Here you go! New Chapter!

I hope you guys like the new titles I've given the chapters. I know I originally said I wasn't going to use them, except for special cases. I changed my mind, as I tend to do.

There's a decent amount of filler, but I still hope you enjoy!

POV: Cyclone

"Urg..", Cyclone moaned. He weakly opened his eyes, expecting to see Harvey sitting next to a fire as he grumbled to himself about things Cyclone didn't understand.

However, Harvey was nowhere to be seen. Instead, it was just a bunch of pine trees with a blue hovering above them.

"H-Harvey?", Cyclone called out. "Where are you?".

No response. The only sounds made were the birds chirping and the wind blowing through the trees.

What happened? Last thing I remember was staring at a Skywing and then…

Oh. OH NO

Harvey was most likely taken by the Skywing! After all, right before being conked out, Cyclone heard the skywing say that they should bring him back to the town.

Which meant that Cyclone had to find this town. On the one talon, this area of the Sky Kingdom was sparsely populated, which meant that it should be easy to find the right one. On the other talon, since this part of the kingdom was indeed sparsely populated, it would be hard to find the town itself.

Well, guess I better start searching.

Cyclone flew above the trees, hoping to get a good view of the landscape around him. Off to the west, he could see the beginnings of the Claws of the Clouds Mountain Range, although these mountains were small compared to the ones closer to the Sky Palace.

Off to the north, there were some patches of forests, although there seemed to be some clear areas in between. Perhaps the town was somewhere in one of those areas.

He circled around the many forests over and over, hoping to find a hint of the town. After an hour of fruitlessly searching, Cyclone had to take a break. The only lead he got was a small burnt down section of the forest, but there was no telling where it came from.

"Where are you, mysterious town?!", Cyclone cried out. Harvey probably needed his help, wherever he was, and there was no helping him because of a stupid Skywing!

And then suddenly, a giggle erupted from the trees behind him.

Cyclone whirled his head around just in time to see a Skywing fall out of the tree, laughing like they just heard the funniest joke ever told in history.

"Three Moons, hearing a Seawing cry out 'Where are you, mysterious town?!' is- AHAHA I can't stop laughing about it!", the skywing cried out.

"W-What's so funny about that?!", Cyclone shouted, his cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

The skywing continued laughing, rolling on the ground like a log. After a few more moments, they finally stood up, although their legs were still a bit wobbly from the laughter.

"Hoho, I'm sorry about that, 'Mysterious Seawing'", the skywing said, not looking very sorry. "It's not common to see other tribes up here. Especially ones who don't know where Pinewood is".

"P-Pinewood? I-Is that the town..?", Cyclone faltered, taking in the sight of the Skywing. She had pinkish scales unlike any Skywing he had ever seen before (which, admittedly, weren't very many Skywings). Her snout looked similar to the Skywing that had taken Harvey, while her eyes were amber colored.

"Hmm. Why in the world would a Seawing be out looking for Pinewood?", the Skywing mumbled, clearly intending for Cyclone to hear it. "Perhaps you're a CRIMINAL?!".

That was technically correct, but Cyclone wasn't about to say anything about it. "N-No! Some Skywing kidnapped m-my scavenger friend", he explained, trying to look as convincing as possible.

The skywing squinted at Cyclone, as if she didn't quite believe him. "Sure… you wouldn't have trouble explaining who this Skywing was then, right?".

Uh oh. Did he remember anything?

"U-Uh… they were large, orange and grumpy looking..", Cyclone replied sheepishly.

"You just described half of the Skywings", she said, laughing. "The other half are large, red and grumpy looking".

Even though he had never heard that joke before, Cyclone got a strange feeling that exact same joke was told somewhere else.

"T-They also mentioned someone named C-Copper".

At the mention of Copper, the other Skywing suddenly narrowed her eyes at Cyclone. "How would you know that?", she spat out, her tone suddenly changing to a more hostile one.

