Nick

The air was cold and crisp, stinging Nick's face. The frigid morning air was freezing, and Ryder didn't seem to notice it. "How can you ignore it?" Nick asked incredulously. "My claws are freezing off!"
Ryder shrugged. "It's early. It's always cold around this time. Eventually you'll get used to it."

They'd left the grove earlier that morning, Ryder eager to get 'a headstart on the day', waking up Nick with an over enthusiastic attitude.
Yeah, there was mountains.
Since Ryder was the only one with an actual plan, they, er, he decided, they should head through the mountains to avoid detection.
"But what about the U.S.C.M.?" Nick asked. "We need to keep an eye on them, right?"
Ryder blinked. "Eeeehhhhhh, not really."
"What?"
"I just don't feel like we should tussle with em' right now." he said simply.
"But what about when they find out about us being here? Or even worse, other dragons who don't know how dangerous they are?"

He shrugged. "Guess it's just a trouble we'll have to deal with."
Nick sighed, dragging his tail as they continued walking.
"Well, could we at least figure out how to use these useless wings?" he asked, eyeing his wings dubiously.

"Erm, if you want to. I can see some light hills up ahead, if ya wanna take a shot at it." Ryder grunted.

"Okay then! I'm not waiting for you, you slug!" Nick cried, galloping towards the nearest slope.
"Hey!" Ryder protested, sprinting behind him.
Nick opened his wings the second he leapt into the air and felt weightlessness. He slowly glided to the edge of the bottom of the hill, practicing this on the next few angled hillsides, Ryder imitating his motions and following close behind.

After awhile, they stopped to rest, not having exercised their wings very often before, now taking the repercussions from this.
"Whew! This is-" Nick swallowed, gasping. "-tiring."
"Agreeable. I haven't felt this much aches in my shoulder since basic." Ryder grumbled.

"Wait, you actually went through basic training?" Nick asked, tilting his head.
"Wait, you didn't?" Ryder asked, equally confused.

Nick shook his head. "We didn't have a military where I came from."
Ryder blinked twice, shocked and still very much confused. "So wait, what'd you do when someone really attacked ya?" He asked. "You couldn't have possibly held out against everyone else in the world that wanted to kill you for no reason."
Nick smirked. "You'd be surprised how dangerous my brother is when he's a in a good mood." he chuckled, recalling Nathan being able to cut through entire ranks with one flaming swipe of his blade.

"Goblin armies, some kind of magic Snowman Mafia, Sky Pirates, A Kobold army from another dimension, to list a few things that wanted us dead for no reason." Nick listed off calmly, continuing to walk forward.

"I'm just going to assume that you're being serious." Ryder muttered.

After walking for about ten minutes more, Ryder froze once again, like he had the first time they'd seen evidence of the U.S.C.M.'s presence.
We're out in the open, anyone could see us from here. Nick's mind fretted.

If there was anything he wanted to do right now, it was return to human form.
Mainly because in this new body, he wasn't able to use his magic. Well, not that he'd tried very hard to….

Maybe…..does this mean I could…..wait, the basic exercises might reactivate my semblance with electricity, if I could get the time and right location to do so…..

He was snapped out of thought as Ryder's scales flickered anxiously, his talons signalling Nick to look up at the sky.
Two dragons. One looks kinda small, the other larger one might be more of a threat, if they engage.
Ryder was crouched low against the grass, his tail twitching occasionally. Nick hunched his shoulders, joining him and still knowing their blue scales would stand out like a broken window.

The other two dragons stopped to a hover in mid-air, talking to each other for a brief moment before continuing on.
"I think they either haven't noticed us yet, or they have and just don't give a damn care." Ryder muttered.
Nick nodded, hoping what he'd assumed was the case.
They waited for the two dragons to fly over them, then watched as they flew off towards the horizon.
"They're leaving us be." Ryder sighed in relief, standing up and shaking himself. "Let's continue on, shall we?"

Nick was cold. The idea, he realized, of going through the mountains on foot, he now decided had been a bad and desperate one from the start. It was freezing. He thought he could feel the tip of his tail being frozen, but he then decided it was (hopefully) the numbness. His teeth chattered, leaving him to wonder if the dragons here had any sweatshirts. It sounded silly at first, but now he was beyond hopeful.

"It's c-cold in here." He exhaled, rubbing his arms together.

Ryder said nothing, continuing along the rocky stone path cut into the side of the canyon.

"We should reach the end of this canyon by noon, but we'll need to pick up our pace. Our progress hasn't been on the speedy side today, so we might wanna start haulin a-"
"We're trying to not have as much swearing in this story, remember?" Nick interrupted.
Ryder stared down at his talons, embarrassed, and nodded.

Right. Okay, I guess we can just be happy nothing stupid's happened yet-
Shots rang out from above them, the bullet shells bounced off his snout moments later.

Oh COME ON.
More shots followed. Ryder looked at him with a surprised expression, but stayed silent.
A cry went out, then the sound of something sliding above his head prompted Nick to move. He stepped back, and then a body fell onto the path in front of him.
It was….well, he didn't know what it was. It resembled a dog, but it was humanoid. He thought he'd seen some kind of thing like it that the people from Milo's dimension did, except those were costumes. This thing was once alive. Or...
'The hell is it' He mouthed to Ryder.
'Explain later.' Ryder mouthed in reply.

