"So, this is the place huh?"

Micah looked around in awe as he watched all the dragons soar through the sky. The time for Sear's mating season have finally seemed to come along, and because Micah and Junji were supposedly seen as two of his closest 'brothers' alongside Astro, they had been asked to come along in support of the reptile.

He hadn't minded coming along of course, but… well, seeing this place was just sort of breathtaking. He'd been to mewni once or twice, and the atmosphere looked pretty cool. But this place, the Neverzone, was just downright stunning. Between the sky, field, and wildlife, this looked like a place out of an open world fantasy game.

"Ha! Hey, c'mon guys! That tickles!"

Micah looked over and towards Junji, who was being mobbed by a group of young dragons. They were nudging and sniffing him all over, and the boy could barely stay on his feet. "Looks like it's not just Sear that takes a liking to you," he said, smirking.

"They recognized one of their own. Even if he's in an odd-looking form to them," Astro said as he kept patting Sear on the head. The dragon had an odd expression on his face. One that looked like a mix between nervousness and… sick? Micah guessed her was probably a bit worried about all of this. "You ready boy?"

Sear groaned, his eyes shifting around nervously. This was his first mating season, so there was a reason for him to be worried. Dragons lived a very long time, and because many didn't find mates on their first couple of tries, there were older more experienced dragons he'd have to compete with.

Ones that younger females would see as a more viable option. Bringing his clan here with him gave him a bit of an advantage since it showed the unity within his family structure, but it was no guarantee. "Ah, don't look so worried," Micah said, patting him on the head. "You practiced a lot of this right? You're gonna be fine."

"Yeah!" Junji said encouragingly. "I bet you're gonna have all the lady dragons over clawing their way to get to you."

Sear perked up slightly, and Astro nodded forward. "C'mon' let's go show off a bit. We're going to be right behind you," he said.

Sear grunted and then took off into the air, heading towards where they saw a number of other dragons gathering. The three males followed after him on foot, soon arriving at a large crater with a number of rocks in it. Each of them had groups of dragons perched on top of them. Down in the middle, they could see two dragons circling around one another, growling.

"What's up with them?" Junji asked.

"Probably interest in the same female," Astro explained. "When two dragon try to court the same one, they're bound to end up competing. And they do that by getting gifts."

"Gifts?" Micah asked, raising an eyebrow. "What gifts?"

They suddenly heard a loud snapping sound, and turned back to see one of the dragons pinning the other down. It's jaw was clamped down on its tail, and it yanked it's head up, ripping the tail right off. "Oh man!" Junji said stunned.

"They bring the other's tail," Astro said, crossing his arms.

They watched as the victorious dragon flew up towards a waiting female, dropping the torn limb in front of her and sitting up with pride. The female purred in approval, and moved towards him, nuzzling under his chin with her snout.

"Wow… that's pretty hardcore," Micah said.

"Sear isn't going to lose his tail, is he?" Junji asked.

"No, of course not… but even if he did, it'd grow back," Astro answered.

Speaking of Sear, the young dragon looked around until his gaze suddenly stopped up near the top of the crater. Perched on top of a rock was what looked like another young dragon, a female. She had bright red fiery scales, and was curled up on her rock, a nonchalant expression on her face.

Sear approached her with a bit of hesitation. He turned his head back towards Astro and the others, who gave him encouraging looks, and then turned back and made his way up towards her. He grunted, and she turned her head and looked towards him. Sear sat up, trying to look big

The female blinked and stared at him, as if silently asking what he was going here, and then laid her head back down. Sear's eyes widened. "Uh-oh…" Astro muttered.

"Can't tell if she's playing hard to get or just genuinely isn't interested," Micah said.

Junji tilted his head. "Why would she even be here if she wasn't interested?"

Sear quickly went to her other side, and then crouched down. Micah and Junji looked curiously, while Astro smiled. They had been practicing this for months now, and he was sure he was going to nail this. Sear began spinning both of his wheels, and then suddenly began performing a burnout on the ground.

A cloud of dust kicked up into the air, and when it cleared they could see he had formed a perfect circle in the ground. "Whoa, I didn't know he could do that," Micah said, impressed. Sear once again sat up proudly, and the female looked down at the burnout for a few moments. She then blew smoke from her nostrils and turned around again.

