Chapter Text
In the few days before dragon fighting classes would start, Gerard returned to the cove and talked with the dragon through the drawings. Nothing was ever taken away, it was always added onto, and slowly, a small village of drawings popped up around the original one, the one of the tree. It wasn’t just dragons and humans, though, there were ships and flowers and other animals, too. It grew and Gerard was becoming appreciative of it, loving it for the beauty it was and for something he couldn’t quite understand. It was a good feeling, though, it made him feel happy. And, as they continued to speak in drawings, a few times Gerard found scales left behind. They were round and black, and few dragons were colored black or even had round scales, so he knew this was a strange one he was playing with.
Playing… Were they really playing with each other, or was he just being an idiot for assuming that? It felt like they were playing, though. And so far, nothing had happened to them since the first time he’d ‘met’ the dragon, so maybe there wasn’t much to worry about. That didn’t mean he didn’t stay cautious, though. And, eventually, he decided to ask the dragon a question, though indirectly. He left the ground alone, carefully stepping over the drawings as he went over to the wall of the cove and took out a charcoal pencil to write.
‘If you can understand this,’ he wrote, ‘it’s nice to meet you. I’m Gerard.’ It was a longshot, but he was lonely and thought he’d get more information from the dragon like this. He then went back to drawing before he had to return to the village. And when he did, there was another dragon attack going on. Except this one was worse with the addition of the elusive Night Fury shooting down their towers. At least this time Mikey stayed home and he and Gerard watched from their window as the vikings tried to use bola-throwing machines to knock the mystery dragon out of the sky, but they always missed. They couldn’t see it well, and it might be exceptionally fast. Both teens ducked when they heard the distinct whistle of the dive-bombing Night Fury and one of the torch towers was hit with a blast, sending it to pieces as the torch part of it began rolling down the incline of the village, plowing down or burning anything in its path. The boys winced. The night right before their father was supposed to leave and he’d have a huge mess to clean up. At least it wasn’t their fault this time.
The next morning, after the attack, the vikings set off. Their children watched them go, some more apprehensive than others, all hoping for their parents’ safe return. Travis then had then file into the dragon fighting arena, where they trained all young vikings and explained to them how the classes would go.
“So listen up!” ordered Travis with a roar, trying to get the large group to listen. Beside him stood Matt, Mark, and Tom, who’d be helping him in the arena with his teachings, “Because of the size of the group, you’ll all be splitting up into smaller ones that will train on different days! Over time, one of you will be picked as top of your class and will get to kill a dragon!” This caused many to cheer, “So do your best to fight these dragons and survive!”
“Wait, what?!” exclaimed Patrick.
“Group 1 will be Gerard, Ray, Mikey, Bob, and Frank! You’ll all be training today with Mark!” barked Travis, “Group 2 is Pete, Andy, Joe, Patrick, Josh, and Tyler! You’ll be training with Matt! Group 3 are Brendon, Ryan Ross, Spencer, Jon, and Jacky! You’ll be with me in two days! And finally, Group 4 are Ryan Seaman, Derek, Ronnie, Zakk, and Christian! You’ll be with Tom! Dismissed!” Groups 2-4 left the arena but gather above it to watch what would happen, as well as Billie and Tré, who would decide who would be the top of the class. The two, who were usually goofy, stared down into the arena with stern, cold looks, searching the children for any hints of being dragon killers. Gerard swallowed. This wouldn’t be easy. The door to the arena shut as soon as everyone except for their group and Mark was gone. He wasn’t the largest of vikings, usually finding himself in bed with a back injury most of the time, but he was a good friend to Travis and knew his way around things.
“Okay, so, what Travis didn’t tell you is that you’d be facing a variety of dragons and the four of us specialize in each dragon. Today, you’ll be sent right into the ring with your first dragon.” He walked over to the wall, where a row of switches were.
“Wait, so no training?!” Ray asked.
