Surviving in a New Universe

by RapidPup the Writer

When a force nearly exterminates one version of humanity in their universe, they shall find ways to either push back or run but will always return. And so, we shall follow the adventure of the Rhine Gold's Fleet of starships into the unknown of a new universe. In the exploration of the worlds of dragons! Will they be able to conquer this world and help its people and dragons alike?

9. Chapter 8

I was back on the craft they called a dropship. That same cold, metallic place that moved and lurched, where there were no other living things besides me and the human.

The planned excursion went less than well. Although we did the mission objective, we were ambushed by those white monsters again.

Even after all the information and training those humans gave me, I still couldn't bear to hit or attack another dragon... in the end, I just ran away, with Captain Clove escorting me. At least the humans taught me their language, English.

It's so weird and complicated. Why do some words sound or spelt the same way but have different definitions? I still can't grasp some of their strange words, like, "lead". Lead as in I lead someone, or lead as in the element? Whatever the case, I'm glad I know the basics so I can have some form of communication with these foreign humans.

I focused back onto my talons, staring down at them intensely. New dark thoughts creeping into my mind, clouding it.

How am I ever supposed to find mom and dad if I can't even attack the enemy?

I continued to wait in the place the humans on this island called the medical ward, where Leaf was being kept.

He continued to stay in his sleeping state, even though I couldn't see any of those strange ice growths on his arm. I watched as his chest rose and fell in a rhythmic breathing pattern. The regular beep of the monitors and vitals, strange and foreign devices surrounded him that I couldn't understand, despite the humans trying to explain them to me.

A heart and brain monitor, blood pressure?

I looked at his vulnerable and sorry state, how had it come to this?

Ah, yes, how I was unable to protect him in the forest while we were escaping the white dragons.

I should have done something... and I still can...

In order to keep Leaf safe and save mom and dad, I need to train harder, I need to be able to strike down my enemies without hesitation!

Beginning to brainstorm ways to get better at fighting, Leaf suddenly sat upright! Bringing me out of my thoughts and surprising me, flinching at his sudden waking.

"L-Leaf?" I stammered, still bewildered by his sudden awakening before continuing, "Are you okay, do you feel okay?"

He looked at me and felt his body with his hands, "Yeah, I feel okay, what happened? All I remember was we were in that camp."

"Well, we aren't anymore, and we're safe and sound now," I told him caringly, my heart overjoyed at seeing him still alive and well.

He then took stock of his surroundings, his eyes exploring his confines in the medical ward.

"Where exactly are we?" he questioned, still taking in the place while the other human doctors in their white coats and uniforms continued to tend to him, checking his health.

I felt thankful to just see him awake and answered his question, "Well, it's a kind of a long story," I began to which he raised his eyebrow sarcastically, but I ignored it, continuing on, "When you were injured, I happened to meet these humans in the forest and one thing led to another and now you're here, being tended to by them."

I can't tell him I was super scared back then; he might laugh at me.

"I feel like you're skipping on a lot of the important details," Leaf told me skeptically while the doctor wrapped a band around his arm that inflated itself.

"I mean, yeah... but those don't matter!" I told him cheerfully to mask any sign of my deception.

Then, before Leaf could get another word out, Talon, private Zen, private Irelle, and a few other humans in that same blue uniform entered the medical ward.

"Uh, what are you doin-" I began when I was abruptly cut off by Talon, him stating, "I heard that Leaf had awoken, and I came to meet him myself."

At this time, the doctors and assistants were nearly done with checking up on Leaf and he stood up to greet Talon and the soldier escort.

"Um, hello, have we met before?" he asked, his voice shaky, a feeble attempt to mask his nervousness and uncomfortableness with little effect.

"Yes, we have met before," Talon told him briskly before going straight ahead and asking, "Your name and what do you recall? Any strange abilities? Any strange feelings in your body?"

"Uhhhh..." Leaf began, bombarded by the questions and clearly lost.

Then the doctor faced Talon, stating gruffly with a hint of being annoyed, "Researcher, this patient JUST woke up! Give him a moment to rest up and get used to the entire place since no doubt he doesn't know who we are or what we are saying. He needs time to recover!"

Talon was silent for a moment, and I decided to chip in, "I do agree with the doctor, Leaf doesn't speak your people's language other than Dragon and the native human language from where I come from, and I think he needs time as well, considering how squishy humans are."

"Squishy-?" Leaf began, curious and slightly confused before Talon told the doctor, "My apologies Dr. Martinez. But please have him report to my lab as soon as possible with Serenity."

"Yeah, whatever, just stop trying to bother my patients," Doctor Martinez muttered angrily, heading to another patient in the medical ward.

Talon then turned to face Leaf, stating in Dragon, "I expect you at my lab, just for your information."

Leaf merely nodded, still registering the entire conversation based on the way his face looked confused and dumbfounded.

"Hey," I began, capturing his attention before continuing on, "You'll get used to the place soon enough!"

"Yeah," he started, looking around the room again, "It all just looks so weird and all." He then went on after a brief pause, smiling at me, "But, with you here, I feel more comfortable."

I returned the smile, a feeling of happiness filling me, telling him, "Likewise, my friend."

After the doctor discharged him from the medical ward, he got changed up into one of their uniforms and we went on our way, with one of the doctor's assistants guiding us through the facility. At least, I thought Dr. Martinez had discharged him, my English is not as good as the humans here.

As we continued to walk through the brightly lit corridors of metal grated floors, reinforced walls with metal supports that stuck out from the walls themselves and the occasional doorway that branched off elsewhere, thoughts continued to race through my mind about the future and what I had told Leaf mere minutes earlier.

Why did I call him my friend and smile at him like that?! Dragons don't become FRIENDS with puny, small, funny humans! …right?

Embarrassed by my past actions, I didn't talk or look at Leaf as we continued to walk on, his boots from the people here clunking against the metal floor and his blue uniform had numerous pockets followed by an identification number and insignia of a serpent by the looks of it.

Eventually, we reached the lab, the clear doors allowing us to see the inside which consisted of tables full of strange and odd equipment that were all whitewashed like the floor with the walls being light grey and the ceiling itself being just grey.

"Welcome, Serenity and Leaf," Talon greeted us as we entered the lab which was filled with the acrid scent of smoke and fire hung in the air, with the constant whirring of computers and strange liquids in glass containers.

I cautiously explored the place, sniffing the strange liquids of the weirdest colors of dark blue, red, orange, purple, and green, along the scents and smells of burning, fire, smoke, and pungent scents of lemon?

The bubbling nature of each glass container had something going on in it, something strange that I didn't understand.

"Please be careful around the chemical testing," Talon told me firmly before explaining when I looked at him curiously, "I'm testing if I can combine the properties of mana with the properties of chemicals."

"What and what?" I asked him, confused and not knowing what mana or chemicals was.

He was silent for a brief moment before giving a rough explanation, "Just experimenting with magic and liquids."

"Huh," I blurted, still not quite picking up what he was laying down.

Testing with magic and liquids?

This place is full of weird things. The smells, liquids, and that strange electrifying sensation all around as if I'm about to be zapped by something.

Talon then went over to inspect Leaf, promptly checking the palm of his hand and eyes before asking, "Do you have any symptoms to report?"

"Uh... no?" Leaf half-heartedly answered, his voice sounding shrill and doubtful.

Talon was silent for a moment before opening another door that led into a chamber labelled, "Testing Chamber 01," and Irelle and Zen came out, with Irelle fully clad in armor but Zen was not. If anything, Zen looked... sadder than usual? Sure, he looked sad sometimes, but now he had an emptiness in his eyes.

Then Irelle blurted out to Zen excitedly, "Haha! Who knew you could make a fireball that big?!" Before patting Zen on the shoulder, causing a small glimmer of what I thought was life in his eyes?

In the end, he chuckled slightly along with Irelle at his remark, but otherwise kept quiet.

"I don't believe you've been formerly acquainted, yes?" Talon asked around, specifically between Leaf, Irelle and Zen.

"We have not sir," Zen told him formally, as Leaf told him shakily, "N-no."

I leaned in close so only Leaf could hear, "I promise they won't bite!" to which he swatted me away with a playful hand as I giggled.

He took a deep breath as Zen held out his hand for what the humans called a "handshake" and theirs promptly connecting, giving a firm handshake with each other.

"Leaf," he began as his introduction while giving off the best smile he could muster, despite all the strange things he's seen, no doubt.

"Zen," the soldier told him formally without any emotion in his voice, before motioning for Irelle to introduce himself with his free hand.

"At your wonderful service!" Irelle told him cheerily, eliciting a slight jump from Leaf to which he quickly regained his posture, stating, "Glad to meet you two."

"With that out of the way now," Talon began while fiddling with Leaf's bag, taking out the cube and obsidian ring, "We must begin testing."

He placed the two objects on the table and began examining them with various devices and tools that emitted strange sounds and lights.

He then beckoned, "Serenity, Leaf, come here since I have a few questions for you," before telling, the soldiers, "Watch carefully since if anything unexpected happens, I expect you to step in and prevent Serenity and Leaf from becoming injured."

"Why would they have to protect us from a few little objects?" I asked him, looking incredulously at the two items, doubtful if they could even move on their own.

He put down the strange tool with a flat end to it and looked at me directly, explaining, "These are objects that are made from animus dragons, and since this resource that has been termed as mana is still not thoroughly researched, the worst that could happen is where we could all die from meddling with this."

Ok... then why are we so close to something so deadly?

I took a step back out of instinctual caution, but surprisingly, as if he knew what I was doing without looking, Talon stated bluntly, "Do not worry, I can assure you that what we are doing will not kill us, but more severe tinkering could."

He then picked up the ring and put it on a device's platform that was underneath a large cylinder and then a top cylinder that angled towards him that he was looking into.

"Serenity, have you used any of these Relics since you obtained them at the Library?" Talon then inquired.

I racked my brain, recalling the memories, "Ah! When we were in the dark cave where we found those things, you call Relics! I don't believe I used the ring, but I did stick my arm into the cube and pulled out a strange cloth."

