They arrived home just in time to be confronted by a most unwelcome visitor. Almost as soon as Nolan and Rebecca entered the house on the mountain through the back door, there was a knock on the front one. Rebecca hung back as Nolan went to answer it, and just as he suspected, Walden was on the doorstep, in full armor.
"Nolan, my condolences," he said. "I heard that your daughter had been taken by a dragon. I am here to offer you my assistance in hunting down the beast."
"That will not be necessary," Nolan said.
"Oh. You've already slain it?"
"Slaying it was not necessary. I found Rebecca alive." As soon as he was done speaking, Rebecca stepped into Walden's view.
The knight quickly shook off his shock. "How did you escape the dragon, child?" he asked.
"I didn't escape anyone," Rebecca said. "She had no interest in hurting me."
"She?" he asked. Then, after a second, he understood what she meant. "You met the White Dragon, and she spared your life."
"Isn't that proof enough that we were wrong about what she is?" Nolan asked.
"No, it's not. I can think of several things a demon could gain by keeping the girl alive." He addressed Rebecca. "You would be doing a great service to the Church if you told me where she is."
Rebecca glanced at her father. They'd planned most of how to deal with Walden on the walk back, but not how to respond to that particular question. Nolan's face was blank, so Rebecca came up with her own answer.
"No, I'm not going to help you kill her."
"Very well. I will find her even without your help."
Rebecca opened her mouth to respond, but Nolan had already slammed the door. "I told you to follow my lead," he said.
"Well, I had to say something," Rebecca said. "Do you think I said too much?"
"I suspect we'll find out sooner or later."
Walden strode down the mountain path, fuming. He and Nolan had never been on the best terms, but when had the ex-Slayer become such a fool? Challenging the Church's authority. Not recognizing a demon when he saw one. Forgetting how easily a demon as powerful as the White Dragon could ensnare a mortal. She had clearly placed some kind of enthrallment on the girl. Once this was over, he would have to see about taking her to the capital to have it removed by a professional. If Rebecca went around Telnor Village defending the Dragon…well, lynch mobs were far from unheard of in small towns like this. It would never be safe for her here.
It was clear to him why the White Dragon had spared the girl's life. The demon no doubt intended to keep her as a mortal servant. How could Nolan not see the fate he had rescued his daughter from? Maybe he'd been snared as well. The first step in purifying them both was the death of the demon responsible, but it would take more than three Slayers, as well trained as they were, to bring down a demon this powerful.
He knew the people of small towns like this were particularly afraid of evil, fearing to even speak Giratina's name and eschewing mirrors out of fear that he could use them as conduits through which to steal away people's souls. Maybe he could convince the men of this village to help him.
"Where is everybody?" Rebecca wondered aloud. She was in the Mullins' tavern, back working like nothing had happened, except that there were literally no customers.
"It was that Slayer. Walden, his name was," said Goodman Mullin, coming out of the back. Apparently he'd heard her.
"What?" she asked.
"He came in here early and started stirring up the customers. Something about a white dragon. They all took off toward the mountain. A regular angry mob it was. Torches and pitchforks in broad daylight."
Oh, Arceus. No, she thought. They were going after Reshiram.
"Can I go home?" she asked hurriedly.
"Why?"
"Please," she begged.
"I don't see why not, since there aren't any customers."
"Thanks," she said, throwing off her apron and bolting out the door.
"Papa," she called, bursting into the house. She'd made record time up the mountain, spurred on by necessity. She quickly found Nolan in his usual place out back.
"You're home early," he observed.
"I just heard. Walden's formed an angry mob to go track down Reshiram. We have to warn her."
"Calm down, Rebecca," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Think."
She took a deep breath. "Okay," she said.
"They do not know where they are going. They could be wandering around the mountain for hours. Plenty of time for one of the dragons to spot them and bring word to her. Or, as the case may be, plenty of time for you to get back to the cavern and warn her."
"Okay," she repeated, taking another deep breath.
"I'm going to try to find Walden and talk him down."
"Good luck," she said.
She was lost. There was no way around it. And it hadn't taken very long. Within about ten minutes after she'd left the house, she'd realized that she had no idea where she was. She had no idea how to get to Reshiram's cavern. Rebecca had thought she could find it again, but she'd now been forced to acknowledge that the forest looked a lot different from the air than it did on the ground. Maybe that had been intentional. Maybe Reshiram hadn't wanted her to be able to find her way back.
