Start A/N:
Well, remember that this story is half-parody, half-serious. Whenever a scene is either, it's up to you. After all, Phoenix Wright, one of my favorite series, had the perfect blandblend. Just like Battlefield: Bad Company (the first one). I hope I master it too. I just want to have fun and get out of my more darkdarker works, like Verrückt, which you can find on my profile. Also, we have a character from USAF ParaJumper's story, Dead Realm. Read below to know who it is. Just so you are wondering, yes, there will be other characters from other stories, and others from whatever comes to mind.
Also, thank you for reading after, uh, almost one year? This story almost went into vaporware! Thankfully, it did not, or else I would had have been angry at myself. Since I just gained a little more free time, I will try to be more regular on the updates. Thank you again for reading, and enjoy.
End A/N
Previously, on Baltic Eyes…
After locking the door, she heard a male voice calling her.
"Baltic, wait for me!"
She smiled and nodded in approval.
The dragon calling her was no other than Viet, a red fire dragon with golden chest plates, horns and claws. The wing membrane had the same color too, and his eyes had the same color of as his chest plates. His horns followed the shape of a ram, and his snout seemed pointy, while his body was lean. His tail blade was in the shape of a leaf. Of course, Viet was not his real name. It was Mihinn, but to him (and to almost all of Warfang), Viet was better because of the easier pronunciation, and because it sounded less dumb. They heard the name somewhere, so it was unknown where the word 'Viet' comes came from. But it didn't matter.
"Sorry for my delay. I burnt down something and I had to deal with those annoying people we call 'guardians'. First time I saw Volteer angry, too."
"… What did you do to get sent to the guardians, and anger one of the most peaceful dragons in existence, Viet…?" Baltic sighed deeply. Honestly, the only thing that didn't make him a brilliant dragon was his magnificent aptitude of at getting into trouble without thinking about it. And his cocky nature about it didn't help his cause. Don't tell me you burnt down the temple, or something like that…
"I burnt down an electric spire. I walked close to it, it made a bolt too close to me, and because of instinct, I aimed and spit fire on it. They catch on fire very easily."
"Oh, the spires…" They were a network of small metallic and wooden structures that provided energy to electric dragons should they need it. They were the most important elemental dragons in time of peace, and they were used to power small devices. The moles built them with the assistance (and funds) of Volteer to help Warfang become a thriving city in Avalar. And they were costly. If Viet was to be a dragon like her in terms of money management, she would had have to give up her studies to pay back for it. And you had to destroy one of Volteer's best creations? No wonder he might bewas angry, she thought.
'Fortunately', Viet had rich parents that did not really care about what he did. Good news for Viet, bad news for the guardians.
"They are very expensive, and this is the second time you break something on this week. We're going to rebuild the current network if you do that again." And maybe much more.
"Who says it's a bad thing, book-head? This city looks way too old for me." Book-head. That was her surname, due to her way of carrying her notebook. It was commonly used when she went a little technical.
"Whatever. Let's just go."
Baltic started to walk in the direction of their classes, and Viet soon followed afterwards.
"So, anything new on your side?" Viet asked.
"No, not really. I am still interested about the history of the dragon kind, but something does not add up in the total picture. It's about the Molian pact." Baltic explained.
"You mean the thing that allows us to have… All of this?" he said, looking around for emphasis.
"Indeed. During the war, the moles were pretty much without any really advanced technology. That is why they failed to, may I say, fully survive. Take the Manweersmal, for example. They were a group of mining moles using primitive technology, but between and after the war, they became the most influential in the mining area of Munition Forge, after it was turned into a mineral factory. That I do not understand, because it came before the pact." Baltic said with wonder. Is there something that was not listed in the books? She questioned herself.
"Well, uh… Moles are smart? They could had easily have developed it." the red dragon reasoned.
"Under the rule of Malefor and the Apes, I doubt that they had the power to do so." Baltic said.
"You're worrying too much about it, book-head. I'm just happy at the fact that they are building things I can break."
"You're going to ruin your parents, one day." Baltic challenged with a smirk.
"They have connections," was Viet's simple answer, with a winning smile. Baltic could only groan under her breath. It was his comportment, which that added to his charisma. Even if they sometimes disliked each other because of their different interests, it would be a lie if they said they did not like each other for those reasons. I'll never get him to say he's wrong.
A while later, in silence, the group of two arrived at their classroom. It was useful that the apartments and studying temple were connected with wide tunnels to allow the passage of multiple dragons. The moles built it themselves when the Molian pact was signed, as a display of friendship between the two kinds.
