The day after, Word had summoned his newest wraith. She was padding slowly across the citadel's hallways when she overheard a pair of human workers conversing outside one of the many R&D labs that resided in the gigantic building.
"So, how's your job doing? Anything to complain about?" The first one, a woman, asked.
"Complain? It's my first work experience, and at Paynn Incorporated nonetheless! Why would I complain?" The second one, a man, answered.
"Well, there are corridor rumors... you know, the kind of rumors that go around the office about your boss..." The woman said.
"Huh, what about them?" The man asked, curious.
"I've heard, that around the citadel there are invisible dragons. Apparently only security and Mr. Paynn himself know of their presence, and only the big boss can actually control them." The woman whispered, although it was futile since the wraith was only so few meters away from the two.
"Invisible dragons. Have you been up late last night watching a sci-fi movie marathon?" The man teased, snickering as his colleague's face blushed.
"Yes, I have. But trust me, there are things that happen in here that not many know about." The woman said, a bit angry at her colleague, which simply shook his head as he returned inside the lab.
"Fine! Don't trust me! But don't come saying I didn't tell you anything if something weird happens!" The woman shouted as she went back inside the lab as well, the door slowly and silently closing behind her.
As the door closed shut, the wraith snapped out of it, and noticing she was running late she began a light run towards the place of her summoning.
Minutes went by just fast as the doors and crossings that wraith passed by to reach Word, down to the most secret levels of the citadel. Here, very few humans had the privilege to be able to access these levels. Humans, that is. And even then, the only dragons allowed were Word Paynn's dragons, the wraith dragons.
Once she arrived, she was welcomed by the sights of a huge hangar, equipped to be closer to some sort of massive dragon pen. She couldn't really count how many stalls there were, it wasn't her job to do that. She instead headed for where she sensed Master Word would be.
Standing on top of an elevated and overlooking bridge, Word was looking down upon the hundreds of dragons that were given respite there. Approaching him, the wraith dropped the cloak that so splendidly concealed her presence from the careless eyes of the citadel's workers.
"Finally you have arrived, my wraith queen." Word idly said, still peering at the resting wraith dragons below them. "Look, and tell me what you see."
"Wraiths." The wraith hissed.
"Yes, my limited, but very resourceful army of wraith dragons." Word said, letting his gloved hand move in a wide dramatic gesture. "Hundreds of dragons under my direct command, like you. Hundreds of warriors ready to start a dragon-human war."
The wraith looked at the expanse of the hangar. Some dragons were sleeping, others eating or drinking, while others simply idled by standing still. That image, the cold mechanical feeling that it produced, stirred something deeply buried in the wraith's mind. A feeling of wrong, of void. Before the wraith could entertain further those feeling, the wraith gear overrode them, suppressing them back to where they came in her mind.
"The reason why I brought you here, my wraith queen, is because tomorrow you'll be on the hunt for the Dragon Booster." Word said, attracting the wraith's attention. "You will take and lead personally a number of wraiths. Remember, the Dragon Booster and the Dragon of Legend are not simple adversaries. They can be a lot more unpredictable and impervious to defeat."
"I will destroy them." The wraith growled.
"I'd rather have you destroy only the Dragon Booster. Spare the Dragon of Legend, if you can. Bring him here. If he resists, then you may as well do what it takes to make sure he complies." Word said, turning to completely face the wraith. "The Dragon of Legend is the key to either starting, stopping or outright prevent a dragon-human war, and it and its Dragon Booster have been a torn in my side for far too long."
Much to Word's surprise, the wraith simply grinned, its lips curling, exposing the sharp teeth that adorned its jaws. For a moment, Word simply observed as the wraith's expression remained unchanged.
"I will savor the Dragon of Legend's defeat." The wraith simply growled, leaving Word rather dumbfounded.
Another day went by, quietly. Nothing significant happened in Dragon City. No races, no incidents, no impressive crimes. For most people, the quiet was a much welcome change, a break from the constant turmoil that shrouded the city's bustling life. For others, the quiet was nothing short of foreboding. A sign that something dark was going to happen.
Parmon and Lance were out, going to a large open market looking for gear and spare parts. The last events proved to be quite demanding for Artha and Beau's gear, and the coming Academy selection races would be even tougher.
"So, how much stuff do we need to buy?" Lance asked, leaning over Fracshun's saddle's central panel due to how bored he was.
"We need enough to stuff to pretty much fill the entire trailer." Parmon said as he pointed to the large trailer that Cyrano was towing. "The coming races will be much tougher than anything we've had to deal before. Knowing Artha, he will most likely loose a third of the gear in the first few races."
