The Chronicles of the White Dragon Part 2: The Crossroads of Time

by Blackshadow999

When things of history thought lost begin to be seen once more; fear grips many, none can choose how events will turn out in the end. What is left from an ancient war is rediscovered by Saber, but he finds more than he bargained for. An enemy long forgotten returns! and intends to finish wha they started. A tale traversing and transcending even the bounds of time itself. Part 2of3

4. 4 Repercussions

White Dragon 2-4

A/n

Where to start on the modifications in this chapter? Sen's language like I said in ch 12 is now different and much more… 'confusing' to non-humans. Much of it I had to look up, but I was going for a version of English that is naturally confusing to those who don't know it. There is a lot more description throughout and just general fluff here and there. Enjoy all!

Chapter 4: Repercussions

-Saber's pov-

Lara and I were on our way back to Warfang. By the time we set off, it was a little after midday and we were going at a decent pace on our way back to Warfang. Saw nothing out of the ordinary as we went for the first hour or so; just boring landscape that held no apes or really anything of interest. At the rate of speed Lara and I are traveling, we should be back at Warfang for dinner. That was the plan at least, yet things rarely go smoothly for me with my plan 'a'; so that's the reason that it's almost second nature for me to have a very flexible plan 'b'. So… why plan 'a' failed in this instance? Usual reason number two, me being a ridiculously strong magnet for all things weird and unusual. As that's the case, the view we had didn't last all that long after that first hour for us. We came across something different below us. It was Lara who spotted the oddity first.

"Hey Saber, look down and ahead. Is that a dragon?"

I looked in the direction Lara had indicated and to my surprise, sure enough there was a red orange dragon splayed out a small distance ahead of us. That's not a sight you see every day. Without further thought of this unusual scene, I dove down to the ground to investigate what had happened and see if the dragon was okay. Thankfully, I have gotten much better with my landings and pulling out of dives at the right time. I wasn't so… good at first. Boy did I do some spectacular plowing face plants as the first fruits of those labors! Those are the kind that when you hit the ground face first you keep going forward and your face tends to get deeper and deeper into the ground the farther you go. Um… time for a subject change, yes indeed!

I landed not too far from the dragon and took the time to study him. The dragon had red orange scales as I had seen from the air; though I noted that he had neutral brown color that you see with hardwood floors for his underbelly and wing membranes. Odd to think of hardwood for a brown color, yet that was what instantly came to mind when I saw the color. His horns were… different than any other horns I have ever seen and I have seen some weird ones! The two horns reminded me of… a samurai's helmet like you see in those old Japanese flicks… I saw some with my friend; the one who is kind of responsible for the glitch of me switching to speaking Japanese with I get really mad sometimes… yeah. I leaned to the side to get a look at his tail blade and again was baffled at the difference. The blade looked like a Japanese bisento spear; those spears that look kind of like a falchion on a pole or something like that.

Now that I got a good look at this dragon; he looked to be about the same age as myself, judging by size and length. Even if I'm bigger; but then I'm larger than average when it comes to my age group, which is kind of nice for as a human I was not really. I started to wonder how this dragon ended out in this position. I mean, he was splayed in the middle of nowhere! One doesn't just appear in the middle of nowhere without cause or reason, that's one of the rule of the universe as well as logic. I heard Lara land behind me and I looked back at her.

"So, is he okay?"

I glanced back at the red dragon with a critical eye and noting that he was breathing, even though he wasn't moving. So he is alive even if he is injured, just either blacked out or sleeping; one of the two. The problem in this find is that if we stay in one place for too long; then the likelihood of apes finding us goes up! It would be much better if we can avoid a problem like apes for the time being. I turned back to Lara and proceeded to answer her question.

"Well he is breathing, so I would bet he is alive. However whether he is asleep or otherwise, I have not the faintest clue."

Lara and I discussed what we should do. We of course couldn't just leave the guy here. However, with the state he was in, there was little we could do and the more ideas that we tried to come up with the more apparent that fact became. While we were trying to figure out how to solve this, I heard a quiet groan. Lara and I glanced over at the dragon and he was moving around now. He brought his head up and put a paw to it.

Lara was the first to speak up between us. That was fine by me; I am all for helping out others, but the sooner we get back to Warfang the better. I had taken time to look back on the last week and I discovered that my bad luck hasn't hit me like it does for days! The things with Lara don't fall under, 'my bad luck striking' really… at least as far as the normal method and way that my luck does its thing. So I had bad luck buildup and it was growing. I have had that more than enough times to know how it works perfectly! I don't want to give opportunity or any help to be any worse than it will be already!

"Um… hey are you okay there?"

The male dragon grunted.

"Yeah I think so; my head feels like I have been battered about, like I wiped out in the barrel of a totally huge wave dudes and dudettes. This is so not cool dude."

I stopped my worried musing. That voice… the manner of speaking… I swear I have heard it somewhere before. The dragon opened his eyes and when he had focused. The dragon's eyes were a light grey and right now his eyes were widening as he stared at us. That's a rather rare reaction… actually it isn't with me. When others see me, the one white dragon; this is one of the two expressions I get.

"You… You two are dragons!"

… Well no duh, captain obvious! What else would we be? He is a dragon too! Nevertheless, I was keeping my peace; whenever I put in my opinion, I get trouble shoved back in my face. I would like a break from that kind of thing; though I still think that voice is familiar. I can't think of why exactly? But what was irking more than why it was familiar was that I couldn't remember where I have heard this guy's voice. I know I have heard it! Lara tilted her head slightly in confusion.

"Yes… we are dragons…"

"THAT'S AWESOME! REAL DRAGONS!"

That came in a below from the dragon. I know I have heard that before, but where was it?! This is so frustrating! I know that voice… I just can't recall where or why I do know it!

"Dude, I have always like wished I could see a real dragon! And instead I get to meet two of them; totally far out! Oh this so Mondo that it's maxed out man! Wait till Jack hears this, he will flip; this is righteous dude!"

It can't be… that simply not possible! How did he get here and more importantly why?! Lara was even more confused than before.

"What are you…"

"SEN?!"

The dragon looked at me.

"Yeah… but dude, how do you know my name? I wouldn't forget meeting a dragon dude. … Your voice is oddly familiar though, so we met somewhere else man?"

My head fell as I sighed. This 'dragon' was named Sen; yet the last time I had seen him he was human! He was one of those who tended to hang around me and was sort of a 'friend' to me. He had a different way of speaking. He talked like he was from the surfer culture and I guess that would be right as he was a part of that culture.

"Sen, you may never have been able to beat me at martial arts; but you could match me fairly well when it came to belching."

Sen stared at me for a long minute.

"… Bro? Is that you Saber?"

I nodded. Sen then got one of his trademark cheesy grins.

"Far out bro, love the new look! White really is your color; totally sweet dude! But where are we bro? Not that you'll hear me complain about being in a place with dragons dude! It's like doing re-entry into a killer wave man!"

I shook my head. I feel that this will be the start of many misunderstandings with others. The surfer lingo is like a language unto itself!

"I forgot you had a fanatical interest with dragons and myths of the subject thereof; this will take some adjusting to. Yes Sen; dragons are real, you mind keeping this in perspective."

"Perspective dude? This is awesome bro! A dream come true man. Like seeing a surfing legend riding the waves bro, it's like a totally sacred ya know."

Lara came up to me still staring at Sen.

"Saber you know this dragon?"

I was about to answer. Sen turned to Lara with an expression of incredulity.

"Whoa you're a babe… dudette?! Anyway dudette, who are you calling a dragon? I mean it would be like a righteous dream for me to be one…"

I rolled my eyes at the response that Sen.

"Sen, have you looked in a mirror recently? If not then look at yourself."

Sen looked down at himself. As he was I covered Lara's ears as a gentleman should do for a lady. And then, braced myself for what was about to come. It was like I had an air horn right against my ear and its button was definitely broken. Did Sen have to yell that freaking loud?! I like my hearing to work dang it!

"GNARLY DUDE, I'M A DRAGON! A REAL DRAGON! THIS IS A DREAM COME TRUE BABY! I'M LOVIN THIS RIGHTEOUS HAPPENING! IT'S AWESOME!"

I was still covering Lara's ear like a gentleman like person would for a female. I on the other paw bellowed back at Sen as I wouldn't take this without giving a fitting response!

"SEN FOR THE ANCESTORS SAKES, WOULD YOU NOT YELL ABOUT THIS! I WANT TO HAVE HEARING TOMORROW DANG IT!"

Sen managed to calm himself down somewhat.

"Sorry bro, it's just like this is something I have wished for this since I was a kid. This is epic for me dude! Kinda like the first time I went body surfing bro, it was totally sick dude."

I let go of Lara and began shaking my head in exasperation at Sen. I mean the guy was talking like he normally does, and that was doing much more harm than good for him! Lara when I had let her go just looked from Sen to me and back to Sen.

"You two clearly know each other, how?"

I glanced to Lara.

"Well… Lara this here is Sen. He may be a dragon now, but he was human last time I saw him; I promise you that. He and I met and became acquainted at the dojo while we were learning and practicing fighting arts. So I guess a quote unquote friend, as he tended to spend more time around me than most did."

