Sorry, this chapter is a bit short, but hopefully the next one will be posted soon

Wild Dragons

I know I shouldn't go against the Outcasts, but… we just won't win with their plan. They're not smart or clever. They just fight. And when we do lose, I know that they'll cast the dragons off of the island. They only care about us because of our strength and power and flight. Alvin's hatred of Berk is blinding him from what really matters in ruling a clan. Food, good shelter, medicine- he's forgotten about all of that.

I don't know, maybe it's just my desire to be a leader that's making me think like this. We do need a place to live, and a lot of islands are already occupied or not suitable for living. I just don't like our lack of-

Suddenly, I see a flash of purple lightning and the breath is knocked out of me. Something had rammed into me and sent me tumbling down the mountain. Yowling, I flail my legs, trying to grab hold of something. My right paw catches a ledge and I hang on for dear life. The rest of my body is dangling off of the cliff, and my legs are unable to get a grip on the mountainside.

I hear the beating of wings and look up to see what attacked me. A beautiful grey and purple Skrill with deadly looking claws lands on the cliff. She grins maliciously and looks down at me.

"You're a little far away from home, pet." She spits the last word out and I snarl. I've never seen a Skrill before, but I can tell that she is one from Skurge's description of them. The lightning rider digs her claws into my right paw and I grit my teeth, "Fly back to your little humans!"

Before she can throw me off, I press both of my back paws against the mountainside and kick off. Doing a backflip in midair, I spread my wings and regain flight.

Then, I ram into the Skrill and pin her against the rock. Sinking my claws into her shoulders, I shove her into the wall over and over again. Rocks start to tumble, and I'm distracted for a moment when one lands on my head.

She seizes her opportunity and bites the side of my neck. I screech in pain as she flings me away and I land on an outcropping of rock. As I recover, the Skrill lands next to me and sends a blow to my head. I feel her long wing-claw slice into my forehead, just above my eye and gasp.

I jump backwards and she laughs, "Your precious humans have made you soft, pet."

Baring my teeth, I let out a growl so deep and threatening that I see her eyes widen a bit. I feel my heart harden with hatred and my blood run cold. Bunching up my muscles, I leap high into the sky before bringing down my claws on her face as I land. As I do so, I feel my claws slash deep through flesh and muscle, and then meet bone.

The Skrill shrieks in pain and I take a look at the wounds I inflicted. There're three bone-deep, long scratches running from the top on her forehead, over part of her eye, before coming to a crooked stop at her snout. There's a fourth, smaller scratch on her cheek, but they're all bleeding badly.

Grinning, I strike the side of her head with my red right paw, sending her stumbling to the ground. I stalk up to her and growl, "Just because I live with them doesn't mean I like them."

Using the side of my paw, I smack her head again and it bounces painfully off of the rock below her. "And they are most certainly not precious to me." I finish and she looks up at me, dazed.

"Phh, yeah right." The Skrill scoffs drowsily, "If you really didn't like them, you would just leave."

I don't say anything else and back away as she slowly gets up. It doesn't seem like she's going to attack me again.

Instead, I ask, "Are you a Wild Dragon?"

She nods and rumbles, "I'm surprised. You fight like one. Not like normal human pets do."

I growl as she says 'pets'. The dragons on Outcast islands are not pets. We're companions, not owned.

She tilts her head and grunts, "You don't seem to like being a pet. Why don't you just leave?"

I sigh, not fully trusting her, and say, "I couldn't just abandon my friends. But I just know the Outcasts are going to abandon us when we lose with their stupid plan." I say the last part mostly to myself.

"Plan?" the dragon asks.

I wave it away with my paw, "It's just battle and stuff. You know how the Outcasts are."

"So, convince your friends to come with you."

"Do some dragons live in groups?"

She looks up for a moment, thinking about it, before answering, "Well, a long time ago, there was this one huge clan of dragons living together, but their queen was evil. You guys probably aren't going to be evil, though."

I nod and say, "I've always wanted to be a leader of a group or a clan. But I never gave a thought to what I would do with the Outcasts. I guess I always pictured us being wild."

We don't speak after that and fall into a silence. I lick my paw wound, and then wipe it over my head scratch. The Wild Dragon does the same. Finally, a few minutes later, she speaks.

