Chapter 48: No Dragon Left Behind
The Salvation
Lower Level
"Hidden! Wait!"
Hidden ignored the SilkWing's shouts as he bolted down the halls of the Salvation, his pursuer a mere tail length behind him. He grabbed hold of the side of one of the archways leading to the hangar, swinging himself into the massive chamber and diving toward the nearest shuttle. His claws were just about to hook around the handle of its right side door, when he felt Luna grab hold of his tail, her claws sinking into the weak spot just above his tail barb.
Hidden let out a startled yelp, as Luna threw him away from the shuttle. He fell onto his back, skidding a short distance along the smooth metal floor of the hanger, clutching his injured tail in his talons.
"What was that for?!" he shouted, small drops of blood staining his pale yellow scales where Luna's claws had punctured the skin beneath.
"Better than flying off to your death too." Luna grumbled, turning to look down at the SandWing. Hidden grunted, and quickly rolled over, springing around the shuttle to get in from the other side. Luna was quick to react, whipping out one of her tonfa and jabbing Hidden's left hind leg with its energized end.
The SandWing staggered back, his leg starting to feel numb where Luna had struck it. He groaned, watching as she stepped between him and the shuttle. "Darkstalker was one thing," she explained, her eyes unable to meet Hidden's, "But, I don't want to watch you throw away your life too!"
Hidden narrowed his eyes at the SilkWing, his mind racing as he decided his next move. Going for the shuttle again would be risky with Luna standing guard, he'd have to deal with her first to secure his path to it. She was starting to tick him off anyway.
Hidden made another leap for the shuttle, only to feint out of the way just as Luna moved to intercept. He spun around, sliding in next to her bandaged hind leg, still healing from the undead dragon's bite. Luna could hardly react to his sudden shift, her injured leg preventing her from twisting out of the way as Hidden slammed the side of his tail into the SilkWing, sending her stumbling back away from the shuttle. Moments later, he'd pinned her down on the metal floor, knocking her weapon out of her grasp, and trapping her other foretalon before she could grab its twin.
"What is wrong with you?!" he growled furiously, "Are you saying it's okay to let him die, just 'cause he's got the same face as a maniac from another world?!"
"He's a Darkstalker! Do you know what that means?!" Luna shouted back, kicking Hidden in the stomach with one of her hind legs, and tossing the stunned SandWing off of her. She rolled up onto her feet, grabbing her other tonfa, once again standing between Hidden and the shuttle.
"That's right, you don't," she continued, "Just like you don't understand what a terrible idea trespassing on Dr. Walnut's territory is!"
"Well maybe we would if you bothered to fill us in on who this guy even is!" Hidden retorted, glancing around at the three remaining shuttles in the hangar. Luna would likely stop
him long before he could reach any of them.
The sound of talonsteps echoing through the halls of the Salvation caught the duo's attention, as the others burst into the hangar, pausing when they spotted the two. Lin gazed at the two in mild disappointment, Xavier watching warily at her side, and Ricky casting a concerned glance at Hidden's bleeding tail. Maple and Reggie watched from behind the trio, the Reggie-tron lifting up onto its hind legs for a better view.
"Don't you want to go home? Isn't that what you've been trying to do this entire time?!" Luna asked, turning back to Hidden.
Hidden paused, staring at the ground. "Not like this…." he replied, "Not when it's at the cost of someone's life!"
"It was his choice to run off like that!"
"And it's my choice to go after him! Now get out of the way!"
Hidden leapt forward, talons clenched into fists, ready to strike. Luna crouched on her hind legs, tonfa held at the ready. They were a mere claw's width away from one another, when Hidden suddenly felt a talon grab his neck. Another, grabbed Luna's, and before he knew it, he was being thrown forward, slamming into the front of the shuttle. He saw Luna sliding across the hangar floor away from him, as he fell head first to the hard metal below, his back and skull aching from the sudden impact.
"Quit acting like dragonets." Lin quietly growled, casting a glare at each of the two in turn. Hidden let out a pained groan, rubbing his sore head as he hobbled to his feet. Luna rolled up onto hers, giving the EarthWing a frustrated look.
"Urgh...Lin...what're you…?" Hidden groaned.
"Get in the shuttle SandWing." Lin commanded, not even bothering to look at him as she said this. "And you too SkyWing."
Ricky paused for a moment, giving his brother a concerned look, before nodding timidly, and stepping around the shuttle, hopping into its cockpit and prepping it for takeoff.
"Lin, why are you doing this…?" Luna asked, the terrified anger that had once filled her voice now replaced by defeated sorrow. Hidden had to agree with Luna on this, why was the EarthWing helping with his crazy rescue plan?
"Who is Dr. Walnut?" Lin bluntly asked, not even bothering to answer Luna's question. The SilkWing paused, the same look of haunting dread she'd had on the bridge returning. She sighed, stepping over to pick up her other tonfa, and slide the two back into the strap tied around her waist.
"Ten years ago," she began, her eyes trained to the floor as she walked over to Lin and Hidden, "a psychotic human scientist named Dr. Thaddeus Walnut discovered the secret to inter-timeline travel. He quickly began invading nearby timelines, burning them to the ground and enslaving their populations for his own sick amusement."