"I see."

That should have been the end of the subject, but… then Sen just HAD to open his mouth, didn't he?!

"Dude bro, I never pegged you for someone to catch himself a nice babe like her! Smooth moves bro, smooth moves! Totally primo dude, you should show me some out your epic techniques bro! So who is the dragon babe with you man, and does she have a sister? It would be radical to have a date dude."

Sen wasn't giving a greatest impression for himself at the moment… scratch that, he is hurting himself right now! First, the surfer lingo is less understood than normal English, which I use and dragon kind understands! Second he wasn't helping my position at all; he was dragging it down with his own reputation dang it! I look over to Lara ready to apologize for what Sen had said, but the second I saw Lara's face, I knew I was thankful for one of the few times that dragon kind doesn't always comprehend human speech. For right now Lara had a baffled expression at what Sen had said.

"Um… Saber… he talks stranger than you did at first. I do not understand him really at all."

Glad and grateful I am that she didn't fully understand what had come out of Sen's mouth, it still caused a problem. I once again shook my head in frustration; I now had to attempt to explain why Sen is so hard to understand.

"Yeah, I was always better at language skills and clear speech than Sen tends to be. His way of talking comes from the culture he is a part of. The culture is the group he is with a great deal of the time and fits in with. In human society, there are many different groups or cultures and most speak differently than the others, even if they use the same language. Some of said cultures are harder to understand than others. Sen's is definitely one of those cultures that is difficult to comprehend. You will learn to disregard a fair amount of the things he says as not noteworthy or really needed to be heard."

"Dude, that's really cold man! Why do you see the need to dis me like that bro? Aren't we friends dude?"

I look over to Sen and narrow my eyes, smiling slightly.

"What can I say; I just hate to lie, so I speak the truth. Might be harsh at times, but that's reality for you. As to the question of friends; that depends on what one consider a friend is."

Sen sighed at my answer.

"You know bro; I would've hoped you'd gotten better having pulled a gnarly bailout on that uncle of yours. You tended to be in a bad mood like you downed a Neptune Cocktail and then went selling Buicks most days because of the guy dude. It was a total bummer bro."

That's… kind of harsh. I mean, a Neptune Cocktail is when a surfer has a bad wipeout and swallows a sizable amount of seawater. Then to say 'selling Buicks'; that's to pretty much hurl up the seawater you swallowed; it's disturbing. Because I know what it's like to 'hurl your guts up'. Eating those fruits of unknown origin had taught me that unforgettable lesson! However, back to Sen's point.

"And have I not made an improvement since last time?"

"You have to degree, but it's still like you're a kook in being around others bro. There is still room for you to improve dude; lots of room."

My smile turned into a smirk. What he had said was true, yet I had a counter point that can out do his point!

"True, I have got a lot to learn still; but nowhere near as much as you will here, friend."

Sen just gave me a dirty look in response, which meant I had hit home. I meant no real harm by what I had said, which simply put was 'I may be ignorant, but you are dumber than I am'! Sen brought his right forepaw up, looked at it for a few seconds. He wiggled his three toes, changed them in some way I wasn't able to see. Sen after doing so, made his forepaw visible to me. I stared at his paw for half a minute. … Was Sen… doing what I think he is… and implying me to… DO SUCH A THING AS THAT?!

He had one talon pointing up and the other two down… three guesses as to which claw out of the three was up. I would bet anyone could get the right answer in one guess! This is one of the times I am glad the dragon race doesn't understand human actions, specifically silent insulting gestures. Sen was blatantly flipping me off with his right forepaw. Yes, I know as a dragon, he only has three digits on any given paw. Yet the gesture was clear and its meaning was plain and unmistakable! The smirk on his face just added to the insult aimed at me. I try my best to be nice to those around me, but I have my limits! I glowered at Sen in response as I controlled my irritation.

"Sen, you're very lucky I'm very nice and patient! If I wasn't, then you would be feeling just how painful a beat down I can give!"

Sen kept smirk at me, which just added fuel to my growing agitation and irritation.

"Let's see it, dude. I need a work out that would be fun. So again bro…"

Sen showed me his paw with it being exactly the same as before. Okay, pulling such a stunt once I will ignore to be nice as a 'friend'; more than once, is asking for a whipping from me! Sen wants a workout… then I give him one he won't soon forget! WHIPPING REQUEST GRANTED! I lunged at Sen and collided with him and we rolled a small distance; where we began to hit each other. Brawls like this happened a lot at the dojo, so you got use to this kind of thing. It was how most guys at the dojo, and quite a few girls too let off steam and got things off their chest. We all made up afterwards with the one we fought with… so everything was all good in the end. In fact they happened so often, you could say they're a dime a dozen. There were always bantering and exchanging of blows to settle things; no hurtful feelings normally remained afterward. Better to get it out of one's system, I say!

"You dare tell me to go screw myself?!"

"Yeah bro, that sounds like something that would be funny to see. So sign me up dude."

"Take it back!"

"You first bro!"

Our fighting continued for a couple of minutes; until we heard a screech from behind us.

"YOU TWO STUPID MALES WILL STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!"

We stopped mid swipe/punch. … As I mentioned before this bout started, these type of fights were very common at the dojo; most ignored them completely. And for those that got too far out of hand, a teacher, normally Master Kai would step in and stop the fight. Other than that, which was rare as all the students at the dojo knew where the line of too far was drawn; no one interrupted these fights. So it was out of place and somewhat alien now. We looked behind us to see Lara glaring at us in fury. Oh dear, Lara might be getting the wrong idea about this skirmish of ours! I need to calm Lara down quickly! However… as fate would have it… … why does my luck have to pick times like this to rear its ugly head and strike me down?! Well, as it has a nasty habit of doing so, my luck did its thing and came in the form as follows:

"Oi babe, don't interrupt! Let us settle our differences like guys dudette!"

… Oh Sen, normally I would agree with you in this kind of thing, but you don't… you know what, why not let him find out himself the trouble he is about to unleash?! I did the 'smart' thing and untangled myself as fast as I could and separated from Sen. I don't want to incur Lara's fury anytime soon! If the anger I saw during our shouting match is anything to judge by; her fury would be hell to pay for! I watched as Lara seemed to be where she was, which was ten feet or so behind us, to being on top of Sen two seconds later. … I had no idea she could move like that! I'll need to remind myself never to give my mate reason to do so! Lara was… giving Sen a show lacking that… well honestly I haven't seen one like this for years!

"… What the… back off dudette! Bro! …Lend me a hand man! Help a fellow dude with a major bail out bro!"

I heard Sen's desperate cry and plea for help. I weighed my options in this situation. I could help out Sen, but that would mean I have Lara mad at me for a while as the price I would pay in exchange. I would like to avoid that position if at all possible as I spend and am likely going to spend a great deal of time alone with her in the near future! I won't be spending as much time with Sen. My other option is to stay where I am and let Lara give him a whipping. And admittedly, it just may do him some good to learn there are things here you just don't do if you value a peaceful life! Pissing off a dragoness is one of them! … Hmm option one verses option two; dumb verses smart… I will have to go with smart on this, so option two it is!

"Sen, I would like to help you out… yet I would rather not have to pay the price for doing that. Don't take it personally; you just get to learn a valuable lesson from this. So sorry to say, you are on your own my friend!"

"Your cruel dude, cruel!"

I was about to reply to that, but this was the point that my bad luck decided would be a good time to strike me and with a vengeance! This happened by Sen's tail sweeping in a clockwise arc and tripping me. I lost my footing and I fell and rolled towards the edge of the clearing. Well at least this isn't worse by it going downhill. I go through the area of trees and then I burst through them and saw that below me was a very steep mountainside descending hard for a long way! REALLY?! I should stop screwing myself over with more problems than what I start out with!

"SEN YOU IDIOOOOOOT…!"

-Lara's POV-

-Minutes ago-

I came down and landed behind Saber slightly as he was looking at the dragon that had likely collapsed on the ground of this clearing. The really question is how he had gotten there and more importantly why. Saber looked back at me right after I landed.

"So is he okay?"

I hoped he was. The dragon had red orange scales as we had observed from the air. He had neutral brown color for underbelly and wing membranes. His horns were… unlike any I have ever seen and I have seen some very unique horns in my life! The dragon… probably a fire elemental one, was not moving and that worried me. He was not visibly injured as far as I could tell, but if that was the truth, then why was he not moving! Saber seemed to be looking him over. After he got a good look Saber turned to me when he answered.

"Well he is breathing, so I would bet he is alive. However whether he is asleep or otherwise, I have not the faintest clue."

I wonder what Saber could mean by otherwise? Human language is so… confusing and hard to understand. Well, we began to talk about what to do. We could not just leave the poor dragon here as he was and certainly not by himself! As we were discussing our options on how to help this dragon there was a quiet groan from his direction. Saber and I turned our heads over to where the dragon was. Thank the ancestors he was moving around now. He brought his head up and put a paw to it as if he was in pain. I spoke up before Saber who for whatever reason was keeping quiet.

"Um… hey are you okay there?"

The male dragon grunted.

