Chapter 2: Fastest To Snap

"M-Mamba-" The dragonet stammered, unable to stop his shaking. Mamba responded by digging her talons into the dragonets body. "I-I said maybe if she decided to raise you right, you wo-wouldn't be so vio-OW!"

Mamba dug her talons in deeper. "Maybe, if your mother had raised you right you wouldn't be such a frog chewing, empty headed, slow witted son of a-"

"WHAT IN THE THREE MOONS IS GOING ON HERE?!" An adult voice demanded from the entrance to the cafeteria.

All heads swiveled towards the door. Mamba recognized the RainWing as Austerity, the principle of the school. Most of the teachers in the school were regular RainWings: Lazy, Bored, and didn't care about what the students did.

Not Austerity.

The strict principal walked right over to Mamba and the other dragonet, but Mamba got off of him before she reached them. "What is the meaning of this, Mamba?" Austerity asked.

"He said something about my family." Mamba lashed her tail and held her ground, staring right back at the principal.

"That was no reason to attack hi-"

"Oh shut up!" She retorted, then stormed out into the hallway.

In the hallway, Mamba hissed at thin air. She felt like clawing Austerity's face off, but she knew she never would.

A RainWing walked past her, and Mamba tripped her out of spite.

"Heyy, what was that for?" The dragonet whined. She was a few years younger than Mamba and had lavender scales. Behind her stood a much older male dragonet, who was a sunset orange.

"Are you gonna answer?" He asked.

"No, I'm not, so get out of my way." Mamba growled.

"Well, that's not nice." He said calmly.

She stood there seething, knowing she shouldn't do what she was about to do. She spat a tiny droplet of venom right next to the lime dragonet's head, making sure it didn't actually touch him, but close enough to look like it would. The dragonet yelped and picked up the younger dragonet, sprinting past Mamba and darting down the hallway.

Serves them right, with that dumb look he gave me. She thought maliciously.

Mamba knew she should of stayed at school. She knew it wasn't helping her to go back home. She knew, and she didn't care.

Her left wing caught a thick branch and threw off her balance, and she crashed into a bush on the forest floor. Mamba had never been good at tree gliding, or fruit picking, or suntime, or almost anything a RainWing should be good at.

"Stupid tree, stupid school, stupid dragonets, stupid...stupid everything." She muttered as she disentangled herself from the bushes. She spat a large splash of venom at the branch and it sizzled off the tree.

Good. She thought, satisfied at both the melted branch and her aim.

Venom spitting, that was something she was good at. Venom spitting and fighting.

She jumped onto a tree and took off from there, not letting herself get lost in thought again.

She stormed into her house, slamming the door shut as hard as she could. She expected to hear her father say something about it, but it was silent in the house. Gone again? She thought glumly, stomping into her room. On her table was a note.

"'Dear Mamba, I had to go on a last minute trip. I hired a dragonsitter, as this will be a long journey. She'll arrive sometime after school. Please stay out of trouble while I am gone. Love, Father.'" She read the note, then threw it across the room.

"A dragonsitter?!" She roared, trying her hardest not to throw anything else.

She muttered insults to her father, the dragonsitter, and other dragons in general, before walking over to a wooden box in a corner of her room. She lifted the lid, and peeked into the box at the brown snake that was curled into a corner. She nudged the snake with a claw, and the snake woke up and hissed at her. Mamba picked up the Black Mamba, ignoring the useless attempts he made to bite her.

"Everything sucks, Speeder." She complained to the snake, who hissed a reply.

"Dad is gone again, and he specifically asked me not to get in trouble, and I did, and I walked out on the principal, and everything is stupid." She said, half to herself. She held the Speeder for a few more minutes, before putting him back and leaving her room. She peeked into the main room to make sure the dragonsitter wasn't here yet.

But she wouldn't be, because I should be at school right now, so I have a few hours. She grabbed a pouch from the table and went outside, walking on the forest floor instead of flying.

Mamba wandered the forest for a bit, searching for prey for both her and her pet.

It was a couple hours before she found some sort of boar and managed to catch and kill it. She ate most of the meat and stuck the rest in her pouch. A movement in a bush caught her eye and she pounced on it instinctively. A small rodent darted just out of her reach. She chased it for a few minutes and trapped it under her talons, then curled one of her talons in to make a cage for it. She pumped her wings and flew home close to the ground.

She slipped inside her house and into her room, trying not to crush the rat completely. She opened the box and dropped the rodent inside swiftly, knowing her pet didn't like being watched while he ate.

Just as she closed the lid, she heard the door open in the main room and a voice call her name.

"The dragonsitter." Mamba said bitterly. She walked into the main room to see a NightWing looking around the room. Mamba growled at her and darted back inside her room.

A NightWing!? He really hired a NightWing to dragonsit me?! She could feel her scales growing a brighter red, turning into real anger and not just her regular color. Mostly, the RainWings and NightWings in the forest stayed separated. Most schools and stores only catered to one tribe, and while some RainWings thought the tribes should mix, Mamba was not one of them.

What they did to our tribe was unforgiveable, and he wants me to listen to one? Not gonna happen! She calmed down and stepped into the main room again.

The NightWing was looking at her, and Mamba hissed again.

"Um, hi? Are you Mamba?" She asked nervously.

"Yeah. Who are you?"

"I'm, uh, I'm Hopeseeker. I'm your dragonsitter."

"Well, I don't need a dragonsitter." Mamba retorted, trying to put as much contempt in her voice as she could.

"Um, well, your father asked me to-"

"Doesn't matter. I don't need one." Mamba interrupted her.

"I-I don't thi-" Hopeseeker tried to say again.

"I said it doesn't matter!" Mamba shouted, spitting venom to the side of Hopeseeker in an attempt to chase her out of the house.

Unfortunately, just at that moment, Hopeseeker flinched to that side, and the venom hit her straight in the neck.

Mamba watched with horror as the venom melted her neck first, almost decapitating her as Hopeseeker fell to the ground. She barely got a scream out before the venom melted her voice box. As the venom ate away at the body, Mamba darted into her room and locked the door.