The classroom was a basic structure dug underground. Actually, most of the city was underground now. It was a simple room with three rows of three chairs, for a maximum of nine dragons plus the teacher. The guardians have had decided to keep the classrooms with no more than ten dragons at a time, to avoid trouble. Which could happen any moment considering the malicious intents of Viet, the troublesome fire dragon.
They entered and took their respective seats, the blue-eyed dragoness on the first row, at the left. She placed her book on the table to relieve her horns. They were a total of five in the small room, plus one for the teacher. Their teacher was a male ice dragon called Periicles, the historian dragon. He had dark blue scales, a light blue tone on his chest plates, horns and claws, and his eyes. His horns resembled a saw blade. He had no tail blade. His defining feature was the long ice blue horn on his nose, which had a gradient from blue at the base to full white at the end. He was very proud of it, and would not stand at all hearing dishonorable comments about it, to the disdtain of Viet.
"Good morning, class. While everyone seems to be there, I will check about your presence." He then started to list every name of the dragons that were supposed to be here.
"Baltic?"
"Yes."
"Sterlock?"
"Da, I'm present," said a very rough voice.
"Degyarev?"
"Breeki… I mean, I am present, like my brother." Viet could not stifle a laugh at that, which earned him a glare from Periicles.
"Stürm?"
"Yes, I am here," was the answer that was delivered in a high-pitched voice.
"Mihinn?"
"My name's Viet," he said. The historian decided to ignore the remark for the better. Good thing his parents have wealth. For him.
"Good. Since everyone is here, I have an announcement. There will be a new dragon joining this class," he said. "While his appearance might be normal, his name is quite unusual. I'll tell you about it when he is there."
As on hintcue, a blue dragon peeked his head inside the classroom.
"… This is the right room, right?" he asked.
"Yes, yes, come in," Periicles said.
After he went in, Baltic could see a blue dragon. Another ice dragon, it seemed. Why couldn't I have been one of them? Baltic complained to herself. This one wore light blue scales, and dark blue on his chest plates, along with the horns and wings. His claws were black, and his eye color was that of the sky. His horns adopted a rammed appearance, like Viet had. His tail blade had the shape of a cutting tool the moles used.
"… Uh, hello… My name is Vandal…"
While Stürm rolled her eyes in silence due to the nature of the name and Baltic just nodded, Sterlock and Degyarev, the two brothers, looked at each other with a huge grin, while Viet was more… Vocal. And by vocal, it was pure laughing. While Vandal's expression dropped, Periicles was starting to look very, very angry at Viet, with a glare that said 'stop'. But the red and gold dragon did not listen to what his eyes had to say.
"Whoa… That's a really stupid name there. You like to break stuff?"
That was enough to make Periicles snap and explode. While Stürm saw it coming and pre-emptively placed her paws on her ears along with Baltic, which had the same idea, but the two brothers and the fire dragon were not so lucky.
Somewhere along the tunnel, one kilometer away, a mole bumped it's head on the small tunnel it was building for the water canalization. Maybe they could resonate too efficiently and carried voice way too far.
"SILENCE!" the teacher yelled at Viet, which made him immediately focus back on Periicles. But the teacher was not done. "I have enough of you disturbing this whole class with your attitude, and if you keep going, I promise that your parents will not be here to protect you with whatever money they have. If you do not follow the guidelines of this class, I will be forced by myself myself to expulse you back to off my class, and send the academy report about your ungrateful personality and unrespectabout your studies. And I am sure you will no longer be accepted here, and you will be forced to study at the only other academy in world history, in Munition Forge. And I doubt you will like it."
While Viet slowly gulped down, Periicles looked around, seeing the shocked reaction that the two brothers had, and the dragonesses' look of pain. Maybe he yelled a little too much, and he knew he was going too far. But he knew himself that he was old and tired, and Mihinn was making his life spam span shorter with his witty remarks, his lack of respect towards authority and what was around him. Maybe the only reason he was staying in class was Baltic. She always listened with interest. And that made his work worthwhile. He always wanted to share his knowledge, and if one respected and listened to his tales and work, it made it all worthwhile. But the fire dragon was overriding it. He felt too tired to support him. He was no longer in his youth, and his lack of breath was a sign. I am never going to annoy him ever again, was the only thing Baltic thought. Even with her covered ears, they still rang a little. And she knew it was far worse for the males in the class, as they did not have the reflexes to do the same thing Baltic and Stürm did.