There was a dreadful hollowness to Luna's voice as she explained this, as if she was witnessing the atrocities committed by the crazed human first-talon. Hidden felt a chill begin to run down his spine as Luna continued, and even Lin seemed intensely distraught, Luna's terror seeping out into the others in the hangar.
"His legions of war machines, designed specifically to slaughter dragons, ran rampant throughout sector eighteen, and soon he'd managed to subdue a sizable chunk of the multiverse. It was only thanks to the Alliance's might that he was eventually stopped, the Grand Allies expanding their territory to encompass Dr. Walnut's domain and prevent him from expanding any further."
"And Darkstalker just flew right into the belly of the beast." Hidden stated, starting to realize why Luna had been so adamant about them avoiding the place. It didn't deter his convictions, though it certainly made him less certain of the outcome of this mission.
"The shuttle's return function should allow it to locate other shuttles, not just the Salvation." Luna explained, defeated. "Are you still sure you want to go through with this?"
Hidden and Lin turned to look at each other for a moment, before Hidden nodded, a look of grim determination on his face. Luna stared at Hidden for a short while, her unbridled fear evident on her face, but she nodded in agreement regardless.
"Then...in that case…." she began, sounding unsure of what she was about to say, "I'll have to come with you." She stepped past Hidden and Lin, as Ricky lowered the rear ramp of the shuttle for her to enter. "Because there's no way you're getting out of there alive without me."
The sound of Luna's talons slowly stepping up the shuttle's ramp echoed through the deathly silent chamber. Lin followed her soon after, casting a quick glance at Hidden as she stepped up the shuttle's ramp.
Lin grunted, and turned away, stepping off toward the archway they'd entered through, her tail swishing idly behind her. "Uh, Lin? Where are you going?" Hidden asked, starting after the EarthWing.
"To get us some more fire power." she bluntly explained, "I don't intend on dying to some human named 'Walnut'."
Hidden stopped, grinning as the EarthWing disappeared into the Salvation's halls. "Dr. Walnut" certainly didn't sound like the name of a crazed tyrant; though he still had to be careful not to judge a book by its cover.
Hidden heard the sound of talons lightly stepping upon the hangar floor, and turned to see Xavier slowly approaching him. "I'll...go park the Salvation in a nearby timeline…." he sputtered, glancing aside as he struggled to speak.
"We'll make it back." Hidden assured, addressing Xavier's concerns before he was able to express them. He put a talon on the RainWing's shoulder, giving him a confident grin, despite likely feeling just as unsure about their mission as he was.
"I guess we've gotta make one more detour before we get home, huh." Xavier mused.
"Just a quick errand, really. And when we get back, we can chill out with some Buildaria or something." Hidden continued, "Or perhaps do another round or two with Lin!"
Xavier flinched back fearfully at the thought of facing the EarthWing again, Hidden lightly chuckling in response. "Just, get back soon, alright?" the RainWing asked, attempting to change the subject.
"Will do." Hidden affirmed, nodding to Xavier. The two shared a brief moment of silence, before Lin returned, both the laser cannon from the front lines and the dubstep cannon held over her shoulder. She cast Hidden a quick glance, tossing him the energy shield gauntlet he'd acquired from the arena all those days ago.
"We should get this over with as quickly as we can." she stated, "I plan on returning home sometime too, after all."
With that, she stepped up into the shuttle, leaving Hidden and Xavier standing in the hangar, Reggie and Maple still watching from a distance.
"So...um, good luck." Xavier said, giving Hidden a worried, yet trusting grin. He lifted a foretalon, clenched into a fist, and Hidden lifted one of his, the two sharing a soft fist bump before the RainWing stepped back over next to the humans and their metal dragon. He cast Hidden one last look, as the SandWing hopped up the shuttle's ramp, stepping into its main chamber with Luna and Lin.
The EarthWing pulled down on the lever on its back wall, the ramp slowly rising back up as Ricky began to lift the shuttle into the air. Hidden sat over against the wall opposite of Luna, Lin sitting next to him. The shuttle wobbled slightly, Ricky disengaging the tether binding it to the hangar floor.
Moments later, Hidden heard the thunderous grinding of the rear hangar door dropping away, as Ricky activated it remotely through the shuttle. The small craft began to drift toward the back of the hangar, Hidden popping into the cockpit to cast one last glance at Xavier, Reggie and Maple standing in the hangar. He waved a talon at them as they slowly drifted away, eventually disappearing as the shuttle shot into the slipstream.
AN:
I decided to add this chapter to bridge the gap between this and the next one. I'll admit that I keep feeling like I'm rushing the characters, like I don't have enough down time with them or I'm not portraying their personalities well, but that's just more needless worrying that's only making it harder for me to write. There are obviously going to be a lot of issues with this story, and I may not be able to fix them all in the rewrite, but in the end I hope this story is something people can really enjoy, despite its unusual premise. As always, reviews are much appreciated. I don't usually like asking for them, but as the story nears the finale, there are a lot of things that I'm not entirely confident about, and would like to gauge how well they resonate with readers. Plus, it would really help to have some constructive criticism to work with come the rewrite.
[I just updated this chapter with a bit of info I forgot to squeeze in, and I think it makes it flow a little better too.]
What awaits Hidden and co. in the domain of Dr. Walnut? Find out in the next chapter of Wings of Fire: Salvation! Stay tuned!
