//------------------------------// // Dragonville // Story: Calming Sigh-- with a Breath of Fire // by Laze Around //------------------------------// It's been a while since I've fought anyone. At least a few years. After killing off most of the bad ones that were good enough to hide from Celestia and the other races, you tend to feel the boredom setting in. If anything, the dragons were a good partner to relieve some stress. "Hold still!" Like running around in circles while dodging every dragon limb heading your way. Fuego gave frustrated growl as I flew over her pounce and getting some distance between us. She jumped towards me with her back still turned, and whipped her tail out as she spun around to face me. I dropped down to dodge the appendage and dug my toes on the ground. As the Fire elder fully faced me again, I launched myself towards her using every bit of strength carried by my legs. [Flying Kick] Yes. I know. As absurd as it was, that was actually a skill found in the Skill List in my [Diary]. It's damage was based on the character's agility in the game. Which in real life actually meant that the power of your kick is based on how much momentum you gain before hitting your target with your foot. Of course, no matter how strong I was now in my transformed state, there was still Physics's law pertaining the collision of two mass of differing sizes. Big one crushes small one, unless big one was soft and small one was hard, traveling at an accelerated speed. Let me tell you now that dragon scales are hard. But then if you can't win in Physics, you cheat. [Flying Kick] + [Spirit Blast] When my kick made contact with Fuego's exposed underbelly, my momentum was stopped by her hard scales. But that didn't stop her from doubling over and exhaling sharply. I jumped back to gain some distance again, and waited for the dragon to recover. Some of my skills were actually Martial Arts based, similar to the ones that fictional ones I've read back in old world (even though most of them were physically impossible). Thanks to my Minotaur friends, I've managed to actually learn the skill when I couldn't make them work by myself. [Spirit Blast] was a skill that ignores defense. When an object in motion strikes another, that kinetic energy is absorbed by the second object's surface while any excess motion is transferred completely to move the object from its stationary position (if, at all, possible). Something like a game of billiards. Imagine me as the white cue ball and Fuego as a flat concrete wall (... there's a joke there somewhere). If you shot me straight at the wall I would either bounce off because of the reflected impact, or I would shatter if I wasn't sturdy. [Spirit Blast], however, ignores this rule. When I make contact to the surface, the impact would not spread on the wall at all. Instead, my body would be completely halted upon impact and the inertia would still carry on the point of contact, sparing me from any damage from the rebound of force. The reason that Fuego double over was because even though her scales were hard, her insides weren't. The inertia carried on straight through her and struck her body like a phantom. "Give up?" I asked the recovering drake. She was still holding the place where I made contact and glared at me as she looked up. "If you think this is enough to stop me, then you're dead wrong." she pulled herself up to full height, but cringed as she straightened. "So, we continue?" I asked. Her response to my question was her scales glowing and a beam made of fire from her mouth. Unlike the other dragons, her breath attack did not fan out as they exited her fire glands. They continued to maintain a certain shape that keeps the heat of her flames at maximum and constant. I dodged out of the way as my current form, [Warrior], didn't have any fire immunity or protection at all. I would have melted instantly if that attack ever hits. What I didn’t have in size, I easily made up for explosive leg power and long distance dashes. I kept ahead of Fuego’s attack by a very good margin, nodding to myself as I properly gauged the dragon’s range. The dragons above, looking down on our fight from their caves, all cheered and roared at Fuego’s relentless assault. The little open space we were in that acted like the dragon’s very own coliseum was a place where all drakes could come and enjoy a sanctioned battle between their kin. After the Council had adjourned earlier, Fuego was still huffing and puffing her wounded pride. I pretty much had nothing to do while in the village except wait for Da Wan to finish his preparation for the migration. Agua and Titan went back to their children to make sure that no one was making trouble for them. Sora was up in his element, drifting somewhere in the stratosphere and looking down at the world from heaven’s point of view. That left me with Fuego. She also didn’t have anything to do. The only pastime there was in the village was either fighting or counting your hoard. Normally I would already be halfway to Griffonia by now, on my way to visit the friends I had in that Kingdom. But Fuego’s attack from earlier made me want to see if I’ve gotten rusty with my fighting skills. I would’ve had the same opportunity on Griffonia, but I wanted to test myself out on something bigger than me first. It has been a while since I fought someone with the intent to kill. Fuego had been all too eager to accept