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Chapter 5:

“Amazing work Artha! You really pummeled those Wraiths back there, and did I notice you using some of those maneuvers that we’ve been learning in the academy?” Parmon said, gushing over the performance Artha had given against the wraith dragons. The battle had lasted over an hour, but finally, with the wraiths, Beau and Artha all nearly exhausted and all parties battered, the mind controlled dragons had finally given up and run off.

“Yeah Parm… ya did…” Artha said, now in his street racing clothes again, and Beau back to his un-frilled, red and blue coloration, both looking really, really tired.

Lance and Kitt were waiting down the road a ways. Lance rode up on Fracshun, both of them looking really relieved to see them.

“Artha!” Lance called.

“Lance! You alright?” Artha asked, concerned.

“We’re ok. Fracshun and I would’ve ran, but ‘mr hero’ here…” Lance nudged fracshun with one of his feet. “Decided to try out his new Ramming gear on one of those wraiths. Then we couldn’t run fast enough and had to hide.”

Artha looked up, startled. “Fracshun… has ramming gear? Oh I’ve gotta see this!”

Lance grinned, then pressed the green button on the center console of his saddle’s controls to prime it, then the trigger button on the handle. A much smaller version of the ramming ‘helmet’ that covered most dragons heads when they activated such gear snapped into place around fracshun’s muzzle, and he held his head up with a big smile so all the other dragons could see.

Beau started chuckling in that grunting manner of his. “That’s cute!” he said, though only the dragons could understand him.

“Hey! This is real!” Fracshun chirped indignantly.

Cyrano and Wyldfyre both laughed at this.

<<>>

Some time later, the group came back to Connor’s stables. Artha, Parmon and Kitt paused to look over the place. Most of the damage had been repaired, though the newly rebuilt house looked different than it used to, somehow.

Connor came out of the house. “Lance, are you alright?” he called, running over.

“I’m ok dad… Artha and Beau saved us, like always.” Lance said, smiling back at Artha, though not one of his usual huge, goofy ones.

“Well, that’s good to hear. Though, unfortunately, something else happened while you were out.”

“What’s that?” Artha asked.

“Details are still sketchy, but one of the Scalesheen stables just got cleaned out. Every single dragon gone.” Connor explained.

“Scales! I’ll bet that wraith attack was a distraction!” Kitt shot in.

“Well, it’s done now, and I doubt there’s any way we can track them down.” Parmon mused.

“Scales… Word’s probably got himself a whole slew of new wraiths now.” Artha shook his head.

Connor shook his head. “Never mind about that now, you need to continue your academy training. Once it’s complete, it won’t matter how many wraiths he has. None of them will be any match for you. Now come on, it’s late. Why don’t you all just get some sleep here for the night and you can head back to the academy tomorrow.”

“Aw, do you guys have to go?” he said, then looked to his dad. “I was hoping I could train with Artha a bit tomorrow.”

“Train?” Artha asked, confused.

“Does this have anything to do with fracshun having shiny new Ramming gear, of all things?” Kitt asked.

“Actually, it does.” Connor said, chuckling.

“You little scamp! Training for the races then?” Wyldfire snorted said, at which beau gave a short chuckle.

“Yes! I’m gonna be the fastest energy class ever!” Fracshun chirped in his young voice.

All the assembled dragons chuckled at that.

<<>>

Compashun didn’t know how they’d ended up where they did… only that it seemed deserted. An old rain outflow pipe, an old mainline one at that, that opened out onto the lowest sections of the industrial areas of Dragon city. The light here was dim, the dragways above had no activity, and the scents here were all old… save for the ever present smell of mold coming from the bottom of the pipe.

Her following of blue energy and purple pack class dragonesses explored their new surroundings with timid curiosity. This was their first time outside their breeding pens, and some of them were so scared they huddled under the legs of other dragonesses, peering out at everything with wide eyes.

Compashun watched over them for a time… She didn’t need to inform the pack dragon females what the eggs were now… they were getting the answer from some of the other Energy class dragonesses.

“So… they were having us make small dragons, so they could make them do things for them when they grew?” One was asking one of her kind within earshot.

“Yes. And apparently we’re supposed to care for them ourselves, but they took them and did it themselves so we wouldn’t know.” The blue female replied.

“But… why would they do such a thing?” another pack female asked.

