Heh...sorry it took long...

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Booster!

Chapter 2

Come With Us

Kitt, Chute, Wyldfyr and Turbulance were still waiting at the finish line for the others as some of the racing fans stayed put. Minutes have passed and they haven't shown up.

Turbulance, who couldn't keep still, walked around in circles, looking her feet as she did so. What happened to the others? she thought.

Kitt was getting worried, too. Artha couldn't have been that horrible in a race, as far as she was concerned. She turned on her wrist-comm to contact Parm. A small, green screen appeared above her wrist. "Parm, where's Artha and Beau?" she asked.

"Artha went to save someone on the track. That's all I know..." Parm said, shrugging.

Chute wondered where the others were, too. She tried to keep up a positive attitude, hoping nothing bad happened.

Moordryd, on the other hand, was leaving to claim his prize. It didn't really bother him about what might have happened to the other racers, particularly Artha. The more of his rivals fall, the easier it will be to cause trouble in Dragon City.

Chute watched him go, suspicious. He had to be the one behind this...it was always him and his crew...then again, it could be by some other racing crew. Where do you think you're going? she thought. She may have to send a tracking dragon after him later.

Somewhere in the distance, Kitt spotted a red and blue dragon walking into her view. Beau. Artha was riding him, followed by the remaining racers. "Artha!" she cried. The crowd cheered wildly as the racers approached the finish line, walking side by side.

Artha smiled as Kitt dismounted Wyldfyr and ran up to Beau's side. She looked more worried than usual and he wondered about that.

"Artha, what happened back there?" she asked, crossing her arms and looking up at him.

"Hyve's hurt badly...someone threw a Fire Grenade at him and Wulph..."he explained as he turned his head around to see Phorrj and Shock-Ra supporting an almost charred up purple draconium dragon at their sides. Hyve seemed to walk unstable, tilting to the side and almost tripping as well. Wulph stayed close to him, asisting in any way possible. "He needs help quick."

Chute and Turbulance saw the injured Pack-Class dragon limping in their view and in an instant, their hearts sank deep. The white draconium dragon's tail lowered to the ground while Chute had an indignant look on her expression, anger flooding her emotions. The name Moordryd was the first to raise up above all the others in the Dragon Wind leader's mind.

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Hyve was half-sleeping on his right side in the Army of the Dragon crew tent, being attended to by a few dragon medics, Marianis being one of them. Marianis will see to it that the dragon is fully healed, seeing them in this condition would merely break her heart. Pain rushed wildly throughout every part of the dragons body, feeling as if his head was about to explode at any minute. Curses, he thought, How could you be so foolish pulling a stunt like that on the track and end up getting hurt?!

Marianis was kneeling down next to Hyve's muzzle, who's notable scar showed from within his slightly burned face. The Dragon Fish leader felt great sympathy for this stoic dragon who laid before her. He just wanted to prove something to them...to everyone and he ends up getting this in the end...or so he thought. She gently wiped away the bits of ashes from his muzzle with a wet cloth.

Hyve whinced at the cold water that touched his face, groaning quietly and trying to bite back his tiny whimpers. The other dragons were just outside the tent and he wouldn't want any of them to hear his yelps.

Marianis wiped more of the black substance that almost covered his entire head. She smiled as his violet scales showed up and slowly brought her right index finger to the start of Hyve's scar above his eye. She traced it, across his closed eye and to the end of it, causing Hyve to whince again as she did so. Marianis could feel his every pain by just looking at his scar, same with Wulph. Their scars wasn't too big, but still. A small, pearly tear ran down her cheek as she spoke to the hard-bitten dragon,"You tried, Hyve...none of it was in vain..."

Hyve heard her words, feeling her tears drip onto his own face. She was hospitable and comforting to be around, like Poseidos. His sharp turquoise eyes met her glistening magenta ones, showing how much he really appreciated her company.

Wulph entered the tent and knelt down beside Marianis, petting Hyve's muzzle gently. "Will he be alright?" he asked her.

