responded in a hushed tone. "Never tell another soul about this shit. Promise?".
Harvey was a little startled, but he relented. "P-Promise".
Jimmy gave Harvey a grin. "The Galactic Space Agency has finally done it", he said.
"Done… what?".
"Aliens. They have finally been found", Jimmy said, a gleam in his eyes. "A planet with alien lifeforms was detected and a crew is on their way".
Harvey's jaw dropped. "Y-Y-You're joking….", he stammered out. If this was true, then the world would no doubt go crazy.
"No jokes from the Chess Master", Jimmy said, putting on a smirk.
Something was still nagging at Harvey's mind, however. "B-But you said you needed… my help".
"And you helped!", Jimmy exclaimed. "I literally couldn't hold it in anymore. It felt like I was going to explode!".
In response, Harvey gave Jimmy a confused look. "So…. why didn't you tell your friends?", he asked.
The smirk on Jimmy's face disappeared. "They suck at keeping secrets. And while I personally don't like you, at least you can keep one", he said.
"O...k. Anything else you need to tell me?", Harvey asked.
Jimmy chuckled. "No. In fact, nothing ever happened", he said, before suddenly walking off. He got into a car and drove off quickly, as if he didn't want to be seen.
That was probably the weirdest conversation I've ever had. How did Jimmy know, and what if he was pulling Harvey's leg? Did the GSA truly find the alien planet?
Later, Harvey would discover that Jimmy was not pulling his leg. About a few weeks after, the announcement was made that an alien world had finally been found. It remained on the news feeds for weeks, the media pulling out all of the information they could.
It had made him wonder, however. Was he serious that I could keep a secret better than his friends? How did his ultimate rival trust Harvey more than his own friends? The concept didn't make sense to him.
And even as he traveled through space and landed on a planet full of dragons, those questions continued to mystify him.
Maybe he would never know.
Harvey opened his eyes slowly, only to see a dragon sleeping right next to him. He jumped away in fear, before realizing it was just Cyclone. Guess he finished whatever he was doing underwater.
He cautiously stepped around Cyclone, making sure to not wake him up. Better let the guy sleep. Who knows what happened last night.
The sun was starting to rise, brightening the ocean around the island. Harvey walked over to the beach to admire it, sitting down on the sand. For a few moments, he simply allowed his worries to flow away.
It was pretty peaceful on the island this morning. Just the noises of the waves crashing on the shore, the seagulls squawking, the two voices talking loudly, the wind-
...
VOICES?!
Without thinking, Harvey scrambled to get back up and dashed behind the nearest tree, not bothering to stay quiet at all. He needed to get back to Cyclone and get off this island ASAP.
Before Harvey could move an inch, however, the voices somehow got turned up a notch. He could start making out the words.
"...I'm telling you! These are the queen's orders!".
"IMPOSSIBLE! Why would the queen buy an entire island, only to give it right away to Darkstalker?!".
This conversation sounds important.
"Don't ask me! Ask the QUEEN HERSELF!".
"HOW DO WE KNOW THESE ORDERS ARE REAL?!".
"BECAUSE I WAS GIVEN THEM DIRECTLY FROM THE QUEEN!".
The two dragons continued to argue loudly, with one of them arguing the orders aren't real and the other defending themselves. Harvey stuck around, in hopes of maybe hearing what the orders were exactly, but all he got was that the island was supposed to be transferred to Darkstalker.
That's kind of weird, what's so special about this island? And more importantly, whatever was special about it, why did Darkstalker want it? It mystified Harvey, but he knew he couldn't think about it for long.
Harvey quietly returned to Cyclone, who was still sleeping peacefully. The yelling wasn't that loud out here, so it probably wasn't enough to wake him up.
"Cyclone! Get up!", Harvey exclaimed, trying to shake Cyclone awake. Although, shaking a dragon awake wasn't exactly the easiest task in the world. "We gotta leave now!".
"Ugh, just let me sleeeeep", Cyclone moaned out, opening his eyes slightly. "O-Oh. Hey s-scavenger. Am I still dreaming?".
He sighed. "No, Cyclone, it's Harvey. And we sorta need to get outta here!", Harvey exclaimed.