Annoyed by Parmon's teasing of his brother, Lance took out his blocking staff, extended it and poked at one of the mag-locks on Parmon's saddle, causing them to turn off. The saddle promptly rolled onto the side of Cyrano's neck, Parmon holding just barely on the controls as he slowly steadied himself back up straight.
"Ha ha." Parmon retorted sarcastically at the laughing kid.
Meanwhile, from up above one of the tall city buildings that loomed over the open market, two figures were watching with patient eye.
"Moordryid, are you sure this is wise?" Cain asked, rather nervous at what this plan involved. "The gear market is full of people and dragons. So many people in such a tight place..."
"Yes, I know, Cain." Moordryid cut him off angrily. "Besides, if Blarre does his job, no one will get hurt but the Dragon Booster."
In that moment, Moordryid's wrist comm started beeping.
"Moordryid, the fireworks are in place. Tell me when to light the candle, and the party's gonna start with a bang." Blarre said.
"Hold the lighter in the pocket, Blarre, we still need to hear from Vizz." Moordryid said. In that same moment, Cain's wrist comm received a call.
"Vizz here, the wraiths are in place. Magna Draconis, there's a lot of them." Vizz said, ending with a whistle.
"How many are there?" Cain asked, but before Vizz could answer Moordryid gave the signal to Blarre.
"Blarre, time to start the party!"
Parmon and Lance had been buying a lot of spare parts and some additional gear for almost an hour now, and Lance had become pretty bored of just having to stand aside and carry the next box of spare parts that Parmon would no doubt buy. Taking the chance that Parmon was busy negotiating with a rather stubborn vendor, Lance decided to wander off, making his way between the multitude of people that filled the rather cramped space in the square. The noise of people chattering, dragons growling, merchandise being moved and the shouts of the vendors, all put together made an almost deafening cacophony of voices and noises, which would drown out pretty much all distinguishable patterns of sound. Except an explosion.
Suddenly, a loud bang and a flash of smoke. People stopped and look around the square to see what was going on. Before anyone could realize what happened, a huge neon sign which was hung on one of the building's sides collapsed to the ground, the people who were below it luckily scurrying away before it crashed. The huge sign covered the entire width of the street, and had somehow managed to wedge itself that there was no hope on removing it any time soon.
The crowd had quieted. The only sounds heard where the murmurs of people asking what was going on, while others hurried to call Dragon City Security with their wrist comms.
A group of people tried to squeeze through one of the side alleys that provided the square with the only other entrances, and exits. Unfortunately, someone had the brilliant idea of trying and squeeze an Earth-class into the alley, with the much predictable result of getting the dragon stuck between the two narrow sides of the passage. The other alleys didn't fare much better. Some were far too full of garbage and waste to be even remotely possible to go though, while the other alleys turned out to be dead ends.
From somewhere in the middle of the crowd, Lance could hear Parmon calling for him, but without Fracshun, which was with Parmon and Cyrano, he couldn't see at all where Parmon was calling him from.
"Lance! Where are you!?" Parmon kept calling, despite a woman frowning at how loud he was. "Lance!"
"I'm here!" Lance called back, but to no avail as the crowd's noise picked up in intensity as panic started to sink in.
Suddenly, from up above came a shrieking roar. Everyone looked up, and when they recognized what it was, people started to panic. Some shouting, trying to squeeze themselves and their dragons into the near alleys, others readied their blocking staves or whatever they happened to be able to use. Others, took the chance and 'borrowed' some of the market's exposed gear to arm their dragons.
"Wraith dragons!" Someone a bit late to notice shouted as they eyed at the surrounding building's rooftops.
"Excellent." Word hissed, appeased. "Looks like that my son's crew isn't as incompetent as their past failures led me to believe. Perhaps there's still some use to them."
He watched through his wraith's eyes as the situation unfolded. Some people panicked, other armed themselves, others simply tried to hide away.
"Look at them. Hopeless people in a no-win situation." Word said, with a mocking tone of worry. "The Dragon Booster would better get there soon! Who knows what could happen!"
The wraith watched. Once more, strange feelings tried to emerge from her mind. Wrongness, confusion, fear. Before she could elaborate any further, the gear suppressed them.
Then, she heard her master give the order.
"Wraith queen, remember what I told you. Fear is a weapon. Use it." Word called to his monitors, communicating with the wraith.
"Dragons!" The wraith called with a roar, her psi gear glowing intensively. "You've been deceived by the humans! Join us, so you can get your vengeance!"
