Pride of the hero
Welcome back to another chapter of Heart of a Dragon! Guys, I am so happy you all love this and can't wait to write more!
I do not own Dragon Booster, only my oc's.
Another day, another race, the crowd was cheering as racers ran along the track with a racer and their magma-class dragon in the lead, followed by Artha, Moordryd, Kitt and a few others.
"Come on, boy! Go, go!" Artha urged Beau to go faster as the red and blue dragon ran alongside Moordryd.
Moordry sneered viciously. "Not so fast, stable-brat!" He pulled on the handles, directing Decepshun to smash into Artha and Beau, causing some of his gear to break. Artha glared back and retaliated with Beau slamming into the black psi-class dragon, some gear went flying and Kitt dodged out of the way, giving Artha a glare.
"Hey, is this a street race or a grudge match?" She asked, annoyed by the way the two boys were acting with each other.
Artha frowned. "It's not my fault. He's out of control!" He said defensively, why were they getting annoyed with him when it was Moordryd who started the whole thing in the first place! His screen popped up, showing Parm and Iris who did not look happy at all!
"But you don't have to fight him here, Artha. Beau's energy coefficient is down 50%!" Parm said, trying to be reasonable.
"This is a race, not a 'who can win the best bashing match, Artha!' You're being reckless out there and draining Beau's energy by doing it!" Iris scolded her brother with her arms folded over her chest.
Lance popped up on the screen. "Yeah! And Moordryd's still kicking your bu-" Artha switched his screen off, not in the mood to hear their lectures.
Iris scowled once the screen went down where she, Lance and Parm stood at the crew tents with their dragons. The violet teen growled at her brother's stupidness. "That boy doesn't listen at times. Ohh, I just want to give him a lashing. For his disrespect!"
Prisma could sense her soul-sister's anger and rested her head on the teen's shoulder. "Don't do anything yet, Iris. Things will come to those who deserve it, just wait!" The hybrid assured her rider that her time to scold Artha will come soon.
Back on the track, Moordryd set his sights on the racer up ahead of him, he laughed to himself, reaching inside his jacket and pulling out his energy drain whip, sending it flying at the dragon, latching onto its side. The red magma-class roared in pain as his energy was being drained. Moordryd pulled back on the whip, forcing both dragon and rider down in the middle of the track, creating a sort of obstacle for those behind him.
Artha saw them and activated his red thruster gear, Beau leaping over the downed dragon and rider. "Feelin' no Paynn today!" Artha said rather cockily as they landed back on the track to catch up to Moordryd, who was still ahead of them.
Moordryd sneered. "We'll see about that!" He drove his dragon to bash into Artha and Beau, forcing them right off the track onto a diverging fork in the track where they ran straight through directional signs and were bearing down on watching spectators who all ducked, with one woman having to pull her child out of the way.
The pair jumped over the barrier to avoid the people, but that left them wide open to land directly in a dragon stable/park area, forcing them to use their thruster gear to avoid landing in the dragons below them. The boys managed to avoid the dragons and kept running along a deserted street. Artha's screen then popped up.
Parm looked worried. "Artha! That's the mall up ahead! The race is that way!" He gestured in the direction of where the race was going to the left.
Artha looked annoyed. "Yeah, and Paynn is going this way!" Both dragons made a sharp turn down another street, this one filled with people and street stalls, all of who protested at the teens as they ran past. Moordryd had Decepshun jump up onto the roofs of a few shops as they continued running, he then directed his dragon to jump down and bash into Artha, who bashed him in retaliation!
The teens continued down the street, people ran to get out of their way and at the last moment to avoid hitting the taxi dragon, they jumped over and continued. Decepshun magged Moordryd out of his saddle and the boy lunged at Artha, who dodged the attack and was forced back to avoid being knocked out of his saddle.
Above the teens, looking through his binocs, Cain watched as the two boys divided into different forks in the track. Lowering his binocs, he opened his link to Moordryd. "The next right will put you right on top of him, Moordryd."
The white haired teen grinned. "Perfect! Let's see what they do with this!" He pressed one of the buttons on his controls, causing black gear to extend out on Decepshun's flanks and head. It started to glow and the black psi dragon made a right turn to intercept Beau and Artha.
As they go closer, the gear continued to glow and then formed a type of shield around them, distorting their image as they approached. Beau snarled. "Artha, we have a problem!" He growled, seeing the approaching danger.