my request for a spar, and was practically vibrating at the chance to kill me by accident. The other dragons thought I didn’t see the smirks they sent our way, but I did. Whatever it was they were thinking, I’m sure I wouldn’t have liked it if I knew. Fuego finally stopped her [Fire Beam] after my count to thirty-four, and I didn’t waste time on taking the opening. I kicked off the ground and went the opposite direction of my clockwise run around her. The sudden change surprised her enough that, even if she had been trying to catch me off guard with a trap by pretending to be out of breath, she didn’t have time to catch me in her aim when I dashed to her side. [Magic Ball] started pulsing in my hand as I came closer, preparing the flash grenade for my follow up skill. I threw the ball to her face and discharged it halfway before touching her. The sudden flash generated by the concentrated magic darkened every shadow in the vicinity. The light stayed for a second and a half, forcing those in the area to close their eyes and turn away. It gave me enough time to use [Shadowwalk] and dive into the shadow, then come out of the shade generated behind her head. I curled myself into a ball and folded my wings inward, taking a deep breath and holding it as I felt my magic start to circulate rapidly all over my body. It took half a second for every scale and skin to start glowing from the speed of the circulation, and for small wisps to start seeping out of me. [Aura Burst!] I released my control over the circulating magic and expelled all of what I generated in such a short time. A wave of dragon magic slammed into Fuego’s back and hammered her into the ground. She sunk a few inches in the dirt, similar to how I sunk in the wall during the meeting. The Fire elder groaned from her prone position. The dragons above gave another set of cheers and roars, shouting for a finisher or coup de grace. I hadn’t noticed them before, but it seems that Titan and Agua came by to see what the commotion was all about. Beside them were their younger pups, one of the few that they took with them for the meeting. They were probably a little over a hundred years old based from their sizes. They were only half as big as their parents. I glided down near Fuego’s body, where she was still embedded on the ground. I could tell that she wasn’t all that hurt, but the attack did rattle her. She was grumbling from what I could hear. Every single one of my dragon forms have some kind of breath attack. From baby dragon variants of [Whelp Breath] to the grown dragon variants’ laser-like [Dragon Breath]. Trygon’s [Flame-], [Frost-], and [Thunder Breath]. The [Shadow] Gene’s [Shadow Breath]. [Radiant] Gene’s Divine breath. Tiamat’s [Doom Breath], Pygmy’s [Magma Breath]... And a few more others. [Aura Burst] or [Aura Breath], was a breath attack for my [Myrmidon] form. I’ve managed to recreate the attack with all of my [Warrior] form variants. I didn’t need [Myrmidon] specifically to use it anymore. Unlike my other breath attacks, my [Aura Burst] doesn’t come out of my mouth. It takes the form of a wave of energy expelled from my body that washes over a certain radius around me. Though it’s a [Breath] attack, it’s not that strong. [Aura] was stronger as it was concentrated. [Aura Burst] was nothing more than a pretty wave of energy slamming into my enemies. It’s not really my type of attack because it creates too much collateral damage. It’s also pretty ineffective against foes that could fly over the wave. It could probably level a few trees in the Everfree, but the wave gets weaker the further it went and the range isn’t all that impressive. I can only get maximum damage at point blank. The sound of Agua’s titter bouncing off the mountain passes silenced every single drake in the area. That laugh sent goosebumps to everyone that heard it. More than half of the dragons in the area held themselves and shivered. I saw at least one dragon whose eyes rolled to the back of their head and went limp, up near one of the caves. Probably one of the younger ones. “Having fun, dears?” the beautiful nuclear hazard asked us, as Fuego pulled herself up. “More or less.” I said, rubbing the back of my neck and easing away the last few shivers that her laugh elicited. “I’m done with this spar, anyway.” Fuego’s head snapped over to me and growled in her throat. “Done? I can still fight!” “I know.” I said, looking at her, mildly in irritation at her insistence to continue. “The only way for me to make sure that you stay down is for me to actually put you down. If I don't stop this now then we'll be here for days.” “As if you can ever kill me.” She grunted as she crossed her arms. I ignored the Fire elder and started walking over to where Titan and Agua were. “An easy challenge/ The most disappointing task/ I’m not touching that.” Fuego growled at my sudden haiku, but did nothing and joined me in walking over to our fellow elders. “Such a brave, young, drake.” Agua started when we were close. “Trampling the prides of others. My heart flutters so.” That made me pause. I looked at Agua and raised a brow, counting the syllables of her words. She knows haiku. Should I be surprised or not? “She gets around.” Titan said to me. I nodded and accepted that. The sea was very vast, and she could probably charm any poets into teaching her their arts without them even knowing. Fuego gave her elder counterpart a glare, but