Sorry for the delay guys! We had terrible windstorms out here where I live. It tore the roof off my chicken shed, and I had to fix it, so I have been kind of busy with that. It doesn't help that I have been working on my brother's house, trying to get the upstairs of it finished. Anyways! For the next few chapters, I am going to be slowing it down. I am going to be focusing on Character development and letting them enjoy themselves for a bit. The first song I am writing for this fic is just over halfway done, it has a title now! I am calling it "Clock Strikes Midnight". I came up with the name when I was writing the entrance riff, right before I hit the main riff, it sounds like a grandfather clock striking the bell. Either way, onto the chapter, and there is no set song for this one.
Everyone was still there when Clay and Peril got back from the palace. "So... how did it go?" Starflight asked them.
"The queen agrees with us, the mudwings should leave the war," Clay paused before continuing.
"I am sure that there is a but in there, am I right?" Starflight said worried about what Clay would say.
Clay nodded his head, "Correct, but it's nothing bad," Clay smiled at what the queen decided, "She is going to leave it up to the tribe, she is going to have all the bigwings decide on a vote,".
"Wow... that's actually... fair" Starflight said, shocked that a queen would give that much control to the citizens.
Sunny jumped up, "Oh my gosh, that's how it should be everywhere!"
Clay nodded his head, "I agree, even if the queen wants to leave the war, it's still fair to let everybody decide,"
Glory frowned at what she was thinking, "What are we going to do if they decide to keep on fighting?"
"There is nothing we could do... you can tell somebody anything you want to, but it doesn't matter if everyone wants to keep fighting," Starflight answered.
"The queen said the vote will be in a week, she wants all mudwings to be present for this vote," Clay said.
Tsunami deflated at that, "What are we going to do for a whole week, that sounds horribly boring,"
Clay smiled down at her, "Think of it as a small vacation, you can go and do whatever you want to,"
"Even though we are the smallest tribe, there are still some fun things to do around here," Umber said, giggling at Tsunami.
"Like what?" Tsunami said snarky, "Sleeping in the mud isn't exactly a seawing thing,"
"There are some shops, sightseeing, and there are different competitions all the time around here" Umber answered.
Peril smiled at Clay, "I would like to get to relax for a while and try out life without my firescalles for a bit.
"What do you want to do?" Clay asked her, curious at what she would pick first.
"I don't know, let's just walk around and find out?" Peril said excitedly, going out the door and taking Clay with her.
Most of the Mud Kingdom was just huts and little storage places. The middle of the kingdom was a totally different story. Almost all the houses were built out of a mixture of mud and stones, making some elaborate buildings. There were some stores, large houses, a large armory, a few libraries, and even an arena for shows, speeches, and competitions.
"I guess Umber was right, there are some things to do around here," Peril said, looking every which way. Taking in all the new sights that were around her.
Clay's stomach made a loud grumbling noise like it was angry. Clay was embarrassed, "Let's get something to eat"
Peril just giggled a bit, "Sure! if we wait any longer, your stomach is going to start digesting yourself"
It didn't take them too long to find somewhere to eat. "Fried alligator, sounds awesome!" Clay said in excitement.
The place was a small outdoor restaurant, there were four older mudwings that were working there. All of them were too old to be in the war.
Clay walked up to the counter, checking the price they had on a sign. "Hello there, can't remember the last time that we had a skywing here," The elderly mudwing said, giving Clay and Peril a smile.
"Ya, we are kind of hungry and we were looking for something to eat," Clay said, smiling back at the elder, "Saw that you were selling fried alligator and I thought that sounded pretty good!"
"It is indeed, my older sib came up with it when we were younger," The elder said.
"Good, I'll take two please," Clay said, forking over the coins.
"Thank you sir, I will have it to you in just a minute!" The elder said, telling his sibs to get ready for another order.
Peril gave Clay an excited look, "I am sooo looking forwards to this, I haven't eaten a single thing that wasn't burnt to an absolute crisp."
"Gosh dang, that sucks..." Clay said upset, "But, don't worry... starting now, you don't have to eat burnt food!"