"I see it, Beau! He's using black shadow gear! He's going to attack!" Artha knew the type of gear Moordryd was using was dangerous and he saw the approaching dragon mag Moordryd into the air.
"Mag me, Beau!" Artha was magged into the air, headed for Moordryd, as he did so, he extended his blocking staff as Moordryd threw his whip out at him. Artha flipped himself over it, running along the line of it, leaped off and struck Moordryd in his back, breaking his chute gear.
Beau snarled as he and Decepshun grew closer to each other while Lance, Parm and Iris were watching the feed from the tents.
"They're gonna crash!" Lance cried as Iris covered her eyes, unable to look. Prisma curled her head around her sister, also closing her eyes.
"Artha!" Parm called out, worried for his friend.
Beau and Decepshun were close to hitting and at the last minute, Decepshun swerved to avoid hitting Beau, breaking through the safety barrier and started to fall, pulling Moordryd with her, but she managed to land on a ledge just below the track, shaking her head and, no longer holding Moordryd with her mag-stream. Her rider continued to fall while Beau skidded to a halt.
"My glider pack!" Moordryd screamed as he continued to fall, his chute gear not working since Artha had broken it with his blocking staff earlier.
Artha, held up by Beau's mag-stream, could see something was wrong with his rival, then he realised, he had hit Moordryd's chute gear with his blocking staff and now he had no way of saving himself from a nasty fall that could likely kill him! "We gotta save him, Beau! Jump!" Artha said to Beau, who leaped from the ledge, pulling Artha with him.
The teen managed to get back into the saddle and saw they were getting closer to the falling teen. "Now, Beau! Now!" Beau growled, activating his white rappel gear on his right foreleg, the claw attaching to Moordryd's leg while another extended from the gear on his back, gripping the ledge above them.
The line lowered the red and blue dragon to land on a dragon head statue while the line from his leg stopped Moordryd's fall from the road below. Moordryd, having closed his eyes for the impact he knew would come, opened them when he saw that he was only inches from the ground and looked back to see that he was hanging upside down, a rappel hook attached to his leg that was then attached to Beau, who roared in triumph at the save.
The white haired teen was not very happy about this. "Scales! Saved by the stable-brat?!" He reached up to try and release his leg from the hook, only for it to let go on its own, dumping him on the ground with a thud!
Back at the tents, Iris had her arms folded over her chest, a very displeased look on her face as she watched Artha and Beau walk towards where she, Prisma, Parm and Lance waited.
Parm was the first one to speak. "Nice race, Artha. Nice if you'd get around to finishing it too!" His tone was utter sarcasm, annoyed by the way Artha had acted out on the track.
Her brother brushed off Parm's words. "Oh, forget the race guys! Did you catch me dusting Moordryd and then saving him? Artha Penn, bashes! He battles! He saves the day!" Lance and Parm both looked rather exasperated while Iris made to go give her brother a thrashing for his attitude but Prisma grasped the back of her jacket and lifted her into the air.
"What the…? Prisma, you put me down this second while I give him a thrashing he won't forget!" She shouted as her dragon carried her off in her mouth to calm her down. The boys watched the hybrid leave with the clearly angry Iris as Kitt walked up to them.
"Ah, careful, stable-boy. You could break an arm patting yourself on the back that hard." She commented.
Artha just smirked. "I think someone's a little jealous."
Kitt gave him a scathing look from his comment. "Of what? Your big fat head?" She sneered. Beau laughed at her remark.
"Good one, Kitt."
Artha gave Beau a look. "I wouldn't be laughing about big fat heads if I were you." Beau made an indignant sound and snorted at his rider for his cheek.
Later on at the down-city council meeting room, the various members of the different crews were talking amongst themselves when Phistus slammed the hilt of his hammer down on the table, shutting everyone up. "Silence!"
Moordryd turned his head to look at Phistus. "We must get a grip on these mysterious wraith dragon attacks. They've already taken five of my dragons. The Dragon Booster may be our best weapon."
Moordrya waved his comment away. "Yah, Dragon Booster? A hero that hides behind a mask is no answer."
Phistus eyed him. "As leader of this council, I-" he was cut off as he was hit by something invisible and sent flying, skidding onto the floor as a wraith dragon, four legged, shimmered into view, pinning the council leader down by his shoulders. As Phistis struggled to free himself, council members were running for the door while others tried to hide. Moordryd smirked to himself. He reached into his jacket to reveal a controller for the wraith dragon.