He was silent for a moment as he took a closer look at the cube, studying it intensely, murmuring, "Despite all the years I've had you, you continue to hold secrets from me."

Then Leaf piped up, adding, "I remember that we took those two but didn't really use them. Afterwards though, I just remember a lot of pain, coldness, and blurriness. Like I was alone and empty, lost in a never-ending black sea of dark water."

Talon then straightened and whipped around to face Leaf, as if his interest was piqued, "Do you constantly think about those feelings as of right now?"

Leaf hesitated, remaining to be silent a moment too long, myself realizing what was going through his mind all this time.

"Erm... uh, yes," Leaf admitted shyly, clearly not liking to have been read by him.

He then told Leaf, "Please exit the lab for two minutes," before ordering Zen, "Accompany him as according to protocol when we have foreign humans at the base."

After they had left and the door shut behind them, Talon turned to face me and asked, "Can you do Leaf a favor?"

"Like what?" I asked curiously, unsure on what to expect that Talon would need me for.

"You need to encourage and be supportive to Leaf," he explained seriously, peering into my eyes as if checking to see if I was receiving what he was saying.

After a moment or two of silent deliberation, I asked, "Was it from what he had said? About his thoughts?"

"Yes, since if he continues to ponder over them, it will make him more fearful and afraid," he told me, "A shell of who he once was."

If Talon's right... then I'll have to help Leaf. I don't want him to act as strangely as he has been! I thought it was maybe because he was in a new place surrounded by unknown people, but maybe it's stressing him out with his memories and uncomfortableness?

"So how exactly can I encourage and be supportive of him?" I asked Talon, still thinking about Leaf and what could happen to him if Talon was right about this.

He was silent for a few seconds, appearing deep in thought and deciding before answering me, "You need to be there for him, help him focus on the future, and to not dwell on the past. Basically, you must motivate him so he doesn't constantly focus on those memories of what he felt."

"Ah, I understand," I told him, his words running through my mind.

After that, he whispered something into Irelle's ear, and he left the room. Then, Talon told me, "Leave, return to your sleeping chambers that you were assigned to when you arrived here. With Leaf as he will be taking residence with you since it's the best option for his mental health."

"Alright," I told him on a serious note, understanding the severity of the situation and not wanting Leaf to get worse after just recovering physically.

This is my first step to protecting Leaf, by helping his mind get better so that we can go save our people and dragons!

"Oh, also, don't forget to equip this onto his neck," Talon told me, handing me a metallic, black collar that had three buttons and a light glowing red.

"This is a translator developed by these humans on this island, the UEF, that will translate whatever language he is speaking to a set language, for example, these humans from the UEF's language," he explained to me in detail, showing that each button had a setting, with one setting language translation, adaption to voice, and manual unlocking in case the failsafe to prevent choking failed, hence the glowing light that indicated it was successfully or not successfully wrapped around the users neck to record vocal vibrations or something. Lastly, he gave me an earbud that would go into his ear, allowing him to understand their speaking of their language.

With determination and confidence, I left the room and found Zen with Leaf, waiting for me.

"Irelle is off to retrieve some experimental equipment for Talon," Zen informed me robotically.

What happened to him? Ever since he came back to the base from the last mission, he's been different. He feels hollower. His eyes don't have the normal spark or glint of cheeriness and fear when we first met.

He isn't as lively.

We continued down the winding halls until we reached the outside, entering the bright sunshine of the day. The sun was past its zenith, and heading to the horizon, far off into the ocean. The foamy waves sliding across the ripple-like surface of the dark blue ocean before crashing into the cliffs below.

"Here, put this on your neck," I told Leaf, to which he asked doubtfully, "What is this thing exactly? Will it choke me to death?"

"No, it's a translation device that will allow others to understand what you are speaking and you to understand them. At least the ear bud goes into your ear and translate their words for you," I explained to him as he equipped it around his neck carefully, still suspicious of it.

It resized itself to fit his neck comfortably and I asked Zen, "Could you say a few words to test it?"

"It wouldn't matter since my suit already translates my words to Dragon," he told me briskly before mentioning we should get going.

I watched as Leaf tinkered with it lightly, but I told him not to do that in case the device got angry or something for doing that. Would it even retaliate if he tinkered with it? Better to be safe than sorry like those devices and objects Zen was studying in his lab.

Speaking of which, those objects he was studying were the ones we had taken from the underground place.

I took the front, leading Zen and Leaf as we headed to where I had slept the night before.

Glancing behind me, I caught Leaf exploring the island with his eyes, taking in all the colorful and previously not known sights to see.

"Where exactly are we?" Leaf asked both Zen and me.

"It's like a few hundred kilometers away from Pyrrhia," I told him before asking Zen, "Right?"

Zen flinched slightly, surprised by his sudden inclusion in the conversation before answering my question, "Uh, yeah, something like that."

"So, it's off the map, very far South..." I heard Leaf mutter to himself.

Then, we arrived at my cozy little area that was all just for me!

"This is my sleeping area!" I told Leaf gleefully, awaiting his reaction.

He looked at it warily, noticing the tent setup followed by a container of fruits and vegetables, a campfire, and a small statue I made from rocks.

"What's with the pile of rocks?" he asked confused, staring at my pile of stones.

I gave him a curious look before telling him, "Why, it's a statue of you! I did get bored during my downtime while you were asleep, so I made this!"

"Wha-?" he began, even more confused before I showed him, "See, this one is your head, this big middle one if your torso, and the bottom two are your legs!"

Does he not like it? It's a near perfect replica of him!

"Uh, I don't see the resemblance," Zen pointed out slowly, as the top rock fell off from my tail accidentally flicking it.

I mean, it's a few rocks, but it resembled his shape!

"Uh, okay, never mind that," I told them quickly, changing the subject and asking, "What do you think of my sleeping area?"

"I mean it's nice..." Leaf trailed off before adding, "The tent and all."

Correcting him, I told him, "I don't sleep in the tent," which he gave me a raised eyebrow before I explained, "I rather like it out on the grass, where I can stare all night into the stars."

"That sounds nice," Leaf admitted, looking upwards towards the still blue lit sky, with clouds dotting the horizon with their big fluffy puffiness.

"Come, sit down!" I told Leaf cheerily while also patting a patch of grass on the ground next to me overlooking the sea.

He sat next to me, asking, "Why?"

"It's been forever since I've gotten to talk with you," I explained before adding, "You know, the sleeping and all.

I do feel better seeing him well, not in pain like before. But now I have to make sure his mind is well too.

"Hmph", he added, before haughtily joking, "Why do you care all of a sudden?"

"What? No, I don't!" I told him firmly before wavering and adding quietly, "But I am glad to see you okay again..."

He was quiet for a moment, probably processing the information before replying, "Yeah, thanks for not leaving me behind when I was in trouble."

After that, we stayed silent, peering off into the horizon and around the island, switching between watching the people, sky, and waves of the sea.

This is kind of awkward... just sitting here silent. Should I say something?

I thought that maybe I should make some small talk and opened my mouth, beginning to speak. But at the last second, I decided against it and closed my maw again, keeping quiet.

"What exactly have you been doing while I've been asleep?" Leaf suddenly asked, rubbing the back of his neck while staring out into the ocean.

Taking a moment to formulate my thoughts, I explained, "Well, I went back to Pyrrhia to help these humans, er, UEF personnel as they call themselves, and then things went horrible but then I was able to make it back!"

He continued to be quiet before I mentioned, "You were asleep for like three days."

More silence.

After a prolonged quietness, he asked, "Do you think we'll ever save the dragons and people from them? It's been so long... I doubt they're still alive..."

"Hey!" I blurted out at him, causing him to jump in surprise before telling him determinedly, "They aren't just SOME people and dragons! They are our dragons and people! And knowing my dragons, they won't perish so easily, and seeing how you humans have survived us dragons for so long, I'm sure your people are still alive as well!"

"Yeah..." he began, thinking before concluding, "You're right! They wouldn't give up so easily and we shouldn't either!"

"Haha, that's the Leaf I know!" I told him excitedly, shooting him a smile.

Then, Zen butted into the conversation, telling us in a monotone voice, "Report to Commander Kyro's strategy room in ten minutes."

"Looks like we've got to go," I told Leaf cheerily, standing up and beckoning for him to do the same.

As we walked towards the strategy room, following Zen, Leaf asked, "So why is the commander calling for us?"

"Not sure, but we'll know when we get there!" I told him eagerly.

His behavior looks much more like his usual self now, not as mopey as before.

After arriving at the structure known as the "Base", we entered inside into the cool, filtered air that was mostly scentless besides the smell of humans and cold hardness of the metal grated floor. The clear, distinct sound of some hard metal boots clacked across the floor, giving off the eerie but orderly atmosphere of silence.

A child shivered down my spine as we continued through the grey and white detailed halls.

I'll never get used to this feeling, all of this seems so unnatural and dead. Nothing like the rainforest. Where everything is alive and vibrant, new smells and sounds were encountered every day.

How do humans deal with this? There are no plants, smells, or any interesting sounds. Just silence with the tap of boots on metal all throughout, with the occasional human passing by in a uniform casting curious glances at me and our group.

Probably their first time seeing a dragon before.

My ego swelled with importance at the thought, feeling mighty and powerful when compared to the humans. But then the thought of the previous night reemerged and it quickly dissipated, weighing heavily on my mind on how ineffective I was.

At last, we arrived at the strategy room where the commander was to be. As we entered, the room was notably darker but not dark enough to where you couldn't see where you were walking, but an image of Pyrrhia was on the forefront table where multiple humans in uniforms, although more decorated, were gathered around who I assumed was the commander.

The strange, floating image of Pyrrhia in a three-dimensional space was strange and foreign, nothing like I had seen before. If I recall correctly, I had seen the researcher Talon use one similar to that yesterday and he called it a hologram.

"Glad to see you all," the commander greeted us firmly, holding his hand out to Leaf, mentioning, "I don't believe we've met before."

