"But I don't want another war. We just finished the last one", complained Sunny. Nico, Hazel, Piper, and the dragonets of destiny, as others called them, had been explaining what they needed to do. Starflight was trying to calm Sunny down about the situation, but apparently Sunny didn't like wars.
"Relax, Sunny. It will probably be a short war. All of our wars are like that. Look at me. I have gone through three wars in I like two years or more, I think that this one will not last very long if we do this right", Nico said, trying to calm her down. Sunny sniffled, "Wars are so cruel. Dragons die, forests are burned, and innocent things die along with it. All of that isn't fair. We thought after this war, there won't be another".
Hazel had no idea what to do. The sadness and sense of doom hung in the air since Piper last looked in her knife. Glory had told the entire village and there was a lot of gossip going around that there was another war going to break lose. The rainwings were nervous and some of the nightwings didn't want to go to battle with the mysterious force. The other half was ramped up and ready for battle now that they were allowed to go to war instead of sit on a volcano and do nothing while all the fun was going to the other dragons.
"Um… I am going to go eat some fruit… So… Bye", and with that Hazel flew away from the disaster scene. The truth was, Hazel didn't want to go to war again. She knew her poor brother had done it multiple times, but Hazel didn't want to have another. She thought after the last war, she would be free to live her life like a regular person. She imagined going on walks with Frank in some park, graduating college, getting a job, and maybe even starting a family. Now she had no idea what would happen and she was afraid of being stuck in this world forever, and not seeing Frank ever again. No, She told herself not to think about it, look on the bright side. At least she had some of her friends and even some new ones. Maybe Frank was in this world too and he was looking for her. There were so many possibilities it gave Hazel a headache.
Hazel was thinking so much that she got lost. She stopped and hovered to look at the scene and try to figure out where she was. There were no huts or dragons flying around, but there was plenty of fruit. Then she heard the noise of the village a little ways back so she wasn't entirely lost. Hazel dicided that this was a nice spot to rest, eat fruit, and stop worrying.
Hazel found herself a bunch of vines tangled in each other and sat in them as if they were a hammock. She grabbed a big, red, juicy fruit off of a branch dangling over her head and began to eat it. The minute she took a bite, orange juice splattered everywhere and the sweetness of the fruit melted in her mouth. Her eyes rolled upward as she took another bite and let relaxation flood over her.
She ate a few more of the same fruit and lay back, listening to the quiet of everything, soaking up the rays of sun… then a horrible feeling dawned upon her. The silence, this was the rainforest, it was never supposed to be quiet. Looking around she saw there was no animals or bird jabbering and squawking in the trees like there was supposed to be. Then there was that feeling, like she was being watched.
Just then there was a rustling in the vegetation, like something large and fast was moving down there. Then there was a shadow that darted between the trees.
Hazel didn't feel very relaxed anymore, she was more scared than anything. "Hello", She called out, "is anyone there"? Nothing. All was silent again as if nothing had happened. Then she felt someone breathing on her shoulder and heard it rasping deeply.
Before she could react, green and brown talons grabbed her snout and held it shut so she couldn't yell for help. In a raspy tone, a rainwing with a blackened, scarred face and a metal arm whispered in her ear, "Hello there. Hazel Levesque". In reaction she grabbed his talons and clawed at them. The dragon yelped in pain, but to Hazel's surprise they healed almost instantly.
Then she got an idea. Hazel pulled out her cavalry sword and stabbed the dragon in the gut. He screamed in agony, letting Hazel go so he could cough up blood. Hazel saw her chance and flew away as fast as she could.
It seemed like she was safe for a minute until two large, black shapes appeared on either side of her. She could not outfly them and they seemed to anticipate every move she made. The only thing she could do was fight or get captured. Her choice was fight.
She pulled out her cavalry sword and attacked the smaller nightwing, causing them both to tumble into a tree. Hazel had the dragon pinned to the tree, It looked female because of her beauty, but she had this aura to her that set all of Hazel's senses on haywire. Behind her, Hazel felt someone grab her wings and it pulled back so hard that they would've been torn off if she didn't let go. When the dragon let go, she tumbled down and landed in the vegetation below her.