The wraith screeched into Phistus' face as the big man continued to struggle against it. "I'll take care of this thing!" Moordryd pulled out his energy drain whip, cracking it a few times as the wraith turned its attention to the white haired teen before the dragon ran for the door, disappearing from view.
Phistus, in shock and holding his arm, slowly got to his feet. He looked at the teen in surprise. "Moordryd, I-i don't know what to say?" he was a bit speechless that Moordryd had seemingly managed to drive the wraith away before it could cause any harm.
Moordryd rolled his eyes at the man. "Get a grip, Phistus. And you can start by thanking me. Obviously I've learnt something about these wraith dragons, we've all found such a pain."
Phistus cut him off. "The question is how? And why should we trust you?"
Moordryd approached the council leader, staring him down despite being shorter than him. "Let's stick to the point, shall we?" he gazed around the room. "I'm willing to use my knowledge to help fight them. So business can go on as usual. And we won't have to rely on some meddling fool who hides behind a mask. We don't even know who this Dragon Booster is!" murmurs floated around the room from the crew members, some in agreement, others in disagreement.
Phistus eyed the teen doubtfully. "What's in it for you, Moordryd?"
"A chance to prove my value to the community." he folded his arms over his chest. "I race here too."
Later, he and Cain were sitting in the meeting room in the compound, Moordryd stood in front of his friend as Cain chuckled.
"Very convincing." he praised his friend for the display he showed at the council meeting.
"Yeah. If you're a pathetic council member." he said scathingly as he faced his friend.
Cain knew his friend had something planned. "You're up to something."
Moordryd snapped. "Of course I am. Remember that red bone mark I found?"
Cain remembered it well as Moordryd took out the furox bone mark, holding it in his hand. "It's dangerous, Moordryd. An angry guy like you? That's like playing with fire." Cain said, a warning in his tone. Moordryd just laughed menacingly.
Iris, a scowl on her face, rode through the city with Prisma after the hybrid had dragged her away after the race and how Artha had acted after it. She knew her sister was furious with Artha being his arrogant self, but she had to get Iris away before she tried to thrash her brother for his attitude.
The hybrid came to a stop at some traffic lights and waited as the lights on the other side turned green to allow the riders and their dragons to go ahead. "Iris?"
The teen blinked, snapping out of her angry thoughts as Prisma's calm voice spoke to her. "How are you doing? Any better?"
She sighed. "No, I'm just so angry at him for his arrogant attitude, who does he think he is? Just because Beau chose him does not mean he can go around playing the hero all the time!" she spoke in a low tone, trying to rein in her anger.
Prisma snorted as the light turned green and she walked through the crossing. "I know something that will cheer you up." the hybrid headed for a very familiar cafe, coming to a stop in front of it and Iris dismounted the saddle. She walked inside, despite the time, the cafe was still open.
Behind the counter, Layla gave her a smile. "Iris, hello. The usual for you?"
"Yeah, just my drink this time, Layla." Iris answered as she removed her helmet and paid for the drink, taking a seat to try and relax. She closed her eyes and took a few calming breaths like Sara had instructed her too.
"Mind if I sit?" a voice asked and Iris opened her eyes, seeing Astra in front of her.
"Oh, hi Astra. Sure." she invited the brown haired teen to sit across from her and the teen smiled as she sat down. She noticed the streaks of black and purple in the other teens' hair. Astra seemed to sense the other girl was very upset and chose not to speak.
The pair just sat there in silence before Laya brought over Iris' hot chocolate with two marshmallows. "Thanks Layla." Iris thanked as she used a spoon to stir the hot beverage. Astra watched her carefully.
"You seem tense or angry, Iris? Is everything okay?" Astra questioned gently. Iris closed her blue eyes, lowering her head.
"It's my brother, Artha." Iris finally spoke as she took a sip of her drink.
"I know him, he saved Moordryd Paynn at the race today. I saw it on the news." Astra revealed. Iris huffed. "Yeah, and after the race, he acted so smug and arrogant, I wanted to slap some sense into him or give him a tongue lashing for his behaviour, but Prisma took me away before I could do anything and this is where she brought me."
As she talked, Astra listened very carefully as the other girl ranted. She could tell that Artha had really upset Iris with his attitude and it made her angry to see the other girl so distressed.
"I'm sorry, Iris. Is there anything I can do?" Astra asked.
"No, but thanks for the offer." Iris sipped her hot chocolate, finishing it off soon enough, but she didn't want to go back to the stables yet.
"Hey, I know we haven't known each other very long, but, did you want to go for a walk?" Astra offered. Iris looked at her, considering her offer before she nodded.