Suddenly, Cyclone's eyes widened. "R-Right!", he exclaimed, hopping onto his legs. "Why do we have to leave now? Can't we just- are those voices?".
"Exactly! Fly now, talk later!", Harvey shouted, climbing up Cyclone's back as quick as he could. Without another word, they were in the skies, making sure to put distance between them and the island.
No words were spoken, as Cyclone was focusing on flying and Harvey didn't want to bother with that. A few other Seawings were out and about, but most of them kept their distance and didn't bother to pay attention to a human riding a dragon.
After flying in the air for a while (Harvey lost track of time), they finally descended onto a really small island jutting out of the water. It could probably only fit 4 dragons on it, and the water occasionally splashed all over Cyclone and Harvey. Ack. Now my clothes are wet!
"Whew.. that was… tiring", Cyclone uttered out, taking deep breaths. "Tell me… why we're here… early in the morning..".
Harvey sighed. "Sorry about that, Cy. Two dragons were arguing nearby. Got worried that they were coming", he said. Another wave crashed onto the small island, soaking them both.
Cyclone shok himself, spraying water droplets everywhere, before raising an eye ridge. "What were they… arguing about?", he asked.
"Something about orders from the queen", Harvey explained. "Buying an entire island and then giving it to Darkstalker. Didn't quite get the details".
"I wonder if they were talking about the island we were on….", Cyclone murmured to himself, although Harvey overheard it.
"Why would they be talking about that island?", Harvey asked, confused. "You said it was your family's vacation home". As he asked that, a seagull above squawked at Harvey, giving a strange look.
A sigh came from the Seawing. "My mom said they were selling the house", Cyclone said, turning to stare up at the Seagull. "Maybe she meant the whole island. After all, they apparently offered a fortune for the place".
That's weird. Why would they spend a large sum of money to buy an island then? Only to then give it to Darkstalker?
"I wonder why they did that, just to give it to Darkstalker", Cyclone continued, echoing Harvey's thoughts. "Seems a little suspicious, right?".
"Yeah", Harvey replied, staring up at the seagull from before. It was circling around the two, squawking loudly. Frankly, it was starting to really annoy him. "Seagull! Shut the hell up!".
The seagull squawked back, before unexpectedly flying off into the distance. Wow, that actually worked. Note to self: be rude to seagulls to make them go away.
"That reminds me", Harvey began. "What happened yesterday? Did you meet your friends or whatever?".
"W-Well. I did, but it didn't go quite how I expected", Cyclone replied hesitantly. "Some arguments, then we made up, then-".
"Whoa whoa, slow down", Harvey cut in. "Tell me what happened fully".
And so, Cyclone told Harvey the whole story. He explained who his two friends were, what happened between them and how they made up at the end. Harvey listened intently, trying to push away the sounds of the waves crashing on the island. Although, twice, a big wave soaked them both, forcing Cyclone to pause for a moment while the two dried up.
"I-I hope they're doing alright", Cyclone murmured, once he finished explaining the story. "They'll be great together".
Either Harvey's ears were tricking him, or Cyclone sounded a bit dejected saying that sentence. Strange…. I'll probably have to ask about that later. Right now isn't a good time.
"Sounds like they treated you perfectly well", Harvey said sarcastically.
"Y-Yeah…..", Cyclone replied dejectedly. "Neither of them are coming, so it's just us two. Stinks we got no allies…".
"Hey hey. Just because the Seawings weren't helpful doesn't mean that the other tribes will be!", Harvey exclaimed, just before being sprayed by another wave. "Jesus christ, will these waves stop?!".
Cyclone gave Harvey a strange look. "U-Uh… you think? If my friends wouldn't help, why would a stranger?", he asked.
"Good point. But I guess we won't find out until we meet some new strangers!", Harvey shouted confidently. "Which reminds me. Where the hell are we going now?".
Both of them paused to think for a moment. As they did, another Seagull flew by, squawking at Harvey. Unlike the previous one, however, it didn't stick around and flew off into the distance.
"Our only r-real options are…. The Sky Kingdom and the Mud Kingdom", Cyclone said. "T-The others are too far".