“Humans apparently need us to do many things for them… pull materials out of the ground, make them into useful things, move them and their things around… and fight for them.” Compashun suddenly said, breaking into the conversation, though she was, and sounded, very tired. “I don’t know the why or when of how it got started. But I refuse to let it go on any longer.”

“Compashun?” another voice whined, quietly.

“What?” she sighed, looking. It was Tendyr.

“This place scares me,” she continued in that whine. “It smells bad, the ground is slimy, the air is cold…”

Compashun snorted. “I don’t like it either.” She replied with a trill. “Just try to get some rest while you can.” Within minutes she was deeply asleep.

<<>>

Word watched the newscast the next morning, describing what was called a ‘massive dragon rustling’ operation, which had cleared out one of Scalesheen’s stables. A spokesman for the company was speaking to one the reporter.

“We currently have no leads on possible suspects, but we have been assured that Dragon city security is looking into it with all available manpower.” The well dressed businessman said into the microphone.

Cutting scene to the reporter as she was standing infront of the yellow tape that blocked off the ruined front of the building, Security officers covering every inch of the scene, taking samples, photos, every kind of forensic piece of evidence they could find.

“The attack comes at a bad time for Chairman of the board Farren Morris. Sales of Scalesheen dragons have been sliding ever since Connor Penn’s return to the public forum, and continued his outcry against ‘unsound breeding practices’. News of last night’s raid caused stock prices to plummet even further, casting the futures of this company into doubt.”

“Well, this is an interesting development.” Word said, then sneered. “Are you getting all this?” he said into the air.

“Am I that obvious?” the voice said for the first time in days.

“You have a habit of popping in just in time to gloat.” Word said, turning around. “Well, she’s free, and she caused quite a bit of havoc as she left. Cleaned out the whole stable too, even I was impressed.”

“Yes. I told you she’d be an explosive force, did I not?” the voice said.

“For a bunch of over-bred, gravid females who never so much as saw a battle, or a race amongst the lot of them, they did quite well. But, then, when you have that many angry dragons in one place at one time, things are bound to get interesting.” Word said, stroking his beard. “But now what will she do, I wonder?” word said.

“That is up to her to decide, is it not?” the voice said, laughing. “But if I read these dragons right, they’re none too happy with humanity, and that was your intent, no?”

“True, true.” Word said. “In any case, I’m getting tired of talking to someone I can’t see, and since you’ve proven to be a valuable partner, I was hoping we might meet… face to face.”

“As I said before, I have… obligations, to take care of first. I will be in your city soon enough.” The voice said, then faded.

“I wonder what his primary draconium color is…” word said, then shrugged, and went back to his mind gear. Now that the pressing concern of that female was, at present, dealt with, he found himself able to focus properly on technical work again.

<<>>

“Ok Lance, this time, when you jump, I want you to open up the aero gear and see if you can land Fracshun in the marked circle, ok?” Connor said into the communicator.

Lance nodded, his eyes set down the track ahead. Past the gap in the course, a clear jump, but one which fracshun could make easily without gear. Beyond it, the metal pulsing yellow, was a segment about ten times as long as fracshun was from nose to tailtip. No problem to land in, Lance thought…

Untill he actually tried to land. The control in the air was shakier than he realized, and trying to set down in the area was a lot harder. He missed the far end of the marked zone by about six feet… which was where fracshun’s hindlegs landed.

“Aw…” Lance said, looking back at the glowing panels of the track.

“I should’ve made that…” Fracshun whined.

“Point of advice lance, don’t try to land completely with the aero gear open. Wait until you’re above the track again where you want to be, then close it. Fracshun’s got the reflexes he needs to land properly, and besides, once you do land, you don’t want to leave the wings out, they’re fragile when confronted with kinetic force.” Parmon interjected. The three temporarily liberated members of the Penn crew were hanging around late that morning, having enjoyed a home cooked breakfast, and were watching Lance practice on the track with Fracshun and their new gear.

“Uh… what?” Lance said.

“Remember my first race?” Artha said, making a hand gesture, one of his hands held out flat, then a fist coming towards it and curling the extended fingers in as the fist approached.

“Oh! Right.” Lance said, remembering how easily Artha’s aero gear had been snapped to pieces because it had been left open.

“Yeah. A lot of new racers make that mistake.”

“Just watching from the sidelines isn’t enough to learn everything there is to know about racing. You gotta get out there and really feel it, and then it takes practice.” Kitt piped in.

“Yeah, yeah. I know.” Lance replied, rolling his eyes.

Fracshun whined wordlessly.