"S-She was l-looking for a C-Copper in a f-forest!", Cyclone stammered out, taking a few steps back. He was worried that the dragon was going to attack him, for whatever reason. "She found us, k-knocked me out and took the scavenger away!".

The skywing muttered something under their breath, before turning away from Cyclone. "You don't seem like one to lie. Follow me", she said, launching into the air. Cyclone was left dazed for a moment, before following the Skywing.

They flew northwest, in the direction of the ocean. The trees below swayed in the wind, while the sun shone in the west, preparing to fall below the horizon. For the first half of the flight, they flew in silence, not saying any words.

The wind was really chilly too, making Cyclone miss the tropical weather in the Kingdom of the Sea. The two were flying over a particularly dense portion of a forest when the Skywing finally spoke up.

"Who are you?", she asked out of the blue, startling Cyclone.

"W-Why do you ask?", Cyclone asked back, evading the question.

The skywing rolled her eyes. "Just trying to be nice", she replied.

A few more moments of silence.

"I suppose I should introduce myself first. I'm Calcite", she said. "Unlike most Skywings, I don't have red or orange scales, as you probably noticed".

Cyclone nodded. "I have noticed. I think they look n-", he said, before cutting himself off. He was not about to say that.

Unfortunately, Calcite seemed to catch that, because she was looking at Cyclone strangely. "What were you going to say about my scales?".

Uh oh.

What was he supposed to say? Probably not what he was about to say, because that was bound to end very badly for Cyclone.

"I-I was gonna say they look… new", Cyclone made up. It still sounded really weird, but not as weird as calling them nice.

"Ok, weird Seawing", Calcite said, trying to hide a giggle. "Speaking of which, what's your name?".

Cyclone hesitated before replying. "I…. don't think I can tell y-you yet".

"Oh come on!", Calcite exclaimed. "I was TRYING to be nice so you would tell me your name!".

A bird flew up from the trees and began to glide not very far from Cyclone. It looked at him like he was being offensive to flying creatures.

"What's so important about my n-name?", Cyclone asked.

"So I don't have to keep calling you 'Seawing', of course!", Calcite replied, turning to look at Cyclone. "It's not that hard!".

Maybe I should tell her. She seems trustworthy.

But what if she recognizes my name? The continent is bound to know who I am.

Well, they don't know my face, do they?

And suddenly, an idea struck Cyclone.

"Fine. My name is…", Cyclone paused, thinking of a name. "..Coast".

"Coast…. Interesting name", Calcite observed. "It's a very Seawing name, I guess".

Cyclone nodded. "Other dragons say that a lot". Beside him, the bird flew back down to the trees. The ocean could be seen off to the right, reflecting the sunlight and glittering. It was a pretty beautiful sight, especially with the sunset in the distance.

"So, what's in that pouch you're wearing?", Calcite asked, noticing the pouch hung around Cyclone's shoulder.

"Personal items", Cyclone replied quickly, not wanting to explain more.

Calcite looked a little unimpressed with the reply, but she didn't push it. "Oh look, Pinewood is coming up", she observed, changing the subject.

Cyclone turned to look ahead and saw the town appear. Compared to the Night Kingdom, it looked really small, with the buildings clustered together. To the east of the town was another forest, while north was just plains and more plains. It wasn't very impressive, but he wasn't one to judge, considering he had never even heard of the place.

The two flew down to the streets, which were mostly empty at this time. Around them were houses made of various materials, mostly stone and brick. At first, Cyclone was surprised that there were no wooden structures, until he remembered that Skywings had fire. Burning down your own house by accident would probably be a bad idea.

Cyclone got some weird looks from the few Skywings walking about, but he expected that. It would be like if a Skywing appeared back at home. Or, well, really any tribe.

After walking for a few minutes, Calcite suddenly turned right into what appeared to be a bar. Cyclone could hear the clamour of voices coming from inside, signaling that this was a popular place to be.