"Yes, Hyve has healed fairly quickly. I'm sure he'll be okay," he replied, lying her hand on his left shoulder.

Wulph almost flinched at her touch. He sighed." I should've never let him go off doing that in race...knowing that he would end up hurt..."

"No," Marianis said simply," You know Hyve...he's so determined and strong...just like his rider..."

The Army of the Dragon leader gave her a meaningful look. Marianis smiled warmingly, pulling him into a hug. Wulph tried to hold back his tears from falling as he hugged her back. How does she do that? Wulph thought.

The rest of the other racers, however, were engaged in a loud conversation not too far away. The many of them were argueing, suggesting to get Moordryd banned from dragon racing for however long his punishment should be. The Down City Council leader, Phistus, was here to settle things. And if his temperment got out of hand, Kawake was there to take things into his own hands. Vociferous, the Voice of the Dragon leader, however, just stood there being unusually quiet and listened to the conversation, barely showing any interest in this conflict. Even Penn Racing was pretty much involved in this, though they have never been to any the meetings the council held.

"This was no accident, obviously!" Kitt hissed, "Moordryd simply thinks he can get to top by taking others down through cheating!"

"No surprize here! He has caused almost every problem on almost every race!" Artha added.

Artha and Parm agreed with her and the other's comments while Lance merely stood there, not knowing what's going on as he took a bite from his seventh candy bar today.

"Phistus! Moordryd has to be banned from dragon racing!" yelled Pyrrah, her own fiery temperment was getting out of control.

"Agreed!" Khatah said,"He is much too dangerous to be on the tracks!"

"He has caused enough trouble already!" the Dragon Flares yelled again, getting into Phistus's face.

"Alright, take it easy, everyone!" the Down City Council leader bellowed, gaining the rest of the council's attention. "There has to be a way to resove this."

"How, Phistus?!" Pyrrah snapped at the over-muscled man. "Did you even saw what had happened? It was Moordryd!!"

Phistus sighed, pinching his forehead in mild irritation and looked over at Hyve. Indeed that she and the others may have the right idea to force the Dragon Eyes leader, and possibly his whole crew, out of racing. But there are other ways to resolve this. "C'mon...let's go someplace else where we can talk about this in private and see what we can do..."

Marianis exited the tent, waiting for Wulph to join her and the Council."C'mon, Wulph...Hyve will be alright. The dragons will company him."

Wulph turned to Hyve and petted his muzzle again. "See you later, Hyve," he said and walked off with the argueing Council.

The dragons' conversation, however, was not so different. Only their's was louder and almost involving mag-blasts to show anger. Brutaris, like his rider, was to be the judge of this case. He roared loudly to silence the council while Rumbyll stood there beside him, remaining calm and reserved. Beau was included in this conflict while his dragon friends waited at the Penn Racing tent. Since he saved Hyve and Wulph and would know what was right, he was right in middle of the dragons' complaints...and he didn't like it at all.

Hyve barely listened to the conversation as he reminisced about Artha and Beau saving him and his rider on track today. Though he was somewhat grateful, it still made him feel like a weakling and nearly always losing races disappointed him as well. He was tired now, not only having a tough time in race but thinking that his weaknesses have been revealed to the other dragons. He stayed away from the group. He was lone wolf at heart, though he knew he was very strong when with his crew. But out on the track alone, he was nearly helpless. His strength depended on a team to win competitions. Hyve found himself to be too dependent on others and he could barely think peacefully with this on his mind.

The Down City Council dragons watched Hyve at a distance. Most were somewhat depressed, and a little surprized, to see this side of Hyve for pretty much the first time. They saw him as a strong, loyal, and dictorial dragon. Now seeing him alone in this state made them a little baffled.

"Poor Hyve," Phorrj said as she watched him. She saw happened to him and she was there to witness it like her fellow rivals and friends. The red dragon could never forget how Hyve looked after that incident.

"The fella's got a lot on his paws lately,"Brutaris grumbled, a bit softness showed from behind his stubborn exterior.