Leaf was hesitant first, but I assured him, "It's these humans' way of greeting one another formerly."

He then clasped his hand in a firm handshake, pleasing the commander.

"Haha," the commander bellowed, adding joyously, "You know how to give a real handshake!"

Then, he completely changed his demeanor as one of the other uniformed humans that I recall being named officers reported to him, "The satellites are detecting departure movement on an island the enemy has set up camp, two hundred and fifty kilometers from our location, 62 degrees South-East."

"Keep me updated on the situation in case they start moving to our location," he told the officer who replied, "Yes, sir," before hurrying away to another group in front of a few monitors.

There are so many humans here... sure, I may be taller than them by like a whole head or two, but that's not a whole lot.

Then the commander turned his attention back to us, explaining, "I have a mission for you to gain experience in real combat scenarios that shouldn't be as deadly as the last mission."

"What exactly do you mean? I ran like a coward in the last battle," I admitted to him, feeling the guilt well up inside me as the thought of it returned.

"You may have run in fear, but that doesn't mean you are a coward. You did what any of us would have done, since even with all of our tech, we weren't able to accurately predict the enemy in ambushing us, which is a mistake on my people's part," the commander explained, easing some of the guilt from within me.

"Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that I ran in terror," I told him honestly, forcing myself to look at him with determination.

"I see that you have the will to fight, but you've only had two days of training with us which isn't enough time to overcome that instinctual fear," he explained to us in detail, "Which means that you need real combat experience to overcome that fear in the shortest amount of time possible."

Would being in real combat do that? Would being forced to fight another dragon really force me to take out my true inner self and overcome that fear?

"And since I've refused the Director of R&D's request for you to test, I want you to become an invaluable asset with impressive combat capabilities," he told us, which caused a thought to pop in my mind.

"Why would you want me, er us, to become an impressive asset for fighting?" I asked curiously, not seeing any reason why he would go through such lengths to do this for us.

"Because I'm sure you don't want to be stuck in a testing room all day having to be poked, prodded, and so forth by those small, thin needles you see us humans use," he told me seriously, motioning towards a nearby doctor on standby in case anyone fell ill suddenly by unknown forces.

"What exactly would happen though if you had sent me to this director?" I then asked carefully, dark thoughts creeping into my mind of what horrors they may have conducted.

"Despite our rigorous ethics policies, they may dissect you in the worst-case scenario," he told me bluntly, showing no remorse.

A shiver creeped through my spine at the thought of seeing myself splayed out on the ground, wings, head, legs, and arms detached from my body, lifeless and cold.

"Okay... thank you for not doing that," I told him quietly.

He gave a quick nod of understanding before continuing on, "With that explanation out of the way, back to the main topic before I got sidetracked. I want you and a platoon of my personnel to head to this moderately sized island to gain experience in combat and capture or push back the enemies on this island."

"So, do we have to kill them?" Leaf piped in, asking his question with curiosity and interest.

"No, we want you to capture them, and if not possible, then at least make them retreat. But in situations where you can't do either and must save your own or one of our people's lives, then you have full authority to do so," the commander informed us sternly, his body language and tone of voice telling us that he would enforce those rules on us if we disobeyed them.

"Is that all of your questions about this subject?" he asked us, ready to brief us on what we were going to do next.

"Yes," Leaf and I said at the exact same time, casting each other strange looks before following the commander around the table.

He then motioned with his hand towards one of the holograms on the tables, showcasing an island surrounded by water in what I assumed was an ocean.

"What exactly is this?" Leaf asked me, swishing his hand through the hologram, causing it to distort and glitch wherever he swayed his hand to and from.

"Please refrain from doing that," one of the human officers near Leaf told him distinctly, to which Leaf immediately stopped, apologizing.

The commander cleared his throat and began, "As you can see, this is the island you will be heading to for the mission," he explained as he zoomed out from the island, the continent of Pyrrhia, Pantala, and a far-off continent to the right appeared, with some landmass to the south. Then, a small speck in the ocean lit up in green as the commander continued, "This green dot is where we are, and this yellow dot is where you are heading."

I watched as multiple red dots moved around on the holographic screen. I was curious of what they were and where they were going, but I couldn't know for sure until I asked. I also had to keep in mind where my wins and tail went, since there were many humans rushing around, with one of the female officers tripping over my tail and myself apologizing to her profusely.

"What exactly are those red dots?" I asked the commander.

He finished talking with one of the officers and answered, telling me, "The red dots are all known, real-time positions of all non-UEF aerial objects detected in the atmosphere within a thousand-kilometer area around the base."

"Wow," I muttered in complete fascination of all the dots on the holographic table.

What could they be? Dragons, birds, or something else entirely?

"But that's unrelated, we are to focus on the attack on this island," the commander told me firmly, zooming in on the island that was the core focus of the entire mission.

"We have a few orbital images of the camp from above, but they're not as high quality as in accordance with what they are supposed to give us because of some sort of interference," the commander explained to us, showing us aerial images of the camp that had multiple buildings and white masses that looked like the same dragons that had attacked us and abducted mom and dad.

"Our goal is to try to capture while also pushing them off the island, right?" I asked the commander for reassurance, and he nodded his head, indicating that was what we were supposed to do.

He then went on, explaining, "I assume you're up to it, yes? Afterall, I can't force you to do anything since you aren't apart of my force."

If it can really make me finally defeat my enemies and not run in fear, then I have to! For the sake of mom, dad, and everyone else like Leaf's people!

"I want to," I told him simply, looking at Leaf to see if he wanted to go as well. To which he nodded, accepting this as well and the commander took notice of this.

"I need you to rest up today, since tomorrow is when you will be heading to the island, and in order to be fully prepared for anything that could happen, a good rest would do you well," he finished, briefly conversing with one of the officers in the room before adding, "Dismissed and be ready by tomorrow at the designated time. Private Zen and Private Irelle will be your guides and guards for the time until we disembark to the island."

With that, Leaf and I headed out of the strategy room, where Captain Clove, Zen, and Irelle were waiting for us, with the captain stating agitatedly, "Let's head to training. Both of you."

Leaf and I followed her closely from behind, with Zen and Irelle accompanying us on the left and right side.

If I grow any larger, I won't be able to stand fully inside these halls.

I continued to study the ceiling, watching how it closely passed by my head, showing just how tall I was in this short space. Of course, there was roughly a head's worth of space between my horns in it, but it was roughly two to three humans in height.

After we had reached the training grounds, with myself feeling the gravelly dirt between my paws, the sea breeze washing over us with its salty scent, and the shining sky bearing down on us with its warming rays of sunshine, warming my back in its radiance as Captain Clove took a leading position, telling Leaf and I to form a line with Zen and Irelle on each side of her, most likely to assist with demonstrating moves to us.

"Private Zen, train Leaf with our ways of close combat and martial arts, involving a knife and our bodies," she told him briskly, motioning for him to go ahead.

"Yes, sir!" he told her, taking Leaf a few meters away, to have more space in teaching him while Captain Clove focused on me.

"Do you remember what I had taught you before?" she asked me, a serious look having befallen her face, myself knowing that if I said no, she would berate me for my forgetfulness and lack of attention.

"Yes, I do," I told her firmly, unwilling to admit I had forgotten some of the more complex moves.

"Demonstrate how you would fight another dragon with only your talons, as I had instructed before," she told me seriously, watching me carefully.

I proceeded to go with a basic defense with my arms, guarding my face and neck to prevent and mimic incoming hits while backing away to maintain my balance. After a solid two seconds of holding, I pretended to go for a jab in the imaginary neck of a dragon charging me.

"That's good enough," Captain Clove told me, and I returned to a sitting position, as told when I was finished with my task, "You seem to have forgotten to more complex moves when you are being charged."

"What do you-" I began, cautious of what may have come next when she told me coldly, "I won't yell at you this time, but don't forget it again." And she then demonstrated how to evaluate an enemy's strength and experience in combat, so as to decide if you can jab at their throat when charged or to dodge, depending on their skill level and intent.

"A mindless beast charging you with an unarmored neck is easily attacked with a jab to the neck, while one that knows this trick and is smart you must dodge, since they will evade your jab, which puts your vulnerabilities in the open for the enemy to strike," she explained to me, tapping on my neck, around my eyes, wings, and joints.

"Now, practice your tail moves, to offset the enemy to lose their balance," she told me, and I did as instructed, spinning myself in a controlled rotation that maxed my rotational direction, so when my tail whipped underneath an unknowing enemy, it would flip them upside down, allowing me to attack their vulnerable underside from above.

After a few minutes, tiring myself out and my mind spinning from the rotating at great speeds, Captain Clove ordered, "Now, demonstrate how you would counter an incoming spear and arrow."

I stopped, giving myself a few seconds of breathing space to regain my spinning mind and then telling her, "Yeah..." before imagining a human with a spear rushing me. I imagined they were full of rage and wanted to hurt me, thinking of dodging so I can attack their weaker back and side, giving me the chance to attack them from behind with full force of my talons.

I charged at the imaginary human, thinking that they would be scared by this sudden move before dodging to my left, since they were right-handed, which meant they couldn't angle the spear near me as well and striking their face with my talons, pushing forward.

"I see that you've put a lot of thought into that, but you need to practice staying on guard at all times, since enemies could be hiding or in large numbers when attacking," Captain Clove told me briskly, inspecting my arms and joints, testing how they flexed and bent.

She continued to survey my limbs, testing the strength of the membrane that composed of my wings, seeing how durable they were before asking, "Have you ever thought of using your wings to intimidate your opponents or blinding them?"

"Er, no, I didn't think of that," I admitted shyly, realizing how there was more I could do with my body than just swinging my talons this way and that.

"Well, I would assume that you could use your wings to block your enemy's vision for a brief few second or extend them to try to intimidate enemies that are not as clever as us," she explained to me while willing for me to extend my wings so she could see their size and wingspan. "Keep that in mind in your next fight."

I nodded in the understanding, making a mental note of her words before she told me, "Now tell me the major parts of your body that you must protect at all costs in a fight."