"Yeah, I think that would be nice, thank you, Astra." the teen thanked as she stood up and headed for the door with her helmet, thanking Layla again over her shoulder as the two teens left the cafe.
"This is Prisma, my dragon. Prisma, this is Astra, I met her when we came here after my session." Astra looked up at Prisma, she'd never seen a hybrid dragon before. She extended her hand, palm facing up, to the dragon for her to sniff.
The cross-breed lowered her head to sniff the offered palm. Astra just smiled at the hybrid, Prisma pressed her nose into her palm and she saw the violet streak running down the centre of the dragon's nose.
Iris was shocked, as far as she knew, Prisma didn't warm up to anyone straight away, so for her to accept Astra so quickly was very strange. "Wow, I've never seen her accept a stranger so quickly. Normally she steers clear of people, but you, it's odd."
Astra shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe I'm just different."
"Maybe." Iris murmured before Prisma magged her into the saddle and then magged Astra up behind her. The brown haired teen wrapped her arms loosely around Iris' waist, the teen freezing up at the contact, for she was not used to anyone holding onto her at all!
"Are you alright?" Astra noticed how she tensed up at her touch. "I'm fine, just never had anyone riding behind me in the saddle before." Iris tried to sound assuring, but it didn't sound very convincing.
Inhaling a breath to calm herself down, Iris relaxed her body as she quickly grabbed a spare helmet from the storage compartment and handed it to Astra, who put it on as Prisma set out at a walk through the city.
Astra looked around, smiling. "It's so pretty at night. I love looking up at the stars."
"Really?"
"Yeah, looking up at the stars is one of my favourite things to do. I love to star-gaze and enjoy the nice, cool breeze." Astra explained as they walked.
Iris listened as she talked about her hobby, it sounded like Astra was very passionate about star-gazing, which was fine with her, she liked watching the stars sometimes too.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course." Astra permitted.
"Why don't you have a dragon? Do you just prefer to walk?"
Astra hummed to herself. "To be honest, I don't see myself as riding a dragon, like you said, I much prefer to walk around."
Iris accepted the answer. Fair enough, there were people in dragon-city who didn't own a dragon and if Astra was okay with that, then who was she to judge.
On the other side of town, Captain Faier was in a bit of trouble as he was stranded on top of a dumpster while surrounded by several wraiths, trying to bat them away with his police baton.
"Hey!" A voice called out as Dragon Booster extended his jakk-stick before twirling it above his head as Beau reared up on his hind legs, roaring before the pair attacked the wraiths, Dragon Booster used his jakk-stick to smack the wraiths and get them away from the police captain.
Once they had backed away, Faier addressed the golden-clad hero. "Thanks, Dragon Booster." Artha grinned before Parm appeared on his comm-link.
"Artha! Incoming wraith, 10 o'clock!" He warned urgently as Artha turned to see a wraith charging at him. He narrowed his eyes as the wraith came closer, he whacked it away with his jakk-stick.
Above on a rooftop stood Parm, Lance and Kitt on their dragons. Lance held some binocs to his eyes and saw another wraith. "2 o'clock!" He warned and Artha smacked the wraith away, it fell into the dumpster next to Faier, popping its head out to roar at the man, only for him to slam the lid shut on its head.
"4 o'clock! Er, behind you!" He called to his brother as multiple wraiths surrounded Artha and Beau. The Dragon Booster had no chance to defeating them all at once.
"There's too many of them! I need help!" Artha said as another wraith shimmered into view wearing green trapping gear on its back. It fired the gear at Dragon Booster, who saw it coming but was unable to react before he was thrown from his saddle and pinned to the wall, his jakk-stick slips from his hand and drops to the ground.
Beau roared at the wraiths that surrounded him. "Come on, I can take you!"
Just as all hope seemed lost, a sudden yelling was heard, then Moordryd suddenly showed up, his drain whip out and yelling like a madman. Beau turned to look at him, startled by his appearance. "Moordryd, what are you doing here?"
Moordryd cracked his whip at several of the wraiths before he latched it onto one of the dragons, watching the energy being drained from the mind controlled dragon. It caused the feed that Word had been watching from his citidal to cut out.
"What? Who was that?!" He growled angrily. "I must see what's happening!" Energy crackled as several of the wraiths were being drained of their energy in a sort of chain reaction. The other three members of Penn racing were watching from the roof.
"Is that…" Kitt began, sounding incredulous.