Rebecca sank to her knees. She'd never be able to get there in time. Maybe Reshiram could handle them; Rebecca had no idea just how powerful the dragon was. But if they surprised her, it would force a fight, and a lot of people would die.
A stick snapped near her, and she glanced up, to find herself looking into the warm, brown eyes of…a deer? No, not just a deer. This one had leaves in its antlers.
"Sawsbuck?" she asked, standing up. "Is that you?"
The deer nodded. Rebecca glanced around for a second, wondering what he was doing here, and realized that she had somehow found the Heart of the Forest.
"Can you…understand me?" she asked in surprise.
The deer nodded again.
She got an idea, a crazy idea, but anything was better than nothing.
"I have to speak to your lord," she said.
Sawsbuck shook his head frantically and tried to shove her backwards, away from the grove.
"Sawsbuck," said a familiar, and somewhat irritated, voice. "What is going on out there?"
And then Xerneas stepped from the grove. Sawsbuck dipped his head into a low bow. Rebecca, after a moment's hesitation, mimicked the gesture as well as she could.
"You again," he said. "I suggest you leave, before I lose my temper."
"Lord Xerneas," she said, doing her best to remain polite, despite the deer's irritated tone. "Reshiram's cavern is about to come under attack. I have to get there and warn her, and, uh, I'm kind of lost."
"You are a strange mortal," he said. "You side with us against your own kind, and you come to me for help, even knowing that I could simply kill you for coming here."
"I don't…" Rebecca started, but the deer wasn't done.
"And you do not demand my help, or even explicitly ask."
"I don't think I'm unusual at all. If more of us understood, I think you'd find that there are a lot like me."
"Either way, I must thank you for bringing me this news. Reshiram is my kin, and I cannot simply abandon her, even if she will not thank me for my aid."
"So you'll help protect the cavern?"
"I have my own responsibilities here at the Heart that I must attend to. I cannot do what you ask."
Rebecca hung her head.
"But what I can do is ensure that you get there quickly to warn her. Sawsbuck."
The smaller deer stepped forward.
"Bear the girl to the Dragon Sanctuary, as fast as you can."
Sawsbuck nodded in acknowledgement, then crouched to let Rebecca climb onto his back. Once she was settled, he turned and galloped into the forest.
Sawsbuck was fast, and carrying her hardly seemed to tire him. In very little time, he stopped outside the ground-level entrance of the cavern, which Rebecca guessed was called the Dragon Sanctuary. It made sense to her that Reshiram's home would have a proper name, the way Xerneas' glade was called the Heart of the Forest.
She entered the cave, Sawsbuck following. He seemed not at all afraid to enter a cave full of dragons, any one of which might like to make a meal of him. The cave opened up into the main cavern, and Rebecca saw Reshiram standing on the lakeshore. She broke into a run, dashing across the cavern.
"Reshiram!" she called.
The dragon turned and saw her. "What are you doing here?"
"Walden's on his way," she said. "He's got half the town with him. They're coming to kill you."
"I know. I have had a plan of evacuation in place for decades. The dragons will all escape."
"But what about you?"
"I will stay behind to defend them."
"But, you'll die."
"I am dying already," Reshiram pointed out. Rebecca noticed that the glow in her tail was even brighter now. "For nearly a century, my duty has been protecting the dragons that come here to raise their young. They are my priority, not safeguarding a life that will soon end anyway."
"Good bye, Reshiram," Rebecca said, fighting back tears.
"Do not cry for me, Rebecca."
Nolan caught up to Walden and the villagers fairly easily. A group that size could only move as fast as its slowest member, and stealth was out of the question.
"Nolan," Walden greeted him. "Have you come to join us?"
"No," Nolan replied.
"Then, why, exactly, are you coming after us in your armor?" Nolan had pulled out his old gear before leaving the house. He now wore leather armor and a sword on his hip, as well as his bow and quiver on his back.
"To stop you from getting all these men killed."
"There are more than two dozen of us. I think that's more than enough to bring down a single dragon, no matter how powerful she may be."
"Then you are grossly underestimating her. I've seen her, remember. You haven't. She is more than capable of slaughtering your entire force if you give her a reason to." He didn't know that for certain, and he hoped he wasn't exaggerating Reshiram's strength.