"Yeah I think so; my head feels like I have been battered about, like I wiped out in the barrel of a totally huge wave dudes and dudettes. This is so not cool dude."

Huh? … His voice sounded… very odd. He used a couple of the same sounds that Saber does, which make what he says hard to understand at times. Yet the dragon said words I have never heard before. The dragon opened his eyes and I say that they were a light grey color. When he had focused, his eyes widened at seeing us. But I do not see why he would be surprised at seeing us. Maybe, it is because Saber is a white dragon; the only one that I know of… other than Koren… but Saber is the only one currently. So he is rather unique in that way… as well as other ways too. I smiled hoping that would help him not be wary of us.

"You… You two are dragons!"

Yes, as is he. Why does he sound so shocked about that? Saber still was keeping quiet, which was different for him. Normally he has an opinion about most things even if he does not say it. I wonder what he thinks of this so far. My head of its own accord tilted to the side as it does when I am confused.

"Yes… we are dragons…"

I am so lost in this. Yet I did not get to finish what I was saying as the red dragon began to yell.

"THAT'S AWESOME! REAL DRAGONS!"

… I do not know what is going on here anymore.

"Dude, I have always like wished I could see a real dragon! And instead I get to meet two of them; totally far out! Oh this so Mondo that it's maxed out man! Wait till Jack hears this, he will flip; this is righteous dude!"

Real dragons? How would we not be real and why?! Who is Jack? None of this makes sense at all!

"What are you…"

"SEN?!"

I looked at Saber. Does he know this dragon somehow?

"Yeah… but dude, how do you know my name? I wouldn't forget meeting a dragon dude. … Your voice is oddly familiar though, so we met somewhere else man?"

So do these two know each other then? What is going on here?!

"Sen, you may never have been able to beat me at martial arts; but you could match me fairly well when it came to belching."

This 'Sen' as Saber had called him, stared at Saber for a long moment. Martial arts? That was something that Saber talked about doing while he was in the human realm; though I do not get what burping has to do with anything. What is the connection between these two; there is one clearly.

"… Bro? Is that you Saber?"

The dragon knew his name at least. Saber nodded in answer to him. So did these two meet somewhere before I met Saber again?! Sen gave a… odd grin, I have seen that kind of smile on some dragons and I did not like it when they smiled like that. It usually meant they were trying to get my attention because they wanted something from me or just wanted me.

"Far out bro, love the new look! White really is your color; totally sweet dude! But where are we bro? Not that you'll hear me complain about being in a place with dragons dude! It's like doing re-entry into the barrel of a killer wave man!"

… He was talking more strangely the more he talks; far stranger than Saber ever has. There was also something in his voice that makes words even more difficult to know what is being said.

"I forgot you had a fanatical interest with dragons and myths of the subject thereof; this will take some adjusting to. Yes Sen; dragons are real, you mind keeping this in perspective."

'Fanatical'? What does that word mean I wonder? Well anyway Saber obviously knows this dragon from somewhere.

"Perspective dude? This is awesome bro! A dream come true for me, man! Like seeing a surfing legend riding the waves bro, it's like a totally sacred ya know."

Okay… I have to ask Saber, listening is not helping me! I went up to Saber who was still staring at Sen.

"Saber you know this dragon?"

'Sen' turned to me with an expression of great surprise. I have not a clue why though.

"Whoa you're a babe… dudette?! Anyway dudette, who are you calling a dragon? I mean it would be like a righteous dream for me to be one…"

'Babe'?; I wonder what that means. Perhaps it may another way of referring to a female? I don't think I can be really sure. I'll ask Saber when we are alone next. Though… how could he have not known by my voice and figure that I am a dragoness? And 'who are you calling a dragon?' well he is one himself clearly. Does he not know that?

"Sen, have you looked in a mirror recently? If not then look at yourself."

Sen looked down at himself. As he was doing so Saber put his forepaws over my ears. I do not understand why Saber is covering my ears; I could not hear at the moment because he was. I stared baffled at the sight before me. The sight made only partial sense as I could not hear any sound, but could guess there was. The dragon Sen seemed to be shouting something… I think. I turned slightly to see Saber grimacing in pain; perhaps from the shouting of Sen? Saber continued to hold his paws over my ears. I mean his paws felt warm and nice on my head and everything, so I am fine with Saber having his paws where they are. Yet Saber was yelling something back at this… acquaintance of his. After whatever Saber had bellowed, Sen appeared to calm down a little. Sen said something, following what was said Saber finally let go and I could hear again! I gaze from this Sen to Saber and then back to Sen. I decided to ask the question burning on my mind.

"You two clearly know each other, how?"

Saber glanced to me, which still sent my heart beating faster than normal.

"Well… Lara this here is Sen. He may be a dragon now, but he was human last time I saw him; I promise you that. He and I met and became acquainted at the dojo while we were learning and practicing fighting arts. So I guess a quote unquote friend, as he tended to spend more time around me than most did."

Another human is he? That explains why he is difficult to understand when he talks. I still think humans are rather stranger creatures. However, they cannot all be bad, Saber is wonderful as he is charming to me!

"I see."

Keep in control Lara, you can let these feelings of love out when you alone with Saber again. I just hope it is soon! It was at this time that Sen spoke up.

"Dude bro, I never pegged you for someone to catch himself a nice babe like her! Smooth moves bro, smooth moves! Totally primo dude, you should show me some of your epic techniques bro! So who is the dragon babe with you man, and does she have a sister? It would be radical to have a date if she does dude."

What does the words 'doed', 'pegged' mean or any other those other words Sen said that I have never heard before? Sen's manner of speech is very different, even from Saber's! I cannot understand the meaning of most of what he is saying if any at all. I noticed that Saber was looking at me; I want to be nice to this possible friend of his. However, I still cannot comprehend his manner of speaking. I was baffled by it more than anything else and it likely showed on my face. Saber is very good at seeing the feeling of others. I chose to voice my utter confusion.

"Um… Saber… he talks stranger than you did at first. I do not understand him really at all."

Saber shook his head. He has been doing that a lot lately and I do not know why. I will ask him later.

"Yeah, I was always better at language skills and clear speech than Sen tends to be. His way of talking comes from the culture he is a part of. The culture is the group he is with a great deal of the time and fits in with. In human society, there are many different groups or cultures and most speak differently than the others, even if they use the same language. Some of said cultures are harder to understand than others. Sen's is definitely one of those cultures that is difficult to comprehend. You will learn to disregard a fair amount of the things he says as not noteworthy or really needed to be heard."

Saber has good language skills for humans? I fear to ask then what bad language skills are like.

"Dude, that's really cold man! Why do you see the need to dis me like that bro? Aren't we friends dude?"

Sen is not getting any easier to understand, the longer I listen to him.

"What can I say; I just hate to lie, so I speak the truth. Might be harsh at times, but that's reality for you. As to the question of friends; that depends on what one consider a friend is."

Saber can be kind of rude at times, but he usually means well. Though if this is how he treats friends, then this explains a great deal of his problems. It is little wonder he is as alone as he is; it is sad. Sen sighed at Saber's answer.

"You know bro; I would've hoped you'd gotten better having pulled a gnarly bailout on that uncle of yours. You tended to be in a bad mood like you downed a Neptune Cocktail and then went selling Buicks most days because of the guy dude. It was a total bummer bro."

His uncle? Saber has said some things about this uncle of his, yet none of them have been good.

"And have I not made an improvement since last time?"

I would say Saber is nice the way he is, though he has become better. Especially today; when we mated; it was just so amazing, even better than I heard it would be. He was so big and… I will think about this later, it is not the time!

"You have to degree, but there is still room for you to improve bro; lots of room."

All of us can I would say. Saber smirked at Sen; I think these two are arguing with one another. Yet I have no idea as to what about or why.

"True, I have got a lot to learn still; but nowhere near as much as you will here, friend."

Sen just gave Saber a dirty look in response to his statement. Then he did something that was weird and something I did not understand. He looked at his right for paw for a few seconds; and then showed it to Saber. I saw his paw; but I do not see why he is holding it the way he is. He had his middle talon pointing up and the other two down. Is this supposed to mean something or be some sort of symbol? Perhaps this is a human gesture of a sort that Saber has not talked about? Sen was holding his right forepaw like this and smirking at Saber. I glanced over to Saber and saw he was glowering at Sen. Apparently this gesture is not a nice one to judge by Saber being angry about it.

"Sen, you're very lucky I'm very nice and patient! If I wasn't, then you would be feeling just how painful a beat down I can give!"

Just how mean is this action meant to be with humans?! Sen kept his smirk as he answered Saber.

"Let's see it, man. I need a work out that would be fun. So again bro…"

Sen showed the same gesture as before to Saber. Saber was getting angrier be the second about what Sen was doing. I just do not know why! Suddenly Saber lunged at Sen and collided with him and they rolled a small distance from me; where we began to fight each other. Why are they doing this?!

"You dare tell me to go screw myself?!"

'Screw yourself'? … I do not get it. What does that mean?

"Yeah bro, that sounds like something that would be funny to see. So sign me up dude."

"Take it back!"