"Eyes, necks, and joints!" I told her firmly, the memory of the class session we had yesterday was still fresh in my mind from her constant berating when I couldn't remember them correctly.

"Sadly, I do not know enough about dragon physiology to give you proper training nor do we have a proper sparring partner for you to hone your movements," Captain Clove told me, patting my shoulder before beginning another demonstration using Irelle as a sparring partner. Showing me how to use your arms, you could block incoming hits by leveraging their directional force so as to lessen the impact on your arms and then using your body to try to push back the enemy.

Although it was done by humans, I could understand some of it, but our physiology was very different, resulting in difficulty for myself to understand how to do something similar to another dragon.

I practiced trying to use my momentum and weight on an imaginary opponent, although it didn't feel like it was working effectively for practice.

Wait, when I first met Talon, he had wings attached to his wings somehow? Maybe he could shift into dragon and human form? He did know about those strange objects before and was very strange, even though I had never seen him as a dragon before.

Although, I did hear of stories of dragons that could shapeshift with magic of some kind, like animus powers, from the adventure stories of renowned dragons. But how true are they? I always assumed they had some touch of exaggeration or sarcasm to it.

"Captain Clove, what about Talon?" I asked her curiously while swishing my tail back and forth, testing its strength to bend and contort so that I could use it more flexibly in combat, if I ever had the courage or chance.

She stopped her hushed conversation with Zen, looking at my curiously, "What do you mean Talon? He's human, not a dragon."

Do they not know that he can form wings? Or at least, I think he can form wings from what I saw. But perhaps I was delusional at the time? No, that can't be it. I know what I saw. He just hasn't told them that he can form wings, meaning he is hiding something from the people here. That could mean he might be a secret shapeshifter dragon!

Of course, that is very far-fetched, but it is still certainly a possibility. It's still suspicious though that he hid that fact from them that he could form wings as a human.

"Why do you ask?" Captain Clove asked after a paused few moments, curiously from my sudden question.

I took a brief moment to formulate my thoughts before answering, telling her, "I just thought that as a human from Pyrrhia, maybe he could have known something about dragon combat."

"It is a good point, albeit unlikely. I can ask him later though to see if knows anything about that," Captain Clove told me reassuringly in a stone voice.

After that, I spent the rest of the day training, exercising my muscles to be quicker and stronger in my movements but also flexing joints in unusual positions to prepare them for anything that overstretched my joints or limbs.

Leaf was trained in basic martial arts as well as how to defend himself in close combat. We then went to watch as Captain Clove trained him with various assortments of weaponry, from energy, projectile-based, weaponry alongside energy-based melee weaponry.

With the few hours remaining to train before nightfall, she taught him the basics in how to use the gun, showing how to effectively use the sights and handle the recoil from shots.

One, two, three shots after her brief explanation of how to use it, all missed horribly.

"Uh, that doesn't seem good," he stated sullenly, looking at Captain Clove who looked at the marks of his shots. His first missed the target by a good two meters, the second was on the ground, and the third had hit the second target, five meters from the first.

She took his weapon and stowed it away, deciding, "I believe it's safe to assume that you shouldn't use a gun, for the sake of the safety of your teammates since you would probably hit them rather than the enemy."

"We still have yet for you to test out the melee weapons that were recently brought from the fleet due to the ineffectiveness of their ranged weapons against the dragons," she explained to him before handing him a sword-like weapon that was a straight blade with a tube in the center of it, and had a hilt and guard like that of a regular sword other humans used, but the guard was smaller than normal. "These weapons are a few decades old, but they might help us in our next engagement with the enemy."

He hoisted it in his hand, feeling the weight and versatility of the object as he waved it in the air slowly, "This is a sword, yeah?"

"It is a sword, or more specifically, a katana, with a unique feature," she told him, triggering a button on the grip near the top where it connected to the guard that caused the middle tube of the blade to light up, beginning to emanate a warm glow of a luminescent light. "This blade has a plasma battery that when activated, heats up the blade to deadly levels of heat that can slice through most bio matter and a few weak alloys. However, when attempting to cut through metals with it, the blade will be damaged in the process and is not advised."

Handing it to him again carefully, he felt it again with caution due to the immense heat, for even I could even feel it despite being a whole meter away from it.

"It is recommended that you wear a specialized suit with it to maximize your versatility with the weapon," she told him, taking the sword back before he fumbled with it resulting in stabbing himself by accident.

"Wait, can't I get a weapon like that?" I asked her, wishing I could have something that could cut through just about anything.

"Because none of our weapons can be used effectively by you nor are you experienced enough to use them," she told me firmly, giving me a stance of stubbornness showing that she would make no leeway for me.

I gave a wistful glance at Leaf, grumbling, "What Leaf isn't any more experienced than me..."

"It's because he needs some sort of weapon and this melee weapon would seem to be the safest option for him to give good attack and defense to himself while causing minimal harm to his allies," she explained to me briskly before adding intensely, "Do not question my decisions again, even though you are not a part of our force."

She then took us to the melee training section of the training grounds, with dummies for attacking. Most were battered and torn, ripped to shreds from whatever terrifying weapon struck them. Three moons, now that I think about it, these humans with their weapons of destruction could easily wipe out these foes with their crafts of flight, and rain fire from the sky above them. But why haven't they?

"Captain," I asked, wanting her attention as she readied the weapons for testing, including the katana that could emit incredible temperatures, myself continuing, "Why don't you people just rain destruction from above on those crafts that can fly, dropships, and destroy the enemy?"

"Because, our objective is to explore this planet and research the planet's flora and fauna. But since we have an enemy on this planet, our top priority is to eliminate them, with exploration and research as a secondary priority. But, regarding as to why we don't just kill them from above is simple. Our most recent missions have gone askew for unknown reasons. Therefore, we are taking every precaution we can and doing all that we can to understand why our equipment is going haywire on this planet before we launch a large-scale operation," she explained to me in detail while assembling a few of the more complex melee weapons before adding, "Not to mention, this island we're on isn't even the island we were supposed to land on. It wasn't until two days ago that we learned that this island was fifty kilometers away from the original destination. There is something interfering with our equipment, including the sats, that we are trying to solve."

That... explains a lot. Why haven't they established more bases yet? Meaning, this base must have been a precursor to all others, but since so much has gone wrong, they aren't sending more people or material here because of the risk it imposes. I can imagine from what Irelle told me a day ago, how they could drop ordnance from out of sight that could explode on a magnitude greater than I could imagine.

What terrifying power do they have in store that they haven't used yet because of the lack of information?

I stared up into the sky, wondering what could be up there. I had only heard of what could be up there but haven't seen any of it for myself. Stories of structures that are bigger than a mountain, bigger than lakes and seas. Numbers so great and in amount so large that they outnumber the population of dragons on Pyrrhia.

Enough with the daydreaming, I need to focus on my training instead of imagining grand things that I have never seen before. Steeling myself, I focused back onto the conversation Captain Clove was having with Leaf, explaining each weapon.

"These here are daggers," she showcased a pair of short, no bigger than a head in length, straight blades that were darkened in color, but I could see the sharpened metal, the grip being the size of a human palm. "These are good for close range and stealth attacks, which I doubt is ideal for you, but we'll try it out anyways."

"Now, weigh each of them," she ordered, giving them to him which he seemed to struggle to balance before she asked, "Too much weight?"

He nodded and she showed another one, this time a long quarterstaff, I think. It resembled a long stick, like that of a human spear, but had two blades like daggers at the ends but as long as the short swords the humans used.

"This is a quarterstaff in the category of weapons," she began, motioning to the weapon before going on, "You can separate it into two shorter swords that can be used in each hand, but while in connected form, it can be used to deflect incoming projectiles through a spinning movement with it."

She then demonstrated by detaching both ends from each other and flexing each blade independently with precision and expertise, showing how versatile they could be apart before reattaching them and showing us with slow movements on how the staff could be used.

Handing it to Leaf, he tested it out, but he fumbled with it, and it clattered to the ground in a racket of noise, to which he embarrassedly picked it up again and gave it back, saying it wasn't the one.

The next one was a spear that was simple and concise, with the tip being a human's head in length and had the heating feature as a secondary aspect of it to improve its versatility in any situation.

Captain Clove gave it a second thought, remembering how he handled the quarter staff and decided that he wasn't good with anything that had long handles.

Moving onto the next example was a pair of circular disks that had bladed edges, with a system that even I didn't quite know what it did.

"These are called chakrams," Captain Clove told us, showcasing the circular disks that had angled blades that seemed to maximize cutting efficiency when rotating.

Leaf gave it a curious look, before Captain Clove continued on, explaining, "These disks, when thrown a specific way, can act like a boomerang. They go a specific distance, with a max of thirty meters, which can attack an enemy with little penetration effect but can cause major bleeding to unarmored foes. It will return after a brief half second of contact to maintain its rotational velocity, like that of a boomerang, to its original user. This is arguably one of the hardest weapons to learn to use."

She gave it to him and motioned for him to try throwing them at the target, giving an example with her own arms and posture, to show how it was meant to be done.

Leaf got into position, following her position and threw the two chakrams. They spun through the air, the glowing lights on them, turning into streaks of lights as they zoomed away to the target, slicing right through its top, beheading it and returning to Leaf. He caught one luckily, having trouble balancing himself and then trying to catch the second one but failed and stumbled onto the ground as it crashed into the sandy dirt.

Captain Clove was silent, but then ushered him to the next weapon, not even taking the time to review his performance and showing the next weapon, "This is a regular sword with heating capabilities and weighted to ensure good arc damage when slashing, although it led to a decrease in jabbing capability."

We continued on reviewing the weapons, until we had finished, and we were dismissed to where I was meant to sleep for the night.

I wonder which weapon Leaf is best at according to the stands of Captain Clove. She didn't even say anything about the chakrams ordeal. Maybe he was just that bad about it and she didn't even bother reviewing it?

Considering how he flailed trying to capture the second one, he must have assured her it wasn't for him. Although it was a bit funny seeing him try to catch it and then fail spectacularly.

