I AM SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY for leaving you guys in the dark for like 3 weeks now! I honestly did upload the chapters to the site, but I FORGOT to post the chapters to the actual story! I honestly did not know this! The only reason I found out that my 15th and 16th chapter of Change were not posted was because one of readers alerted me saying I haven't posted anything in a while. Naturally I looked at my story and it said that my most recent new chapter was chapter 14! :O:O:O I sincerely apologize. I have updated chapter 15 about 30 minutes ago and I now just uploaded this chapter. But never fear! I will not abandon this story and the weekly updates will continue! I just need to remind myself that just because I uploaded it to the site, doesn't mean I updated to the story! Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story so far. It is not getting to the good part. Enjoy!
The sky bore an orange face as the sun met the horizon. Streaks of purple and blue laced the atmosphere, preparing for the days end. A huge group, composed of a majority of the mountain-nest dragons and the Berkian-Draconian party, were waiting patiently on one of the numerous ledges, anxious to start the battle plan. Only a few were not able to go; those being dragons who were previously injured, the young, and certain dragon caretakers whose sole purpose was to help take care of the ones left behind. Dragons and humans alike were reviewing their roles. Idle chat filled the air, until a single roar silenced it all. They all turned their attention to the origin of the roar; eyes and ears were focused on the female Night Fury alpha and her rider who was perched on her back. Both stood valiantly, waiting until all attention was on them.
"Today is the day we can stop watching our brothers and sisters die at the hands of the explosive black powder. Today is the day, where you can avenge your fallen loved ones. Today is the day that WE FIGHT BACK!", Chris declared.
The group roared in agreement, their emotions starting to get the best of them.
"Today, begins the expedition of eradicating all of the Song's main power supply. Once we cut them off, they would not be able to stand on their own two feet!"
Again the crowd roared in approval.
"We will strike the first supply camp of Huo Yao when the moon is high in the sky. We will decimate everything we see. We will rain fire upon the ones who have ravaged us so!"
The crowd roared louder, fueled by their overwhelming need for revenge. Aurora and Re looked at their son proudly, highly satisfied at how Chris was able to motivate a dragon militia.
"He really has grown up", Re sighed, looking at his mate and queen, Aurora.
"True, but he still is our hatchling. I am his mother, you are his father. We are his parents, no matter what anyone says!", Aurora exclaimed.
"I am not disagreeing with you. What's the matter?", Re asked, curious as to why his mate was fretting.
Aurora exhaled."It's just that, you can never stop a parent from worrying. Even though Chris is more than capable of taking care of himself, I don't want him to be taken away from me. I don't want to see him die. I don't want to let him go. Even more so, now that he has been re-introduced back into our lives. As a mother, I am suppose to protect my child from any and all harm, yet here I am, letting my son commandeer a group of dragons into war. Is that wrong of me?"
Re smiled and nuzzled Aurora lovingly until they rested their snouts against each other. "I understand your worries, but as parents we not only have to worry about our children, but trust in them as well. You said it yourself-Chris is more than capable of taking care of himself. Even though we are suppose to protect and give support to our hatchlings, we do not control them. We simply guide them and teach them the basics of life. They have to endure the rest of it once they reach maturity, and even then, that should not stop us from caring about him, protecting or assisting Chris. And right now, I could not be a prouder parent. Not only has he been able to care for himself these past 10 years, he has been able to take care of an entire nest! Do not worry Aurora, I can guarantee you that Chris knows what he is doing", Re said reassuringly.
Aurora closed her eyes, absorbing her mate's words. "You, are right. It's just hard to comprehend how mature Chris is. Even though he is an adult, I still see that happy, troublesome kid".
"I know what you mean. When I see him, my mind still sees him as the hatchling he once was even though he is far from the case. It constantly juggles the two. I guess only another parent could understand what I mean".
Aurora chuckled, "Tell me about it".
At that moment, Chris concluded his speech. The militia was anxious to leap into the sky.
Chris dismounted Windwalker, turned to his right, and came across the one person he meant to say goodbye to, Serenity. Before he was able to utter a word, Serenity approached him swiftly and wrapped her arms around Chris' neck. Chris was slightly surprised but returned the tight embrace nonetheless. They held the tight hug for a while, basking in the growing bond they shared. Serenity pulled back somewhat, eyeing Chris. "Please be careful Chris. I don't want to lose you again. You mean a lot to me",
Chris blushed, "I will never, ever leave you again Serenity. I promise you that".