"You first bro!"

They continued to fight for a couple of minutes. This had to stop now! These two were acting like dragonets when they were supposed to be young adults!

"YOU TWO STUPID MALES WILL STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!"

I screeched this at the two dragons that were being foolish. They stopped mid swipe/punch and looked at me as I glared at them furious at their actions. Sen then began to talk back to me.

"Oi babe, don't interrupt! Let us settle our differences like guys dudette!"

Did he just tell me to stay out of this?! He will regret that greatly! Saber quickly got away from Sen, which I was happy about. I do not want our new relationship to get strained by disciplining him for being like a foolish dragonet. I rushed forward at Sen, pounced onto him and began to teach him a lesson on proper behavior that he will not forget!

"… What the… back off dudette! Bro! …Lend me a hand man! Help a fellow dude with a major bail out bro!"

Saber better stay exactly where he is at the moment, if he knows what is best for him! I continued to give Sen a beating when Saber gave his answer.

"Sen, I would like to help you out… yet I would rather not have to pay the price for doing that. Don't take it personally; you just get to learn a valuable lesson from this. So sorry to say, you are on your own my friend!"

Very good Saber; that is the answer you should give! Your mate is doing this 'friend' of yours a favor!

"You're cruel dude, cruel!"

That is how things go when you are being foolish Sen! He was struggling against me, but I am stronger than he is, so I was winning. I heard something bumping against the ground, though I was busy with Sen and the lesson I was teaching him, so I ignored it.

"SEN YOU IDIOOOOOOT…!"

Hold on… was that not Saber?! I got off of Sen and ran in the direction that Saber's voice had come from. I slid to a stop at the end of the trees to find there was a steep downhill slope! Oh no! I scanned the slope and quickly spotted him tumbling down the mountain side and I began to panic as I watched. He hit rocks and crashed into other things as he was tumbling down the mountain.

"Man, why does my bro always find the most gnarly stunts that end out being so much fun to do like that?!"

I looked to my right to see Sen. I stared at him with a look of slight confusion.

"Fun?! What are you watching?! Saber is not having fun at all! He is tumbling down a mountain side for ancestor's sake! He could get hurt!"

How can anyone find this fun?!

"Yea, that's what I'm saying; I mean his method of descent needs some polishing, but still what fun! And chill, my bro will be fine, fer sure. The dude does the most epic things and comes out the other end of it without a scratch, talk about righteous!"

What does… I do not have the time to listen to his unusual and non-sensical speech! I have to get to Saber and make sure he is alright! He has not even been my mate for a day; I cannot lose him! Without further thought I leapt into the air and dove down after Saber. I was gliding down; trying to catch up with Saber when from behind me I heard something scraping. I glanced back and saw Sen… what is he doing?! He was standing on his hind legs on a long piece of wood that had the length of my own body length and was probably about three feet wide. He was balancing on his hind legs on the wood and had his forelegs out and his wings helping with his balance. The wood was sliding down the mountain side with him on top of it.

-BGM: "Wipeout" (start)-

"This is so totally radical! Now this is the way to do this dudes and dudettes! Hang ten all!"

This Sen is truly an odd one. I do not know what he is even doing! It was then that a bellow was heard ahead.

"THIS FREAKING SUCKS! GWAAAAAAAAA!"

-BGM: "Wipeout" (Pause)-

There was a clear audible crash a few moments later! At the sounds of what have happened to Saber; I shook my head and focused back on getting to him. When I got to the bottom of the slope I landed and looked around franticly, searching for Saber.

"Saber, where are you?! Speak to me!"

-Saber's POV-

The pain was horrendous, then again crashing down a mountain side… followed by slamming into some trees is not the most pleasant thing I have done in my life. Yet it wasn't something I intended to do at all to begin with. … Actually, most of the things that happen like this I don't intend or plan to do, now that I think about it; this effect can be credited to my bad luck having a laugh as it gets its kicks!

"Saber, where are you?! Speak to me!"

Was that Lara's voice? I groaned as I noted that I was upside down with my back wedge between two closely grown trees. I tried to move, but found I was wedged in good and tight. However… I felt when I had moved I had shifted forward ever so slightly. So, I began to work shoulders backwards and forwards in sync with my hips doing the same movement. I needed to get unstuck from where I am right now! It took me a minute or two to come to the point I was almost free from the trees.

"Saber!"

Lara was sounding more desperate that the last call for me. I'm… almost… there… There was a cracking noise right at that moment. Uh oh! *Crash* I landed on the ground with a great huff as the majority of the air in my lungs was forced out. Well I'm free now. I was flat on my stomach and my legs weren't responding to what I was telling them. Why does the line 'I've fallen and I can't get up' come to mind right now; ironic true, but still is it necessary? … MAN UPSTAIRS AND PUNK DOWN BELOW! THIS IS NEITHER FUNNY NOR IS IT THE TIME FOR IT! I heard someone approaching where I was. Lara appeared in front of me talking fast; so I couldn't really understand what she was saying, only could tell she was worried about me. I know she is worried about me and understandably so, but she needs to keep her head on and not panic.

"Lara… calm down! I will be okay; though I would not say no to some red health crystal right now."

"Yeah, I will go find some!"

I listened to Lara sprint off to assumedly going to find red health crystals. I meanwhile, gave myself a once over. Surprisingly, I had no major injuries; just bruises and muscle pain. I looked a little closer and was shocked to find that not a single scale had come off! After the distance I had gone careening I find it hard to believe that I didn't lose a single scale or get at least one scratch! Hmm that isn't what I was expecting at all! Maybe this has something to do with me being a white dragon perchance? … Now that I think about it I know very little about white dragons other than they are rare and for whatever reason they are kill by an unknown group. It would be nice for me to know more about white dragons.

I picked up the sound of foliage rustling and turned my head to see Lara returning with a sizable red crystal in her mouth. It has to be a fluke that I found and managed to get this wonderful dragoness! Lara came over to me and pressed the crystal against me and I felt the pain start to fade away. Ah! The miracle that red crystals are here in the dragon realm. Nothing else like them, and I can't scientifically explain how they work or why. And at the moment I don't really care that I can't explain. Normally I would, but as the pain is going away, I don't!

"Oh thanks, that's much better, thanks Lara."

She smiled back at me, which gave me a floaty feeling before I got a hold of the reins of my emotions. I was about to say how we should go and get Sen when I hear a commotion.

-BGM: "Wipeout" (resume)-

"Righteous, righteous! This could totally become a new sport dudes! Land surfing!"

What the hell?! I looked up to the mountain side and to my shock and frustration saw Sen using a long length of wood as a surfboard! The board's length was a little less than an average long board, but longer than a normal surfboard. My friend was 'surfing' at a time like this and down the mountain no less like he would on the sea! Sen is what you could call a surfer as he does go to the sea most weekends. He even has his own surf board. The few times I went to the beach with him, he proved that in a way that was hard to argue with he knew how to surf on the ocean. But still, does he have to come down the mountain like that?! It just makes the way I was forced to do it look so much worse! I will make him regret this somehow! Sen reached the bottom and came to a stop and got off the 'board', dropping to all fours again.

"That was awesome bro! I see you still have that wonderful knack of yours to find the most righteous stunts man. Very nice indeed dude!"

-BGM: "Wipeout" (end)-

I grumbled at his statement. Yet, less than a second later I had a thought. This is a perfect chance to get Sen back for making me look like an idiot before! Hello opportunity! Make yourself at home!

"I will not be commenting to that. Still back to the point; we need to get going if we want to get to our destination today. However, with Sen unable to fly, that is not something we can do. So Sen, get ready for a crash course on flying."

Sen stared at me with his mouth open.

"Dude, you serious bro?!"

I nodded. Sen looked like Christmas had come early this year and he could surf all he wanted. Now once again… I don't intend or try to be mean… exactly with what I do, though it may come off that way. Mostly when I do something in response to what someone around me does something that makes me look bad or ticks me off. However, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy some of the not so nice things I get to do occasionally! After all, refusing opportunity would be utterly rude and completely stupid! When I said Sen will be getting a 'crash course', I was being completely serious... in a fashion! Sen will be learning how to fly by the 'sink or swim' type of method! MWAH HA HA HA! I told Sen to stay where he was for a moment, as I went off to find the perfect place for the reven-I mean for Sen to learn and practice flying… Yes, that's what I intended to say the whole time!

When I found a place that fitted what I wanted; I headed back to where Lara and Sen were. I motioned Sen to follow me and he did so without second thought. Lara followed us, though she did so at a distance and stared at me with a worried expression. Lara might be thinking that I was about to do something kind of… mean. And she would be pretty accurate in that thinking. The smile I had was one I normally reserved for IC and none other; but after what Sen did, I was willing to make an exception! We stopped right before the trees ended; beyond this point that can't be seen from where we are; is a short cliff and a fairly good length drop to the area below! Sen has no idea of what he is about to do and that is what makes this so interesting! After all I wasn't going to hurt him… that much, just going to give him a good shot of humiliation. That's a healthy thing to get to keep humble; I get mine by my bad luck striking me.

