XIV

High into the sky, a few dozen or so miles away from the city, a massive armada of ships floated above the white clouds. It was a hot day, so few Skavengers remained outside, the others preferring to sit inside the ship's decks, sparring or training to pass the time. Over the course of the past six months, they'd captured a multitude of creatures to fight in their yearly death tournament. Since the winter, they'd captured dozens of cheetahs, apes, wolves, and even a few dragons. The turnout was much smaller than what it had been in recent years, due to the War of Guardians.

Opinions differed among many of the soldiers and small leaders about the war: some believed that they should assist Guardians, then of course, destroy them and take the planet for themselves. Others wanted to assist the Dark Guardians instead, in order to delay their species extinction, at least for a time, until they could deal with the Dark Guardians themselves.

However, their Captain, Skabb, steered clear of battles.

The Captain of the massive fleet snored loudly in his massive, orange bed. His tongue hung out of his mouth as usual, and below his tongue was a large drool spot in the sheets.

Two birds flew in through the open window, perching themselves on a shelf next to the bed. The first parrot was purple, with a massive scar on his belly, and a black patch on his eye. The other was orange, also donning the patch and scar on his stomach. Both the parrots had striped tails, with webbed ends, and had strange mixes of features from different animals.

"Hey! Stupid! Wake up!" The purple parrot yelled.

Skabb groaned, grumbling to himself as the birds flew in front of his face.

"His breath smells worse than usual, today," the orange parrot remarked. "Should he take another shower?"

"We'll do that later! Let's get his ass to the prison ships! Someone has reported something strange happening with our treasures!" The parrot flew onto Skabb's shoulder, the other doing the same.

With strength one wouldn't guess the tiny creatures had, they lifted the massive Captain off of his bed, armor, equipment, and all, and they moved out of the window, the puffy white clouds below them.

A dragoness about Spyro's age slept quietly in her cell. The prison ship she was in was disgusting. Rats and other vermin were a constant, feces and holes could be seen easily in the hallways and the cells. The ships were in a moderate state of disrepair, as the wood was old and withered, and pieces of the ship fell day by day. There were many holes in the cells as well, and the black dragoness had to be careful not to break a limb stepping inside one of them and falling.

By dragon standards, she was beautiful. Her onyx body went well with her magenta belly and emerald eyes. Her horns were short, but smooth and white, creating an equal feeling of elegance and intimidation. On her tail was a sharp, curved blade, reading to attack and gut anyone who dared to cross her.

Yet, the dragoness herself was quiet, and lonely. She'd been in the cell for a few weeks now, fed under cooked lamb and given unclean water, but, she'd felt she'd been in prison all her life. Her particular powers, though dormant now due to lack of use, were feared for their attributes, and thus, she was treated as a monster, since the time she was born. Her parents had cared for her, but payed the price and were eliminated when others came for her.

The dragoness was strong and rebellious, but, with nothing to rebel against, and nothing to be strong for. The Scavengers proved too much for her without her powers, and like that, she was captured and place here for their sadistic, insane death tournament. Ironically, she felt a little better her, considering she was fed and had something to drink, though she had no one she could turn to and rely on.

She was completely, utterly alone.

Tink, Tink.

The dragoness stirred as someone tapped on her cell bars.

"Hey!"

Tink, Tink, Tink, Tink...

The creature tapped on the bars harder and louder nows. "Do not ignore me! Captain Skabb wishes to speak with you about his treasure!"

The dragoness opened her eyes. She shook her head and yawned, looking groggily and irritably at the soldier who'd awoken her. "What do you ask of me?"

Yes. Sorry. This chapter had to be short so I could regain my schedule I'd previously promised. We had an influx of projects and on Memorial Day, family came over, and I just wasn't feeling up to do anything.

I'm sure you know who this dragoness is. I can say one thing: this story WILL be done in the summer. At that point, I can begin working on other stuff, so this account will grow quiet. I may still check for PMs and stuff, but aside from that, nothing else.

Wunderwaffle.