"… So, as I said… Vandal is going to be… Studying with us… Mihinn, please move to… The back, I am not in the… Mood to see you. Vandal… First row, center, left of the electric dragoness… Baltic… She will be your tutor… I'll be right back," He said, taking deep breaths between words, before going out of the class. Sterlock and Degyarev were now out of their state of shock, and looked with concentration at the history teacher, awaiting further instructions. Stürm just adopted her usual bored look, while Baltic found deep interest in the cover of her book. Viet just moved to the back in silence, not wanting to say anything for the first time in months. He still wanted to study, so that he could join the Warfang Draconian Forces.
"Congratulations, Viet. You really know how to make an impression, ya?" the foreign dragoness known as Stürm said. She was a shadow dark grey dragoness with purple streaks of lighting around her body at almost at random. Her horns, wings, tail spade (which had the shape of a sharpened rod), claws and eyes had the same color., while Sshe did not have any chest plates, a feature common in the dragons that grew around the valley of Avalar, as they did not need extra protection against the forces of Malefor most of the time. She did look a little too frail at times, with her unrefined musculature.
Vandal took a seat just right of Baltic, as she introduced herself. "Welcome to class. My name is Baltic, and I hope… You will enjoy it here." She struggled to form part of her words as the initial shock still had to wash over her. She did not like yelling at all, and she tended to lock up and cringe a little whenever that happened. "… That's what I hope."
"Thank you," Vandal said with a smile. "As the teacher said, I am Vandal. I know about the name, but that's what my adoptive parents decided to name me." Baltic nodded. But who would name their hatchling, even adoptive, with such a degrading name? The electric dragoness asked to her own self. And I hope Periicles is not crying right now. He is a very good person, but really dislikes disrespect. He does not deserve what Viet is doing to him, but… What can I help do about it? That red dragon is a troublemaker. That did not change for the last three years I met him. We might be the same age, but maybe he is going too far… But again, that is why I am his friend. He makes life less boring around here, she concluded.
"And why would they name give you thatsuch a name?" Baltic blurted out.
"Because when I hatched, I broke a really expensive object. Might haved been one of those old pots that people use as a decoration now. So after that, they called me 'Vandal', because the first thing I did was vandalize my own home." Viet would haved broken it in his egg.
While Baltic was thinking, Vandal reached into the grey pouch he was carrying, pulling out his own notebook along with another book. Baltic glanced at the cover.
Fundamentals of electric engineering and weaponry development
By Isaac Clarke
That might be an interesting subject, the dragoness noted for herself. "So you are studying engineering and how to make weapons?" Baltic asked. "Not that I have anything against it."
"I am," the would-be weapon smith said. "And for engineering, it's more about the systems that power the city, so I can repair them. Even though I am not an electric dragon, I want to assist in the defense and reparation of Warfang, in case something bad happens." The war has ended four years ago, she thought.
"The war is over," she simply replied, which earned her a frown.
"Who knows? There is some stuff happening over at Mount Malefor, and we don't know about it." Now that definitely got her attention.
"… Like what?" she asked.
"I am not too sure myself. I asked my parents about it, since they are the ones that told me about it," the dragon said. "They work on mapping the land of Avalar," he added. "They said to me that something had gone wrong there. Two dragons died in an accident. But that is usual, people die there… Right?" he asked.
"It used to be a dangerous place. But since Spyro defeated Malefor and that the guardians decided to blow up the top of the mountain to fill up the hole in it, it had been a peaceful place. Just ask Degyarev and Sterlock. They come from here," she said. "But back again to what you were saying. What was so special?"
"Well, while my parents did not disclose the full thing, those two dragons had their head literally caved in with rocks," he said in a small voice. "They found random bits of their brain on a nearby wall, while their skulls were bashed in, so it's doubtfulled that it was just rocks falling off the mountain. It looks like an execution, but no apes, nor dragons are were present in the area they were found within. Plus, they were beaten before they got killed. Such cCruelty was usual to thewith apes, but they were all sent back to the Far Land," Disgusting, Baltic thought out loud with a small voice too. "While you might know about it, the Far Land is another continent where the apes come from. Since we won the war, they were sent back without any negotiations. Unfair, yes, but it's for the best. They still hate us," the would-be engineer said.
"Well…" Baltic started, but she could not say anything else about it. The mental image did wear down on her a little too much. "… Let us ask Degyarev and Sterlock about it."
Just on cue, the two brothers turned to them.
"Cheeki, I'm Sterlock," stated Sterlock.