"You think I don't have a plan to bring her down. Look around, Nolan." He looked. All the townspeople had spears or bows. He saw a couple high-powered crossbows, which unnerved him. He'd seen first-hand the damage they could do to a dragon's wings. He also noticed some men carrying thick ropes. One of the other Slayers had what looked like bolas.
"So you're not even going to fight her fairly," he said.
"What do dragons know about fair fighting?" Walden scoffed. "Any other time I might listen to you, but these are…
"Desperate times, I know."
"Not everything, you don't. I shouldn't share this, but…," Walden leaned in close and dropped his voice until it was barely above a whisper. "…you're an old comrade. Remember the dragon cult, in southern Hoenn?"
"Of course I do." Everyone who'd been a Slayer in the last twenty years remembered them. The cult was an entire community centered on worship of a single dragon. One member of the Slayer team sent to investigate them had even met their "Living Goddess," a massive green dragon. The team had reported that, heathen though they may be, they were peaceful people, and the Slayers had left them alone.
"They were wiped out a few days ago. No survivors."
"Their goddess turned on them?" Nolan asked incredulously. He'd read the reports on the cult several times. The Slayer who'd written them had concluded that the dragon and her followers wanted nothing to do with Giratina or any sort of evil.
"That's what we think at this point, although we have reports of other abnormally large dragons in the area."
"So what's your point in sharing this?"
"That monsters like this can no longer be allowed to live. We have to at least try to bring down the White Dragon. In these dark times, it's our duty as Slayers."
"But it's not their duty," Nolan said, gesturing to the assembled villagers.
"Do you lot want a chance to fight evil?" Walden asked them.
They cheered.
"Let's go," Walden said. "Join us or not. It's your choice, Nolan."
"You're going to get everyone killed," Nolan called after them as they walked away, but no one listened.
Rebecca and Sawsbuck were still at the Sanctuary when Flygon dropped in through the roof. He immediately flew to Reshiram and said something to her. As usual, Rebecca couldn't understand a word the green dragon said.
"He said that they are nearly here," Reshiram translated, and then turned her attention to Flygon. "Start the evacuation."
Flygon flew off.
Reshiram then turned to Sawsbuck. "Return to your lord. Tell him what I intend to do."
"And me?" Rebecca asked.
"You should leave."
Sawsbuck galloped out of the cave. Rebecca slowly walked. She was thinking frantically. There had to be a way she could help.
Walden gasped in surprise when he saw the hole. It was massive and surprisingly well hidden by the vegetation growing over the edges. He stepped to the edge and looked down, noticing the pool of water at the bottom. It didn't take much figuring to realize that this was the demon's lair. It was well hidden and, if this was the only entrance, amazingly defensible.
"Can you hear me, demon?" he called into the hole. "Come out, and face your fate."
Reshiram heard what Walden called down to her. Here we go, she thought.
She summoned Flygon, using a mental signal they had worked out several years ago. He landed beside her after only a couple seconds.
"How goes the evacuation?" she asked him, making sure to keep her voice as low as possible.
"Nearly done, my lady," he replied. "The Dragonite and the other Flygon had no issues, since our young can fly after only one evolution. The Garchomp families were already gone. You know how they are in tunnels. The problem is with the Salamence and Charizard. Some of the Bagon have evolved into Shelgon and are too heavy for their parents to carry. And the Charizard lay larger numbers of eggs than the rest of us. The parents can't handle all the baby Charmander running around."
"Get them down through the tunnels. I will cover you."
"Are you certain?"
"Yes."
"Let me help you."
"No, Flygon. Go with the others. They will need your leadership."
Rebecca scrambled up the narrow path alongside the mouth of the cave. Upon reaching the top, she gasped. Walden and the villagers who'd followed him were all standing around the upper exit, waiting for Reshiram to fly out through it.
Rebecca cursed. If Reshiram hadn't been so adamant about covering the other dragons' retreat, she'd have left through the ground-level exit, which Walden apparently didn't know about, and get away clear. Instead, she was going to fly straight into a trap.
Xerneas cringed inwardly when Sawsbuck told him what Reshiram planned. It was a good plan, and was certainly nothing less than Arceus would expect of her. The problem, at least as far as he was concerned, was that she could very well set the forest on fire in the process.
"Well," he said. "I suppose I will have to ensure that does not happen."