"You know what? Convince you're friends by telling them about the wonders of living free. Of feeling the rush of catching your own prey from your own territory. Tell them how you could live together on your own land, free, full of fresh kill, protecting one another. I personally think that living in a group would be safer and better for everyone."

I look at her strangely and say slowly, "Okay, but- wait, why are you helping me? We were just trying to kill each other five minutes ago."

She shrugs, "Eh, I don't think that dragons should be living with humans at all. And… you're not a normal pet. Are you sure that your parents weren't Wild?"

Ignoring her question (because I hate my family), I turn around and prepare to takeoff. "I'll use your advice." I say emotionlessly, "Thanks."

"Your welcome. Careful where you put those claws. You don't want to kill anyone by accident," she snorts, flying in the air.

I take off, but before I can get far, I hear her say, "By the way…. my name is Zylah."

I turn around to face the Skrill. She doesn't seem so hostile anymore. There's still a sharp look in her eyes, but there's also a friendly glint in them. Nodding, I grunt, "Phoenix."

Zylah jerks her head and flies away. When she reaches the dark clouds, there's a flash of lightning and before I know it, she's gone, riding away on a lightning bolt. I can't help but feel jealous of her ability and power.

Shaking it away and telling myself I have my own powers, I turn around and dive down to the village. Angling myself, I turn towards the place where I sleep. It's no longer a small cave in a mountain. Now, I sleep in an underground hollow under a large tree in the middle of the village, near Skurge's place.

Spreading my wings out for a quick, but silent, landing, I pause before I enter, looking up at the storm clouds. Occasionally, there's a flash of lightning and then thunder, and each time I try to see Zylah riding on them. Sighing, I look back at my hollow.

"I like her." I suddenly say aloud. I quickly glance around to see if anyone heard, and then dash inside of the den.

Exhausted, I slump onto my bed, which is a combination of twigs, moss, soft leaves, and feathers from birds I've caught. My wounds barely hurt, and I soon fall into a deep sleep.

I am flying. Just flying. Over the open sea, with no land in sight.

Suddenly, I sense something moving behind me. I try to turn my head, but can't. Something tells me that they're dragons, and yet they don't attack me. They move behind me, silently. There're many, moving in behind me, flying as one.

The sound of beating hearts reaches my ears, strong and loud. They're evenly paced, but I can tell that there's many hearts beating. I close my eyes, listening to the sounds of the dragons as they fly. Their heartbeat. Their breath. Their wings flapping as they fly.

I feel their power as we fly. It takes a while, but I finally realize that these are my dragons. I can feel their loyalty in me. Their trust and determinedness to fight with me, for me.

Glancing down, I gaze at my dragons in the refection in the ocean. There're all kinds of dragons, even species that typically hate each other, flying together. I see a few dragons next to me in the reflection and look up.

Surprisingly, to my right is Skurge. He's looking straightforward, determinedness written on his face. Ash is flying next to him, the same look on her face.

On my right, again to my surprise, is Zylah. The wild Skrill looks exactly like Skurge and Ash. I notice that she has claw mark scars on her face, right where I scratched her. Next to her is Sawyer, who barely has to flap his large wings as he flies. Straining my eyes, I can barely see Dracen next to Sawyer, and he seems to be carrying something in his claws.

Looking down, I finally take a look at myself and gasp a little. Part of my lower right wind-flap is missing, and I have scars on my face. But what really takes me by surprise is that I barely look like a Night Fury.

I should have noticed this before, but even without the scars, I look like a totally different species. My scales are completely the opposite color of a normal Fury's. From what Skurge has told me, I'm bigger than a lot of the males and my claws are sharper, but that's because I used to sharpen them when I was young and now they grow this way.

Looking up, I see a faint shade of green in the distance. Land. I look at Zylah, and she looks at me and nods.

All these dragons are loyal to me. They're willing to fight. But I have to provide shelter and food for them, too. We fly as one.

I can feel the power in them. Power that is now mine. It feels amazing, much more than when I imagined it. My heart clenches, and I know that I will do anything to keep it. Nobody will take this power away.

How do you like Zylah? Pretty cool, eh? I needed a little boost for Phoenix. R&R