"Breeki, I'm Degyarev." Answered Degyarev. It was usual for them to do that, to make sure that each other both were in the usual tone and synchronization to talk and complete each other. They once explained it meant 'one' and 'two', in order, like a rhythm. They seemed to share an unknown synergy, as if they were linked together. One dsay, Degyarev accidently hurt himself when he failed to achieve a proper landing in flight and broke something on his left side, and Sterlock was the one to be sad and crying about it.
Sterlock was an earth dragon with an unusual color. He had grey scales along with a dark grey color on his chest plates, his horns straightened out. His wings, tail spade, which had the form of a knife, and horns had the same color. His eyes were light orange.
Degyarev was like a colored version of him. He adopted the usual color scheme for an earth dragon, green on the main scales, brown on the chest plates, horns, wings, claws and spineseverything else. His eyes were the same color as Sterlock, but they had more color in them, thus looking a little sharper. He looked livelier than his brother, but if the colors were taken away, they would look absolutely the same.
What was also different from all others were their scales and chest plates. They looked rough, thicker, heavier and more angled to take hits without much damage. It was an evolutionary purpose, to survive in the harsh environment of Mount Malefor.
"So… Is there anything different from the time you were at Mount Malefor and now?" asked Vandal. Baltic just looked at Vandal, wanting to see his reaction.
"Well, no." Sterlock started.
"Nothing truly have changed in two years," Degyarev completed.
"While we are not sure it did,"
"We are sure that no evil is here."
As Sterlock and Degyarev talked and switched each other, Vandal's jaw was starting to drop altitude.
"After all, the Guardians are taking care of the matter personally,"
"Along with the newly minted fire guardian, Akerr,"
"So it is sure nothing truly evil happened."
"But evil comes in many ways in here,"
"Like the time where a dragon went on a killing spree,"
"Fortunately we were not here,"
"But a lot of people died."
"So it is still required to be careful here,"
"But we are sure about what we said."
"No apes,"
"No Malefor,"
"No true evil."
Vandal now had his jaw glued to the floor. Baltic just smiled, while the two brothers acted like nothing special truly happened. It was their usual way of talking, and no one really did understoodand how they did. Maybe it was how siblings communicated. Telepathically.
"Do we need to get a shovel?" Sterlock started.
"No, he can dig his jaw out just fine," Degyarev finished.
Just as Vandal regained motion, he blurted out "How did you do that?!", still in shock.
"We do not know," began Sterlock.
"But if we did, we would tell you." ended Degyarev.
As this instant, the ice dragon known as Periicles went back into the class. Judging by look, he was in some sort of depressed state. For some reason, Viet truly felt guilty at this. Maybe for the first time.
"Please excuse my appearance, class. I am due to cancel this current lesson due to 'unforeseen consequences'. While a small part of them are related to Mihinn, I assure that it's not all his fault. While I wish to tell you more… It's supposed to be a secret, so I cannot." All dragons present nodded slowly. "You may proceed to your next class, defense and sparring, at the training dojo, with Spyro and Terrador as your teachers, for this day, as your usual teacher, Cobble, is ill. Thank you."
Stürm was the first to register. She just walked out of the class lazily, while Viet and the two brothers did the same. Baltic stayed behind, along with Vandal.
"… Are you alright, Periicles?" Baltic asked in concern, while she looked at him in the eyes. While he was indeed old and acted old, he was still her favorite teacher because of the subject. The concerned teacher just smiled lightly.
"I appreciate your concern, Baltic, but I can take care of myself quite fine, for now. I am just worried about the event I cannot tell you about, but also about Mihinn's future. I really wish that he would understand that his life is at stake if he keeps having such a personality," he said, looking over Vandal. "But he might be a good dragon. Maybe. I know that under every appearance, there is a soul, wherever it might be."
"But he seems like a troublemaker," Vandal noticed.
"He is. But everything got a moral, if you can find it. History had shown that… But you should be going now. Terrador dislikes waiting." All dragons know that, the electric dragoness said in her mind. "I'll be sure to give you a proper lesson in history tomorrow. And sorry about such an introduction, Vandal." The younger blue dragon agreed with a smile.
"It's alright. See you tomorrow, Periicles," he said while getting out of class. Baltic soon followed him.
"See you tomorrow…" the teacher repeated.
Viet have waited for them, along with Stürm, Sterlock and Degyarev. While the two brothers telepathically communicated telepathically (at least, it seemed that was the only explainable answer about their synergy to every other dragon), Baltic shot Viet a mean glare.
"Because of you, we miss the class. Congratulations, Viet." While Baltic was not usually like this, she hated when someone would make her miss the class she loved most. The fire dragon just whimpered a little.