"Moordryd?!" Lance said, also sounding incredulous.
"Paynn?!" Artha questioned, stunned. Moordryd fiddled with the controller hidden in his jacket, controlling the wraiths. He then cracked his whip and the wraiths all ran out of there. "What?"
Once they were gone, Moordryd directed Decepshun over to where Dragon Booster was still pinned to the wall. Lowering his visor, Moordryd lashed at the tethers of the trapping gear, slicing them and dumping Dragon Booster on the ground on his back. He heaved himself up to look at the other teen, still in shock and disbelief.
Faier looked at the teen gratefully. "Thank you. Who are you?"
"They call me Moordryd Paynn." Decepshun reared up as he urged her to leave.
Faier watched him go as Dragon Booster rose to his feet. "Moordryd Paynn, huh? Now there goes a very brave young man." Upon hearing this, Artha looked very displeased.
Later down in the dragon temple below the stables, everyone was watching as Artha was pacing in front of them. Beau was lying down with Lance and Parm sitting against his side while Kitt and Mortis remained standing.
"Ugh, I was rescued by Moordryd Paynn?! Me! Dragon Booster!" He ranted, facing the others. "He's the bad guy, I'm the hero!"
"I know it might look strange, but you have to give Moordryd the benefit of the doubt." Mortis spoke reasonably.
Artha gave him a flat look. "What?"
"Each of us has the potential to be the hero, Artha."
Artha shrugged dismissively. "Not him! A dragon can't change the colour of it's draconium."
Kitt was beyond frustrated with him at this point. "Uh, listen to you!"
"What?" Artha said defensively.
"This isn't about Moordryd. This is about him getting noticed instead of you. No wonder Iris looked ready to thrash you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Lance spoke up. "It means the problem here is his big fat head again." Beside him, Parm sat with his hand on his chin, looking resigned. "It's no small wonder you can still get your helmet on."
Artha refused to back down. "But I'm the hero, Parm! Not Moordryd!"
Parm stood up. "Look at the race today. The battle with Moordryd through the mall. It was very dangerous, even reckless, chasing him through there." He explained, making his point known.
Artha just crossed his arms, looking sullen.
"If Prisma hadn't stopped Iris from giving you a thrashing, you'd be very regretful right now. But she's not here, so we have to get this through your thick skull, stable-boy!" Kitt snapped at him.
Parm nodded. "Yes, Iris cares a lot about you, Artha. She's your sister and would do anything to make sure you were safe, but your attitude is what drove her away today. You take everything way too personally!"
"Yeah!" Kitt said in agreement. "And what if Moordryd Paynn hadn't shown up? Did you think of that?"
Artha scoffed. "You too?"
"Kitt's right, Artha." Mortis agreed.
"You three?" He was in disbelief that they were ganging up on him over this matter.
"Battling the wraith dragons is more important than the acclaim for your heroism! You mustn't let your pride get the better of you. If not for Moordryd's heroics, you might have been defeated." Mortis explained wisely.
Artha just sighed and walked off. "Moordryd's heroics. Moordryd's behind this, I know it!" He muttered under his breath.
Prisma came to a stop at an apartment building and Astra dismounted the saddle. "Thank you for giving me a lift home, Iris." The brown haired teen thanked the other girl, who smiled as she took back the spare helmet she had leant to Astra.
"No problem, Astra. I enjoyed our walk. Thank you for suggesting it." Iris lifted the visor of her helmet to see the other teen a bit more clearly.
"You looked like you needed it." Astra said. "Can I call you a friend?"
Iris grinned. "Of course."she extended her hand down. "Friends?"
Astra grasped hold of her hand, shaking it. "Friends. I'll see you around, I guess?"
"Yeah, maybe we can meet up at the cafe again someday for a chat or something?" Iris suggested.
"Sounds great! Walk back safely." Astra bid them goodbye as Prisma tuned and started to run down the street as Astra waved to her new friend, Iris waved back before the pair disappeared around a corner.
As they ran down the street, a large screen above them lit up with the dragon-city security patrol as the announcer spoke, showing a view of the police captain surrounded by wraith dragons. "Tonight, on dragon-city security patrol, a mid-city attack involving those mysterious invisible dragons was thrashed by all-city racer Moordryd Paynn, who received a special commendation for his bravery from Captain Faier." Iris raised an eyebrow as the video showed Moordryd receiving a reward from the captain. "Move over, Dragon Booster, there's a new hero in Dragon City."