Description
Chapter 5:

“Amazing work Artha! You really pummeled those Wraiths back there, and did I notice you using some of those maneuvers that we’ve been learning in the academy?” Parmon said, gushing over the performance Artha had given against the wraith dragons. The battle had lasted over an hour, but finally, with the wraiths, Beau and Artha all nearly exhausted and all parties battered, the mind controlled dragons had finally given up and run off.

“Yeah Parm… ya did…” Artha said, now in his street racing clothes again, and Beau back to his un-frilled, red and blue coloration, both looking really, really tired.

Lance and Kitt were waiting down the road a ways. Lance rode up on Fracshun, both of them looking really relieved to see them.

“Artha!” Lance called.

“Lance! You alright?” Artha asked, concerned.

“We’re ok. Fracshun and I would’ve ran, but ‘mr hero’ here…” Lance nudged fracshun with one of his feet. “Decided to try out his new Ramming gear on one of those wraiths. Then we couldn’t run fast enough and had to hide.”

Artha looked up, startled. “Fracshun… has ramming gear? Oh I’ve gotta see this!”

Lance grinned, then pressed the green button on the center console of his saddle’s controls to prime it, then the trigger button on the handle. A much smaller version of the ramming ‘helmet’ that covered most dragons heads when they activated such gear snapped into place around fracshun’s muzzle, and he held his head up with a big smile so all the other dragons could see.

Beau started chuckling in that grunting manner of his. “That’s cute!” he said, though only the dragons could understand him.

“Hey! This is real!” Fracshun chirped indignantly.

Cyrano and Wyldfyre both laughed at this.

<<>>

Some time later, the group came back to Connor’s stables. Artha, Parmon and Kitt paused to look over the place. Most of the damage had been repaired, though the newly rebuilt house looked different than it used to, somehow.

Connor came out of the house. “Lance, are you alright?” he called, running over.

“I’m ok dad… Artha and Beau saved us, like always.” Lance said, smiling back at Artha, though not one of his usual huge, goofy ones.

“Well, that’s good to hear. Though, unfortunately, something else happened while you were out.”

“What’s that?” Artha asked.

“Details are still sketchy, but one of the Scalesheen stables just got cleaned out. Every single dragon gone.” Connor explained.

“Scales! I’ll bet that wraith attack was a distraction!” Kitt shot in.

“Well, it’s done now, and I doubt there’s any way we can track them down.” Parmon mused.

“Scales… Word’s probably got himself a whole slew of new wraiths now.” Artha shook his head.

Connor shook his head. “Never mind about that now, you need to continue your academy training. Once it’s complete, it won’t matter how many wraiths he has. None of them will be any match for you. Now come on, it’s late. Why don’t you all just get some sleep here for the night and you can head back to the academy tomorrow.”

“Aw, do you guys have to go?” he said, then looked to his dad. “I was hoping I could train with Artha a bit tomorrow.”

“Train?” Artha asked, confused.

“Does this have anything to do with fracshun having shiny new Ramming gear, of all things?” Kitt asked.

“Actually, it does.” Connor said, chuckling.

“You little scamp! Training for the races then?” Wyldfire snorted said, at which beau gave a short chuckle.

“Yes! I’m gonna be the fastest energy class ever!” Fracshun chirped in his young voice.

All the assembled dragons chuckled at that.

<<>>

Compashun didn’t know how they’d ended up where they did… only that it seemed deserted. An old rain outflow pipe, an old mainline one at that, that opened out onto the lowest sections of the industrial areas of Dragon city. The light here was dim, the dragways above had no activity, and the scents here were all old… save for the ever present smell of mold coming from the bottom of the pipe.

Her following of blue energy and purple pack class dragonesses explored their new surroundings with timid curiosity. This was their first time outside their breeding pens, and some of them were so scared they huddled under the legs of other dragonesses, peering out at everything with wide eyes.

Compashun watched over them for a time… She didn’t need to inform the pack dragon females what the eggs were now… they were getting the answer from some of the other Energy class dragonesses.

“So… they were having us make small dragons, so they could make them do things for them when they grew?” One was asking one of her kind within earshot.

“Yes. And apparently we’re supposed to care for them ourselves, but they took them and did it themselves so we wouldn’t know.” The blue female replied.

“But… why would they do such a thing?” another pack female asked.