She quickly darted away from the place she landed in as quietly as she could. lucky for her the plants were so big they hid her so she slipped away and went behind a tree. "Where is she. Nice work Morrowser, now she's gone", one of them yelled hoarsely in outrage. "It is better than letting her kill you Battlewinner. Anyway she shouldn't have gone that far. Look around in the brush". Hazel sniffled back a laugh at the name Battlewinner. She had heard some funny names of nightwings before, but this one was hilarious.
While the nightwings were searching for her in the vegetation, Hazel got to slip away. After it was clear that she was well away from them, she took flight and flew as fast as she could toward the sound of help. She was going as fast as she could, dodging vines, swerving trees and ramming through walls of leaves.
Hazel dodged another branch and looked behind her, nothing yet. When she turned her head in the direction she was going in, Hazel didn't see the mudwing until it was too late. With a squawk of surprise, Hazel slammed into the dragon, causing them both to tumble to the ground in a flapping mess of wings, claws, and tails until Hazel crashed back first into a bed of plants.
Hazel moaned in confusion as she tried to regain her sight which was now spinning. She was lying belly up with a handsome, strong mudwing also trying to catch his breath. "Oh gods are you alright. I am so sorry". The dragon moaned and looked up at her in surprise. "Hazel", the dragon asked groggily in Frank's voice. "Frank? Oh thank the gods it is you", and she tackled him in a hug, "I missed you and I'm sorry for crashing into you. I wasn't paying attention". "Hazel, its ok I forgive you", Frank looked directly in her eyes and it felt like there was no one else in the world, until a group of dragons descending on top of them.
"Frank are you ok", asked a greenish blue dragon that sounded like Percy. "What did you think you were doing you stupid nightwing. I can take you to queen Glory right now and get you treason for attacking me". "Tsunami, its alright. This is my girlfriend Hazel. Hazel, this is Tsunami, Auklet, Anemone and Peril. I think you know the others". Of course, Hazel did know a few, she recognized Jason's gladius, Thalia's bow, Leo dangling from the new dragon's shoulder with his tool belt, and of course Percy, he was obvious. Tsunami snorted, "But just because he knows you doesn't mean that is your excuse. So what is your excuse for almost crashing into me". Just then the three dragons who were chasing Hazel bounded out of the brush, snarling and ready for a fight.
Tsunami gasped, but regained her control almost instantly, crouching in the plants like she would pounce. "Morrowser, I see you're back", Tsunami growled as the others pulled out their weapons and readied themselves for a fight. Peril put Leo down and smoke curled out of her nose and… scales? "Well that is just rude not to announce the queen of nightwings too", Battlewinner said, stepping forward so everyone could see her. "Hello Battlewinner, it is nice to kill you again", Tsunami growled and Hazel wasn't surprised that Percy burst into laughter. "Battlewinner? What kind of name is that"? Percy said through his laughter. "Silence fool", Battlewinner hissed, but Percy was now punching a tree in attempt to stop.
everyone waited until Percy stopped laughing and became at least a little serious. "Ok I'm done", he finally said and charged the rainwing and sliced its arm off instantly. "Don't kill Morrowser, I will deal with him", yelled Tsunami and the two dragons fought with each other.
Turns out there were four other dragons waiting in the shadows, but they were easy to take down thanks to all of the dragons on Hazel's side. Jason went for Battlewinner and stabbed her in the neck. When she died, she disappeared in a flash of light, leaving a life size metal statue on the ground. Thalia asked Peril to melt it till it was completely gone. Hazel didn't know that Peril's scales were that hot and she made a mental note not to touch Peril. Tsunami on the other hand didn't kill Morrowser, just tied him up and knocked him out. "Come on squid brains, it is time to get to the village and terrorize this dragon". All of the dragons looked at each other in confusion until a pinkish dragon that was the same style as Tsunami, Percy, and Auklet, yelled at us to come along.
OK. I hope that is better. I agree, chapter 9 was a little chaotic (I have a lot of cats that step on my keyboard all the time). So did I fix the problem? I hope this one will satisfy you all and I hope you have a wonderful day. Anyway keep dreaming my friends.