There was yelling, when we broke in. Mostly ours. Although this orange tabby that somehow managed to get in Whittney's good graces, or at least as much of good graces that Whittney could fit underneath all that fur, certainly had a set of pipes on him.
"Intruders! Help! Somebody!" He screeched. "Miss Whittney!" He was near sobbing, it seemed.
"...This isn't what I was expecting." B.B. whispered, leaning in. I growled.
"Doesn't matter! QUIT SCREAMING YOU LITTLE SHIT!" I shouted at the cat. "Tell us why you did this to us!" He didn't quit screaming. We slackened out of our fighting stances, Meatlug even taking the time to pick splinters out of her scales.
"Really? Is this guy all we have to deal with?" Stormfly questioned, perking up a little.
"That's it." I muttered, advancing towards the sputtering feline. He crumpled to the floor before I could even lay a finger on him. I rolled my eyes, grabbing him by the scruff. He weighed almost nothing, was Whittney feeding them? Can you call animal abuse on another animal? He only kept blubbering as I shook him experimentally. Great. "Okay, enough of this. What the hell did Whittney do to us, how the fuck do we undo it, and where are our kids?!" I spat, raising him to eye level.
"Pepper! You need a delicate touch in cases like this." B.B. huffed, walking up and taking the tabby and setting him upright. "...Hey, buddy? You can calm down... We won't hurt you." He soothed.
"Are we questioning him or adopting him?" Hookfang mumbled, grunting in pain as he got elbowed by Meatlug immediately after.
"What did she say his name was? Taiga? Toga?" B.B. Whispered through one head while the other kept assuring our would-be enemy.
"Tiger." I whispered back, exasperated.
"Thanks." He straightened out, tail curling in both directions. "Tiger, right? How about we talk this out huh?" Tiger snuffled.
"Okay." He squeaked, wringing something in his hands. I tried getting a closer look, but B.B. already had his hands on the cat's shoulders, leading him to a far wall and sitting him down.
"Ok so is anyone else feeling a little robbed?" I spun around to face the rest of the dragons, hands on my hips. "Because I? Was expecting to have to fight for my fucking life."
"It doesn't matter. Let's go make sure our hostage doesn't wiggle away." Toothless sighed, crossing his arms and marching himself within earshot of the little pow-wow happening. I shrugged defeatedly, following him.
"...So really all we need is a little information! No need to fight or hurt anyone, think we can do that?" B.B. had been speaking to Tiger as I tuned back in.
"Ye... Yeah that sounds good..." Tiger sniffled.
"Great! Let's start with you!" B.B. continued, cheerfully.
"Me?!" The orangette squeaked, caught off guard. Whatever was in his hands was pulled close to his chest.
"Yeah, him?" Hookfang groaned. B.B. shot a glare nasty enough I didn't think he could muster at the nightmare.
"Sure," he ground out, reeling in the frightened feline with an arm around its shoulders. "Tell us about yourself, Tiger! Like what you're doing up here all alone in an old tower."
"I was, I was just talking to my boss, and getting a little air, I can contact her with this." He finally showed off what he was holding, a crystal just like the big one Whittney used in Petite's cave. But that one was maybe the size of a decently big watermelon and it took her months to find, how in sam hell did she get more? "There was, ah, a bit of an accident when we tried capturing some hostages earlier, and oooh was the boss mad when it broke, but now me and all the rest of the deputies get one so that's nice right?" He rambled. "You guys haven't happened to see some, uh, actual not-looking-like-you dragons around have you? 'cause you all look like the boss did what she did to us to you, and the boss wouldn't just change a buncha unafilliated dragons right? But you don't gotta worry, she put a, um, what's it called, a dampener spell? She put one of those over the not-like-us dragons." Tiger kept rattling off, kind of idiotically. But we needed this idiot right now.
"A dampener spell?" B.B. prompted as the rest of us pretended to not be too interested.
"Oh yeah! So we don't gotta worry about them shooting crazy fireballs at us or flying away or nothing. Sure is nice of her, huh?"
"Oh yeah." Stormfly eked out through a strained, forceful smile. "That's our boss alright."
"Yeah! Always lookin' out for us little guys. She's so great like that." Tiger grinned, dopily. "It's kinda weird that she made me and all the other deputies watch those humans they were with though. Even she's watchin' one!"
"No way, really? Thats, like, so weird." I drawled like a valley girl, dropping onto the floor to sit in an unassuming position.
"Right? They're just humans. Could be worse though, we got the easy one. I heard Mittens got one that fights." He laughed nervously. "Then again, Twigsy got two of them. Better him than us right?" We all forced laughs, some of us more sensibly than others.
"Haha! So where are the uh, other deputies, anyway?" B.B. kept probing.