"Okay Sen; the place you can practice flying is beyond where we are. All you have to do is start running and spread your wings and start flapping; that sounds easy enough does it not?"

This is where my ability to keep a straight face, while saying something that I shouldn't is amazing! Sen nodded and took a few steps back and began to run. Lara came up to me.

"Saber, what is beyond this point?"

I glanced over at Lara. The look on her face told me she did indeed suspect me of foul play, and I am guilty as charged of that.

"Now why would you ever ask that Lara?"

Sen went passed the end of the trees. Yet, no matter what Lara would say, it was too late to stop what I had set up for Sen.

"Because you only smile like that when you are going to do things to Sparx."

She was absolutely correct! I did usually reserve this smile of mischief for IC alone and there was good reason to be worried if it were to be directed at anyone… even him! I heard scraping of claws and my smile grew a little wider.

"For good reason…"

Here it comes.

"DUDE BRO! NOT COOool!"

Sen's voice faded as he fell. I chuckled at imagining what was happening. My chuckling stopped abruptly when I saw Lara glaring at me with a reprimanding look. However, the expression didn't stop me from saying one more piece.

"So as I calculated, he could not stop in time before the end of the cliff…"

I listened hard to catch the sound that would signal that he had reached the bottom.

"What did you do?!"

Lara had said that at a near screech. Before I was able to answer, I heard a gratifying splash come from below us. I faced Lara after hearing the splash that was now looking rather angry at me.

"Now Lara, Sen… embarrassed me pretty good, best he learn what happens."

Lara's look got worse. I backed up a step at seeing her face. She… doesn't… suspect me of really hurting Sen, does she? I would never… knowingly at least, do that to anyone without them unquestionably earning that kind of punishment!

"Hey now, calm down a little will you. It is not like I would do anything to hurt him… permanently at least! I made sure there was a deep lake below where he would drop. The splash was conformation of Sen hitting the lake at the bottom just fine and dandy. I just conveniently forgot to tell him about the lake or the said long drop he did. Do you really think I would sink so low as to do something to maim him that he cannot recover from?! He can swim I assure you. He has proven that he has the skill many times over to me."

Lara's expression stayed on her face as she glared at me. I rolled my eyes in acceptance of the medicine I was about to get. That being to go check on Sen and behave myself for the time being; I swear, this woman is either going to make my life good or make it a worse hell than it already is! I would rather not find out how that's possible!

"Okay… yes dear, I will go check on him and make sure he is doing okay Lara."

And after saying that, I took flight and glided down to the lake below.

-Scene change-

When I reached the point in my glide when I could see the lake; I saw lsome of the ripples that came from the impact Sen had made. Got to say, I was impressed that there were still ripples from Sen doing an unintentional cannonball into the lake. I came down to land next to the shore and I sat on the shore looking over the lake for any signs of Sen. By how the water was disturbed and volume of the sound of the splash; the water displaced by the impact had to have been huge! I then heard something surface in the water. I glanced over to my right to see Sen getting to the shore water running off the top half of him that was above the water.

"Sooo… how did your first attempt go?"

Sen looked at me a long moment, before he answered me.

"Bro that was pretty mean. That's like taking my board out from under me dude!"

Yeah… it was kind of meant to be; how would you learn anything and remember the lesson if it was easy. The hard learned lessons are the ones you remember the most.

"I'm a firm believer in the sink or swim method Sen, sorry but that's the truth."

"Quite the convenient excuse dude."

Sen got out of the water and came next to me. Water continued to drip off of him. I just continued as if nothing had changed.

"Well, just see it as payback for sending me down the mountain side. You inadvertently used your tail to trip me and send me rolling down. I accidentally forgot to tell you about the long drop and lake below."

Sen glared at me after I said my piece.

"Accidental was it bro?"

I smiled back at him. My smile was not one to comfort; no at all. It was one that says in a somewhat nice way to drop the subject or else terrible, horrible things would occur! The temperature in the immediate area dropped at least ten degrees. My voice didn't change at all in the tone, but my smile should be more than enough to get my point across.

"Hey, unintentional consequences do occur. Random happenstance is come up, unforeseen occurrences do appear and unexpected events come to pass; that is life. Sorry to be the one to break it to you. Best that you just accept this fact and move on."

Sen flinched a little at my smile but after a long minute he sighed.

"So you say bro. … You know what I am going just going to drop this like I would a sand facial dude."

"Probably a good decision Sen on your part."

There was an awkward silence between us for a moment. Sen was the one to break the said silence.

"So did you really intend to teach me how to fly?"

I nodded. I fully intended to get Sen into the air and that would require me to teach him the way to do so.

"Yeah I do, I just wanted to get that out of the way."

So over the next hour I taught Sen the basics of flying. He had a bit of difficulty grasping some of the concept. Yet I had trouble when I had learned how to fly; and I had self-taught myself how to fly during my time in Carona. So it is understandable that Sen could have a hard time; humans were not originally meant to fly. We had to come up with a way to do it with scientific intellect, hence how planes came to be. But I digress in this, so back to the current matter at hand. Lara joined us about midway through and she was able to explain some of the parts I had more trouble with teaching. Have no idea how she can explain in ways I can't. She says the same things as I did pretty much, yet Sen seemed to comprehend what Lara said more than what I said.

Overall, it took a little over an hour to get Sen into the air and him staying up, be it shakily so. Nonetheless the point of this was we had him flying. With Sen flying, we could keep going towards Warfang. And so, we continued our journey back towards Warfang, though it was slower than before as Sen was flying at a lower speed than Lara and I. Still we finally got back to Warfang in the late afternoon, more like early evening. It was still light even if the sun was starting to set.

Lara and I landed in the lower tier square softly. I turned around so that I could observe Sen come in. As I saw him start his descent, I noted that the angle he chose to go down with was deeper that he should have gone with. … Oh dear, this was going to end badly that's for sure. I continued to watch Sen as he came into land. The key part of the mistake that Sen made was he started pulling up far too late from his dive. All I managed to hear from Sen was two word before he crashed.

"Wipeout dude!"

This resulted in him slamming into the ground and doing a plowing face plant for a little more than ten feet. … Ooo that had to hurt… probably worse than any 'sand facial' Sen had received! A sand facial is a particular kind of wipeout that happens when the surfer gets dragged along the bottom face first. At the sound of Sen crashing, Lara looked over to where Sen had finished his face planting. She was worried about him, which was clear. Whereas I, unlike her, just went over to the place he had come to a stop after the crash landing he recently did and looked down at him.

"Hey Sen… you doing okay after that bad landing? I could tell you how you did the landing wrong if you would like."

Sen shook his head and faced me.

"Yeah bro, I'm good; ate it pretty good but I can just walk it off dude. So where did I geek out on the return bro?"

"Dove too deep and pulled up too late and that equals you crash and plowing face plant."

"Okay, I got it bro, won't wipeout like that again."

I was about to reply to Sen, when I heard another voice.

"Excuse me is he okay?"

I turned to see who had just spoken to see a dragoness I didn't know. She appeared to be a little older than myself by a year or a bit less. The dragoness herself had yellow scales that were almost a golden shade. Her underbelly and wing membranes were colored a royal purple, which was an interesting contrast to the almost gold scales. I noted that her horns are shaped like lightning bolts which was probably one of the more intricate horn shapes I have seen. Then there were small line spikes that ran down her back along her spine and ended at the tip of her tail just before where her tail blade would be. I glance inadvertently to her tail as I have developed the habit to get a look at a dragon's or dragoness's tail blade for future reference. You can never know when that kind of information can be needed! I was a little surprised and baffled to see she had no tail blade, but there were no signs that it had been ripped off like Tarra had on her tail. Yet it is entirely possible that dragons and dragonesses can be hatched without a tail blade, I suppose. My gaze switched back to her face where I saw she had purple eyes that were a slightly darker shade than Spyro's eyes are. I was wondering who she was and what her story is. Though most of all, why she is asking if Sen was okay.

"Uh yes he is miss…"

I left the reply open for her to supply her name.

"Oh, my name is Voltlyn."

Voltlyn huh? That's a rather unusual and interesting name; wonder who came up with that. Must have been someone who is more likely intellectually inclined that came up with the name as the name sounds like one that a smarter dragon or dragoness would come up with. Not like that's any of my business or anything.

"Well Miss Voltlyn; my friend that botched his landing will be fine."

"…er!"

I turned and looked around my. I swear I just heard something. I glanced towards Lara and saw she was looking around as well, so she probably heard whatever or whoever had said something. Then I heard a shriek.

"SABER!"

The next thing I know I feel someone plowing into me, knocking me over and to the ground. I opened my eyes to try to see what had hit me, only to see familiar black scales I had seen yesterday.

Uh oh… my time of reckoning for the life altering decision involving Lara has come!