"Seriously?" Astro said, frowning. "That was a perfect burnout. It should have at least gotten her attention." He's studied what he could about the courting rituals between dragons, and had helped Sear perfect nearly all of them. Aside from battle, the burnout was at the top of the list. Even some of the other females were turning their heads towards the scene. But this one didn't seem the slightest bit interested.

"What is he gonna try next?" Junji asked.

"Maybe he should go for a different-"

"Hey!"

Astro glared as he saw another dragon swoop down and knocked Sear out of the way, sending him tumbling. Said dragon looked much larger and bulkier than Sear, and clearly had his eyes set on the same female. He purred towards the female, who stared at him with the same disinterested gaze as she had Sear.

Junji and Micah both glared. "Seriously?" Micah asked, about to step forward.

Astro quickly grabbed his shoulder. "We can't," he said, looking irritated. "If we step in now it makes him look weak. Unless things get ugly… well, uglier, we have to stay here and just observe," he explained. The two other boys looked angry, but didn't move. They didn't want to ruin Sear's chances here.

Sear growled back at the larger dragon, who only spared him a glance before turning back towards the female. It swept it's tail, brushing dirt into Sear's face. "This is some highschool level pettiness…" Micah muttered. Sear growled once more, speeding forward and ramming into the rival dragon.

It stumbled back before giving him an annoyed look. Sear growled angrily, the other dragon snorted and glared back. The female barely spared the two a glance before she laid her head right back down and began dozing off. "Is she even paying attention anymore?" Junji asked.

"Man, this really is like highschool…" Micah said.

Sear and the larger dragon butted heads for a moment, and then suddenly both turned and headed towards the middle of the crater. "They're going to fight," Astro said.

"Will Sear be okay? That other dragon is bigger and bulkier than he is," Junji said.

The prince smirked. "Are you joking? There's more to fighting than just size and strength. Sear will be fine," he said confidently. Sear and the other dragon stood off against one another. They circled around for a bit, and then charged. When they clashed, Sear was knocked back and sent tumbling against the ground. "Shit…"

Sear quickly got back up and charged back, and the rival, looking smug, turned around and swung his tail at him. Sear was knocked aside again, smacking against the ground and rolling a few feet. "Are you kidding me…?" Micah said.

"Dang it! Get up Sear!" Astro said.

The rival casually made his way over towards the downed dragon, ready to rip his tail off and claim it as his prize, but the moment he stepped with his reach, Sear kicked his back legs out. His back wheel smashed into the rival's face, and he stumbled back in a daze. Sear turned around and charged at him lunging into the air.

He snapped down onto his horn with his teeth, using his body weight to fling him towards the ground. Then began doing another burn out, dragging him around in the dirt as he did. "There we go!" Astro cheered holding his fist up.

The dragon growled and managed to shake loose of Sear's grip, then swung its tail again to try and knock him away. Sear jumped up into the air however and avoided, then landed and began revving his front wheel, shooting dirt into the rival's face. The other dragon roared, trying to shake the dirt from its eyes.

Sear charged forward, knocking it's leg from under it and sending it to the ground. But before he could go for it's tail, the rival spread its wings and took off into the air. "Big mistake," Astro said, smirking. Sear shot off after him, easily catching up and clamping onto the end of his tail. "Now! Do it now!"

Micah and Junji looked confused, but then Sear suddenly began turning his entire body around in the air. Between the spinning and Sear's extra body weight, the other dragon lost its balance, and the two began falling towards the ground. "Oh man! It's like an alligator death roll!" Junji said beaming. "Just like off the nature channel!"

"They're falling to the ground pretty fast though," Micah said. At this rate they were both gonna crash, and that couldn't have been good for either of them. As they got closer to the ground, Sear suddenly began spinning even fast. The other dragon attempted to twist it's tail to keep up, but it couldn't quite gather itself. And then suddenly...

POP!

Sear spread his wings, stopping himself in mid air. The rival dragon fell and crashed to the ground hard, now short one tail. Some of the other dragons in the crater roared in approval, and Astro grinned like a cheshire cat. "Ha! I told you he'd be fine!" the prince said beaming with pride.

Sear looked down at his rival with a smug expression, and then made his way over towards the female from earlier. He landed down in front of her, and then eagerly placed down the rival's tail. The female turned her head back towards him, looked down at the tail, and then… snorted.