The elderly Mudwing came back with their food, steaming hot and smelling great. (I have eaten alligator in real life, that stuff bussing fr).
Peril and Clay went outside to the area where you ate and sat down. Peril took a big chunk off the chunk of meat. "Oh my moons, this taste ten times better than those stupid rocks!"
Clay took a small bite, "this is great! I must say, for your first time eating something that wasn't burnt, this is a good choice."
Peril loved almost everything on the piece of meat, even chewing on the bone for a little bit. She was before Clay was.
"That's a first," Clay said chuckling a bit. Peril gave him a confused look.
"Nobody ever finishes eating before me, not that I can recall anyway," Clay said, just now finishing.
"What can I say, it tasted awesome," Peril said blushing just a hair bit.
They both got up, leaving a tip on the way out for the food they ate. "That was great, what do you want to go do now?" Peril asked excitedly.
"I think we should go and try one of those competitions that Umber was talking about?" Clay said.
Peril gave him a nod, "I don't really care if I do a competition, but I think it would be pretty fun to watch you do one."
They made their way to the gate of the arena, there was already a small crowd of mudwings waiting there. An older mudwing was announcing the competition. "Today's games will be about strength, please write your name on the paper to sign up and we will get started!"
A large chunk of the mudwings broke off from the group and surrounded a table with some papers on it. Peril motioned her head towards the table and Clay walked over. Wrote his name and followed the rest of the mudwings.
"Sooo, this is my first time doing one of these?" Clay asked one of the mudwings next to him.
"They are different every time, I have no idea what it will be and nobody else does either." The mudwing said giving him a look, "Just listen for what they tell you to do, all right."
Clay gave him a nod, he was surprised when he saw a blue dragon amongst the group. "Tsunami, what are you doing here?"
Tsunami turned around in shock, "Apparently the same as you," Tsunami said looking around, "Where is Peril at?"
"She told me that she didn't want to do the competition, she said that she would like to watch me instead," Clay answered truthfully.
"Ahh, so she wanted to watch her boyfriend?" Tsunami said jokingly, making Clay blush.
"She isn't my girlfriend!" Clay hissed at her, still blushing.
"No... but you wish she was!" Tsunami said laughing. Clay just walked away still blushing.
"Clay just remember that if we compete against each other, I don't want you holding back!" Tsunami yelled at him before he left. Clay just nodded, still blushing like mad.
There were four dragons called out before Clay ever was. Clay looked around at the competing dragons that were there. Some of them were easily twice his size. Clay knew that he still had a while before he grew to his full size. He was almost to the point where he should hit a growth spurt.
"Clay, to the field!" Somebody yelled, Calling Clay out.
Clay made his way outside into the middle of the arena. He was shocked by how many dragons were watching this. Almost the whole arena was filled up. The queen herself was even watching. Umber said this was a big deal in the mud kingdom, but he had no idea it was this BIG!
He looked over at the other wall and he saw a big bracket, looking for his name. He found Tsunamis first, it was in the middle of the right side of the bracket, he was on the left. He didn't recognize any other names on the bracket.
The dragon he was competing against came out of the other side of the arena. "And now, for your two-time champion, Cypress!".
Cypress was huge! Not as big as the queen. He wasn't that tall or anything, it's just that his muscles were gigantic, as about as big as trees were wide.
"Clay and Cypress of the mudwings, for the first part of the games we will be doing the atlas stone lift, we will not be basing this off of a time limit, you just keep on going till you can't anymore." The announcer ordered. Both Clay and Cypress nodded.
"We will start with Cypress first!" The announcer said dramatically.
Cypress did pretty well, being able to get almost over half of them getting up to the stone that lifted a good five tons. He made it to the six-ton ball, but dropped it halfway up.
"Alright, my turn" Clay muttered to himself, making it to the six-ton ball. What was shocking to everyone is that he hasn't even started to struggle yet, but unknown to them he was using his powers. Everyone went ballistic when he made it to the "Queen's Stone". It was called that because only the Queen was able to pick it up, and that's been years ago. Clay lifted it like it weighed about as much as a cup of tea, with one hand to be exact. Cypress left a while ago, not being able to handle the loss.