"Uh-oh. Sounds like Artha got his tail handed to him by Moordryd. Well serves him right then." Iris muttered as Prisma set off again.
"I know your still mad at him, Iris. You have every right to be, but in the end I know you don't want him hurt." Prisma said to her sister, her voice calm and collected.
The teen sighed. "I know that, but hopefully he will learn his lesson from Moordryd."
In another part of the city, a couple were being cornered by three wraith dragons surrounding them. Then Decepshun appeared with Moordryd. "Never fear! Paynn, is here."
The wraiths turned their attention from the couple to Moordryd, who fiddles with his controller, sending them away. The couple, seeing the wraiths leave, looking at him gratefully. "Thank you!"
He gave them a grin, clicking his tongue. "Play safe." As he prepared to leave, a voice spoke up.
"We got business to settle, Paynn." From out of the shadows of a alleyway, Dragon Booster and the black and gold dragon of legend stepped out. "You and me." The Dragon Booster sneered at the white haired teen.
The couple, seeing there might very well be a fight, took the moment to get the scales out of there!
The Dragon Booster came to a halt in front of the pair. "Even I can't handle that many wraiths. You're behind this, aren't you? Your trying to trick people into thinking your a hero." The Dragon Booster snarled.
Moordryd gave him a smug look. "What's the matter, Dragon Booster? Can't handle a little competion?" The Dragon Booster, behind the visor, looked a bit astonished by the comment.
"Maybe I just make a better hero than you do. Ever think of that?" He said with a vicious tone in his voice.
Beau snarled at him. "Don't say things you know aren't real!"
"Maybe the black and gold dragon would have chosen me." Beau let out a bark of laughter.
"Yeah, right. Like I would chose someone like you to be the Dragon Booster."
The Dragon Booster laughed at the notion. "You?! Give me a break."
"How do you know he wouldn't have?" Moordryd questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, this I'd like to see." Beau glowed and magged his rider out of the saddle and onto the ground beside him. He gestured to the empty saddle. "Well here! Be my guest!"
"Artha, is this a good idea?" Beau grunted. His rider whispered to him under his breath. "Don't mag-toss him too far, boy." Beau chuckled at that. "I won't."
From where she was hidden, Iris watched with wide eyes. "Are you out of your scale-scraping mind, Artha? What are you doing?" She whispered to herself as Prisma snorted.
"Is he serious?" Kitt questioned incredulously before she pressed her comm-link on her helmet. "Are you serious?" She said with clenched teeth.
"Stay out of this, guys." He spoke into his helmet as Moordryd hopped down from his saddle. "This is between me and Paynn."
Parm refused to believe that Beau would chose Moordryd. "Oh, don't worry. Beau will never accept Moordryd. The dragon of legend demands a person of exceptional character." As he spoke, Moordryd approached Beau as Artha moved out of the way, letting the dragon stare at the pale teen.
Beau studied Moordryd, eyeing him while growling a little. "Heroic. And worthy, with moral fibre, courageous and with nicemanners." As Parm continued to speak, Beau finally came to a decision and lowered himself to the ground in front of Moordryd, baring the saddle for him to climb on. Moordryd just looked in awe and surprise. The dragon chose him!
Artha, shocked and surprised, said. "Beau!"
"What?" Kitt was blown away by Beau baring himself to allow Moordryd in the saddle.
"What are you waiting for? Get on!" Beau growled and Moordryd finally moved closer and mounted the saddle, once he was in, the dragon stood up once again.
Iris stared slack-jawed at the sight of Moordryd in her brother's saddle. "Are you serious?" how had Beau not thrown him off and accepted him like that?
"I suppose there is good within him for Beau to accept him as a rider." Iris. said as Prisma nodded in agreement.
Back with Moordryd, he was still amazed and surprised Beau had actually let him ride him. "I'm on!"
"Yes you are. I sense there is good in you yet, Moordryd Paynn." Beau said, looking at him.
Moordryd now looked like he was rather intoxicated by his success at having mounted the black and gold dragon. "It seems you're wrong about me, Dragon Booster. You're not the first one. You're all wrong. I can be a Dragon Booster too!" he then pulled out the furox bone mark. "And with this, I'll be unstoppable!" he rasied it into the air above his head.
The Dragon Booster recognised the bone mark instatly, he thought it had been lost, but now he knew that Moordryd had it all along! "No!" he shouted in horror as Beau looked a little alarmed and angry at the same time. Moordryd laughed and placed the bonemark on Beau's forehead.