relented when she only got a coy smile in return. Agua looked behind her and fanned her tail to call someone. “You remember my sweet little pearl, right Kaiser?” she asked me. “You met her after she hatched.” I looked at the twenty meter long water serpent that slithered into my view. Just like her mother, she was also a thing of beauty. Her stoic, emotionless, eyes met mine and she nodded in greeting. Her scales were seafoam-green, different from her mother’s baby blue. Her features weren’t quite as striking as her mother’s, but she still had a few centuries to grow. She struck me as the silent type of drake. A contrast to her mother’s malicious noble woman personality. Though underneath that scale, she might also be a sadist. “Venus.” I said. “If I recall correctly.” “Correct!” Agua said happily. “I’m so glad that you remember.” I, along with the others in her range, raised our hands to shade our eyes from the Water elder’s rather radiant smile when a ray of sunlight slipped through the smog-filled sky. I think I heard a thud somewhere behind me from another dragon getting their consciousness ripped away from them. “She was your only egg when we went to Paradise last time.” I said, lowering my hand just as Agua raised her tail to cover her mouth. “She was also pretty tiny back then.” “Well, that pretty much happens after one hundred years.” she said, gesturing to Venus and her size. “She still has room to grow.” “Mother…” My eye twitched a little as Venus spoke. The sudden image of wind chimes singing in a summer afternoon breeze flashed in my mind. The soothing tune that came out of her mouth made me want to lay down and take a nap on a grassy field under the shade of a tree. Well, at least I know that she inherited more than her mother’s looks. That’s going to take me some time to get used to, like her mother. Hopefully it wouldn't take as long for me to adjust. Agua moved closer to her daughter and gave her a loving nuzzle. Fuego and I both had the same idea and immediately made a hundred and eighty degree turn. Being without any familial love from blood relatives ourselves, we would have received more damage to what was to come next. With our backs facing the mother and daughter duo, I had no problems seeing a lot of dragons above falling down like flies. They all made choking sounds and were clutching their chests, making a long winded “D’awwww...” as they fell. As I’ve said before, Agua’s looks were a deadly weapon. Add in her daughter’s beauty as well and the love that they were showing and you’ll lose yourself in envy or awe. I know that it’s an exaggeration, but that didn’t stop the other dragons from making a show out of it. “Are you done yet?” Fuego asked without looking back. She was highly irritable at the show of affection. I tried not to feel the same. “Yes, dear.” I heard Agua. “Quartz.” I heard Titan. “Come here and introduce yourself.” I looked back again and saw another Earth dragon, forty meters tall and with lighter brown scales than Titan. He gave me a friendly smile as he stood beside my fellow elder. “Hello, Lord Kaiser.” he said. “My name is Quartz.” “Polite.” I noted, turning around to face the two families properly. “Hello Quartz. I suppose that your father already told you, but I’m Kaiser. The sixth and final member of the Council.” “Don’t let his appearance fool you, little Quartz.” Agua spoke. “He may be tiny, but that is not his real form, nor is it his only one.” The young Earth drake blinked and looked at the Water elder. “You mean he’s a Magic type?” “No, dear. He’s something more.” she said. “And don’t look at me like that, Kaiser. Since you refuse to appear in your real form the very best we can do is let the younger ones know that the form you usually take isn’t your real one.” The look I gave the sea drake told her how much I appreciated her spilling out secrets that I didn’t want others to hear. Out of all the dragons in this world, only one has ever seen my [True Kaiser] form, that was what they thought was my real form. The dragon had been drifting over Equestria and nothing more, then he saw the explosion made by my attack all those years ago in the Badlands. Curiosity got the better of him and went to investigate, then saw my frozen form hovering over the destruction. That had been Sora’s father, who had been an elder six hundred years ago when his predecessor passed the seat to him for seeing my [Kaiser Dragon] self. He was the source of the rumors that made every other dragon visit the aftermath in Equestria. He was also the one who described the look of my [Kaiser] form to others. “Golden scales glowing in the fires of destruction.” “Rippling muscles on every inch of his powerful form.” “Great spines blowing out majestic wings of fire and magic.” “And gleaming pairs of emerald death glaring down on all it sees.” I’m not really sure if it was emeralds or crimson, though. I wasn’t looking at the color of my eyes when I was [Kaiser]. Agua had been urging me to change into that form every time she had the chance. Da Wan and the other were also curious, but they never pushed it like the Leviathan did. “You must let me see it one day, dear.” Agua said to me, her body wiggling left and right in her spot in some sort of giddy dance. "In your dreams, Agua." "So cold!" Even after saying that, she was smiling. I saw a tremor run down her body starting from her neck to her tail. Stupid sadomasochistic drake. She