Reshiram took to the air. She circled the lake a couple times, just barely skimming the surface, then shot fire from her tail, vaporizing a large portion of the water in the process, and climbing upwards. As she rose, surrounded by steam, she activated her Turboblaze ability, cloaking herself in what would look like fire to the untrained eye, to create an even more impressive display.
She shot out of the hole, smiling in spite of herself at the oohs and ahhs she heard from the humans gathered around. A couple of them actually turned and ran.
Her elation was cut short when she felt a stab of pain shoot through her. This battle would be her death, she knew, either from Walden's blade, or her own internal flame.
Walden stared in awe as the dragon flew out of the hole, wreathed in flames. Even he had to admit she was amazing to look at. But under those immaculate scales, he knew, beat a black heart, shriveled by evil.
"Archers," he ordered. "Fire!"
A dozen arrows arced towards her, and Reshiram dodged easily to one side, before incinerating the arrows with a quick Flamethrower as they flew past.
I cannot kill them, she thought. This might be my last chance to show them that I am not evil.
A man fired his crossbow at her, and she burnt the bolt to ash well before it reached her. This time, a stray flame hit the grass, sending a patch of it up in smoke. One of the Slayers stamped it out quickly.
No fire attacks. I do not want to send the forest up in flames.
She concentrated. Dragon-fire. Come on, give me dragon-fire.
A sudden coolness ran through her. Curious, she shot fire at the very edge of the hole. The flames were blue, dark blue, with yellow at their hearts. The place where they hit was scorched, but not on fire.
Dragon-flames.
So this is what it feels like to attack without using my flame.
Walden ducked behind a tree, so he could analyze the battle for a second without being in immediate danger. The dragon didn't seem to be aiming her attacks very well. She hadn't hit anyone yet. But that didn't mean she wouldn't. She was probably toying with them.
Still wondering how it had suddenly become so easy to use Dragon-type moves, Reshiram gathered energy and fired a Dragon Pulse, drawing a half-circle of scorched grass in front of the men.
"Leave this place," she ordered. A few of the men did exactly that, and even Walden looked ready to reconsider how easy it would be to defeat her.
But then a crossbow bolt punched through her wing.
Walden didn't see who'd fired the bolt, but he'd seen it hit and heard the dragon's cry of pain. He knew he had to take advantage of it.
"Concentrate fire on her wings!" he called.
Reshiram climbed higher in the air, trying to ignore the pain in her wing and only partially succeeding. She glanced over and saw the blood trickling from the wound. Another barrage of arrows came in, and she spun in the air, trying to dodge. One still hit her tail, sending a stab of pain all the way up her body. He might not know it, but that archer had hit something important. She glanced down, and her stomach clenched. That arrow looked to be only about an inch away from the main energy convergence point in her body. As it was, it was firmly lodged in one of her principal energy channels. Were it not for the secondary convergence point in her chest, she would already be down for the count, and she was likely cut off from her strongest attacks. Not that she intended on using those.
She fired another Dragon Pulse, aiming for directly in front of Walden, who stumbled back as the beam hit the grass. As she fired, she felt another stab of pain rip through her. Not the pain of being consumed by her own fire, but the pain of attacking when her entire body was screaming at her to stop so it could repair itself. This wound could kill her as surely as the fire could.
Walden leapt back, as a column of strange indigo flames slammed into the spot where he'd been standing a second before.
"See if you can draw her this way," he called to his men, a plan forming in his head. He drew an arrow and notched it in his bow. He drew back…
…and then something slammed into him.
Rebecca had been watching the battle from the bushes, and when she saw Walden train his bow on Reshiram's heart, she had acted without thinking about anything other than the need to stop him.
She sprinted across the grass and cannoned into him. His bow fell from his grip, the arrow un-shot.
"What are you doing?" Walden demanded.
"She is not our enemy."
"No, but she works for him."
"No, she doesn't. I'll show you."
Rebecca leapt to her feet and put herself between Reshiram and the men. "Go ahead," she told the dragon. "Kill me if you want."
Walden gasped. What was the girl doing, putting herself at the mercy of a dragon? But then he realized. The dragon in question wasn't making any move to attack.
Maybe she was just reluctant to kill her thrall. Or maybe…
No. That wasn't possible. How could dozens of Church scholars have all been wrong?