"Oh! Miss Whittney says that Fluffy got the mineshaft, Mittens is still on the big boat, Twigsy got the big house, and Miss Whittney is bein' guarded by that other dragon in her new castle. I feel a lot safer in this fort-thing though!" He paused for a minute. "How come she didn't tell you guys?"
"Hey, who knows? We aren't strong deputies like you, hahaha..." I deflected.
"Aw shucks, i'm not that strong..." Tiger shuffled. "Oh, but i'm sure if we ask real nice Miss Whittney could deputize all of you too! Let me call her!" Shit.
"Th-that isn't necessary!" Stormfly tried stopping him, but the glorified rock in his hand was already shining that horrible day-glow yellow again. We scrambled upright. The room was already filling with that same horrible smell. Fuck.
From inside the glow, something rose a few inches over the glorified rock in Tiger's outstretched paw. It blinked, before an even brighter flash as a screen-like rift in the air flashed into existance, showing a monochrome yellow image of who else but Whittney, looking extraordinarily pissed. Damn it.
"Miss Whittney! I've got some great news!-" Tiger spoke before she cut him off.
"It better be that you captured those escaped dragons, Tiger. I'm very busy-" She looked up from pinching the pressure points between her eyes to stare dead at me and the dragons.
Shit fuck damn.
"Heeeeeeey, Whitt." I waved. "How's it hanging?"
"Tiger." She spoke.
"Y-yes Miss Whittney?"
"WHY ARE THE DRAGONS THAT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO CAPTURE NOT CAPTURED AND STANDING BEHIND YOU?!" She shrieked, wrath and malice clinging to every word.
"Th-these are the dragons?!" Tiger stuttered, fumbling with the magical paperweight to the point of almost dropping it.
"YES!" She screamed with enough exasperation to crack her normally haughty voice. "GET THEM ALREADY! "
"Yes Miss Whittney!" The poor tabby cried as Whittney disconnected whatever magic facetime thing they had. The glow, however, remained. If anything it only spread further, leaking out of the crystal shard and onto the floor, snaking around the room, that cloying stench following. Three strands of it whipped around the half-empty doorframe, expanding and weaving itself into a wall, blocking our escape.
"Ah hell." I groaned, trying to not blind myself.
"How could you? Talking to me like we were friends. Like we were allies." Tiger whispered, staring at the ground. "I should have known. This always happens. No more friends. No more nice Tiger." He hissed. More tendrils covered his arm, twisting up like vines. Suddenly, crackling. Like shattering glass, all the light flashing about the room solidified, loose bits tinkling to the ground. The arm not holding the magic crystal was completely enveloped in a solid light gauntlet.
"Still feeling robbed?" Toothless crept up behind me as Tiger whipped around.
"Like you were helping any back there." I sniffed, lowering my stance. Wordlessly, Tiger raised his encased arm.
"Scatter!" Toothess yelled just as the cat brought his fist swinging down, a small shockwave of light pulsing across the ground. Most of us were able to either jump over or run out of the blast radius, but Meatlug got caught in the leg and shouted in pain as the force shoved her about two feet and sent her tripping towards the floor. Tiger grinned, fangs flashing manically, and the lights were no longer solid. I scrambled, looking for something, anything, to use as a weapon. My eyes were drawn to the brightest lights in the room, blocking off the door. The door that Meatlug just about broke in half. I sprinted for it.
It smelled even worse up close. Like something fundamentally wrong. I held my breath, holding back a scream as I plunged my arm into the glowing mass, ignoring the feeling of boiling until...
Tiger had already advanced upon Meatlug, light arms reaching out and barricading her in front of him. She held her left arm close, snarling at him. My hand touched wood. I grabbed it.
Almost a full plank.
I yanked it out, just as Tiger solidified the light again. Wielding it like an unsightly bat, I rushed to him. He was about to make a swing with his gauntlet when I whacked his back hard enough to split the plank. The light around him fizzled in and out of existance as he screamed, Meatlug taking the opportunity to kick him in the chest. The others swarmed, B.B. and Hookfang holding him down while Toothless and Stormfly dodged his kicking legs. He wrenched his arm free, clenching the shard like a lifeline, lights sprawling in an uncontrolable mass. Tiger reeled back his fist and punched B.B., the writhing light sending him back. He sent it in a pulse around him, pushing everyone against the wall. I felt the air leave my chest. As I fell to the floor, The smell receded as the lights crystalized once more.
"I can smell it!" I shouted to the group. "When the light isn't solid, it doesn't smell bad!"
"What are we supposed to do with that?!" Hookfang shouted back, dodging a large crystal thrown at him. It shattered against the wall.
"I don't know!"
"SHUT UP." Tiger roared. The smell picked up again.