"Lies!" A dragon from the crowd called. "The humans do not deceive us! Don't listen to her!"
"Listen to yourself! What have humans done to gain our trust? Nothing!" The wraith screeched back.
Lance had just managed to make his way through the crowd back to Parmon, when the dragons began their exchange or roars and growls.
"What's going on?" Lance asked, frightened and reaching for Fracshun, who seemed just as scared as the kid.
"I don't know, but I've already managed to call Artha." Parmon said, trying to act brave but only to fail as his trembling legs gave away his true emotions. "I hope he and Beau get here. Fast."
"And what is that you would give us that we don't have, wraith?" Another dragon, somewhat younger than the others who voiced themselves so far, asked.
"We offer the power, the opportunity to strike at the humans where it hurts them the most! Look at them! Look at how they cower before us!" The wraith screeched. "They are afraid of dragons who think by themselves!"
"That is not true!" One more dragon called. "Humans respect us. Some even fight to protect us! You, instead, are nothing more than slaves to a machine."
The wraith's eyes focused on that dragon. It was a Bull-class, still attached with towing gear to a rather large blue-white colored trailer. Next to him were a tall young-looking man with tanned skin and auburn hair, a young Energy-class and a small red-haired kid. When she focused on them, something in her mind clicked, causing her mind to flashback to some not-too-distant moment of her life. She knew them, she knew they were important. But why, she struggled to reason as the mind gear tried its best to overcome her willpower. Despite its attempts, she remembered, and when she did, the gear gave up, but not as one would expect.
"Wait... I know you..." The wraith hissed.
"You know me?" The Bull-class recoiled in shock.
"Yes... You! You and your... companions are friends with the Dragon of Legend!" She roared. The eye of every dragon in the market square snapped on the Bull-class. "It's no wonder you're so... blinded."
With that, the wraith jumped off the building, landing with a loud thump and leaving behind a series of cracks in the pavement. After a brief moment of recovery, during which people and dragons moved away from her in sheer fear, she started a slow walk towards them. Her eyes bore into the green Bull-class's, who tried to back off only to bump against the trailer he was still attached to.
"Look at you... Doing the hard work for the humans..." She hissed as she got close to him. Suddenly, the tall man that was the dragon's rider jumped between her and the Bull-class, holding a blocking staff with shaking hands.
"B-b-back off! U-ugly wraith, I said back off!" He shouted as he held the blocking staff in front of him.
"What a pathetic excuse of a rider..." The wraith growled, arming the fireball launchers on her shoulders. She fired, and moments before the balls of overheated draconium collided with the man and the Bull-class, two flashes of gold collided with them, causing them to explode in mid air in a shower of sparks.
"Not on my watch, wraith!" Artha, in his Dragon Booster armor called as he and Beau jumped down from the building, placing themselves between Parmon and the wraith. "Are you okay, Parm?"
"Y-y-yes, thanks for the save!" Parmon said, still shaking in his boots.
"Back off, or else..." Beau roared at the wraith, who much to the black and gold dragon's shock simply chuckled.
"Or what? Do you want to fight with all these people in such a tight place?" The wraith laughed at him, which caused Beau to growl anger as he realized that the wraith knew that he wouldn't dare.
"What do you want?" Beau growled, although he already knew the answer.
"Come with us! The humans are not worthy of our kind's power." The wraith hissed.
Beau looked around. The dragons in the square were all looking at him. They wanted to know what his move would be.
"Not a chance!" Beau roared in defiance.
"What a pity that he keeps defying us." Word muttered. "Perhaps, he'll be more receptive of our offer after some... thorough convincing."
Word watched his monitors. All the wraiths were in position, still undetected.
"Now, my wraith queen. Force his hand." Word commanded, and the wraith complied.
"Too bad. You would've made an excellent ally." The wraith growled as she received her master's words.
She turned around and started running. People dodged out of her away just barely, with a few people and dragons being knocked over by the crowd's sudden displacement. As she reached the base of the building where she stood from earlier, she jumped, while also activating the side-venting gear the rested on her sides, pointing it away from the building. As her feet made contact with the building's walls, she sprinted upwards, leaving everyone to gawk at her performance. With one final push, she jumped on top of the building, and turned around to face the square.
"Wraiths! Prepare!" She called with a roar, and the wraiths positioned around the rooftops uncloaked and brought themselves to the edges of the buildings. They all pointed at the Dragon of Legend, who looked at the wraiths with worry at the sight of their numbers.