"Get her out of the way," he said.
One of the other Slayers, Frederick, grabbed the girl and hauled her out of the way, holding her back with one arm wrapped around her waist.
"Get out of here," she cried to the dragon. "They're going to kill you. Go!"
Walden raised his arm, then brought it down.
A salvo of arrows, fired from across the clearing, slammed into the dragon's back.
Rebecca's cry was nearly drowned out by Reshiram's own roar of pain as several arrows punched deep into her back. Instinct took over, telling her to get as far away from the new threat as she could. She realized too late that it was a trick.
As soon as the dragon was over the grass, rather than the hole, Walden gave the order. "Bolas, fire!"
"No!" Rebecca cried.
Two different men threw their bolas. The first one missed, the second was dead on target, coiling around the dragon and pinning her wings to her sides. She crashed to the ground.
"Bind her," he ordered.
Men swarmed her, wrapping thick hempen rope around her legs and tying her mouth shut.
That was when Nolan entered the clearing.
"Walden, stop this mad…" He broke off when he saw Reshiram.
"Who's mad now, Nolan? You told me I would get these men killed, yet here I am, about to give this demon what she deserves."
"Look at her, Walden. Demon or not, she's a creature of fire. Don't you think she could easily burn her way free and slaughter all of you if she wanted to?"
"I don't pretend to understand demons…"
"Don't you get it? She's not a demon."
"Oh?"
"Where's your proof?"
"My faith is all the proof I need. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some divine justice to deal out. " Walden turned away.
"Oh, my Arceus, Walden. You don't understand what you're doing!"
"No. Stop!" Rebecca cried.
Reshiram lay in the grass and listened to the two men arguing over her fate.
Burn my way free, Nolan? she thought. I wish I could.
Nolan, like so many others, had mistaken the translucent flames of Turboblaze for real fire. That was why the stories about her described an aura of fire that would burn alive anyone who got to close. If she stoked it high enough, it would take on the properties of real fire, but doing that with the damage to her energy channels would probably kill her, and painfully at that.
At least this way my death will be quick.
Walden drew his sword and walked over to where the dragon lay in the grass. She bled from half a dozen different wounds, her blood running across her scales and into the grass. He was surprised to see that it was the same crimson red as his own.
A single thrust through the heart, then cut it out and burn it, he thought. That would ensure that she stayed dead. He'd read somewhere that Giratina could resurrect his fallen servants.
This was it, the culmination of twenty years of searching, researching. Now, finally, the White Dragon would die.
"You do not know what divine justice is," a voice said in his head.
He realized it was her speaking and quickly shook his head frantically to clear it. "You won't ensnare me, demon," he said.
"You are a fool to not listen." She lifted her head and looked him straight in the eye. Thinking it a last-minute attempt to enthrall him, he hurriedly looked away.
"Look me in the eye when you kill me," she said.
He put his foot on her neck and got ready to bring his blade down.
Nolan moved.
I have to stop this, he thought.
He lunged forward and grabbed Walden by the shoulder.
Rebecca watched helplessly, as Reshiram was brought down, as she was bound, and as Walden made to kill her. She could only watch as her father lunged forward and grabbed Walden's shoulder. And she could only watch what happened next.
Walden spun around.
"You are not going to get in my way," he said, then stabbed Nolan in the stomach.
Time seemed to slow down as her father collapsed, a surprised look on his face. She sank to her knees, too shocked to say anything. The Slayer who'd been holding her back was so horrified that his arms went limp and offered no resistance as she fell. Everyone was staring in at Walden in sheer disbelief, even his comrades-in-arms.
Walden then calmly turned back to Reshiram and raised his blade.
And then, of all people who could have come to the rescue, it was Xerneas who stepped from the trees.
The response to his entrance was mixed at best. A couple people, including the two Slayers, readied their weapons. The most superstitious there dropped to their knees, certain they were in the presence of a powerful spirit. Xerneas surveyed the clearing, taking in Walden's bloody sword, Nolan on the ground clutching his stomach, Rebecca on her knees staring in horror, and the men with bows trained on him.
After several tense seconds the men who had drawn their weapons put them away, starting with the two Slayers. Rebecca supposed that it was much harder to think of a creature like Xerneas as a demon than it was to think that way about one like Reshiram.
"Who are you?" Walden asked. He was the only one still with a drawn weapon.