Calcite pushed open the doors into the bar, only to nearly get burned by another Skywing.

"Watch where you aim that fire!", Calcite yelled out. "Sorry about that. The adults can get a bit… rowdy. Stay close to me".

Cyclone followed Calcite closely as she wandered over to the far right side of the bar. Along the way, several Skywings shouted things at them both.

"Hey you! Why don't ya come over to my place and have some fun?".

"Why is that dragon blue?! SKYWINGS ARE ONLY RED OR ORANGE!".

"Hey Calcite! Nice new boyfriend you got there!".

At that last one, Cyclone noticed her stiffen a little bit. Poor Calcite. We just met and that word is already being thrown around.

At the end of the bar was a door marked "WORKERS ONLY". Without any hesitation whatsoever, Calcite pushed open the door with a glare on her face.

On the opposing end of the glare was a Skywing who appeared to be the manager of the bar. They were sitting behind a table and had an air of authority surrounding them. He looked amused when Calcite barged in.

"Here to see Ember, I assume?", the Skywing asked, sighing.

"Correct", Calcite replied, not lowering her glare.

The Skywing rolled his eyes, before pointing to another door on.. the floor? "She's talking to that scavenger loving Icewing right now".

Calcite didn't even say a word before barging open the floor door. Frankly, Cyclone was a bit scared of being near her right now, so he hesitated to follow her.

"Don't worry about her, Seawing", the manager suddenly chimed in. "Her anger isn't aimed at you. Just don't say anything stupid".

"T-Thanks?", Cyclone stuttered in response. He hesitantly followed Calcite down the stairs behind the door. The space was tight and Cyclone worried the stairs would fall apart at any time.

It was a relief when Cyclone saw the end of the stairwell, with the stone floor appearing in the dim light. That relief went away when he heard arguing voices coming from further ahead.

"I'm telling you this scavenger was talking!". That sounded like the angry Skywing from before. Ember, if he remembered correctly.

"Well, you don't see it talking now, do you?", said another voice. It sounded… strangely familiar.

Calcite ran forward, with Cyclone slowly following behind her. Before he knew it, they were suddenly in a cavern. Or, well, it looked like a cavern, but it had a sense of being dragon-made. Off to the left was a stone platform with a pillow on it, while a small scroll rack sat next to it. On the other side of the cavern was a large wall, but covering the wall were scratches.

And right in the middle of it all was Ember and an Icewing.

"EMBER! Why did you take this Seawing's scavenger?!", Calcite yelled out, stopping the argument between the two dragons.

Ember simply smirked in response. "Why not? This Icewing wanted to study scavengers, so I gave him one".

Cyclone turned to look at the Icewing, before an expression of shock appeared on his own face. He knew this Icewing. Back at the Night Kingdom, they had flown off to search for possible allies against Darkstalker.

Ex-Prince Winter of the Icewings.

And it looked like he recognized Cyclone as well.

"I deeply apologize for this Skywing's behavior", Winter said. "Had I known about stealing a pet, I would have immediately turned it down".

A furious look appeared on Ember's face. "WHAT?! I'm not coming here for nothing! I demand the payment you promised me!", she shouted out.

"I'm not paying you anything", Winter replied, giving Ember a disappointed look. "I didn't think you would resort to stealing pets".

A blast of fire shot towards Winter, but he simply dodged it. "Ember, I ask that you leave now. I must give the scavenger back to the Seawing", he said.

"Not until I get my payment!", Ember roared out, smoke coming out of her nostrils. It looked like she wasn't giving up anytime soon.

Suddenly, Calcite jumped onto Ember, tackling her to the floor with a burst of strength Cyclone didn't expect. "Don't be stupid! Go home right now", she growled out.

"Not until I get that payment!", Ember growled back.

"What about Copper?", Calcite shot back. This made Ember freeze for a moment, before giving Calcite a death glare. She didn't appear to be affected by it. "Go be with your son. He probably misses you".