“Nope! You’ll learn on the fly! Just grab your shields and get ready!” He pointed to the side were some shields had been propped up and they raced to grab at least one. Before they could all get one, however, Mark pulled the lever, which took the block off one of the doors and released a Gronckle. As it flew up and banged against the chains crisscrossing the top of the arena, Mark went on, “Today we’ll be learning about shot-limit! Who knows what a shot-limit is?”
“How many times a dragon can breathe fire before refueling!” said Bob, ducking when the Gronckle began to swoop.
“That’s right! Gronckles have six shots in ‘em, one for each of you, and if you get hit by one, you’re out of the lesson for the day! So, whoever’s last one standing gets to be top of the class for the day!” Mark gave a chuckle, “And if you can knock him out, I’ll be impressed!” The Gronckle tried to land on Frank, who rolled out of the way, and it gave a growl. Usually five-against-one were good odds, but with Mikey and Gerard having no experience fighting and the others with only a small bit, even Bob, they were more like the ones who were going to get beaten. Suddenly the Gronckle twirled around and fired behind it, hitting Ray’s shield. The force of it forced the teen backwards onto his back as his shield smouldered, “Ray, you’re out! Five shots left!”
“How is this thing so agile?!” Frank complained as the Gronckle charged Mikey and Gerard and almost bit down on the elder of the two.
“That’s just what a Gronckle is! Full of surprises!” Mark said, “Stay focused so you don’t get fried!” Gerard didn’t know about getting fried at the moment, he was just trying not to get eaten. Even though Gronckles ate rocks to survive, they could easily bite a viking in half. And he didn’t even have a shield yet! As he glanced back, he noticed something strange about the Gronckle’s gait. It tended to use one of its right front foot more than its left and there was a discoloration around the ankle of its left front foot. Had it been injured in the past and the wound hadn’t properly healed? If so, that may be the only reason he was still alive at the moment. If it wasn’t limping, it probably would’ve caught him before now. He ducked as the Gronckle decided to fire another shot and bolted when Mark said he was out despite not being hit. The door to the arena wouldn’t open until the Gronckle was back in its cage, so Gerard and Ray stood by Mark as Mikey, Frank, and Bob tried to survive. Bob and Frank did pretty well, with Frank’s speed and Bob’s strength they were able to make it dizzy for a while as Mikey hid behind his shield, trying to come up with a strategy. He was never one for physical things but wanted to prove himself by killing dragons, and right now he looked terrified. Gerard wanted to get back out there and help him but it was against the rules and was forced to watch.
Frank and Bob were good at confusing the Gronckle, picking up stray weapons to bang on their shields to disorient it (as Mark told them) and so the Gronckle tried to leave them alone, not seeing them as easy targets. It was about this time that Mikey finally came up with a plan that would allow him to survive and so he began to move, which attracted the Gronckle’s attention. It snorted when it saw the small human but mused that one viking was one viking too many and decided to end this quickly. It charged Mikey, who dodged but had to let go of his shield, as it was too heavy for him to keep up with in a dodge, and now the young viking was defenseless. Bob and Frank tried to get its attention to allow Mikey to recover but it wasn’t going to be fooled by that, focused on Mikey and stopping his escape routes whenever he tried to run. Gerard realized it was getting too dangerous now as the Gronckle blasted and nearly hit Mikey, where Mark called him out but held Gerard back from entering again to help his brother. And, of course, the Gronckle didn’t understand the concept of ‘over’ in this situation and continued to pursue Mikey, causing the young teen to run.
“Billie! Tré!” Mark called, also realizing that things were getting dangerous. He didn’t need to ask twice, as one of them banged a sword hard against the chains of the cage, causing the Gronckle to look up. It cowered when it saw their dark looks and quickly backed away, leaving Mikey alone. Gerard swept his brother up into a hug as soon as Mikey was close enough.
“Are you okay?” Gerard whispered. Mikey nodded.