My thoughts continued to wander as we made way to my sleeping area, thinking.

I wish I could get a weapon to enhance my abilities, but they must have never had dragons from wherever they had come from. Seeing as how they have no information on dragons like me or any experience training or gearing dragons.

"So can you fight now?" I asked him jokingly as we continued on our way, despite knowing he would still fight, whether or not he was trained, at least with that fierce determination he has.

"Hah! Of course!" he bellowed, jumping in excitement, "It's not like those people or dragons are going to stop us from saving everyone!"

"Yeah, everyone," I repeated quietly, reminiscent of my parents, but then the hard memories of what everyone thought of me came crashing down, destroying that happy moment. "Yeah, I have to save everyone even if they thought of me that way," I muttered to myself annoyedly, wanting to prove them wrong and see their ugly faces contort at the sight of seeing my save them!

"So, what weapon did you like the most?" I asked him, watching him flex his knuckles and hands, testing their muscle strength no doubt.

He took a moment to think before concluding, "I think I like the chakrams, their weight feels even, and they seem to respond well when I throw them."

"That's good to hear," I told him happily, beginning to wonder what tomorrow was like. Would I see mom and dad again? No, probably not since the island we're going to isn't their base of operations.

I settled down for the night, my tail feeling slightly worn out from bending it so much, but otherwise, my muscles felt great! I probably didn't train hard enough if my muscles aren't sore, or at least that's what the human told me about how sore muscles means you pushed them beyond their normal limits.

"You can sleep in the tent. The people here put a heater, bedding, and provisions in there in case I felt hungry or if you felt a desire to eat," I told him, showing the inside of the tent that had a layer of blankets for my dragon size and one for him, with these containers of water and a heater for the cold night if it got too cold, although it didn't feel any different from me throughout the night.

These humans must be more sensitive to temperature changes than dragons.

"Aren't you sleeping here?" Leaf asked suddenly as he was scrounging around his blanket, sorting things and getting used to the environment.

"No, I prefer to sleep under the stars, watching them as I nod off," I told him simply to which he gave a, "Oh," of understanding to which I promptly exited the tent, heading to my normal dozing spot on a grassy patch a few dozen meters from the tent, overlooking the ocean, horizon, and stars.

I laid myself down, readying myself for another evening gaze of drifting off to sleep.

I continued to watch the setting sun disappear beyond the horizon, stifling a yawn, and the sparkling sea dissipate into a reflection of the brilliance of stars above, a million dots of light and radiance shining down around me across the water.

The crests of waves crashed against the shore as their troughs swelled and receded between intervals, spraying their foamy sprinkles through the air, sparkling in the midnight moon light. The activity of the base had died down, with a few soldiers of what I assumed were guards patrolling, the occasional jeer or laugh, as others hurried to sleep for their day awakening.

I peered into the sky above, the sea of the sky at night, the ocean of stars. The three moons shone brightly, one full, the second half, and the third a quarter lit. Forming a crescent. Not a cloud in the sky, only the salty breeze throughout the midnight air filled my nostrils and fell across my scales and wings.

For a moment, the dark clouds of memories seemed to disappear from the past, the murmurs and whispers were nonexistent in this tranquil state of solace and peace. A moment that I could forever cherish in relief and remembrance for the future.

Then, I heard the soft, pat pat, of shoes on the grass. A human. Someone was approaching me, pulling me from my mind and state of being of the senses, with myself turning to see who it was.

It was Leaf, he had a blanket to stay warm, but had come out here, something to do with me, yes, that must be it.

"Why did you come out here so late?" I asked him curiously, with another failed attempt to stifle my own yawn of my waning mind.

"I just wanted to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind that is," he told me, wanting to know if he could ask said questions, "But I would also like to watch the stars as I fall asleep."

"Sure, what is it?" I asked him curiously, my mind still a bit foggy from my tiredness of night. Even though I was part NightWing, I had inherited my mother's side of being a day dweller as some NightWings called the RainWings.

He took a nice seat next to me in the grass, overlooking the ocean and horizon, covering himself with his blanket. He then asked after fitting himself there, "Do you think we could still... you know, be friends and talk with each other after all of this is done? After we save everyone, I mean..."

"Of course, it's not like I'm that kind of a dragon, to abandon friends and allies to be alone. I just probably won't be able to visit your city often, assuming you are still going to live there," I told him, laying my head on the grass, feeling the blades brush past my snout and scales in the soft breeze of the night.

"Heh," he chuckled before adding softly, "That is if we can save everyone," before he proceeded to let out a yawn, staring out into the ocean like I was.

"Just don't poke me awake..." I murmured as my eyelids drooped to a close, the sight vanishing before me with the last feelings was the ground beneath me, the breeze against my scales, and Leaf lying next to me, his warmth being felt by my scales.

The comforting softness of sleep overtook me, spiraling me into a dream state of wonders and fantasy...

My eyes fluttered awake, light shining, and clouds dotted the clear blue sky, the ocean waves crashing against the shore below.

I lifted my neck upwards, beginning to stand up and stretch my wings and limbs, refreshing my body from the nightly sleep.

I caught sight of Zen and Irelle heading towards us, with Leaf still asleep. Prodding him awake with a talon, he mumbled groggily, "Mmm, what is it? I'm so tired..."

"We have to get ready for the mission today," I told him, helping him up onto his feet with himself rubbing the sleep from his eyes, putting the blanket back in the tent.

Zen's head turned to survey the area, watching us before asking, "I assume you are ready?"

"Yeah," I told him in response before asking, "Where we headed anyways before we depart?"

"We're going to a briefing," he told me seriously, little to no emotion in his voice, straight to the point. He sounded different from two days ago, but I brushed it off for now.

Leaf and I followed him once we were finally ready as he led the way to the debriefing area. It was in an open setting, near the landing zone for the dropships, those flying crafts that had four engines and were shaped in an angular manner, kind of like a bird, but made of metal. They were humming their engines away, in their mode to prepare for launch.

There was a whole unit, ten of the soldiers from the people called UEF, the people who would fight and protect the other people. The three technicians in their orange-colored suits with colorful stripes on their arms, and packs of equipment for repairing any issues with other pieces of equipment. There were two of those pilots in their grey uniforms and colored stripes on their arms. Lastly, there were the two pilots in their grey suits, with dark green stripes on their arms.

Commander Kyro then stepped forward, beginning, "In case you have not read the notification on your ICD's, you are to head to island XK3-ID23. You will be driving all enemies off the island with force, and if able, capture any that cannot escape and are alive. You are permitted to use lethal force as necessary, and you will be provided with new weaponry from the fleet that has just been shipped in."

He then motioned with his hand to a few people in dark blue suits, carrying crates and boxes that were labelled BW-10-E. They placed the two crates in front of the two lines of soldiers, engineers, and pilots, with the soldiers that had carried it opening up the crates. They contained weapons, rifles as I had learned, like what these soldiers had used before, but they looked different.

As the commander picked up a rifle, showing it to the soldiers, he explained, "These are weapons, although old, have a 10mm caliber, with enhanced ammunition for armor piercing against dragon scales. We do not know how effective these weapons are, which is why all of you will be equipped with one ballistic weapon, and a melee, energy weapon. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" The soldiers shouted loudly in unison, as the commander nodded in approval.

"Now, line up to grab your loadout and you'll have ten minutes to adapt to it," the commander pointed out while getting everyone into two lines for each crate. The same two soldiers that brought the first crate brought two more, labelled MW-5-E. The opened them to reveal five vertical blades that were completely straight for about a meter, before ending in a pointed tip.

"Unfortunately, we do not have any equipment for you," Captain Clove told me suddenly, pulling me from my thoughts and observation of the people grabbing and testing their weapons.

"Ah, yes. That's okay, I can make do with my claws just as fine!" I told her determinedly in a show of courage and bravery, mentally readying myself for the upcoming fight, promising myself that I wouldn't RUN AWAY like last time!

"I like the determination, but you'll need more than just that to excel in the battlefield," Captain Clove informed me, gazing at the other troops readying themselves with the new weapons, as well as being given permission to fire a few practice shots with the ballistic weapons on the nearby targets. This in turn led to the cracking sound of gunfire in the air, rattling my ears. They were then given backpacks, including Leaf, that from what I could hear were things called gliders.

"Does it have to be so loud?" I complained to Captain Clove, although inside I knew that it was just a side effect of the type of weapon.

"Yeah, although powerful in kinetic and piercing damage, it is old and mostly outdated, despite the upgrades. It is loud, but the power behind them in atmospheres, especially against rigid, biological targets, is impressive," she explained to me.

After all the troops were acquainted with their weaponry, we boarded the dropship, Leaf and I alongside Zen, Irelle, and the other soldiers of the unit. There were three other dropships, presumably to assist us from the skies if anything on the ground proved too much for us.

They even had Leaf adorned in that suit of theirs, with Zen and Irelle helping him understand the functions of it.

"The AI will explain the nitty gritty details to you, but otherwise, just pay attention to the symbols on the screen," Zen explained to him while Leaf continued to ask questions, always trying to touch his face with his helmet on.

"Don't do that or else you might smudge some of the sensors on the helmet," Irelle pointed out and Leaf tried to control his curiosity, but the lights in his helmet must have really been off-putting for him.

I gazed around the inside of the dropship, with the other soldiers. Captain Clove was leading the mission. And as I looked around, I could see the tenseness and uneasy body movements from them with me being here.

It must be because of those dragons that attacked that night, and they must be wary of me now. I can't blame them since they no doubt don't trust me, which means I'll have to prove to them that I can be trusted!

At least other dragons won't think I can go invisible since I look like a NightWing.

"So, Leaf," I asked my fellow human next to me in that dark blue suit like the other soldiers, "How's it feel in that?"

"Stuffy, but kinda nice," he admitted, patting himself as if checking to make sure the suit wasn't doing any harm to him before punching the air, "And it makes me feel stronger too!"

"Hah, I bet that suit couldn't beat a dragon," I joked with him, but that was when Zen spoke up in a serious manner.