The two just glared at each other, while Cyclone and Winter silently watched from a distance. It seemed like it would never end.

"Fine", Ember relented.

Never mind.

Satisfied, Calcite allowed Ember to stand up again. "I'll make sure Ember gets home, Coast", she said.

Cyclone nodded and allowed the two to pass, but not before he heard Ember say one final thing.

"I hate you, Seawing".

Ouch. It's good that my opinion of Ember wasn't that favorable in the first place, I guess.

As soon as the two Skywings appeared out of sight, Winter finally spoke up again.

"Well, I would be lying if I said I wasn't surprised to see you here again, Cyclone", he said, walking over to the stone platform. "When that crazy Skywing brought in Harvey, I knew something was amiss".

"W-Where is he?", Cyclone asked. In response, Winter gestured for him to come over to said platform. Once he did, Winter lifted the pillow to reveal a cage, along with an angry looking scavenger.

When the scavenger saw Cyclone, however, he relaxed. "Oh good! Cyclone has returned to save me from the evil dragon who trapped me in a tower!".

Yeah, that's Harvey. With his jokes that I never get.

"We're in a cave", Winter pointed out.

"Right right. Now can you let me outta this cage? Humans aren't made for cages", Harvey asked. In response, Winter pulled out a small key and unlocked the cage door.

"Alright. Now can you two tell me why you're here?", Winter asked, with a hint of irritation.

Cyclone looked at Harvey, who was gesturing for him to explain. "We're s-sort of looking for allies", he said with a sigh.

Winter cocked his head to the side. "Allies? Don't tell me you actually came out here to find dragons who want to fight against Darkstalker?".

"H-Heh… That was the plan", Harvey nervously said.

"That's not going to work", Winter said, shaking his head. "Trust me, I tried as well. Either I got laughed at or flat out ignored".

"Where did you go?", Cyclone asked. "I thought you'd b-be at the Ice Kingdom or something, not h-here, living below a bar".

There was some hesitation, but Winter answered. "Er, I tried to go. The guards wouldn't let me get close to the palace".

"I tried a few other places, including some smaller Icewing villages and even Possibility, but it was clear that Darkstaker's influence was too large. My last hope was here, on the edge of the continent".

"Possibility?", Harvey asked.

"It's a town where several tribes live together", Winter explained, although he had a regretful expression on. As if, he had a bad memory there. "Unlike here, where nearly everyone is a Skywing".

A loud crash was heard from above, but before Cyclone could panic, Winter cut in. "Don't worry about that. Happens every night. These dragons are irresponsible, far more than an Icewing would ever be", he said.

Harvey squinted at the Icewing. "What is THAT supposed to mean?".

Winter rolled his eyes in response. "Icewings are the most responsible tribe on Pyrrhia. We don't have 'bars' or whatever. We don't have time for that kind of wasteful stuff".

"Jeez, sometimes you need to let loose once in a while", Harvey said, laughing. "With the way you speak of Icewings, you'd be beat up where I come from".

"Yeah, like a scavenger knows anything about the Ice Kingdom", Winter shot back.

While this back and forth was occurring, Cyclone stood off to the side. Frankly, this was getting kind of dumb.

"Stop!", Cyclone yelled out, causing the two to look at him with bewildered expressions. "We need to talk about D-Darkstalker, and what we're doing about him".

A sigh came from Winter. "Like I said, it's no use trying to convince dragons. Darkstalker has them wrapped around his claws".

Cyclone shook his head in response. "He might have t-the spell, but that hasn't stopped dragons from h-helping out", he said. "A Rainwing helped us escape the Rainforest, when it seemed like D-Darkstalker was going to get us".

"Hey, yeah! Loris helped us get out of that situation", Harvey chimed in. "I'm pretty sure there's dragons out there, willing to help!".

But Winter shook his head again. "Helping a dragon and scavenger in need is different from helping defeating an all powerful ruler of the world", he pointed out.