A blinding flash of light forced Dragon Booster to look away as Beau's eyes narrowed and went from gold to red.
Kitt looked very alarmed at this. "Oh no!"
Iris covered her mouth as she watched Beau's body undergo the transformation into the new furox warrior dragon, he roared as he shook his head back and forth, Moordryd looked alarmed as he was tossed about in the saddle as spines grew on Beau's tail and more on his legs before he finally stopped glowing.
"Beau!" Dragon Booster looked worried for his dragon, he didn't recognise him anymore.
Moordryd started laughing, he sounded possessed as he lifted his head, his eyes glowing red with markings on his face. "Now, I will show all of you the true meaning of Paynn! Let's see what my father thinks of his son now! Ha!" Beau took off, leaving Artha behind.
"Beau! What have I done?!" Dragon Booster asked himself desparingly.
"Yeah, what have you done?" Iris asked, coming out from the alley she and Prisma hid in. Artha looked shocked to see her, but at the same time, he was happy she wasn't hurt. "Iris Penn, what are you doing here?"
"As much as I want to answer that, you need to get your dragon back first, Dragon Booster." she hopped out of her saddle. "Take Prisma, she can get you there, just don't let her inside the citidal." she warned as her dragon magged her brother into the saddle.
Artha opened his mouth to say something, but he closed it, there would be time for apologies later, right now, he needed to get Beau back! Prisma took off with the Dragon Booster as Decepshun looked in despair at the spot her rider had been.
Iris slowly approached the psi-class dragoness, holding out a hand. "Hello, I'm Iris. I'm sorry your rider left like that. He's under the control of the furox, but he will be okay. Would you like to get him back?"
Decepshun sniffed her offered hand. "You smell like a dragon almost."
She didn't know if this would work on other dragons, but she wanted to give it a try. "Hi Decepshun. Don't be alarmed."
The dragoness heard the voice in her head and realised it came from the human in front of her. "How did you do that?"
"I can understand a dragons thoughts. Don't be scared, I only want to help you." Iris spoke calmly as the dragoness lowered her head.
So she could project her voice into other dragon's heads, not just Prisma's! This was awesome! "Will you allow me to ride you so we can get Moordryd back?"
Decepshun stared at the girl before she magged her into the saddle. "Let's go get Moordryd back!" She raced off in the direction Beau and Prisma had gone.
In the citadel, Word stood in the middle of the room, hearing a growl behind him, he turned and smiled evilly. "Well, I'll be scaled." Moordryd stood before him atop Beau's saddle. "You've taken the black and gold dragon, with a touch of red, I see. Very stylish. Bring him to me."
Moordryd refused, shaking his head. "I don't think so."
"Don't be a fool, Moordryd. Get down." Word ordered him.
"No." Moordryd folded his arms, refusing to dismount.
Word sighed. "If you insist on being stubborn." Reaching down, he pressed a button on the control panel, launching green trapping gear at Beau, who destroyed it with a red mag-blast. "Such theatrics." Word again reached for another button.
"Ah, ah, ah." Moordryd stopped him, wagging his finger from side to side before revealing the controller he had taken earlier.
"What?!" Word gasped in shock and anger. Moordryd pressed a button and the back of Word's coat was picked up by an invisible wraith dragon, he was left dangling in the air as the dragon shimmered into view.
"Your reign of terror is over, father. There's a new Paynn in town. Moordryd Paynn! And I am the new Dragon Booster!" He declared proudly.
Word eyed his son, secretly impressed by him. "Seems you have a spine after all, Moordryd." The possessed teen just stared at his father hanging from the jaws of the wraith dragon. "I'm impressed! I'm even proud!"
Moordryd was taken aback by that comment. "Proud? Of me?" The glow of the furox flickered in his eyes briefly before a voice spoke out.
"Moordryd stop! This is not the answer!" Dragon Booster appeared in front of them with Decepshun running inside, carrying Iris Penn in her saddle.
"There's a hero inside of you too, Moordryd!" Iris said, joining the conversation.
Word just looked sceptical. "A hero?"
"The dragon chose you too." Dragon Booster said in earnest.
"You don't have to do bad things to be a hero, Moordryd. If the dragon of legend saw good in you, then there is! You're not a bad person, Moordryd Paynn!" Iris said, hoping to get the point across. She may not like Moordryd all that much, but just because she didn't like him did not mean that he was a terrible person. She knew he craved his father's affection and praise from a mile away.
It seemed to work as the glow from Moordryd's eyes flickered before completely fading, freeing him from the control of the furox.