Now for the record… I am technically Lara's mate as much is she is mine now and I see little that would change that fact. The thing is… no one else knows this fact and I feel that with at least one dragoness, this will cause a misunderstanding of unknown proportions. I'm well aware that Tarra has feelings for me; I would be dumb if I didn't see that! Granted she isn't as up front and open as Lara is with her feelings, but it is still fairly hard to miss for someone as good at reading body language as I am. My dilemma is that I still like Tarra as a friend, yet that is where the relationship will stay. I am loyal and faithful to what commitments I make; unknowingly or knowing. It's just the way I am! I am one to take responsibility for one's own actions; Master Kai was a strict one on things like that, as am I! Still, how do I break the new to Tarra of the new standing in relationship that Lara and I have? I want to do it in a way that will hurt the least for her and so that she knows I still want to be there for her when she needs a friend.

My gaze flicked over to see Lara… none too happy about Tarra being on top of me or maybe it was Tarra hugging me… more likely both. I turn back to Tarra and smile.

"Hey Tarra, you mind getting off and letting me get up please."

Tarra seemed to realize she was pinning me down and quickly got off of me. Crisis averted for the moment! Let's just hope I can keep it that way for a bit! My chances are looking slim for that… oh fiddlesticks!

"Sorry."

I waved a paw in dismissal.

"It is okay."

"Well you finally made it back at least."

I glanced in the direction from which the voice came and saw all of my friends approaching the square. Spyro had been the one to speak out of everyone. Oh great, I get an audience for announcing the situation I now have gotten myself into; this should be… interesting to say the least. I don't know if I should be happy for the support or worried for the witnesses. Then I heard a voice I haven't for a while that I wasn't fond of; not the one I hate the most lately, but still one I get tired of really fast!

"Ah excellent, wonderful and good tidings that you have gotten back from your search, though it would have been better if you had come to the guardians…"

Now this is just what I don't need right now; a lecture from Volteer. Then again, I never think I need one from him, yet he just gives them anyways. As Volteer was droning on I glanced around and was happy to see that the light bulb with wings was nowhere to be found; that was a mercy for me! IC would have made this situation go to hell in a hand basket in less than a minute! I looked around at everyone else and observed like me that they were bored from the lecture that Volteer was still spouting, but we were just being respectful and not interrupting him yet. I sighed, figuring that it would fall to me to silence Volteer. However to my surprise someone else spoke up before I did.

"Your rambling again, dad."

I swung around to stare at Voltlyn, momentarily distracted from my current predicament. Did she… just say DAD?! I looked from her to Volteer who had stopped talking thank goodness and then back to Voltlyn. I noted that everyone had the look like myself of surprise and confusion at the revelation that one statement that was said by Voltlyn had given!

"Um, forgive me if this seems rude or being none of my business, but did you just say Dad when you were addressing Volteer as in that he is your father by birth… or hatching in as is the case with dragons?"

Voltlyn stared at me and nodded slowly.

Well this is unexpected for several different reasons. First, most of the guardians have no mate that I have heard about or seen, with the exception of Cyril at the moment. And Cyril doesn't have any dragonets that I have ever heard of… guess I should ask Cyra, she would likely know if he does. Second Voltlyn is absolutely nothing like Volteer… not that I will complain or have any qualms about that! I see the difference as a godsend… and I rarely thank the Man Upstairs for anything he sends my way! Third, if this is what Volteer's Daughter is like, then what is his mate like? Did Voltlyn inherit her mannerisms from her mother or learn them from seeing what she didn't like? This was just weird in many ways. Yet, I guess I should apologize for my question as it can easily be taken as an insult and I want to make a good impression.

"I am sorry for a question like that; it just… is hard to see you and Volteer being related."

Voltlyn nodded again.

"Yes, I get that quite a bit actually. I got a keen mind from dad, but thankfully not his need to talk; at least that is how I see it."

Trust me Voltlyn you are by no means the only one that sees it that way! It was then that Tarra got close to me again and was almost glued to me and the weight of my standing dilemma came back to me. As things were, I doubt Lara was happy about the position I was in with Tarra. I just hope she doesn't act up and make a scene out of this! It isn't needed! This can be settled without resorting to violence. … I know that's unlike me to go with the diplomatic approach, but I can see the benefit in this! Cynder was the next to speak.

"Well at least Saber and Lara are back and safe."

Everyone seemed to be in agreement. It is nice to have friends that worry about you. Tarra began to rub herself against me. This isn't helping me in getting this solved with no violence! I heard a soft growl from Lara's direction. I looked over to her and went from just worrying to thinking of how to get out from between Tarra and Lara before the fight starts! My diplomatic solution is going down the blood toilet again! Why do I bother when I know it won't work? Well might as well try to placate this fight, doubt that I can stop it though.

"Yes thank you Cynder; indeed Lara and I are back safe and sound. But you see there is something I need to tell you all... Tarra could you… um give me a little space please."

Tarra wasn't listening to me any longer, but was looking directly at Lara. Tarra was looking confused at Lara's reaction. Lara was growling and glaring down Tarra or in other words; Lara was digging in and was telling Tarra to get away from me, her mate. This won't end well!

"Tarra get away from him now!"

At Lara's demand; everyone else gave their undivided attention to the developing fiasco. Why do I have to be in the center of it?!

"What are you talking about Lara?!"

I swallowed nervously. I'll give this one last try and pray that it works!

"Um… Lara this is really neither the time nor the place for you to do this! I got this, so let me handle this please! We can settle this without getting violent."

Tarra reacted by taking umbrage to Lara's demand and became more irritated.

"What if I do not get away from him, Lara?! You do not own him!"

Oh crap, crap, crapperoo! That last line pretty much set off a powder keg with Lara; because technically she DOES own me in a fashion or at least we are mates and to my understanding; that is the same thing to dragons. Oh this isn't going well at all!

"I told you to get away from my mate!"

Well… that fact was going to come out… I just was hoping it would be brought to light differently than this particular way. Well now everyone knew the truth. Most of our friends' expressions were okay. Spyro and Cynder just shrugged as if this wasn't much of a surprise to them. Seth and Cyra just nodded in understanding. Fredrick looked a little shocked, but nodded in acceptance of the news. Tarra's expression was pretty much what I had thought it would be. It was one of disbelief and shock as she looked at Lara then to me. I smiled haphazardly at her, not knowing what else to do. I couldn't lie to her and say that Lara was wrong. We had mated; neither Lara nor I could deny it. Lara wouldn't deny the activity, more like announce it with pride. Tarra seemed to understand my smile to say that what Lara said was true and that wasn't taken well by her! She turned back to Lara a look of fury set now. Seeing Tarra like this was completely new to me; I haven't seen her angry. Oh dear, now starts the fight scene!

"You… You Thieving Tramp!"

Tarra launched herself at Lara and tackled her to the ground. The two dragonesses began to seriously claw and maiming each other. All the while as they were reaming one another they were throwing insults at each other.

"You quiet little sneak; you dare call me a thief when you were trying to take him for yourself!"

So, Lara did notice that Tarra was vying for my attention. I kind of wondered if she saw it or not. Nevertheless, I find it rather insulting that my feelings have yet to be taken into account once in this! Neither of these two had asked how I had felt! I just stated that I didn't want an intimate relationship right now. … Why do I have to be the one to deal with this?!

"You are one to talk! You run off in order to lure him off and take him, you cunning purple backbiter!"

Not to say this chick fight wasn't intriguing to watch and all; the two dragonesses kept going at each other as the rest of us watched was proof of that. This wasn't helping! These two were fighting much like Lara and I did yesterday and that was bad. Sen came up beside me and stared for a moment, then shook his head.

"Dude bro; when did you become such a magnet for the babes man?"

I gave Sen a look to say that he wasn't helping the situation.

"I haven't the faintest idea when this started. The females just began flocking to me! It isn't like I asked for this, I wouldn't!"

"Bro, you're livin a dude's dream! Drawing the beach bunnies like this; it's awesome dude."

Sen wasn't helping me!

"Saber, who is he?"

I looked over to Seth who had asked the question. Thank you Seth, your question helped me clear my head and calm down.

"His name is Sen… he is a friend of mine, I guess."

Sen mocked the action of being hurt.

"Saber... dude, how can you be so cold to me man?! We have been friends for years bro and done lots of things together dude."

I glanced over to where the fight was going uninterrupted, before I turned back to Sen.

"Would you please, shut your trap for the moment?! As much as I enjoy watching a catfight, I would rather not let this one keep going!"

I turned to everyone else; pleading for assistance.

"Can I get some help to stop these two from injuring each other to the point where they end up in the healer wing?!"

We managed to end the catfight, though it took a bit of time to do so. We ended splitting up into two groups; one on each dragoness to separate them. There was Seth, Sen and myself pulling Lara away from Tarra; then there was Spyro, Cynder, Cyra and Fredrick was tugging Tarra from Lara. When we finally got them separated and kept the two from getting at each other; I heard Volteer make a comment that of course… was completely unnecessary.

"I must say that it has been quite some time since a fight between dragonesses has occurred and all over a dragon for a mate…"

Voltlyn rolled her eyes at Volteer.

"Dad you are not helping, so would you give it a rest."

Volteer went quiet with Voltlyn's comment, thankfully; his commentary was just adding fuel to the flames that we were trying to put out! Both Lara and Tarra were… well, not hurt really badly, but it was by no means a clean fight result.