"He's about to release it again!"
And sure enough, the light was no longer solid. All except the shatters on the floor. Tiger pulled it in towards himself until a huge ball hung over his hand. He thrust it forward, hitting the wall as we dodged. It bounced onto the floor, hitting some of the scattered crystal pieces. It split, into more balls that bounced across the room violently before rolling to a stop and fizzling away. Toothless and I shared a look as the same lightbulb went off in our heads.
"We need to get him to throw more crystalized light." He spoke, low enough so Tiger wouldn't hear.
"Running and dodging. Sounds good!" B.B. panted.
"You guys aren't used to using your legs this much yet, you flew everywhere!" I protested. "Let him focus on me. After a crystal breaks, i'll grab a piece that reflects well! It'll look flat and shiny!"
"Flat, with good cleavage." Meatlug muttered. "Got it." Tiger started charging up, letting the light build before solidifying it. The smell blinked out of existance.
"Now!" I shouted, sprinting along the wall. The crystalized light fell into Tiger's hands. "Here, kitty kitty!" I taunted, pulling a face and flipping him off. He snarled, and chucked the rock at me like I wanted, but I don't think he got it. I ducked, covering my head. Shards bounced back into me, scraping against my fur. I turned to dig through the shrapnel, cutting my paw pads but grabbing a reflective piece about the size of a dinner plate. I kept digging, looking for more, but the smell picked up again. Out of time. I clutched my single plate of crystal to my chest, trying to discern Tiger's next move through the glare.
"You actually got something?" Hookfang shouted incredulously. "What are you even going to do with that thing?"
"Don't worry, I think I saw this in a video game once!"
"What do those words even mean?!" B.B. cried out as he dived to dodge an onslaught of light bullets.
"Don't worry about it!" I held up my makeshift mirror as Tiger circled the bullet hell around the room. The orbs bounced off, richocheting violently before dissipating. None of them actually hit the cat, but he still faced me, spitting and snarling. I couldn't see his eyes anymore behind the pulsating yellow.
"Watch where you aim that!" Stormfly shrieked, ducking.
"I will." Tiger hissed.
"Wasn't talking to you- Oh moonsbreath." The nadder blanched as Tiger lifted both hands over his head to charge up his largest attack yet. He was aiming right at her.
"Point that thing at someone your own size, damn it!" I growled, sprinting so fast I slid across the ground when I stopped. He flung his arms downward, casting the giant sphere of light in our direction. I held the shard out in front of me and thrusted it forward with as much strength as I could muster, shooting it back. Tiger gasped, swiping with his gauntlet. It connected with the sphere accompanied by the sound of nails on a chalkboard, echoing around the empty tower chamber. It shot back even faster, curving slightly as I had to sprint to continue the rally. Just before it hit the wall to dissipate I struck, almost stumbling.
"Stop that!" Tiger shouted, sending the magic back even faster. I dove to volley it, just as Meatlug punched him in the back with her good arm, sending him straight into the burning glow he screamed, loudly and painfully. As the light dissipated he fell to his knees, eyes blazing.
"Now's our chance!" Toothless roared, tackling the cat and holding him against the wall by the throat. The light dissipated completely, absorbed by the crystal shard in Tiger's hand. He was shaking, as he made one last agonised cry.
"Miss Whittney... Help me..!"
A shock-white expanse emerged from the wall behind him, Toothless darting backwards as it swallowed Tiger completely. In a flash the cat was gone, the only thing left was the magic shard, clinking as it bounced against the stone floor from where it dropped at the core of the white magic. I dropped to my knees, grabbing it desperately despite the bleeding cuts on my paws.
We won.
Author's note, author's note, does whatever an author's note does!
Big.
Bada.
Boom!
First boss conquered, baby! But don't worry, Pepper isn't anywhere near out of the woods yet. If anything this is only a taste of what's to come. You, get excited. Her, get scared.
The plot demands it.
Anyways.
In light of recent american events, i'd like to invite everyone that voted against human rights to KISS MY ASS! The war ain't nowhere near over but we can still be relieved that this battle's been won! And even if you-know-who didn't die from you-know-what, I still made those cookies. Because fuck it all why not. I deserve the nice things.
And i'll be damned if after all the shit I slog through I don't get 'em! -Carly
P.S. I know it's all heartwrenching for those of you with families that don't suck to not be able to do your normal holiday traditions with them, but mother of Earthbound do NOT risk it. Not now of all times when cases are on the rise again. That's a whole other basket of 'gee whiz wonder why that is' that I do not think you want to uncover under any circumstances. You can, should, and WILL find other ways to do things. I am so past playing nice with this shit. Cool it with the starbucks runs, mcdonalds isn't going anywhere, but man oh man-o'-war the population is.