"What the hell…?" Astro asked. A perfect burn out, the tail of one of the largest dragons here. After something like that she should have been jumping at Sear. Or at least had her interest piqued. What was going on with this one? The female casually got up from her spot, and then took off into the air.

They watched as she left off, and Sear stared after her in confusion. The dragon was clearly wondering what he had done wrong. "Man, that sucks…" Micah said. It looked like he was doing so well too. "We should go make sure he's-" Sear suddenly took off in the direction of the female. "Oh… guess he's not giving up yet."

Junji scratched his head. "Is this a good thing? I mean, it looked like a couple of other dragons were interested in him. Maybe he should go after one of them. If he can't win her over he'll have wasted all his time and have to wait again, right?" he asked.

Astro crossed his arms. "I guess Sear is smitten with that one…" He wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. On one hand he didn't want him to settle for just any female who would mate with him. On the other hand, if he got too clingy with this one and missed his chance like Junji said… well, that would suck too.

"Guys, I think we got trouble," Micah said pointing forward. Astro and Junji looked down to see the rival dragon Sear had beaten back on his feet, and looking angry. He threw his head back and let out a loud roar, and suddenly a number of other dragons all poked their heads up. "That can't be good." The rival flew off into the air, and the other dragons all followed him. "Really not good."

"Stump!" Astro said. "We need to go find Sear!"

The red scaled female yawned as she curled up next to the lake she had come across, looking just as nonchalant as before. She looked like she was ready to drift off to sleep, when suddenly she heard something land a few feet away. She opened one of her eyes and looked up to see Sear staring down at her.

The dragon stepped forward and set something down before her before stepping back. She looked down and saw that it was a fresh fish. Sear looked down between the fish and her, and then drooped when she closed her eyes once more. He quickly turned and scurried off, but it wasn't long before he returned.

This time when the female opened her eyes she was greeted with the site of a bed of flowers. Sear stood looking hopeful. He had seen his brother bring these to his mate all the time. If she liked him, perhaps this female would too. The female looked at them confused, and then looked up at Sear before snorting again and laying her back back down.

Sear grunted sadly again, but turned and went to find something else. He was sure that there was something here that would get her attention. He spotted a tasty looking branch she might be interested in chewing on, but before he could grab it something crashed down on top of it, snapping it in two.

The rival had come back, and glared down at the dragon. The female opened one of her eyes, looking towards the scene in annoyance. But then she looked surprised as she saw even more dragons land down around the area. The defeated rival had clearly not been happy about his loss, and had seemed to have brought his clan with him.

Sear growled as he looked around at all of them, and the female stood up, a weary look in her eyes. The rival began approaching Sear, and some of the others began closing in as well. Sear growled and shot a few flames towards them as a warning, but they steadily kept approaching.

The rival looked like he was about to fly in and strike, but Sear beat him to it, pouncing one top of him and using his body weight to fling him to the ground. He bit and clawed at the larger dragon before another came swooping in and knocked him off. Sear rolled back up to his feet, but another dragon pounced on him.

He shook it off, only to be jumped on by another, and soon enough he was buried underneath a dogpile of dragons.

The female narrowed her eyes as the scene. A losing rival coming back in such a way wasn't unheard off, but it was considered disgraceful. If you lost, you were meant to simply accept it. Not bring your entire clan back in retaliation. That was nothing but a sign of bitterness and weakness.

She looked like she was about to step forward and interfere, but then-

"Get off of him!"

Astro slid over and grabbed one of the dragons by the tail, pulling and tossing it away. He threw a few more of them off before Sear burst from the bottom of the pile and sent the others flying. The tailless rival growled and charged towards Astro, but then Micah rushed in and kicked him back.

He tumbled onto the ground and looked up to see both Micah and Junji standing in front of Sear and Astro. "I'm guessing this falls under the dangerous category," Micah said cracking his knuckles. The other dragons growled and began circling around the group.

"Bunch of bullies…" Junji said, narrowing his eyes. He quickly grew out his claws and wings, while Micah began growing sparks around his body. Astro went into his monster formed, and Sear crouched down and growled as he got ready to fight alongside his brothers. "We're not gonna let you pick on our friend."