"She's right, our Exploration ExoSuits can't withstand a juvenile or older dragon's pure muscle strength, I would know," he told him briskly in his serious tone of voice, "You would maybe need Storm or Bastion Armor, just to go toe to toe with one dragon."

Suddenly, over the intercom of the dropship, a voice sounded throughout the cabin, "Landfall in ETA five minutes, prepare for jump."

"Wait, why aren't we landing like last time?" Leaf suddenly asked, a wave of panic filled his voice as he asked the question and looked through one of the windows, seeing that they were nearly as high as the clouds.

Zen was readying his glider backpack thing when he responded, "That's because last time, we assumed we wouldn't be ambushed without knowing. But since we were ambushed, Command doesn't want to risk the enemy capturing a dropship from what I here, and so that is why we are attacking from above."
As he turned to face Leaf finally, he added solemnly, "We are going skydiving."

Suddenly, another jolt in the dropship and it lurched suddenly to the side, everyone grabbing onto something to maintain their balance.

"W-What was that?" Leaf asked, fear filled his voice now, his words shaky and lacking confidence.

Zen grunted at the sudden jolt but explained, "I don't know, but whatever it may be, it's not good if the dropship is shaking this much."

Then, out of nowhere, the entire cabin turned to a red glow, and over the intercom, the voice alarmed, "WE ARE DROPPING NOW, PREPARE TO JUMP AND DIVE!"

Suddenly, another jolt as the cabin bay doors yawned open, revealing a dragon tail whip by.

Was the dropship being attacked by a dragon? But how? I thought they could go invisible like me. Wait, they can, but this dragon somehow saw it even though it was invisible? HOW?

A gust of wind filled the cabin as the soldiers began to jump, Irelle and Zen following them.

Leaf stood petrified, unmoving and shaken.

Zen turned to face us, and seeing Leaf, he came back to him and shaking his arms, "HEY! Now's not the time to go into shock! If the craft goes down, we all die before we can even jump!"

This act temporarily pulled Leaf out of his state of shock, before Zen jumped out of the bay doors, out into the sky.

"Come on, let's go and fight!" I told Leaf eagerly and he followed me to the bay doors. As I approached the edge, I saw that same whip of a line streak through the air, a dragon's tail, two to be exact, attached to a blurry image of a dragon moving so fast that I couldn't make out their exact shape.

But at that moment, my eye connected with theirs, and I knew, they were out to KILL.

I grabbed Leaf's arm as I threw myself out of the dropship, seeing a trail of smoke around one of the engines as the dragon stared back at me, with cold, deadly eyes. Leaf had frozen again, as we tumbled through the air, with himself staring at the ground below, realizing that he was falling.

But the dragon didn't come after us, it continued to attack the dropship as I saw other personnel diving towards the island below us in the immense ocean of blue liquid.

Releasing Leaf from my grasp, I put him between my horns, not trusting him to be able to deploy the device they called a glider effectively.

"Hold on tight!" I told him and I felt his body tense up, his body ready as I entered a dive straight towards the ground.

Using my body's weight with gravity, we dove towards the ground at lightning speed, surpassing a few of the other soldiers diving from above.

The ground flew at us, getting closer and closer with each passing second as the wind whipped past my snout, my speed growing faster and faster.

When I was nearing the ground at last, I unfurled my wings, entering a decent as well as slowing down my downwards, vertical direction.

Below, I could see the dragons and humans, in their armor and crafts below. There was what looked like a human ship on the northern side of the island, but bigger to accommodate dragons.

"Get ready to land and fight!" I roared to Leaf in dragon, scouting for a good place to land but none was good. I decided to land near the shore, where we would at least have our backs covered but we would also be cornered and surrounded.

There was the chance we could be ambushed by enemies from the ocean, but I would have to take the risk that they weren't there.

We splashed a torrent of sand into the air as I landed with a thrash into the wet shores. Salty ocean water foam sprayed across my talons, as those white scaled beasts that were dragons and humans in their primitive armor rushed at us. Spears, talons, and a few in the back with bows.

Leaf fell off my horns, face planting into the sand with a groan in a catastrophic display of sand flying into the air. His suit was tangled and his body looking sore but still alive.

But before I could help him, three humans rushed at me, and in turn I rushed them, which caused fear to befall their face as a dragon, nearly double their height, came rushing at them full of determination and force.

They hesitated, but it was too late. My talons made contact and I wacked them into the ground. But I could feel it, the hesitation I had felt. I felt my own muscles clench and tense at the moment of impact, not wanting to kill or harm them.

Argh! It's either ME, or THEM! I tried to remind myself, but I just wasn't mentally ready for this yet. I still couldn't bring myself to harm another.

Both were obviously knocked out, breathing and alive, but unmoving in the sand.

I looked to the sky quickly, to check on the others, and I could see that the other soldiers would soon make landfall. They would be able to help us down here.

But before I could focus back on the incoming enemies, I had made a blunder. I had looked to the sky rather than kept focused on the enemy, for that brief moment of looking away gave a dragon enough time to close the distance and I felt talons begin to close around my neck. I could see the intent to kill in the eyes of the dragon, ferocious and full of fury. At that moment, I could feel the fear, the fear of death and about to be killed. But also, that primal instinct, that internal desire to LIVE.

Instinctively and without hesitation, as if my mind had finally decided on its own, my body moved backwards, to counter their attack, and I flipped to my backside and used my legs and arms to push them out of the way, hitting their chest and knocking the breath out of them as they went flying to the right of me into the sand. Still conscious, but now I was no longer in the grip of death.

I could still feel that sensory memory of those cold talons slowly gripping around my neck. My spine shivering ever so slightly at the thought. But at that moment, I hadn't hesitated, I had attacked without a second thought.

The others stopped charging, deciding to approach more cautiously than just charging me, realizing I could fight for myself, and that I wasn't just some defenseless dragon.

Where are the others?

Then one of the soldiers in the dropship landed next to me, with Zen landing on my left side, and I could see others landing behind the enemy force, preparing for a counterattack no doubt.

We stood like that, facing the enemies as they continued to wait, giving us time to get ready and wait for more soldiers to join us, with Leaf regaining his balance and standing up, dusting the sand off his suit and readying his weapon.

Suddenly, a dragon from behind the crowd emitted a deafening roar, louder than any other dragon I had heard before and I could see the humans on both our side, and the enemy side flinch at it.

I should use my invisibility, but I don't want to give the enemies that kind of information just yet.

Then, they charged at us again.

Two soldiers ran ahead of us, special blades drawn, presumably to take the brunt of the attack and be the tank while the other soldiers gave cover fire with their ballistic weapons.

"Serenity, get in there and help tank the enemies, so the others can provide fire support!" Captain Clove yelled to me while firing her rifle, changed from energy-based projectiles to solid-state ones, with the deafening gunfire filling the air.

At her command, I charged forward, barging into the first dragon with ease whom I had caught off guard as he scrabbled away, himself having been pushed onto the sand, losing his balance.

My shoulder hurt from the sudden impact, but I glossed over it mentally, ignoring the pain and soreness for now as I located two humans charging me with their spears.

Those spears were designed to fight against dragons, by keeping them at a distance so they could strike at them without getting any return attack, or atleast that's what they were designed to do.

I whacked the spears from the side, knocking them out of the two human's hands and they stared at me in terror, slightly filling me with a feeling of pleasure from seeing such puny creatures cower in my presence. But before I could rake in more of the feeling, I caught another of those white dragons charging a soldier from the side, with injuries from the gunfire in their body, but that didn't stop them.

I whipped around, using my tail to knock the previous two humans on the ground so they couldn't attack me while I prepared to help my ally against this enemy dragon.

I have to help them!

Sprinting, I went in front of the soldier, causing the sprinting dragon to stop and stare me down. "Retreat, I will handle him!" I told the soldier behind me, seeing he was using the gun and from what Captain Clove had taught me about projectile-based weapons is that they were ineffective in close range.

As I was focusing back on the white scaled dragon in front of me, they bounded off their hind legs, lunging towards me with a snarl across their snout, but I easily dodged it, or atleast that's what I thought.

Their talons scraped against my snout, causing a few scales to be torn off and blood began to seep from the light wound. But while I was distracted from my new injury, I was caught off guard from their next weapon.

Their tail.

They had two twin, razor sharp tails that were like blades, and they were about to cut my throat.

I had no time to dodge, there was just no time, all I could do was react with my arm, positioning it to protect my neck, but that tail cut through my scales like butter.

"Ack!" I yelped in sudden pain as my brain registered the new pain, deep gashes, probably a whole talon deep into my arm, and two of them, parallel. I could see the viscous liquid of red blood began to pour from it, but before I could tend to it, the dragon spun around, preparing to strike.

I faced him, trying to decide what to do, but the constant throbbing of pain in my arm as it oozed blood kept my mind at bay from formulating a decisive plan, and the enemy saw this. Taking advantage of my confusion and lunging again, talons outstretched.

"Serenity, duck!" I heard Leaf shout amongst the fray of gunfire and blades of metal clashing, reminding me of my parents, that I had to save them, and most of all, protect Leaf.

As he had said, I ducked underneath the dragon to their surprise, completely missing their talons, but they had a counter to this as well. Their twin razor tails were coming at me again, ready to slice and dice my face off!

But I saw a weakness in this attack, a crucial weakness that would bring him down. His attacks focused on his talons and tail doing the attacking, but that also meant those were his weaknesses.

I grabbed his tail, and stomped on them as hard as I could, eliciting a roar from him in pain as his weak spot was hurt.

Just as quickly as I had done it, I escaped from underneath him and was now behind him, deciding my next attack.

He whipped around as well, facing me with a snarl and hatred-filled eyes. But his tails were quivering, they couldn't be used any more to attack. But now, he was breathing in air, preparing to shower me in his deathly breath of ice and coldness.

I had no choice; I was on the attack. Rushing him, he prepared to dodge, stopping his motion, but then I sidestepped to the right, where we were going to dodge to as well, catching him off guard completely. I could see his eyes widen in surprise as I slashed his snout, and he reeled back in pain.