Realising what he had done was wrong, Moordryd reached down to remove the furox from Beau's head, but the possessed dragon narrowed his eyes and he mag-tossed Moordryd into the air.
"YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE MY RIDER!" The enraged dragon screeched as he threw the poor teen forward and sent him colliding with his father.
Moordryd picked himself up, his helmet gone and rubbed his sore head. Iris hopped down from Decepshun's saddle. Decepshun snorted and nosed Iris away as Dragon Booster called to Beau. The dragon looked over and slowly advanced upon him, snarling.
"Forgive me, boy." Dragon Booster pleaded for Beau to forgive him for his attitude. The dragon just snarled and magged Dragon Booster into the air, Iris covered her mouth with her hands as she watched in horror.
Moordryd and Word both looked on, Word looked smug and satisfied while Moordryd looked worried and anxious. He may not like the Dragon Booster, but it was no reason for his dragon to want to try and kill him!
Suddenly, Beau dropped the Dragon Booster, sending him falling towards the endless pit; he managed to grab hold of the edge of the walkway with one hand. Beau appeared above him menacingly, snarling and growling.
"I've been a jerk! I know I'm only Dragon Booster because you chose me. Because everybody helps me. This is not just between me and Moordryd. I'm supposed to be doing this to save everybody! Including Moordryd! Beau, please. Forgive me." His hand started slipping and he knew he didn't have much time left. "I know there's a hero in all of us. Especially you, Beau." Artha spoke, Beau began to have flash-backs of his time with Artha, laughing with him in the stable, tripping him up with his tail and then finally Artha stroking his nose while they and Iris sat together in the cave in the waste-lands.
Beau closed his eyes and roared, shaking his head and then glared down at Dragon Booster. His grip kept slipping more and more, he tried to dig his fingers in, but it didn't help as he stared up into Beau's red eyes before his grip completely slips and he starts falling.
Iris swallowed back a scream of horror as she saw her brother start falling. She looked at Beau, hoping that he would come back to his senses. Please, Beau, save my brother!
Lifting his head, Beau roared and screeched as he started glowing golden once again. The redness of the furox faded as his eyes returned to their golden colour.
Dragon Booster was still falling, screaming when a golden-red mag-stream halted his fall, grabbing him and lifting him back up onto the walkway and dropping him into the saddle. The furox glowed as Beau absorbed it into his starmark, the golden mark reappearing on his forehead once again.
Iris released the breath she didn't know she was holding, grateful both her brothers, human and dragon, were okay.
"The bone mark! You absorbed it." Beau grinned at him. "There's a lot I can do, my friend."
Words jaw hung open in surprise while Moordryd was looking in concern, his gaze moving between Beau and Dragon Booster.
"Impossible." Word gasped, he looked around frantically. "Escape!" Beau growled, advancing on them. Word put his hands behind his back and got out of there pronto. Moordryd looked in the direction his father had gone before he faced Beau and Dragon Booster.
The teen looked down for a moment before he returned his gaze to the black and gold dragon of legend. "He chose me."
Dragon Booster smiled. "Yeah. He did. Think about that. I know I will." Dragon Booster and Beau turned to leave, stopping as Iris approached Moordryd.
"I believe this dragoness belongs to you." Iris stated as Decepshun stepped forward to greet him. "You're alright. Thank the magma draconis."
"She's a good dragon, hold onto her." Iris advised the teen before she was magged onto Beau's back and they left the citadel, leaving Moordryd and his dragon alone as the teen looked down solemnly, thinking about his choices he had made.
Once they left the citadel, Prisma was waiting for them outside in relative safety and once she saw Beau with Artha and Iris, she perked up and magged Iris into her saddle.
The dragons headed off for Penn stables. "Iris?" She turned her head to look at Artha.
"I'm really sorry for being an arrogant jerk to you. I was letting my pride get the better of me. You were right that I needed a thrashing. When we get back, you can thrash me around as much as you want."
Iris sighed. "Thank you for your apology, Artha. I accept it, but for dragon's sake,if you act arrogantly one more time I will smack you around so hard that you won't sleep for a week! Understand!" She warned tersely.
Artha cringed, but nodded. "I understand. I mean it this time."
Smiling, the siblings headed for home, glad everything worked out well in the end!
So Prisma is not the only dragon Iris can communicate telepathically with. How awesome is that? And Astra makes a reappearence, now a new friend to Iris. Read, review and I shall see you all in the next chapter.