"Our friend is not well yet?" Shock-Ra asked.

"Oh, who cares? He's just a stick-in-the-mud, that's all!" Swavvy interrupted. When he isn't being soomth and persuasive, he was loud and obnoxious like his rider, Vociferous. The others disliked his attitude at times, but Swavvy didn't seem to notice nor even care.

"Give him a break, Swavvy!" Beau broke out, trying to defend Hyve,"He has it hard enough on him already!" Beau wasn't sure why he doing this. He pretty much admired the purple dragon.

"You're the reason why he's so depressed!" the turquoise dragon snapped, pretty much starting a fight between him and Beau.

Beau growled in response. He despised dragons like Swavvy, apperently because they were very rude to others, especially during inappropriate times.

"That's enough!!" Rumbyll roared at Swavvy."We all know Hyve has had a tough day today. Let's just leave him alone for a while."

"No wonder he's such a loner!" laughed Turbulance as she jumped into the crowd and landed next to the large, brown dragon."We should bring him along to talk and have fun with us!"

The others exchanged looks, thinking she was crazy! Turbulance was always unstable and wild, but she was sweet-natured and loyal and some greatly admired her for that.

"Hmm..." Rumbyll thought for a moment." I suppose it wouldn't hurt--"

"Yay!!" Turbulance cheered as she jumped and rushed over to Hyve.

"Be careful!" the old brown dragon warned.

Hyve was thinking to himself as laid on the floor of the tent, his face was facing the wall when Turbulance came up to him and pounched on him, smothering him in hugs. Hyve almost jumped in surprize.

"Hey, Hyve! Wanna come with us for a walk?" she asked as she laid on him.

Hyve sighed,"I'm busy..."

The Sky-class dragon looked at the Pack-class dragon."Busy with what? Staring at the wall? That's not fun!"

Swavvy rolled his eyes."Oh, brother..."

Rumbyll glared at him while some of the others shook their heads.

"Please come?" Turbulance pleaded, pouting and giving Hyve her big, puppy-dog eyes.

Hyve sighed again. He really didn't want to go with the others. Too embaressed to show his face, but he couldn't say no to Turbulance."Fine," he said as he stood up, trembling slighly as he got on his legs. Turbulance wagged her tail, went over to the other dragons and smiled brightly at the Earth-Class dragon. Rumbyll smiled back while Swavvy just rolled his eyes again. Hyve followed behind the white dragon, still bruised up a little."Okay, I'm here..."

"Good! Because you're going to have a nice walk with us though Dragon City!" Rumbyll said, nudging the wolf dragon playfully."Turbulance insisted that you come with us."

"Huh?" Hyve said rather lazily.

"We saw you all by yourself and we thought we'd go and brighten up your day!" Phorrj replied, nudging Hyve on the side opposite of Rumbyll.

Hyve looked at them, unsure."Uhh...I don't think that's a good idea..." he said as he turned away.

"You're not going back to your tent to stare at the wall, are you?" Poseidos asked. She looked at others and nodded.

The Down City Council dragons surrounded Hyve so he wouldn't escape. Hyve started to get uneasy and uncomfortable, even if he saw this one coming. Though he could simply jump over them and run off, they probably had everything planned out for him.

"C'mon, Hyve! It would be good for you!" Turbulance said reassuringly. There was no way she was going to let him sit this one out. She was too smart for simple tricks and if Hyve escaped, she would easily track him down with the help of others.

"Alright, I'll go with you guys!" Hyve cried out, clearly annoyed and just wanted to get this over with.

Rumbyll pushed him from behind."Then let's go!"

The wolf dragon walked on, Turbulance close by his side, almost touching him.

"C'mon, Beau! Bring your friends!" Turbulance said, never leaving any good dragons behind.

Beau smiled and raced off to find Wyldfyr, Cyrano and Fracshun. He was now hoping to know Hyve a little better and spend some time with not only him, but the rest of the Down City crew dragons.