He stepped back away, to make some distance between us, but I wouldn't let him get away. I wouldn't let him escape.

I lunged after him, landing on his back and pushing him to the ground with a grunt of the air being pushed out of his lungs from the weight.

He struggled, but I kept him pinned to the ground. He growled something that I couldn't understand, but I assumed it was some sort of curse against me based on the way he was glaring at me.

I raised my arm, my talons ready to land the final blow to end him. To take a life. I froze like that, talons raised as he watched me intently while I kept him pinned to the ground. But... I couldn't do it.

I was poised, so ready to finally kill, but I just couldn't do it.

He seemed to feel or see my hesitation, and tried to squirm his way out, but I stopped that. I raised my claws again, but I could feel that same hesitation stopping me.

"I'll take care of capturing this one for you," Captain Clove suddenly said, having come to me with a team of three soldiers, beginning to bind the dragon.

I held them down as they continued, finishing binding his wings, arms, legs, and snout with the new specialized equipment they had developed surprisingly fast with the dragon they were able to capture from yesterday.

Peering around the battlefield on the island, wooden structures were in ruin with pieces of wood scattered throughout from the destruction and mayhem. There were many humans and dragons on the ground, the ballistic weapons having had a significant effect on them rather than the energy ones. Although now there were many corpses, their bodies lay on the ground, dead and unmoving.

Some of the humans began carrying the dragon's bodies into a specific area, but didn't pile them haphazardly, but in an organized manner.

Although it did disgust me initially that they would want to collect their dead bodies, it did make sense that they needed it for research purposes.

Some humans and dragons were still alive, although either missing a limb or incapacitated and couldn't move. Those were guarded by three soldiers while they waited for a dropship to come pick them up.

But then, a soldier from behind me shouted so everyone could hear, including me, "There's one more coming from above!"

I looked up into the sky to see a streak of white scales diving towards the ground, aiming for something at incredible speeds. I followed the trajectory of what they were aiming for, and it was Leaf.

Three moons, if I don't do anything, they'll crush Leaf as they dive to the ground with no signs of stopping!

Checking again, they hadn't changed course and weren't slowing down, their true intention was to take at least one soldier out as they landed.

"Leaf, move!" I shouted at him, sprinting towards him as fast as I could as the streak of scales continued to get closer, their talons outstretched now towards their target.

I jumped into the air, planning to knock the dragon away from Leaf, seeing as how he froze again place, stuck staring into the sky above him, to that dragon that intended on ending him.

Just as the dragons' claws were about to grab Leaf's head, I collided with them, pushing them out of the way and onto the ground a few meters away from him, tumbling in the ground in a fearsome brawl. They had changed their focus from Leaf to me now and I felt their talons rake against my scales, causing pain to fill my head again.

They broke free from our brief engagement, making distance between me and the others. I did however get a few good clawing in with my talons. I could see the marks from my brief attack on their arm.

Warily studying all the soldiers around them, their tails lashed back and forth in thought, as some of the soldiers with their poised weapons took a few cautious steps towards them.

She was surrounded on all sides, whipping her head around to analyze each of the soldiers and myself. Just then, she must've thought the best course of action was to run and fly away since she began to ready herself to take off, but then four dropships materialized out of thin air in the sky around us.

She looked up at them, studying them when Captain Clove shouted to her with in the language that must have been that dragon's language since I couldn't understand it.

Staring at Captain Clove as she spoke, slitting her eyes at her before casting one more glance at the dropships hovering above, silent and deadly, awaiting her next move.

She was outnumbered and outclassed in numbers and weaponry.

Captain Clove shouted to her again in that language, but now Leaf had made his way to me, translating it for me, "Clove told her that if she surrendered, then they would promise not to hurt her and only wanted information from her."

My eyes also fell onto the dragon, watching what she would do next. What her next move may have been.

She then roared something in return, having decided to communicate with Captain Clove. Her eyes were still squinting and glaring around with suspicion.

"She asked where she would be taken if she surrendered," Leaf relayed to me as I watched in with great interest between their conversation, while also watching the three dropships above hovering around. Although, I didn't see the dropship that was smoking earlier from the dragons doing, meaning it must have gone back to the island for repairs.

Captain Clove responded after a few seconds of deliberation checking the device on her forearm, with Leaf continuing to translate for me, "You'll be taken to our island, and we'll obviously imprison you for safety and precautionary reasons. But I promise we will not hurt you unless you hurt us first."

The dragon looked around herself a third time, warily and suspiciously, but knowing she didn't have much of a choice.

"Fine," Leaf translated for me, and she sat herself down, deciding to surrender.

The soldiers took a few more steps forward, still cautious in case it was some sort of trick, but none at all. They bounded her wings, arms, legs, and snout, with Captain Clove telling her it's for the human's safety since they cannot trust her. She seemed to understand their reasoning, but I couldn't figure why she would voluntarily surrender.

She was placed with two other captive dragons, with ten captive humans, enough for questioning. The three dropships descended to the ground, hovering in case they needed to retreat quickly in case some unknown threat appeared out of nowhere.

All bounded dragons, from wingtips and snouts to their arms boarded those crafts. The she dragon from before watched carefully and suspiciously, while the other two had terror and fear in their eyes. She was far more experienced than them, so why had she surrendered so easily? She must be up to something.

Some of the medical soldiers with their advanced health knowledge and technology came to see my wounds after checking up on some of the other soldiers.

They examined the two deep gashes on my forearm, as well as the other scratches on my snout and body, pouring something on the wounds that stung before bandaging them the best they could.

"We can only heal you so much, due to your biology and everything," Captain Clove explained to me as the medical soldier in their blue ExoSuit and a white stripe on the bicep of their arm. "We don't know your biology that well so we can only hope this works, but if you feel or notice anything in your wounds, such as swelling, infection, oozing, and so on, then you must report to me or a medical officer as soon as possible, understand?"

"Yes, I understand," I told her curtly, wincing at the pain I felt when I put my weight onto my wounded forearm as I walked.

"So, how was your first combat mission?" I asked Leaf as he was beside me, causing him to stir since he was busy inspecting his gun.

He gave a half-hearted laugh, "It was scary, but I slowly got used to it. This thing shoots so loudly!" he expressed as he showed the gun to me, "But I shot a few of the dragons, and it made me feel icy cold on the inside, even though they were only hurt, not dead."

"I..." I began slowly, comfortingly, "I couldn't kill the dragon that was going to kill me. I could have done it right then and there, but I couldn't bring myself to do it."

"I can relate. A person rushed towards me with a spear, and I had enough time and distance to shoot him down, but I couldn't pull the trigger. Instead, Captain Clove had to shoot him, myself seeing his body slump to the ground, cold and lifeless."

"Hey, at least we know you're not some heartless killer," I joked to try to lighten the mood, but to little effect. Continuing on in a more serious note, "But we'll have to kill eventually. Since there will be a scenario where no one can help us, and the only way out is to kill."

"Yeah," Leaf admitted sullenly, "I just hope I never get stuck in that situation."

Then Zen jogged to us, informing us, "We're leaving now, follow me to our dropship."

Leaf and I followed him to the craft. Boarding onto the metal rampart into the dark interior. There was no red glow this time, usually indicating that something had gone awry.

After reaching back to the base, Captain Clove insisted that Leaf come with her unit to train so he could become more proficient with the weapons he would be using on the battlefield. He gladly accepted and I would wait to see him later in the day after he had finished training with her unit for the day.

In the meantime, I decided to explore the island and its facilities once more. I had a couple of days ago, although not as in-depth before since I was too fearful of getting in trouble with them for going somewhere I wasn't allowed to go to.

But I decided to be a bit braver today, riskier in where I would go. Afterall, I had some curiosities about the dragons they had captured, and I too wanted to ask some questions. Then I spotted Commander Kyro, heading to the prisoner's holding area with a detachment of four guards around him. I hurried over to him, asking him, "Would you mind if I came along? I am curious about the prisoners and wish to know more."

"Sir, it's against protocol since she isn't a part of the system. She could be an information hazard," one of the soldiers in their blue armor told the commander in a hushed voice.

He thought for a few seconds, deciding after a while, "She can come, since we need to know the dragon's reaction to her being on our side, and if Serenity will enlist as a proper UEF personnel, despite her not being human."

The other soldiers decided not to argue, and stayed silent instead, with their lack of noise indicating their agreement.

"So, if you want to join me in the interrogation, you have to sign up as a proper UEF personnel since according to Standard Military Protocol, we can't have unauthorized entities or lifeforms talk with prisoners of war in UEF custody," he explained to me, while typing something on the keyboard apart of the device on his forearm.

"Sure, I don't see why not," I told him, but before I accepted, I questioned, "What exactly will I be doing and what can I not do?"

He then gave me a rundown of what was going to happen when I joined these humans' military, "You will be put under the command of a skilled officer. You will be required to head to the nearest UEF station for training. And you cannot leak any information with outsiders of the UEF system or else you will be considered compromised and then promptly terminated. The smallest punishment is exile on a planet, otherwise the standard is typically death."

That sounds a bit harsh. Do I really want to do this?

"Is it okay if I worked for your people here on this planet? For a few years?" I asked him, with a few of the other soldiers shifting uneasily, probably still not used to seeing a dragon all that much.

"That can be worked out, but you still have to abide by the information oath of not leaking it to unauthorized sources," he explained to me. He then added lastly, "Of course, you can visit family every month, but you are still bound by the oath."

"Alright, then I'll do it," I told him, not minding living with these humans for too long. Afterall, it would be nice to be in a place where people don't think of me as useless, like the rest of my tribe. But I can also visit mom and dad after I save them while I help these humans out on this planet.

He then beckoned for one of his soldiers to bring a DNA extractor as they called it and motioned for me to place my talons above the device his soldier brought.

"What exactly is this for?" I asked him curiously, an ounce of fear in me that it might hurt.

"We'll need one of your scales so we can use it as a DNA signature for later when we give you the contract when you enlist for the UEF military," he explained to me, holding out his hand for a scale.