really needs to find another hobby. I looked at Venus. “Contain your mother.” The young water drake’s eyes went wide and looked back and forth between me and Agua. Indecision was apparent on her face as she fought between choosing to disobey the order of an elder or suffer the wrath of her mother. Well, looks like she didn't know that it was just a jest. Luckily for her Fuego came to her rescue and prevented her from making the mistake of obeying. “She’s not part of the game.” said the Fire dragon to me. "She's a little too young to know about it." “Game?” Agua finally stopped her wiggling and nudged her daughter playfully. “It’s something we do when all six of us gather.” “We banter.” Titan said, clearing the confusion of the two younglings. “Most of us, at least.” I said, giving the usually silent Earth dragon a meaningful look. “Since most of the dragons pretty much do whatever they like, there isn’t much for us to govern, which incurs boredom. So long as everydrake abides by the Dragon Code then they won’t risk the wrath of all six of us coming down on them.” Quartz and Venus seem to pale at the thought of all six elders working together and bearing down on the violator of the code. “Because we don’t frequently get action, we banter to alleviate boredom when we gather like this.” I said. “There’s also our hobbies.” “Since you two are pretty young, you probably don’t even know why you should follow the Code.” Fuego spoke. “You probably just do it because everyone else does.” “Dragons are Greedy, Selfish, and Prideful.” I said. None of the drakes around me were even mildly insulted by what I said. “Every so often somedrake would get it in their head that they’re above the rules that we’ve set and start violating it without any second thoughts.” “That’s when one or more elders move.” Agua continued. “Depending on who is closer, it would be their job to make that dragon stop. How they do it is mostly up to them.” “We mostly just kill them.” Fuego added. “A lot of violators ended up in Equestria because of the amount of gems growing there. Also because the ones living there were mostly herbivores. Those are always easy to threaten.” “That area is under my protection. Even after I announcing the law that I’ve set, there were still some that decided to ignore them.” I informed the two younger drakes, looking at them with a hint of warning. “I’ve set up a law saying that no dragon is to ever harm or steal from a pony. If attacked without provocation then the dragons are free to retaliate. The severity of the retaliation is also based to the slight. That law was updated a few years later and extended to not just ponies but to other races as well. I am very strict with my rule.” “None of the Code-breakers ever returned from Equestria. Not even their corpse.” Agua added. “They simply vanished.” Actually, I dumped them in my [Inventory] pouch, then ate them when I’m hungry. Their fire immunity disappear slowly after they die, when their magic dissipates. They’re nothing like the Mythical dragons of the stories that I’ve read in my old world. They’re pretty tasty with the right cooking method. I deliberately ignored the looks that the other elders were giving me, along with the fearful ones that Venus and Quartz sent my way. I probably shouldn’t have unlodged that piece of gem that was stuck in my teeth at that moment. That probably clued them in on what I do with my victims. “You’re sick.” Fuego told me plainly. “To the winner goes the spoils, as per dragon standards.” I retorted. “But I like them fresh than spoiled.” “I was wondering where most of my cousins went.” Fuego muttered to the side. “That’s cannibalism, by the way.” “It’s only cannibalism if you eat your own kind.” I corrected. “Those flying lizards were nothing like me or my kind.” The topic was starting to get uncomfortable to the other dragons who were listening. The way the two young drakes were shifting in their spots made me realize that. They didn't know that it was actually an old custom practiced ten thousand, or so, years ago. That kind of stopped after dragons found out that gems were tastier. “By the way, dear,” Agua spoke. “I see that you haven’t left yet. Normally you’d be gone after the meetings.” “I wanted to brush up on my fighting.” I said. “The last time I’ve fought something bigger than me was a few decades back. I couldn’t get much experience from that because I tend to finish my battles as fast as I can.” “And what about me?” Fuego asked with an edge in her tone. “I learned a few things during the years you kept on hounding me for a fight.” I said with an exaggerated eye roll. “Since I fight you with an intent to subdue, I’ve gained experience on how to dodge attacks of your size.” Which I’m a bit grateful for since in some of my travels I managed to anger a few ancient beings that were equal, or greater, in size compared to dragons. “Well, I’m happy that you two are bonding, at least.” Said Agua. “Bonding?” Fuego scoffed. “Please.” My nose scrunched up at that thought. Yeah. I suppose that what we do would be considered as a bonding moment. Our fights managed to mellow out her anger on me and I was able to tolerate her more over the years. I guess you could consider us as friends even with the dislike that we had with each other. She still hates me like no other, though. “Anyway.” Agua started. “Since you are going to announce your presence to the world, Kaiser, will you