"I didn't mean to anger him like that…"
"Well, you did. But there's no point lingering in the past right now. Let's go see Terrador and Spyro," Baltic recommended.
Soon enough, they all started walking towards the Dojo. Viet, Sterlock and Degyarev did so with excitement, Baltic and Vandal with boredom, Stürm with a muttered growl. She was not a fighter at all, and she was indeed weak. She relied on her element too much, so when it came to sparring education, which is an obligation to complete within Warfang, she was not strong enough to defeat tier-six dragons. Thankfully, she could at least hold up for a few minutes. All due to the tier system.
Dragons were attributed assigned a 'battle rating', judged on their performances. It was recalculated after every match, and was pretty much a measure of skill for the dragon. Tiers were the level in which battle ratings were classedsorted. Only a few dragons are at tier one, including Cobble, Terrador and Spyro. This meant that they were harder to defeat, if not impossible compared to tier six dragons. So, based on their battle rating, a dragon was assigned to one which had a similar onerating. If it was a fight between teams, they would only take the strongest dragon in each team's battle rating in consideration.
This system was introduced after an accident almost caused a death during sparring, in which a weak dragon got paired with one of the strongest dragons. Baltic was there when it happened, and it was not what she was interested in when she joined classes. Never again, she told herself when she remembered such an event.
Soon enough, they arrived at where the Training Dojo was. Terrador was waiting at the entrance as a multitude of multicolored dragons went in. Compared to the other classes, at least fifty dragons could go into the dojo to assist and fight in sparring matches. He said hello to each dragon that went in, and did so with Baltic, Stürm, Vandal, the two brothers and Viet.
"Let me out, please." the earth dragon pleaded, for the hundredth time.
"Silence, lad." was his only answer, along with a light shove in the face. "No one is here to save you, for now. So please do what I ask you to do, and we can have tea by the end of it."
As the earth dragon's vision came back, he could look upon a fully red dragon. "You see, tea must have a perfect timing and blend to be good. So the faster you tell me your name, the better the tea will be. Because it will be ready in the next twenty seconds."
"Panzer…" he said, coughing up. "Student at Munition Forge." Usually, he would havead been much more dynamic and strong enough to break out of his bonds. But two days of starving did a number on the poor student.
"Good, good. Thank you. Mine is Brittle. While I am not the one that decided to leave you in such a state, I can tell you that I should take good care of you…" he said, pointing at the chained dragon. "Unless you become disobedient. I dislike that, along with my superior." Suddenly, they both heard a light whistling. Brittle went away from the dragon to come up with something that looked like a flattened lantern between his jaws. Two pots were present in front of him. Brittle started to pour liquid out of the object in each cup, before putting it down. Panzer could get a look at the dragon's head. His horns had an orange color, and were curved back in front of his head.
"Tea?" the dragon proposed, with a genuine smile that creeped out Panzer a little. He was too thirsty to mind whatever he would be drinking, might it be safe or poisonous. He only nodded, at which a pot of the liquid was pushed to him. He grabbed it between his teeth, slowly drinking the hot liquid. To his surprise, it did not taste badly. It was like medicinal herbs.
He finished half of it, before putting it down, looking at Brittle. "Thank you…" he said, not sure what else he would be saying to his guard.
"Do not worry about it, lad. While I may be cruel, I am not enough to refuse tea to anyone. Now, drink. It is of importance that you finish such a brew."
"… You seem to like your tea," Panzer noticed.
"Why wouldn't we? We are on the coldest place in Avalar, and this is the best way to warm up. Now, drink up."
Panzer nodded, finishing the strange liquid the other called tea. He would have to ask for the recipe if he could get out. That is, if the earth dragon could do suchso.
A/N: Whoa, that's the longest chapter I have ever written in the history of me making fan fiction. 2000 words was my initial goal, but it seemed I have done more than the double for this chapter! Good thing I love typing on my mechanical keyboard. Anyways, good news for my readers then.
The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series belongs to whoever have it now. The inspiration for Sterlock and Degyarev comes from it.
The character of Vandal belongs to USAF ParaJumper, which was first and foremost taken from the game Dead Space: Mobile, which is owned by EA.
Dead Space belongs to EA. (I want a sequel.)
Volteer and Terrador belongs to Activision, as they now own the Spyro series.
Baltic, Stürm, Periicles, Panzer and Mihinn belongs to me.
Please Review if you can. It's what keeps me going.
Thank you for reading, and see you next time.