“Humans apparently need us to do many things for them… pull materials out of the ground, make them into useful things, move them and their things around… and fight for them.” Compashun suddenly said, breaking into the conversation, though she was, and sounded, very tired. “I don’t know the why or when of how it got started. But I refuse to let it go on any longer.”

“Compashun?” another voice whined, quietly.

“What?” she sighed, looking. It was Tendyr.

“This place scares me,” she continued in that whine. “It smells bad, the ground is slimy, the air is cold…”

Compashun snorted. “I don’t like it either.” She replied with a trill. “Just try to get some rest while you can.” Within minutes she was deeply asleep.

<<>>

Word watched the newscast the next morning, describing what was called a ‘massive dragon rustling’ operation, which had cleared out one of Scalesheen’s stables. A spokesman for the company was speaking to one the reporter.

“We currently have no leads on possible suspects, but we have been assured that Dragon city security is looking into it with all available manpower.” The well dressed businessman said into the microphone.

Cutting scene to the reporter as she was standing infront of the yellow tape that blocked off the ruined front of the building, Security officers covering every inch of the scene, taking samples, photos, every kind of forensic piece of evidence they could find.

“The attack comes at a bad time for Chairman of the board Farren Morris. Sales of Scalesheen dragons have been sliding ever since Connor Penn’s return to the public forum, and continued his outcry against ‘unsound breeding practices’. News of last night’s raid caused stock prices to plummet even further, casting the futures of this company into doubt.”

“Well, this is an interesting development.” Word said, then sneered. “Are you getting all this?” he said into the air.

“Am I that obvious?” the voice said for the first time in days.

“You have a habit of popping in just in time to gloat.” Word said, turning around. “Well, she’s free, and she caused quite a bit of havoc as she left. Cleaned out the whole stable too, even I was impressed.”

“Yes. I told you she’d be an explosive force, did I not?” the voice said.

“For a bunch of over-bred, gravid females who never so much as saw a battle, or a race amongst the lot of them, they did quite well. But, then, when you have that many angry dragons in one place at one time, things are bound to get interesting.” Word said, stroking his beard. “But now what will she do, I wonder?” word said.

“That is up to her to decide, is it not?” the voice said, laughing. “But if I read these dragons right, they’re none too happy with humanity, and that was your intent, no?”

“True, true.” Word said. “In any case, I’m getting tired of talking to someone I can’t see, and since you’ve proven to be a valuable partner, I was hoping we might meet… face to face.”

“As I said before, I have… obligations, to take care of first. I will be in your city soon enough.” The voice said, then faded.

“I wonder what his primary draconium color is…” word said, then shrugged, and went back to his mind gear. Now that the pressing concern of that female was, at present, dealt with, he found himself able to focus properly on technical work again.

<<>>

“Ok Lance, this time, when you jump, I want you to open up the aero gear and see if you can land Fracshun in the marked circle, ok?” Connor said into the communicator.

Lance nodded, his eyes set down the track ahead. Past the gap in the course, a clear jump, but one which fracshun could make easily without gear. Beyond it, the metal pulsing yellow, was a segment about ten times as long as fracshun was from nose to tailtip. No problem to land in, Lance thought…

Untill he actually tried to land. The control in the air was shakier than he realized, and trying to set down in the area was a lot harder. He missed the far end of the marked zone by about six feet… which was where fracshun’s hindlegs landed.

“Aw…” Lance said, looking back at the glowing panels of the track.

“I should’ve made that…” Fracshun whined.

“Point of advice lance, don’t try to land completely with the aero gear open. Wait until you’re above the track again where you want to be, then close it. Fracshun’s got the reflexes he needs to land properly, and besides, once you do land, you don’t want to leave the wings out, they’re fragile when confronted with kinetic force.” Parmon interjected. The three temporarily liberated members of the Penn crew were hanging around late that morning, having enjoyed a home cooked breakfast, and were watching Lance practice on the track with Fracshun and their new gear.

“Uh… what?” Lance said.

“Remember my first race?” Artha said, making a hand gesture, one of his hands held out flat, then a fist coming towards it and curling the extended fingers in as the fist approached.

“Oh! Right.” Lance said, remembering how easily Artha’s aero gear had been snapped to pieces because it had been left open.

“Yeah. A lot of new racers make that mistake.”

“Just watching from the sidelines isn’t enough to learn everything there is to know about racing. You gotta get out there and really feel it, and then it takes practice.” Kitt piped in.

“Yeah, yeah. I know.” Lance replied, rolling his eyes.

Fracshun whined wordlessly.