be flying with the others to Paradise now?” “Maybe…” I muttered with uncertainty. Normally I would be heading for the nearest shore heading to Paradise right after visiting my friends on the way there. Da Wan would then message me on when the island finally appears and I would fly there before any of the dragons arrive, killing all of the harmful inhabitants that had any intentions on the dragon eggs. Now that I’ve decided to stop hiding, I would probably fly along the migration on the way to Paradise, watching out for poachers that wanted the eggs the dragons were carrying. Even though everyone knew about the dragons and their tempers, that still didn’t stop the dumb and reckless ones from trying to get their eggs to sell or eat. Since Paradise only comes every one hundred years, the dragons who don’t plan well on their relationships had to defend their eggs earlier than others who’ve timed their laying. They tend to let their instincts rule over them most of the time and rut when they could. This would then result in female drakes laying eggs way before Paradise was coming, and be targeted by poachers if word got out. Twilight Sparkle’s assistant was probably one of those poached eggs. That, or his parents didn’t want eggs and just threw him away. There were dragons like that. Everyone knows how long-lived dragons were, and were thankful that they were born only after every hundred years. Also, that they kill each other most of the time. If they were hatched like other creatures were (that combined with their extended lifespan) then the world would have been overpopulated by their kind a long time ago. “How many eggs are going to be incubated this year?” I asked the others. “Thirty-two for the Leviathans.” said Agua. “Fifty for the Earth drakes.” said Titan. “A little over two hundred for mine.” said Fuego. I looked over to Titan. “Fifty?” That was surprising. In terms of population, water and earth drakes were usually equal. Sora’s kind had the least population since it’s rare for them to stop their wandering and decide to find a mate. The Fire dragons have the highest population amongst the dragons, with Magic coming in second. Water and Earth are both equal, more or less, in terms of numbers, and Wind only hatch about ten to twenty eggs per century. “Some of the drakes in mine managed to lay two or three eggs in one season.” Titan said. “Huh…” I wonder if that’s an omen. Dragons normally only lay one egg per mating. If they wanted another one, all they had to do was mate again. Two or three eggs in one laying was pretty rare, but for it to happen to more than one of the Earth dragons was really amazing. “I’ve already informed Da Wan of this.” he said. “What did he say about it?” Fuego asked. “Nothing.” said the Earth elder. “He merely congratulated me and my kind.” Agua and I turned our heads at once and exchanged looks. Should we write that up as suspicious or not? Da Wan would usually be more eccentric than that. A simple congratulations was surprisingly tame. I looked up and took note of the darkening sky. It was hard to know what time it was because of the smog in the area. “I should go.” I said. “I still have something to do before the island reappears. “Going to the Griffons, I presume?” asked Agua. “I still don’t get why you would go to those birds for training.” Fuego huffed. “The dragons here are more than enough to get you ready for the island.” “Brute force really isn’t what I’d call skills.” I deadpanned. “I’ve learned how to use a sword thanks to them, and even learned a few chokeholds from their duels.” “Still don’t see how that’s any helpful.” she grumbled. “For dragons, maybe not.” I said. “But for other creatures that are about my size, then it’s effective.” I ignored her grumbling and prepared myself to liftoff. I still don’t get why she keeps insisting that I stick to the dragon ways of fighting. I may be physically strong enough against her kind, but I still have my size disadvantage. “Take care now, Kaiser.” the Water elder fanned her tail fin at me. If she were human I bet that she was waving her handkerchief at me instead. “Say hello to those birds for me.” “Farewell, Kaiser.” Titan nodded to me, in which I returned the gesture. I kicked off the ground and swung my wings at the same time, propelling me into the clouds and coming out to the sky. I climbed as high as I could before turning towards the directions of the Griffin continent. The new pups are coming soon and I have a few more months left to remember the other skills that I forgot over time. I can just join the migration during its course over Equestria, giving me time to spend with the Apples there. But for now I need to go to Griffonia and sharpen my dulled sword skills. If I still have time, maybe I’ll go to the Minotaur settlement and retrain my iron staff skills. Hmm… I still have to get something for Applebloom and the Crusaders. Maybe a set of armor for their Crusades? ~kztzz- What? My wings never lost a beat as I flew, but there was a static buzz in the air. I thought it was the rebound from Myria, but this one feels slightly different. What was that? Shaking off the tremble that traveled down my spine, I flapped my wings harder and flew faster to my destination. What ever that was, it felt like something that wasn't supposed to be here. I really need to brush up on my skills. I'm starting to easily get spooked. And why am I thinking of the Displaced?