"I am Xerneas. You have brought your human violence into this forest, my domain, and that is something I cannot allow."
"So what are you going to do?" Walden was not quite able to keep the fear out of his voice.
"First, repair the damage." He stepped towards Nolan. Once again, his horns went from being pale blue to being all sorts of colors. The same dark pink pulse of energy Rebecca had seen before surged out from the deer and encircled Nolan. "This is my gift to you, mortal. Do not make me regret it."
Nolan sat up, completely healed. "Thank you," he said.
"Second," he said, stepping back, "is to ask you all to leave the forest peacefully."
"You're not going to kill us?" Walden asked in disbelief.
"Not if I can avoid it. If you refuse to leave, I make no guarantees."
"I am a holy warrior of Arceus. You cannot…" Walden began.
"Leave!" Xerneas thundered, rearing up on his hind legs. A wave of light rushed outward from him.
Almost all the men turned and ran. Walden turned to follow them and found two sword-points in his face.
"You are under arrest, Walden," one of the two Slayers, whose swords they were, said.
"For what?" Walden demanded.
"Attempted murder, for starters," said the other.
"He associated with a demon," Walden protested, pointing at Nolan. "Arrest him, not me."
"I don't know if I think she is a demon anymore," said the first.
"I'm starting to think we may have been wrong," said the other.
"I think," Nolan said, "that, with your report on this incident, the Church may have to rethink a lot of things."
"I sure hope so," said Rebecca, who was trying to cut Reshiram free. As she sliced through the last rope, the dragon leapt to her feet.
"Thank you, Xerneas," she said.
"I must say I am surprised to hear that from you. I was under the impression that you did not want my help."
"Then why did you come?"
"I simply wanted to ensure that you did not set the forest on fire."
"That was not an issue."
"Oh?" the deer asked, perplexed.
"I finally figured it out, how to attack without using my flame."
"Reshiram, your tail!" Rebecca cried. It was the first good look she'd had at the dragon's tail since the battle. There was hardly any glow.
"Congratulations," Xerneas said.
"So what happens now?" Rebecca asked.
Reshiram looked across the clearing to where Nolan was conferring with one of the two Slayers, the other having escorted Walden away.
"What happened here today has clearly changed a few minds," she said. "With luck, the combined influence of two Slayers and one former Slayer will be able to change more."
"Here's hoping."
That was when Rebecca realized that Xerneas had disappeared.
"Where did he go?" she asked.
"Returned to the Heart, no doubt," Reshiram said.
"He really doesn't like humans. I was hoping that what happened here might have changed his mind too."
"I think he may have as much to rethink as the Church does."
AN: Holy crap, a lot happened in this section.
Ah, Walden. He really does think he's doing what's best, but he's also extremely single-minded and inflexible.
I hope the battle scene wasn't too hard to follow with the jumping point of view. I don't think I'm particularly good at writing big battle scenes, so I tried this to in an attempt to keep it interesting. I liked the way it turned out.
Regarding Reshiram's energy, I've explained this before, but in my head-canon, Pokemon have channels of energy running through their bodies. This energy powers their attacks. It's kind of like chi flow (and the convergence points are chakras) except its tangible and can be damaged, which is what happened here.
The "dragon cult" Walden talks about here is the Draconids (from the ORAS Delta Episode), or at least a version of them I invented for this AU. This scene is actually prologuing something that will be elaborated on in the sequel to Uprising.
Yes, I know Charizard aren't Dragon-types. But they're dragon-like Fire-types, and Mega Charizard X is the only Pokemon to share Reshiram's Typing, so I figured they'd be attracted to the Dragon Sanctuary too.
And speaking of the Dragon Sanctuary. I know the introduction of the name was a bit awkward, but that was the first place I felt introducing it made sense. Another thing I couldn't work in had to do with Goodman Mullin's "torches and pitchforks" comment. That was intended as a joke on his part, but I couldn't find a good place to explain that and couldn't bring myself to cut it.
Regarding Xerneas, he doesn't really care about Nolan, but letting someone die when he could save them goes against his very nature, both as a Legend in general and as the Life Pokemon specifically.
Last note, to anyone who's wondering what bolas are. If you've watched How to Train Your Dragon, you've seen several. Hiccup builds a catapult to launch them. It's what he shoots Toothless down with at the beginning of the movie.