Harvey nodded. "If I remember the map you showed me, the Sky Kingdom should be closer. If we went directly north, we should hit it, right?".
"M-Maybe?", Cyclone replied, fidgeting his talons. "If we m-miss it, that wouldn't end well for y-you".
"That's a chance I'm willing to take", Harvey replied confidently. "North is… that way", he added after looking at the sun.
"So… we're not even gonna c-consider the Mud Kingdom?", asked Cyclone, tilting his head in confusion.
"I dunno", Harvey said, shrugging. "Something about the Mud Kingdom just… doesn't seem right to me".
This just made Cyclone tilt his head even more. "How s-so?".
"Alright then", Harvey began. "So I'm the ruler of the world. Obviously, there's going to be enemies who would oppose me".
"Most of them are defeated of course, thanks to magic. But I'd rather not have to rely on magic to capture criminals. So then I think, 'What if I trick others into thinking a kingdom is safe, when it's really not'".
Cyclone just blinked. "You t-think the Mud Kingdom is not safe?", he asked. "That the q-queen really did accept Darkstalker's magic?".
"It's a guess. And maybe I'm just being paranoid", Harvey replied, looking out towards the ocean. "It's not that likely, considering that he literally has magic at his han- talons. But it's a possibility".
The seawing thought for a moment as another wave cascaded over them both. "M-Maybe you're right. And even if you're not, he probably expects us to be a-at the Mud Kingdom anyways", he said.
"Exactly!", Harvey exclaimed. "We can go north and possibly find some allies at the Sky Kingdom".
"O-Ok. Are you ready to go?", Cyclone asked, standing up. The pouch he was wearing was still slung over his shoulder, although it seemed pretty soaked.
"Sure thing", Harvey said, grinning. "That pouch seems pretty wet, though".
Cyclone gave out a short laugh. "Don't worry. It's waterproof. Now h-h-hold on!", he added, launching himself into the air, towards the direction Harvey said was north.
As the two flew off, however, a Seawing watched them from the ocean. They heard everything.
Thanks to their location, the flight to the tip of the Sky Kingdom took only half a day. Most of the trip was just staring down at the blue ocean. It still astonished Harvey how strangely similar this planet was to Earth.
According to Cyclone, the route they were taking wasn't traveled very much. Most traders between the Sea and Sky Kingdoms usually took a East-West route as it was faster and safer. In fact, it was incredibly stupid for dragons to go directly north into the Sky Kingdom from the Ocean.
Of course, that didn't account for two "criminals" needing to escape.
"You s-sure about this, Harvey?", Cyclone had asked.
"This seems like the safest route to me", Harvey replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Not many dragons live on the edge of the continent, according to you".
Sure, it wasn't the most ideal situation, but hey, less dragons that can report them. Heck, maybe they didn't even know that Cyclone and Harvey were even criminals on the run.
Ah, who am I kidding. Darkstalker could just use his magic to circulate wanted posters.
The sun was still shining when land was sighted. Unlike the shores further south, however, there was no sand along the coast. Instead, it was rocky cliffs and forests dotting the coastline.
Cyclone carefully navigated his way into a small cluster of trees. Therefore, if any dragons decided to fly over, they wouldn't be able to see the two creatures hiding.
Harvey jumped off Cyclone's back and immediately got to work searching for wood, hoping to start another campfire. Who would have thought being able to start a fire in this day and age would be such a big deal?
This time, however, Cyclone decided to tag along for the search.
"I-I'm curious to see the process!", Cyclone had said. Despite Harvey suggesting that he stay, he wouldn't budge. So therefore, a human and a dragon were now in the woods looking for wood that wasn't wet.
It was getting a bit quiet in the forest, so Harvey decided to start up a conversation.
"I wanna ask, Cy", Harvey began. "When you were talking about your friends, you seemed kind of, I don't know, sad?".
"W-What do you mean?", Cyclone stammered out, a slightly embarrassed expression on his face.
Harvey sighed, knowing that Cyclone probably knew what he meant. "You said 'I hope they're doing alright' and 'They'll be great together' in a way that made you appear to be upset".