"Ack, that's true", Harvey replied dejectedly.

"Did you ask any of the dragons around here?", Cyclone asked Winter. "About defeating Darkstalker?".

Winter gave Cyclone a small glare, before shaking his head. "No. If I did, I'd be ridiculed and chased out. It was bad enough when I suggested that scavengers weren't dumb".

So he's probably not very popular in the first place. What do we do then? Winter was probably right that asking strangers for help would probably not end well.

Which meant that they needed to not be strangers.

"What if…. we waited?".

Harvey looked at Cyclone with a confused look. "Pardon?".

"What if we stuck a-around here and gained the t-trust of the townsfolk? Then we can ask them for help", Cyclone explained.

Winter looked at Cyclone with a look that said 'Are you serious?'. But Harvey seemed to be all for it.

"That can work! Gaining the trust of dragons, before recruiting them to defeat the big scary monster in order to save the world!", he exclaimed. This comment earned a look of disbelief from Winter. "What? Was that too much over the top?".

"I somehow highly doubt that plan would work", Winter observed. "However, considering that I too want to utterly destroy Darkstalker, I'll go along with it".

Wow, I thought Winter would outright say no. He gave looks that signaled that, and yet he's going along.

"Great!", Cyclone said with a smile. "We can begin, u-uh, when?".

"It's night right now", Winter observed. "I can tell, because the crash we heard earlier always happens at night".

"How would you know?", Harvey asked. "This place has no windows".

Winter rolled his eyes. "I can go outside too".

"Right, right", Harvey said sheepishly. "So… tomorrow we begin this 'plan'?".

Cyclone nodded. "Tomorrow, we convince Pinewood to trust us".

Or tonight.

Cyclone left the weird underground area with Harvey in his pouch, while Winter promised to see them tomorrow. His plan was to find an inn to stay at for the night, as it would be strange if he had stayed in Winter's room.

But when Cyclone exited the bar, Calcite was there, waiting for him.

"That took awhile for you to negotiate with that Icewing", she said, looking at Cyclone suspiciously. "Guess he really didn't want to give up that scavenger".

Ack. "Nono", Cyclone said, shutting down that thought. "We were simply t-talking about... our fondness for scavengers".

"Hmm. Never thought I'd see a Seawing and an Icewing talking about scavengers in a good way", Calcite muttered.

A few moments of silence passed. The loud sounds of the bar behind him was all that filled said silence.

"So.. why did y-you wait for me?", Cyclone questioned, breaking the short silence.

Strangely, Cyclone thought he saw Calcite's cheeks change color, but it was dark outside. It could have easily been the shifting of the lights.

"I assume you need a place to stay, right?", Calcite asked. Cyclone nodded. "Well, my family has a tradition of allowing the other tribes to stay at our place. It's not that common, but as it is tradition, I had to ask you".

Really? "T-That sounds great!", Cyclone exclaimed, relieved he wouldn't have to go through the trouble of dealing with an inn, since his parents were the ones who did that. Although, he had an unnerving feeling, like there was something else behind it.

Ah, what's the worst that can happen?

"Follow me", Calcite said, walking to the left. Cyclone followed her, although he couldn't help but feel a little weird about the fact she just waited for him. Only friends did that, right?

They walked in silence through the streets of Pinewood, where there was little lighting. It felt like that any second now, a sketchy dragon could appear around the corner and beat them up.

"Why don't we just fly over?", Cyclone asked. It would make the trip shorter and no sketchy dragons can appear around a corner.

"I wish we could", Calcite sighed. "But there are laws stating you can't fly in Pinewood once night hits".

That's a stupid law. Or maybe there is some actual reasoning? It occurred to Cyclone that he had no idea how the other tribes worked, other than that they had a queen. Maybe Skywings made too much noise when they flew, or maybe there was something else entirely.