I found a scale that would soon shed and plucked it off with an inkling of pain from it and handed it to him. He put it inside the device, and it glowed a luminescent green. Similar to that of glowworms in caves.

"Alright, let's go," he informed her before mentioning, "Just as a heads up, if you do leak any information to anyone outside of the UEF, you will either be given amnestic treatment or penalized."

"What about Leaf?" I asked curiously, checking to see if I was allowed to talk with him about it.

"Well, I guess he is an exception. Afterall, he is being integrated into Captain Clove's unit," he affirmed, basically saying that it was okay if I talked to him about it.

Following the commander, we entered the prison area that was in a facility that was constructed separate from the main compound of the base. We entered through the reinforced door that two of the guarding soldiers opened for us.

Through the winding hallways of that eerie, cold and scentless interior. Of course, it was filled with the smell of humans because it was inhabited by humans.

We reached an area that had cells on each side, with reinforced metal doors leading into each cell that had a reinforced glass window for viewing of the prisoner. There were four humans and one dragon per cell. Two of the humans were banging against the glass, trying to break it while one of the dragons wandered their cell endlessly, seemingly in thought.

Two guards were assigned to each cell, poised and ready with their steeled faces and ballistic weapons, as well as the blades strung at their sides on a strap.

There were a group of two soldiers in purple uniforms, not ExoSuits at one of the cells, writing something on pieces of wood.

Then, one of the purple, uniformed humans ran to greet the commander, informing, "Sir, we believe that prisoner D-3 is a high-ranking officer in the ranks of our enemies, the Glacials."

"Glacials?" I asked confused, not recognizing the name.

"It's what the dragons called themselves when they were initially questioned," one of the soldier escorts of the commander informed me in a hushed voice.

"Show us the prisoner," the commander ordered the human who led us to the containment cell of dragon.

She looked physically fine, no signs of any torture or punishment of any kind as far as I could tell. But maybe they messed with her mind or something.

"The translator device is ready, correct?" the commander asked the purple uniformed human again, to which he nodded, informing that it was indeed ready.

"What is your name?" Commander Kyro asked them, to which their ears shifted slightly, indicating they were registering the sound.

After a few seconds of uneasy silence, the commander asked the person, "Are you sure the translator is translating the correct language?"

"Yes sir, we tested it with the other three dragon subjects, and all responded in the same language," he reported to Kyro.

"So, you're just keeping quiet hm," Kyro muttered to himself before looking at the dragon again.

Why would they allow themselves to be captured, willingly, but refuse to talk? The likeliest answer would seem to be that they are treading a thin string of loyalty to their kind, but also staying alive.

Or maybe they are planning something sinister?

I cast a glance at them again, taking in their form and shape. A white scaled dragon like IceWings, but without the beady eyes, and twin tails that could have a variety of tools on its end, with wings the size of SkyWings but resting in an upright position. They had necks like IceWings, but also webbed talons? They had webs along their neck, chest and underside, and back to the tip of their tail. It was a mixture of SeaWing, IceWing, and SkyWing.

They don't look particularly evil, just strange I guess...

"I know you can understand me," Kyro told them sternly, giving them an intimidating glare, "And if you talk, it can make this all the easier. I am the commander of this island and a group of humans, and I don't want to fight you or your kind. My people are already strained thin in this new world, and I would rather find a diplomatic solution than resort to war."

They were listening, but still didn't respond.

"We are certain that you are of high-ranking in your kingdom's military, and I come to you seeking the possibility of diplomacy," he reaffirmed, but to no avail as she continued to glare at them with no longer the same suspicion before, but curiosity.

"So, I request of you on behalf of my people, do not hurt us humans since we do not desire a war," he told them with a hint of kindness in his voice, gesturing with his arms.

She looked at me suddenly, catching me off guard and I, myself, feeling as if I had jumped out of my own scales where I stood, despite being safely behind this glass wall. Or atleast I thought it was glass. The researchers said it was some sort of plastic.

She then focused back on the commander and finally spoke after the prolonged silence of ever talking with any of us, "Do you speak for all humans?"

We were all silent after that, the researchers in their purple uniforms scribbling something on their clipboards while the soldiers didn't seem to care either way, their sole goal was protecting the commander and that was all.

"I can't speak for every human on this planet, but for my people I c-" he was then cut off suddenly by her snarling, "So, you don't speak for every human on the continent..."

"Commander, could you tell her to stop invading Pyrrhia and give back my mom and dad?" I asked him as he continued to study the encaged dragon inside the monotone color scheme of the cell.

It's worth a shot.

"I can hear you just fine," she growled at me.

She then receded from the wall, taking back her spot in the center of the cell from before since she had started to approach us while speaking.

"The invasion won't stop since if we do, my kind will die," she told us coldly, casting a dead glance at me.

AS IF, killing and plundering dragons and land that isn't even yours because you'll die? What could be SO threatening that you would have to attack others!

I could feel the deep-seated hatred that had accumulated from the day I had snuck into the rainforest, being rising up, but just as quickly as it appeared, I pushed it back down.

Letting my emotions get out of control won't help anyone, including myself. I just had to keep listening so I can keep on gaining some information.

"What could be threatening your kind on such a level?" the commander asked curiously, slowly and cautiously so he didn't cause any unintentional offense, "If you tell us, then maybe we can help you."

"You can't fight something with your magic weapons against an enemy that doesn't exist," she hissed in return, increasingly becoming disgusted and annoyed by this conversation.

"I'm sure if you share the issue you have at your homeland, we could help you," the commander told her briskly again, his patience wearing thin.

"Right, and why should I trust you? For all I know, you could be planning slaughter my kind if I tell you where we come from," she growled in a low and dreadful voice, looking at each of us with suspicious intent.

"Why shouldn't we?" I suddenly interjected, surprising myself at my sudden confidence to speak since I could feel the boiling rage inside of me while I kept a lid on top of it, containing it and using it to determine my next actions.

She whipped around to face me, pacing a few extra steps towards the wall in a slow, deadly dance of an intimidation strategy. "You will not understand, dragonet. Not to mention, I think it's about time you've answered my questions, such as why you are fighting with those humans? After everything they've done to you and your dragons of your little continent., why?"

"Why?" I told her in response, raising my voice for effect, "Why should we set aside our differences and seek peace? Rather than wage wars and witness death? Why should we WANT war? Did you ever think about the dragons and humans you would destroy in your horrid invasion of Pyrrhia?"

"WE. DO NOT. HAVE. A. CHOICE!" she roared in response, to which the commander butted in, calming the situation.

"ENOUGH," he yelled, quieting both of us as we were both right against the translucent wall, but then we backed away, both having ties to him and his people. One captured by him, while the other needs his help.

"I know that you, Serenity, have suffered at the grasp of these dragons, but we cannot show aggression in return, else it will only force us into a vicious cycle of war after war for centuries," he told me seriously before turning to face the captured dragon, "And you, your kind have caused countless deaths and sufferings for the people and dragons of this continent, Pyrrhia, while they have showed none to you. I firmly believe that all issues can be solved without violence except a select few."

She was quiet after that, just an uneasy silence between the two groups, separated by a thin wall that would miraculously was sturdy enough to contain a dragon.

"Now, I need you to tell me, will you cooperate with us or not?" he asked solemnly, awaiting her answer as she deliberated in thought with that steeled face of suspicion.

"Perhaps," she uttered simply, a single word that impacted the commander greatly.

"Of course, this was an absolute waste of time. Thought that maybe if I came here myself, we would've had more luck," he muttered to himself angrily, whipping around and beginning to walk away from her cell.

The soldiers quickly took up position around him but as he was walking away, that was when she called out, "I want you to tell me though, human. Why do you help such weak and inferior dragons and humans? You act and talk as if you had never come from here. Your weapons are unlike anything in the intelligence report. Where exactly did you come from?"

He stopped, standing where he was, a few meters away from the cell now. Turning around slowly, he approached her again, asking quietly, "And why should I tell you that? You hadn't given me a definite answer if you'll be cooperating with us or not."

"Commander, you can't seriously be considering trusting her, can you?" I asked Kyro, appalled that he would even consider trusting such a terror of an enemy. After all they've done, what they did, there was no way I could trust them.

"Serenity, you have to understand. That unless we want to enter a cycle of constant death with them, we need to rise from our sorrows and griefs of what they had done and put an end to this battle. Because, if we don't strive for peace, there will never be peace," he explained to me, his words reminding me of mom and dad. That they were probably still alive, but still imprisoned somewhere, likely on some distant land full of those white-scaled beasts.

Maybe he's right, maybe in order to achieve true peace after all of this, we would need to forgive each other. I looked once again at the dragon, the same dragon that I had a brief tangle with. But I could never completely trust someone like that, not in a million years. Not after what they had done.

"What exactly entails, 'cooperating', with you humans?" she asked slowly, casting a skeptical glance around once more.

Pleased, the commander explained to her, "You will be learning our ways. You will be expected to provide truthful information to us when required."

"What's the catch?" she asked doubtfully.

"You'll be bound at all times you leave this cell, and if you disobey us, it will result in solitary confinement, or worse, death," he told her earnestly.

"Fine," she accepted, staring back at us.

"Good," the commander said simply, telling her, "I'll be seeing you in five hours."

With that, the commander, his escort, and I left, with the researchers now conversing with the dragon again, although I didn't hear her respond to any of them.

My thoughts curiously paced around my head, wondering what would happen next. What will be happening in five hours?

"You as well, Serenity," Commander Kyro suddenly told me, yanking me from my cluttered thoughts and back into reality.

"Huh, what now?" I asked, confused about what he meant.

"You are to report at the strategy room in five hours as well," he told me bluntly.

And with that, I headed back to my sleeping spot, with nothing else scheduled for the rest of the day for me besides the thing in five hours.

I settled down on my grassy patch on the terrain of a hill. Watching that same coastal view of the ocean. My thoughts still jumbling about all that happened today. The mission on the island went better than I thought it would go, and Leaf got some training.