-Scene change-

Well we managed to get our act together enough to go to the mess hall and get food to eat for dinner. Afterwards we separated when we got to the temple. Sen went with my other friends and I asked them to watch out for him. I did give them a short explanation about how Sen was a human that was now dragon, for unknown reasons. They also helped Tarra go to the room she had here at Warfang. I made sure I knew which room that was so that I could go see her later and talk to her about the situation. It was my hope that if I could properly explain the circumstances and the events that had happened with Lara and me, then I could clear up the misunderstandings with Tarra and we would be good again.

While everyone else was doing whatever, I escorted Lara to my room as I didn't know which room she had here and she wasn't telling me which. Actually, when I say escort I really should say carried as that is what I did. Interestingly I still noticed that her underbelly was quite warm against my back as I was carrying her. I think it was on purpose that she didn't say her room's location since that meant she got carried by me. Then the other reason I wouldn't doubt was she wanted to be in my room tonight. Plus, she liked being carried by me; which is fine, I'm good with that right now.

I got her to the bed and laid her down on it and just looked her over for a moment. Lara had quite a number of cuts and scratches all over herself. She had all of this because she was protecting me from being taken by Tarra? I have tried to see and comprehend what possible view Lara could have had to feel that she needed to protect me, but I have come with nothing. I have a hard time understanding why she would see the need to protect me in the first place as I'm fully able to take care of myself.

I had planned on taking Tarra aside and telling her of Lara and me, but now that would be much more difficult. There were a lot of things now to fix and it fell to me to do that repairing. Yet I still have a hard time getting mad with Lara; whether that has to do with my draconic instinct or its feelings developing for Lara, I don't know. That's not to imply that I'm not… feeling put out about the way Lara had acted. I was irritated, disappointed and I was hurt to a degree. It was irritating that she had been so possessive of me that she had fought over me with, not just anyone, but the dragoness that was her best friend. I was disappointed that the situation had ended in the current mess that we were in. Though most of all, I was hurt that Lara apparently doesn't either trust me enough to handle a situation or she thinks she can do it better than me. This situation proved that she could not!

Lara's breathing was a little shallower than her normal breathing pattern. Even with the current condition that Lara was in, she looked rather cute still. How I can find a dragoness to look cute and yes even somewhat attractive as well at a time like this, is beyond me. But, there were more important things to do and know.

"Lara, I will ask this, even though I doubt I will understand your reasons. So, why did you see the need to fight Tarra over me? You did not need to do that. No matter the results, I will still be your mate. That will not change. I am not so unfaithful as to let a fight determine who I will spend my life with."

Lara became thoughtful for a minute.

"I… I do not know. I just… when I saw her with you I… I got jealous of her and I could not control myself."

I stared at her as she gave her answer. As I thought, I don't understand why she did this. Once again, girls are hard to understand; what they do doesn't make sense to me!

"Okay, makes little sense to me, but I will accept your explanation as you gave it. I get you see the need to guard what is 'yours', but I am fully capable of defending myself. I have no need to be protected from a friend. Tarra is my friend, you are my mate. Your position will not change Lara. So you do not need to defend that title or standing."

Lara looked at me with tears and a smile. I couldn't come up with a reason as to why she was giving me that look. And so, I was baffled at the expression.

"What?"

"You called me your mate."

Is that what she is overjoyed about?!

"Yeah, that is what you are for me. You are my mate. What is so odd about me saying that?"

"That is the first time you have said that; now you have done it two times."

There are times that I'm just completely thrown off by how such small things can make Lara happy. I smirked and rolled my eyes and kissed the crest of her head. I didn't know why I did this action, yet it felt right. Maybe this is my draconic instincts interfering with my intelligence again. My instincts never actually went away or disappeared into whatever part of my mind it came from. It has been affecting my brain ever since this morning. I have been exerting a lot of effort to keep the miasma that my draconic instincts at bay and stop them from taking control like they had earlier. I have managed to keep a fragile balance between my human intelligence and my draconic instincts, though it is more difficult to a degree around Lara. Nonetheless, I did have at least one other things to do tonight, before I will let myself sleep. I want to sleep.

"Listen I am going to go check on Tarra. You stay here and get some rest, understand?"

Lara frowned at my course of action I had just stated. As I had suspected, she wouldn't agree with my idea of talking with Tarra… at least without her present. That would defeat the purpose as they would be too focused on one another.

"But…"

I put a forepaw over her mouth. Lara would hear me out, even if I have to be forceful about it!

"I will be fine Lara! You do not need to have me in your sights all the time; I can take care of myself and have been doing so for many years now. I am worried about Tarra; she is still my friend and should be yours still. She is hurting from the fight and what was said before it; more the latter than the former. I was hoping to break the news of us becoming mates gently. Nonetheless, that certainly did not happen and we all know it! Now there is a mess to clean up and as such things seem to be becoming normal for me, I get to be the one that cleans up said mess.

I paused and looked Lara straight in the eyes before I continued, making sure I had her full and undivided attention.

"Lara, how many times do you want me to say that we are mates before you believe me? I can handle things you know and it may surprise you how much of the time my methods can work when you give them a chance. Do you seriously want your friendship with Tarra to end completely for good over something as small as a misunderstanding over me?!"

Lara's expression changed to sorrow. Apparently the thought of losing Tarra's friendship was a painful idea for her and I didn't blame her. To lose a friend over something as foolish as acting like an idiot in the heat of the moment; is something you will regret for the rest of your life if you don't make-up with your friend. There are just times you have to do things you don't want, but you just do them to keep friends!

"Well, no I do not want Tarra to hate me and avoid me. But we…"

I sniffed at that. We were all at fault. Yes I was at fault just like they were! I had put off telling Lara and Tarra how I felt straight out; thinking I could just send non-vocal hints, yet I was wrong.

"I was not blind you know. I have been well aware for a while now that both of you wanted me as a mate. And… I should have said something, but I did not."

Lara stared at me with surprise.

"You knew?!"

… I'm starting to wonder how naïve and blind male dragons can be?! Spyro of course takes the cake of naïveté. However, I don't think that all males are like that around dragonesses, but I could be wrong. Who knows?

"Neither of you were very good at hiding your affection for me; Tarra was a tad more subtle than you are, still you both made it fairly obvious. Perhaps male dragons can be and tend to be that dense and blind; I do not know, though if Spyro or Seth are anyone to judge by, then male dragons are. However, I am not so dumb to not see the signs that say you both liked me more than friends do and wanted more. I may have acted like I did not see it, yet that is what is called, 'fainting ignorance'. It is a tact to say I see another's actions, but am saying I am not exactly interested at the current moment and doing so in a nice way. However… things worked out a little differently for everyone than I think any of us originally envisioned. So, I will see you in a while."

After saying that I exited the room leaving Lara to rest and I headed over to Tarra's; I was hoping that the talk with her would be a little easier. I wasn't going to hold my breath however on that wish. I have the feeling that Tarra will be harder to calm down and have her accept the facts as they are now.

I knew that when the question of who would be my mate officially was answered; that the other one between Lara and Tarra would take the decision pretty hard. Still that doesn't make this any better for me to deal with as I have to pick up the mess. I can understand some of the reasons that Tarra might see me as her ideal mate; however, the final choice for whom my mate would be, was mine and I had made it. Granted, I had been under the influence… not that dragons would likely understand what such an inference even means. Yet that wasn't the issue. As I was trying to organize my thoughts, I had found that I had come to stand in front of the door to Tarra's room. I gulped before I knocked.

-Tarra's POV-

Why do the ancestors hate me so much?! For the first time that I can remember, I meet and befriend a dragon that is nice and can understand what my life is like. And then he is taken by another dragoness; then for that dragoness to be my best friend… Why does my life have to be like this?! I felt the tears flow as I cried at how my life had changed from being happy to miserable in the space of a day! It was then I heard a knock at my door. Who would be here now? I told everyone to leave me alone!

"Tarra, you in there?"

… That voice… Saber?! What is he doing here? Why would he not be with Lara, since she is his mate now?

"Come in."

I could barely choke the words out as I had managed to stop crying. Saber entered my room. I was not able to look at him at the moment, yet I could hear him come closer. He came over and sat down next to me on my bed. I did not turn to face him; I could not do it!

"Tarra, this is probably a very stupid question to ask, but I will anyway. Are you doing okay?"

Saber asks me if I am doing okay?! How can I be expected to be okay? I have lost my chance to have the one male I liked and to my best friend no less! Of course I am not okay!

"I… I-I do not k-know."

I was on the verge of tears again as I said this to Saber. Then I felt a paw followed by a wing go around me. I swung my head around to face for the first time since seeing Saber before the fight. He was smiling at me kindly.

"Well, so that you know, I am here for you should you need someone to talk to or just someone to be next to you for company."

But… why? Why would Saber do that for me?!

"What about Lara?"

I tried to push Saber's hold off me. I could not accept his kindness! I do not know if I could keep refusing it if he keeps showing it to me. However he kept his hold on me.

"What about her? She is resting and will recover with time. You on the other paw look like you could use some company of a friend. So here I am to provide that company."

He is not making any sense! Why is he spending time with me the one who hurt his mate?!

"But is she not your mate; why are you here with me, another dragoness?!"