They stayed silent as the shuffling footsteps overhead faded away, heading in the opposite direction of them.
"What the hell just happened?" Nick whimpered, almost scared out of his scales.
Ryder grunted, turning over the body in his talons. "It's not one of the U.S.C.M…." He muttered, tracing a claw along the name. "C. Brooke. Hmm. Maybe it's one of those rebels I've heard about. The U.S.C.M. only takes human recruits last I checked."
Nick frowned, tilting his head. "But...what IS it?"
Ryder set the body down gently. "A Lyceen. A race that resembles wolves, but they'll take offence to heart if you compare them to common canines. It's female. She's not dead, to make our predicament more interesting. A few shots to the leg and stomach, but she's otherwise alright on the outside."
Nick's eyes widened. "W-what? It's-She's alive?" he exhaled in surprise.
Ryder frowned. "Did you not hear a single darn word comin' out of my mouth?"

He didn't answer. "So, when do you think she'll wake up?"

The other blue dragon sighed.
"About an hour or so. It's a pretty nasty gash on her forehead. It'll be a miracle if she remembers a thing." he said, rolling his shoulders and folding his wings in.
"We might want to either move, or figure out how to move her with us. She might not survive long if we just leave her out here."
Nick managed a weak smile.
"I think I have a solution."

"But I came up with the idea! Why do I have to carry her?" Nick whined, tugging at the tight grass ropes circling around his belly.

"Because I'm the one to find our way out, that's why." Ryder answered.
"Uuuughhhhhhh…" Nick grumbled, glaring at him in minor discomfort.

Ryder turned away triumphantly, then continued down the rocky path they'd been standing on for so long. On the bright side, at least it wasn't heading upwards anymore.

The noonday sun shined down on them annoyingly, not that it was hot, it was just incredibly bright in their eyes, and reflected off the canyon walls.

I wish we could have tried flying over this.
I would have. Especially with-
He froze, coming upon a startling realization.
My wings. Why didn't I think of that? I just need to use them like my leaf wings and I'll be set.

Ryder's gonna be soooo jealous.
He waited until Ryder was of a relatively decent distance away, then spread his wings, letting muscle memory take over.
He shot out above the canyon, laughing as the wind buffeted his wings and body. Ryder looked up at him from below.
"Oh hell, that just ain't fair!" Ryder yelled in protest.

"Hahahah! Kaaaarmaaaaaa!" Nick crowed in triumph.
Nick swooped in overhead, narrowly avoiding rock overhangs and stray trees as he set down beside Ryder, grinning.
Ryder stared at him, studying.
"What?" Nick asked, smirking. "Disappointed you're one step behind?"
Ryder shook his head. "No. Have you known the whole time?"
Nick's smile faded. "Known what?"
"Known how to fly." He replied with a straight face.
"Well, yeah. I never thought about how I could use the same muscle movement with these new wings as I could with my original pair."

"Huh. Well, I hate to give you this job, but I need you to scout ahead. See what might be in our way, possible rest stops, water…. The necessary stuff."
Nick sighed, elevating his wings to be ready to take off. "And what if the U.S.C.M.'s on the other side?"
Ryder paused.
"One problem at a time."

Nick had been in the air for what felt like almost an hour, gliding above a small stream, attempting to find it's source.
Eventually, it abruptly ended. The stream literally went under a wall of stone and dirt, then never reappeared. Nick even circled around the surrounding landscape, the path of water nowhere to be found.

I wonder….maybe it's an underwater river…?

He landed by a nearby pond, his thirst getting the best of him. He gulped in mouthful after mouthful, until his midsection felt a bit sickly.
Okay, that's probably enough.
He looked around. Nothing living was in the small box canyon.
Maybe I can reattain semblance while I'm here.
He flexed his talons.
It wouldn't hurt to have some magic on my side.
After setting the Lyceen soldier on the ground a safe distance away, he sat down, clasping his talons together.
"Tempestatis…. procella…. peccatum…. mihi…. vires…." He muttered aloud.
A slight shock jolted in his veins.
"Tempestatis.. procella.. peccatum.. mihi.. vires.." Nick repeated again, louder.
He felt like he was being attacked by an electric fence, but remained still.
"Tempestatis procella peccatum mihi vires." He said, his voice hitting an almost shouting octave.

His body convulsed once, but he repositioned himself, his muscles tensing randomly from this much exposure to electricity.
"Tempestatis procella peccatum mihi vires!" He shouted, trembling as electricity knocked him to the ground, shivering and convulsing.
Nick took a deep, shivering breath. Dark clouds had rolled in from the sky above, threatening thunder, lightning, rain, and fire.

Just like they had in his first semblance.
"TEMPESTATIS PROCELLA PECCATUM MIHI VIRES!" he screamed, stretching his arms and talons outward.
Thunder rumbled in acknowledgement, moments later sending a bolt of pure lightning, racing down towards the earth, down towards Nick.

"Nullus stabit in via."

Nick managed a weak smile, then everything went black as the lightning struck his body.