They stared at each other intently, their faces unconsciously moving towards each other, specifically their lips. It seemed inevitable, that is, until a certain black dragon, with golden eyes, coughed to get their attention. At the sound, Chris and Serenity released how close they were to each other and immediately pulled away from each other, as if nothing happened.
"I-I will try to treat any minor wounds I can. Ultimately, I will send for you if there are any major injuries, if need be", Chris stammered.
"Got it. Be safe", Serenity cautioned.
Chris nodded as he mounted Windwalker again. Windwalker roared, signalling the militia to rise into the sky. Once they were in the air, Windwalker did a quick check over her dragons while Chris checked over his allies. They both nodded to each other when they noticed that everything was in order, and turned to the direction of the first supply camp and flew onward. The rest of the group followed hastily.
The wind nipped at the riders' faces. None of them cared though. They all were focused on destroying the first camp. All except Hiccup that is.
Hiccup had conflicting thoughts running through his head. Yes, he did want the dragons to win this war, but why must there be bloodshed? Why can't they just peacefully negotiate some type of arrangement with the Song? He doesn't see himself as a killer. Then again, talking didn't really solve anything. It certainly did not change Drago's mind, and look where that got him!
Toothless crooned in worry, noticing his rider's tension. Hiccup looked down at him, smiled, and patted him on the nose.
The militia flew for another hour or so, until they reached the first supply camp. The camp itself was a clearing in the middle of a massive outcrop of trees. It was about 100 yards wide and 200 yards long. The camp was outlined with 3 rows of wooden walls. At each corner was a lookout tower. Torches were evenly spaced along the tops of the walls. Scattered strategically throughout the camp were various weapons, ranging from cannons, to mortars, to giant crossbows. In the middle of the camp were huge metal tanks, filled to the brim with Huo Yao. Filling up the rest of the space were tents, housing numerous Song troops. Overall, the camp was dangerously and heavily defended.
The dragon militia flew high and around the camp, making sure that they could not be seen from below.
"Wow. Huo Yao must mean a lot to them", Tenor commented.
"The stuff makes up their whole artillery. Without it, they are defenseless", Chris said.
Windwalker led the group right above the middle of the camp. Chris signaled the group to stop. They all hovered in mid-air. Windwalker turned around, making sure everybody was set before the plan was enacted. She nodded at her fellow Night Fury brethren making sure they were set as well. Once they confirmed that they were ready, she let out a low, but audible growl, signaling the start of the 2 ½ Night Furies climbed up to a higher elevation and once they deemed they were high enough, stalled in the air. Once gravity pulled them back down, they nose dived straight towards the supply camp. As the descended, the tell-tale Night Fury whistle should've been heard, but it was not. Just before they took off, Windwalker and Chris showed Hiccup, Toothless, and Tenor a little trick that she used on the Berk raid to eliminate the Night Fury dive bomb whistle. The trick was simple; all you had to do was do a barrel roll going down. One had to start off slow and keep their tail perfectly stiff, or else that would mess up the dive entirely and possibly end their life.
The Night Furies pulled off the maneuver precisely as no air was allowed to hit their sub-fins long enough to generate the whistle. As they spiraled down towards the camp. The rest of the group made a circle and spiraled downwards. As the Night Furies built up their first plasma blasts, they made sure not to hit the Huo Yao tanks first, as the ensuing explosion would potentially hurt the rest of the group.
About 250 feet from the ground, the Night Furies fired their first shot and sharply pulled out of their dives. The plasma blasts dug into the ground before they ultimately exploded, destroying surrounding tents, and heavily damaging some nearby weapons. This alerted the camps to the sudden attack, but before they could get organized, the rest of the militia zoned in.
The slower dragons attacked first and took out the nearest weapons and towers. If one of those dragons were to get caught, one of the faster dragons would cover the immobilized dragon and help him out. Once a majority of those outer defenses were gone, the heavier dragons moved in to take care of the stronger defenses. Those said dragons were the ones with either the most or hottest fire.
The Night Furies' main job was to make sure the gave help wherever help was needed and that nobody got hurt. Tenor quickly destroyed a huge crossbow that was about to finish off a greenish dragon that had previously been struck down by that weapon. He helped that dragon get to safety. Hiccup and Toothless weaved their way through the camp, destroying the soldier's weapon storage whenever those soldiers headed there to grab a sword or spear. The Berkians and their dragons all landed and began fighting with the Song troops. They took out about 30 troops altogether. Chris and Windwalker on the other hand were able to able to take out 40 Song troops by themselves! Chris sliced his way through those troops with his dual-locking swords, while Windwalker clawed and slashed her way through. They were focusing on finding the camp overseer.