Before he knew it, they were standing in front of the house. It was noticeably bigger than the ones next to it, probably due to the fact that other tribes stayed there.

"Here we are", Calcite announced. "Stay out here while I explain the situation to my parents".

Once she walks inside, Harvey pops his head out of the patch, grinning.

"Well! Looks like we won't have to deal with any inns today", Harvey said. "Good thing too, because I probably would have criticized it so much!".

Cyclone raised an eye ridge. "Why would y-you criticize an inn? They seem alright to me".

"Not if they don't provide the necessities!", Harvey exclaimed, looking half serious. "If the bed mattress isn't good enough, then how are you supposed to fall asleep?".

"Uh…. M-Mattress?", Cyclone asked. He didn't need to see much more, for Harvey understood what he meant. Most of the words Harvey said held no meeting for Cyclone.

"Where I'm from, it's the part of the bed you sleep on", Harvey explained, going on a ramble. "I assume you guys haven't invented that yet. Or maybe it's a luxury item. It used to be a luxury where I'm from-".

Cyclone had to shut up Harvey because Calcite was back, waiting by the door. "You're good! Come in and I'll show your room!", she shouted out. With some hesitation, he entered the house.

To his surprise, the inside of the house wasn't too different from the surface house back at home. There was noticeably less wood, but not much else noteworthy to say. Off to the side, however, was a door. And it was where Calcite was walking towards.

She gestured for Cyclone to open the door. "Go ahead, there's a bed in there and everything.

Shout my name if you need help", she said, before walking away.

Cyclone cautiously opened the door, revealing a very unique looking room. The walls were painted with many different colors. In fact, he realized that they made shapes that seemed vaguely familiar.

Harvey once again popped his head out of the pouch, taking in the room. "Whoa! They painted a bunch of environments!", he exclaimed.

Environments? Now that he thought about it, the blue colors did seem to resemble an ocean-like place. And the green ones looked vaguely like the rainforest.

Now Cyclone understood. Since Calcite's family apparently housed the many different tribes, it made sense that the room would try to make them fit in somehow.

There were several beds, probably just in case there were more than one tribe visiting. Cyclone picked the one closest to the ocean portion of the wall, since it felt the most familiar to him. Also, there was seaweed on this bed, unlike some of the others.

"No mattresses huh?", Harvey mused with a hint of disappointment. "Where am I supposed to sleep now?".

Cyclone had to laugh at that. "You literally slept on the floor, back at the Rainforest. Just do that again".

"I could, but I sorta hurt my back from that", Harvey replied, before stretching out his back. "I'd rather sleep on something that won't kill my back every morning".

After thinking for a few moments, Cyclone had an idea. "Why not try the seaweed bed?", he suggested.

Harvey grimaced at that. "Seriously? Who the hell uses seaweed for a bed? When will dragons invent MATTRESSES?!", he cried out, as if it was the end of the world.

Ok, he didn't quite expect that reply.

"It's soft, and it won't break your back!", Cyclone argued. "Do you r-really want to sleep on the floor?".

A moment of hesitation, before Harvey relented. "Fine. I'll sleep on the seaweed".

Internally cheering, Cyclone lifted Harvey onto the bed. He made a face, but laid down on the bed regardless. "Let's see how well this goes", he muttered, before abruptly closing his eyes.

Within a few moments, Harvey was asleep. Even Cyclone was surprised at how fast he fell asleep. Must have been tired. Today was exhausting.

Cyclone curled up on his side of the bed, getting ready for a good night's rest.

I will admit, the way I portrayed Winter here isn't... the best. When I was typing this, I was thinking of him being beat down and not willing to really try anymore. It could have been done better, but it works for now.

I do have a plan of writing a chapter in Stories, but I'm a little focused on this right now. It might be a good while until a new chapter comes out for that.

Once again, I don't know when the next chapter will come out. This chapter was hard to write, up until the Winter scene. It got easier from there, so it entirely depends on the next chapter focus.

So, see you then!