To his surprise, Cyclone's cheeks appeared to become more red. Oh shit, he's blushing? I didn't even know dragons could blush!
"U-U-Uh. I-I just hope t-they are g-great!", Cyclone stammered out, not very convincingly. "No! I m-mean they are DOING great!".
Harvey squinted at Cyclone, a smile appearing on his face. "I think I'm getting where this is going. You like one of them, don't ya?".
"NO! That's not it! I swear!", Cyclone shouted, his cheeks blushing even more.
A laugh erupted from the human. "Sure… whatever you say Cy. I won't tell a soul about this, don't worry".
Cyclone put his head in his talons in embarrassment. "Pleasedonotsayanotherword", he mumbled through his talons.
"Huh? I didn't hear that. Can you repeat it?", Harvey asked.
"PLEASE DON'T SAY ANOTHER WORD!", Cyclone yelled out, in the loudest voice Harvey had ever heard him use. It was so loud that a few birds hiding in the trees flew off in fear.
"Alright! Sorry!", Harvey exclaimed, turning back to a few sticks on the ground. He didn't quite expect that response from Cyclone, although it sort of made sense. I probably used to act like that back in high school.
A few more minutes of silence passed, in which Harvey was sorting through some of the wood he found. As he was doing that, however, he heard rustling nearby. He sharply turned his head to the sound, but it was just a bush.
"Cy, did you hear that?", Harvey asked, a little concerned.
No response.
"Cyclone? Hello?", he asked again, turning his head to look. Harvey assumed the worst, but no, Cyclone was just staring into a tree, appearing to be zoned out. This forced Harvey to go and shake him the best he could.
"H-Huh? What's going on?", Cyclone finally said, snapping out of his daze.
What was he thinking about? "Did you hear any rustling from anywhere?", Harvey asked.
"W-Well… I was sort of distracted, s-so no", Cyclone replied, a little embarrassed.
"That's because I'm the greatest hider in the entire Sky Kingdom!".
Harvey whipped his head towards the voice, which was at the same bush he heard the rustling from. Peaking out of the bush was a red-orange snout.
Before he could stop himself, Harvey had to crack a joke. "Lesson #1 to being a good hider: Never reveal your hiding spot!".
"Noooo! Mom found me!", the snout said dejectedly, before pulling back into the bush.
Mom? That can't be good-
"COPPER! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
Suddenly, a large orange dragon shot out of the trees, looking extremely angry. If glares could kill, Harvey and Cyclone would be dead.
"Hi mommy!", went the bush next to Harvey. Except now there was a dragon that was smaller than Cyclone standing in front of it.
"Step. Away. From. My. Son", the large dragon growled, walking menacingly towards the two. Cyclone was shaking like a leaf, while Harvey was trying his best to look confident.
"I'm doing that!", Havey shouted, walking away from the small dragon. Cyclone was doing the same, albeit with a lot more nervousness If the dragons were anything like bears, just trying to argue against one would probably result in his death.
The small dragon ran up to the "mom" and gave it a hug. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to soften her glare at Harvey.
"A talking scavenger. Perhaps that Icewing wasn't lying after all", the orange dragon growled.
An Icewing? "W-Who now?", Harvey stammered out.
"Oh, you're probably one of the ones who escaped the den. Guess I better take you back to the town".
And before anyone could even respond, the dragon whipped her tail around, smacking Cyclone unconscious. "Of course, we can't have any nasty Seawings on our tails", she added.
What the FUCK?!
Suddenly, Harvey was squirming in the dragon's talon. She somehow managed to grab him in the few seconds since Cyclone was knocked out.
"Let me go!", Harvey cried out.
"Oh, I don't think so", the dragon said, smirking. "Come on, Copper. That Icewing will surely pay us for this flimsy creature".
Two dragons took off, with one of them grasping an innocent human in her talons. Cyclone laid on the ground, unconscious and waiting for anything to take him away.
Who in the world just kidnapped Harvey? And who's the Icewing? I guess we will see next chapter.
Hopefully the next chapter shouldn't take a week to release, but I'm not making any promises. Also, apologizes if the end of this chapter seemed a little rushed. It kind of was and I just wanted to move on to the next one.
See you next chapter!