Fire could be seen all around the camp as it was being burned to the ground. Screams, wood splintering, and fire roaring filled the air. Windwalker and Chris were covered in the blood of the Song troops. Breathing heavily they scanned the camp, looking for the overseer. At last, Windwalker spotted him, leaving in a horse-drawn, wooden carriage. Chris ran to the carriage with Windwalker closing in behind him. As Windwalker easily surpassed Chris, the latter instinctively mounted Windwalker mid-run. Windwalker pulled up to the side of the carriage and rammed into it with all her might. She separated the cart from the horses, sending it flying across the air. At the same time, the Vikings and dragons finished destroying the defenses and wiping out the troops. As they finished up, they noticed Chris and Windwalker stalking up to a broken carriage, where a man crawled out from under the wreckage.
The man, clad in armor, was puzzled to see a young man, standing beside a threatening dragon. He initially didn't know what to make of the situation, until he got his bearings straight and withdrew his sword.
"Nǐ zěnme gǎn liánxiǎng dào zhèxiē wū wù. Nǐ jiāng zhīfù de gōngjí gē!", the man yelled before rushing at Chris, ready to kill him.
Chris simply smirked and raised his swords, blocking the overseer's first attack. Soon a small battle commenced between Chris and the overseer. Sharp yells, and the clashing of swords could be heard from the man as he annoyingly could not land a single blow on Chris.
Re and Aurora saw the battle out of the corner of their eyes and rushed to go help their son. As they approached the battle, Windwalker held up her wing, preventing Chris' parents from interfering. Re was about to shout at Windwalker before she spoke up first.
"Don't worry. He can easily overtake this man. Just watch".
Re reluctantly shut his mouth as he and Aurora uneasily observed their son fight a deadly man.
Chris maneuvered around his partner, avoiding, deflecting, and blocking the overseer's attacks. It culminated in the overseer and Chris struggling for the final blow as both of their swords met in the middle. Unfortunately for the overseer, Chris's swords could come apart, so Chris swiftly divided his swords into 2 and spun around the man. This caused the man to stumble, as he had all his strength aimed forward. As the overseer feel forward, Chris sliced through the back of his knees with the bottom sword that made up his deadly sword-staff. This caused a cry of pain to be emitted from the overseer as he dropped his sword and fell down to his knees, effectively disabling his ability to walk.
Chris came around and faced the overseer. The overseer hung his head in defeat, stunned that he was beaten. Chris roughly pulled the man's hair back, forcing him to look Chris straight in the eye. The overseer's frightened look met Chris' deadly gaze.
"This is for all the dragons you have slain in your life, you pathetic excuse of a man", Chris spat right before he sunk one of his swords through the man's chest.
Pain and shock adorned the overseer's face as he realized his fate. Chris made sure his eyes were on him as he watched the overseer's life drain from his body before he hung limply on Chris' blade. After a few seconds, Chris withdrew his sword and watched the body thud lifelessly to the ground.
All eyes were on him as he took the overseer's life. The mountain-nest dragons were itching with excitement at their current victory.
"Do not celebrate yet my friends. We still have to take out their power supply", Chris asserted, gesturing to the tanks.
The group got the memo and flew high into the sky, avoiding the blast range. The only ones left on the ground were the Night Furies. They were also assigned with destroying the tanks, as they were the only ones fast enough to out-fly the debris once they exploded the tanks. They quickly zoom climbed their way up before they shot back down at twice the speed, their signature whistles could now be heard. They quickly fire plasma blasts into the tanks before they hastily zoomed back up.
As soon as one of the fire bolts hit the tanks, the whole sky turned yellow as a percussive boom filled the air. The explosion was so great that the shock wave disturbed some of the Night Furies' flight. Fortunately, the Night Furies were able to rejoin the group.
Windwalker and Chris roared proudly at their victory, with the rest of the group joining in quickly. Afterwards, they headed to find a place to settle down for the night and regain their energy. All seemed right with the group except for Hiccup. The only thing that kept only playing in his mind was the sickening sound of metal puncturing flesh as the overseer watched his own life fade away before his very eyes at the hand of Chris.