The dragon all seemed hesitant to attack after the display, and while the rival seemed to be trying to rally them into charging anyway, once Astro stepped forward and reached for his sword, he stepped back. After a few more moments, it let out a grunt and then turned and flew off. The other dragons followed after it, not having to think twice about ditching the fight.

Astro made sure they left before turning towards Sear. "You okay boy?" he asked worriedly as he patted him on the head. Sear grunted and then nuzzled his hand. "What a sore loser than one is. Some people need to learn how to take a butt kicking with grace."

Micah shook his head. "I know I keep saying this, but… this is highschool. Even have their own set of bullies and gangs running around. I mean seriously…"

"Hey, isn't that the dragon from earlier," Junji asked looking towards the female. She was looking over the group with a curious expression. She hadn't expected such… odd looking two legs to come out of nowhere and defend him. What a strange clan this one had brought. "She's looking at us."

The female began making her way towards them, and Sear's face lit up. He went over to meet her, but when he went to nuzzle her face she raised one of her paws and not so gently tapped his head, signaling for him to calm down. Sear quickly sat up as she snorted. "Is this a good or bad thing?" Micah asked. He still wasn't sure about all of this… or any of this really.

Astro tilted his head. "I… I don't know. Honestly I have no idea what these dragons' standards are at this point. She's clearly not like the others." Which was probably was Sear seemed to infatuated with her.

They watched as the two dragons grunted towards one another, and for once Astro had no idea what his friend was trying to say. Usually he could tell with a glance, but Sear looked just as confused as he was right now. After a while, Sear turned back around and approached them. He went up toward Astro and nudged leg before nodding towards the female.

"So what's going on?" Junji asked.

Astro rubbed his chin, and then looked up towards the female who was staring back at them with a laid back expression. He didn't know for sure, but he had a feeling…

"What the hell is this?!" Cayenne said, holding her arms out.

When she had heard from her cousin that they were going off to take Sear to his mating season, she figured the overgrown lizard was going to just get laid and come back. She didn't think they'd be bringing back extra baggage with them. Especially not a whole ass dragon.

The female was curled up in the common room, not at all bothered by Cayenne's reaction. Sear was sitting nearby staying at her eagerly. He had brought her a number of her favorite items from around the base, including some of his favorite snacks. She had looked over them briefly, but then decided to just relax.

Astro cleared his throat. "This is Sear's… potential mate? She's gonna be staying here a while… probably a long while," he explained.

"Fuck that! Take your dragon and his booty call back to your place!" Cayenne argued.

Micah stepped forward. "Aw c'mon Cayenne. Sear is trying to win her over and I think this is some kind of test. It's not like we don't have the room," he said.

"Yeah! Don't you want to help true love blossom?" Junji asked.

"Fuck no! I don't give a shit about true love! Get her out of here!"

Astro scowled. "Look, I'm pretty sure she's trying to get a good sense of what his clan is like, and right now he considered everyone in this base his clan. So just shut up and deal with it," he said crossing his arms. "Or you know, we could ask Kingsley and see what he thinks."

Cayenne narrowed her eyes at him. Knowing Kingsley he would totally bitch out and let her say the moment Sear gave him that begging look. She scowled and then poked the prince in the chest. "If I find anymore dragon shit in my office, I'm making boots out of her, you got that?" she asked threateningly.

"I'll keep her in check," Astro said, rolling his eyes.

Cayenne stormed off, ready to get back to her department and get some training in. "Well, that was fun. Better get going," Micah said as he began following after his cousin.

"Alright, catch you later man," Junji said waving before turning back to Sear. The dragon was hovering around his potential mate, looking excited, while the female just laid there relaxing. "Well, at least he seems happy… so, are we going to name her?"

Astro tilted his head. "Hmm… I wouldn't even know what to name her in the first place. I think for now we should just leave her be and let her adjust to the place. Besides, we don't know how long she'll be sticking around for. Best not to get too attached," he said.

That being said, he hoped everything worked out for Sear. His friend was clearly attached to her, and he wanted him to be happy.

A/N: Sear's potential mate makes her appearance! I've been putting this one off for a while so I finally figured I might as well get around to it. She's a mysterious and tricky one isn't she? But Sear is clearly head over heels for her! How do you think things will turn out?

Any names anyone wants to suggest for her? Or who do you think would make a good fit for a rider for her? Hmm?