I wait for his answer, even though it was most like going to hurt to hear. Saber took a moment to think.

"Well I cannot really deny Lara is my mate as we… did that activity. Yet, why that should be a reason for me to not be here for you, is confusing me. What should it matter which one of you I am with? You are both important to me and that is what counts to me. You are not just another dragoness; you are far more than that to me Tarra."

"Because she is…"

Saber put a paw on my mouth.

"Yes, Lara is my mate and there is a story to how that happened. You Tarra; are my friend! That will not change due to one event. I do not want our friendship to become strained because of something like this. I value our relationship far too highly than that to let that occur! I will still be around when you need me; all that has changed is that there will be a very select few things that I will not be able to do for you! That is all this means, nothing more."

I felt the tears begin to flow as Saber said all of this. He brought me into a hug. When he had I could not keep the emotions back and I began to cry into his chest. All throughout this, Saber… was comforting me. Why is he so nice to me?!

"Everything will work out Tarra, I promise. I am sorry I will not be able to be the mate you deserve, but I do not doubt he is still out there waiting to be found by you. Nevertheless, do not forget that I will be here for you as your friend always, whenever you should need me."

I cried harder at hearing this. Saber is so kind and caring towards me and I have never had anyone other than my parents and Lara that does this for me. After I was able to calm down I had to ask the few questions I still had.

"Saber you said there was a story to how you and Lara became mates; how did it happen?"

Saber grimaced slightly at the question; which surprised me. What could have happened to make Saber make a face like that?

"Well… you see; when I went off to find Lara, I found her and things… went differently than I think either of us had expected."

Saber began to tell me about how he found Lara, but by the time he had found her it was getting dark. That of course meant that they would be unable to return that day to Warfang. During that night Saber talked about how Lara had found some odd fruit that they later found out had something Saber detested.

"These fruits had what?"

"A liquid that is called Alcohol; an extremely horrible idea and one that none should try. Due to the effects of Alcohol, our judgement was not only unsound; it was not there at all. We did things that… well were not exactly planned and that we would have unlikely done if not for our conditions. Lara did not have any problems other than not being able to remember the experience. I on the other paw was not as happy at the activity; though it was not because it was Lara or the activity itself, but the circumstances under with the idea happened."

I nodded only partially understanding what Saber is saying. He continued with the story with going on with how the morning was a miserable one due to the effects of this 'alcohol'. When he got to the part of meeting the red dragon he and Lara returned with, I was shocked that Saber told me that the dragon had been a human he knew. Yet that red dragon had been a human, which explained the unusual way he spoke. He was really hard to understand with words 'doed' and 'bro' all the time. Saber did not say words like that, so it was different. I am not saying that he is bad or anything, he is sort of cute in a way. When Saber finished his story, I kind understood better what had happened with Lara and him. I did not like it, but I can see why Saber says that it is not Lara or his fault that they ended out as mates. I am happy for Lara; yet at the same time I am sad that I did not end out in that position.

Saber apparently noticed my feelings of glum and sorrow, since he hugged me a little tighter, which I won't complain about. I feel a bit guilty at him doing this for me, when I think he should only be doing this kind of thing for Lara. So I will just keep this little unexpected surprise to myself. I am happy that Saber says he still wants to be around me. I know I should not be scared that he would just leave me alone if he chose Lara instead of me, but I could not help it!

"Tarra you need not worry. I will not just leave you by yourself. I am your friend and will be forever."

Somehow, Saber always seems to be able to know what to say to comfort me. It will be hard to find another like him, as he is the first I have been around like that other than my mom and Lara; he is certainly the first male I have been around like this. Saber smiled at me; I feel like I will melt every time I see him smile.

"Just have faith that things will get better Tarra. They will, it just can take a little while sometimes."

Then Saber did something I had only dreamed about; he kissed me lightly on my lips. I was stunned and shocked that he had done that. I stared wide eyed at him.

"I would recommend not saying anything about that to Lara. I think she would be rather ticked at me for doing such a thing with anyone else other than her. Yet, you needed a pick me up and that was the best I could think of."

Saber left my room after that. I just sat on the bed still in shock at what Saber had just done. I touched my lips with a paw, feeling where he had kissed me!

-Saber's pov-

Well I hope that helped Tarra understand things as they stood as well as cheer her up. I know that if Lara ever found out that I kissed Tarra even lightly, she wouldn't be pleased with me! I doubt it would help me if I were to say that I kissed her to help comfort her… no, Lara wouldn't really care about my reasoning. I hope she will see why I did it eventually, though right now I doubt she will. I guess I should make my way back to my… our room for the time being. As I headed towards my room I happened to bump into Sen.

"Dude bro, didn't expect to see you out this late. Like what's the occasion man? Oh wait… the usual MO I take it then bro. If you were like planning to pull a prank man, you should've totally told me dude. I'm all for helping in that kind of thing bro. They're always epic and even more awesome to watch dude."

I sighed at the comment. While it was true back at the dojo; if I was out at this time of night I was usually going to prank someone for whatever reason I had. Since I have arrived in the dragon realm I have been sorely tempted to prank a certain annoying fly I know, who shall remain nameless. I know where he sleeps at night, so I could prank him GOOD! However, I have been restraining that very powerful urge to do that to him. So Spyro better be pleased with me for not making him an only child!

"Sen, I'm not out to pull a prank on anyone, tempting though it may be for at least one here that I know. I am showing my wonderfully developed self-control and besides, I can do that later anyways thank you. If you must know I was comforting a friend."

"That's cool bro. I wasn't trying to pry man. So was this friend a babe dude?"

I flinched. I don't like the implications that Sen was making! I mean someone could take what Sen is saying as me basically cheating on Lara! I am not and I will not do such a thing! But again, here in the dragon realm; appearance is taken to be very literal.

"Oh so it was a babe then; righteous bro! I saw you are smooth with the bunnies before dude. Didn't know you were that good with the bunnies, awesome man. You need to show me a sick trick or two of yours bro."

"I… that's not what… you've got it all wrong Sen."

Sen just smirked in such a way that it should be illegal!

"If you say so bro."

He walked off as I fumed at what he had said. I don't believe I have heard the end of this. I took a couple of deep calming breaths and pushed my frustration at Sen out of my mind for the time being. Hopefully I would have some time to prepare to have a defense against the implications Sen put forth. I continued walking towards the room Lara and I would be sharing tonight. I entered the room to see that Lara had fallen asleep while I was gone. Well I suppose I should follow suit in this. So with that decision made I went over to the bed and got in; thankfully the bed was big enough for the both of us. When I had slid in Lara shifted a little. She seemed to be able to sense my presence somehow. I say this due to the fact that seconds after I slipped into the bed she started snuggling herself up against me. Lara, perhaps by instinct wrapped he paws around me, pressed her underbelly against mine. She entwined her tail with my own and placed her head under my chin. After she had done all this she let out a contented sigh.

Honestly, what am I going to do with Lara? She can just be so outright cute without even knowing it. Her looks and actions could be lethal if I'm not careful. It may already be too late for me; I could already be falling for Lara even more than I have already! Well… I guess I could do worse things than that. Yet I get the feeling that this time is more a 'calm before the storm' And that storm I fear, is the one I am preparing for and that's worries me!

Chapter end.

A/n

Two new characters, random hilarity galore! What will happen next in this story?! I would tell all you readers but that would ruin the fun for me and the surprise for all of you! So a few points I should elaborate. Sen is a 'friend' of Saber's as I have implied, however what that actually means to Sen and Saber are somewhat different as again should be seen by how they react and talk to each other. Sen's manner of speech is as I intend to be more a culture of humanity (the surfer, if it wasn't obvious), to which dragons would have a hard time understanding. I need another who understands human language and culture for some jokes and mild slap stick type humor I would like to use. Sen fits the bill for this. Voltlyn, for the record is not my character, but one that was given to me by ArcticDragon Rider. She will have a part to play though not in the mainstream at the moment. So please take the time to review and tell me what you readers think of the story thus far!

ArcticDragon Rider

I should of told you man; it is always the quiet ones you got to watch out for. Thankfully Tarra has been calmed down for the time being. Everything will end out fine... I think. I have a plan!

Keyblader-Zen

I hope that I answered most of your points in the PM I sent. Just know I like revisiting some of my previous joke that were funny, to me at least. Besides I don't know about you but stupid things I have done tend to come back to me and I have to just give a ha ha to it. For Saber's habit of keeping things in, I think that is very much done by many of us people, I could be wrong but doubt it. And as you read thankfully Tarra didn't end up like Nina; can't promise Sarana isn't going to react far worse (You better believe she will) but we shall see!

1dchouseman

Well, the innuendos were bound to come at some point so, might as well get them out of the way for now. Sorry it has taken as long as it has to bring out some more of Saber's personality quirks; I feel that slow and deep character development is far better than fast and shallow. I could be wrong, but thus far I think I have done things the best way possible, but don't quote me on that. I hope that Tarra's reaction lived up to what people have been asking for. I am saving Sarana for a little later! I have an interesting idea for her that I am working on.

HolyCross9

Glad to enthrall and entertain!