Clay also walked out after he was done. Everybody in the stadium was too shocked to say anything. But one sky wing was laughing at the sight.
Clay walked back in, the rest of the competing mudwings didn't see what he did. The rest of the competition went about the same way. The next one was a pillar push, Clay just punched the ground and made all of his pillars crumble, and the last one was to see how long you could lift up one of the eight ton atlas balls. Clay never even broke a sweat the whole competition.
It was finally the last competition, both Clay and Tsunami had made it with no issues. Hundreds of mudwings were depressed because they lost their bets in the first round to them.
"Alright, final challenge!" The announcer started, "Whoever wins this, gets the title of the strongest dragon, and fifty gold coins!". The announcer paused before continuing, "The last challenge is a good old fight, no fire, no mauling, permanent damage, or killing... Is that Clear!"
Both Clay and Tsunami nodded. "All right, you may start when you feel like it!" The announcer said, flying back to the box.
Smiling at each other. "Hey Clay, want to give them a show?" Tsunami asked giddy to show off a bit.
"Sure, but let's not destroy the place!" Clay said, just as excited.
After Clay said that, Tsunami shot one of her claws into the air, circling it around her head for a bit, clouds forming up, starting to make it rain.
It didn't bother anybody, they were used to it raining all the time here. It truthfully just made all the mudwing happier and more excited.
Clay crouched down, knowing that right now he was surrounded by Tsunamis element. He has trained with her enough times to know by now what she liked to do.
There it was! She flicked her tail and a large part of water formed and started speeding towards him. Clay shot to the right, dodging it. Stomping his back leg into the ground, making the rock below him fling himself at Tsunami. Cocking his front right leg back, getting ready to punch Tsunami.
Tsunami blocked him by forming a wall between each other. Clay's claws were stuck in the water wall. Clay waved his tail, and some small pillars shot into the wall, dispelling it. Both started charging at each other. Tsunami formed a water-type armor on herself, and Clay formed rocks onto his fist.
They both took a swing at each other... and knocked each other out at the same time, it was a draw.
Nobody in the crowd knew what to say or do. What are you supposed to do when two dragons start using strange powers and knock each other out. Peril was laughing at the dragons she just watched. She wanted Clay to win, but this was too funny.
Both of them started waking up, slowly standing up. "That's it for today folks, today's fight ends in a draw!" The announcer said after he got out of shock. "Next week's fight will also be the at the same time, please be there!"
"Clay and Tsunami, here is your winnings," The announcer said, handing each of them a bag of coins, "Since you both tied, you will split the winnings"
"Cool!" Tsunami said, jingling the coins in the bag, "Clay, I will win next time!"
Clay just gave her a look, "If my memory serves correctly, we are both tied in how many times we have won against each other"
Tsunami just shrugged her shoulders and left, flying back to the place they were staying.
Clay turned around, seeing that Peril was waiting for him, "What are you going to do with the coins?" Peril asked as Clay walked over to her.
"We are going to be here for at least a week, I am sure that I will find something to spend it on," Clay said, thinking of a few things.
It was late now, the sun starting to set. Remembering what Umber said, he took off into the air. Peril following him.
He kept on flying till he found a good place to watch the sunset. Finding a small hill, he landed there. Peril right next to him.
"Thanks Clay, for being with me today," Peril said, leaning on Clay's side.
"I had fun today, Peril, we will definitely have to do this again soon," Clay said looking off into the distance at the sunset. The colors reminded him of the dragon that was next to him.
"Yep," Was all that Peril said, as she laid down next to Clay.
Well, that's a wrap for today. I am sooo excited for the new Metallica album that's coming out tomorrow. I don't care for all the hate they are getting for their last few singles. I loved them. but enough of that. I have planned out when I am bringing in the Jade winglet, and its going to be completely different. The most shocking thing I am going to be doing is definitely the Rain Wing arc. It was causing me a huge dilemma and I needed it solved. The way I solved it was simple, but different from any fic I have ever read. Last thing, get ready to meet some familiar faces in the next chapter. Bet you won't guess who it is.