“Yeah. Was really scary, though.”
“I know, but you’re safe now.” Mikey nodded again and they stayed close, Gerard’s arm wrapped around the younger, as they watched Frank and Bob fight the Gronckle. Eventually Bob was shot out, leaving Frank against the Gronckle, who had two shots left. Frank goaded the Gronckle into chasing him and, at the last second, dived out of the way and got it to crash into a wall. This didn’t knock the Gronckle out, as they had great stamina, but it certainly surprised the dragon enough to allow Frank to get a swipe on the side of its belly with a stray sword, making a small wound. The Gronckle cried out, shocked at the pain, and growled at Frank but fled back to its cage. It’d had enough for one day. Mark closed the doors on it and clapped his hands.
“Amazing! I haven’t seen anyone get a hit on that one since we caught it, nor have I seen anything as tense as that! Frank, you get the grade for today! The rest of you, practice for tomorrow! And Mikey? I’d like to talk to you for a moment.” Gerard was forced to let go of Mikey as Mark pulled him over to the side to talk, everyone else filing out as the crowds dispersed above. Gerard looked up to see the Dragon Hunters still gazing into the arena and realized that they were the whole reason the Gronckle was limping, thanks to their traps. It was also terrified of them, but then again, who wasn’t? It gave Gerard a sick feeling thinking about it for some reason, so he focused back on his brother, who was coming back to his side.
“What was that about?”
“He was just telling me to be careful and not nearly get myself killed.” The boy said grumpily, “He also said not to freeze and keep moving like I had at the beginning.” Gerard nodded.
“Makes sense, but it seemed your impression of a rock also worked pretty well.” Mikey jabbed him in the side.
“Not funny!” he growled. Gerard rolled his eyes. It seemed Mikey was in one of those moods again, angry for a few hours and then he’d calm down. At least Gerard could use those hours in the cove, drawing. Mikey had plenty of other people to play with, he knew, and hoped his little brother wouldn’t get into too much trouble.
When Gerard got back, as he’d suspected, there was no response. He didn’t expect the dragon to understand the runes. He sighed after gazing at the results and turned around, only to see something lounging on a large rock outcropping not too far from where he stood. Gerard froze in place, staring at the huge black dragon, at how it lounged leisurely like a cat and stared at him, as if contemplating on eating him. It looked like it had a wingspan bigger than a Nightmare’s and was possibly even longer than a Zippleback, was pure black, like its scales were sucking up every piece of light, and had a few gray spots on its body, indicating scars or something like that. The most prominent feature was the long gray slash over one eye, which was a bright yellow compared to the green on the other side. The pupil was also strange, as it wasn’t a slit like the other but a square shape, making this the first dragon to ever have two different-colored eyes that Gerard knew of, not to mention the pupils. He nearly fainted then and there from the fear and excitement pumping through his body.
“H-h-hi.” he stuttered, hoping the dragon wasn’t planning to kill him, “I-I-I’ll just b-be going now...” Gerard slowly stepped to the side as the dragon watched him, the eyes following his every move. Eventually he was able to scramble out of the cove and ran all the way back to the village, slowly calming himself down, and then he panicked again when he realized he’d left his sketchbook back in the cove. He went back for it, terribly needing it but cautious about the dragon, and when he got back, he found the dragon nosing through it. It would turn a page with one of its claws and was very gentle with the book, especially since its claws were bigger and longer than the journal in every way. Suddenly it glanced at where Gerard was and the teen ducked down, holding his breath and hoping it hadn’t seen him. He heard the dragon tramping around a little before it took to the sky again, accompanied by a rush of air, and Gerard looked over the edge of the cove. He didn’t see his sketchbook anywhere and hoped it hadn’t been taken by the dragon or, worse, fallen into the pond. However, as he looked under some rocks, he found the sketchbook, which was undamaged.
“Why would a dragon care about this kind of thing?” he wondered aloud to himself, looking into the sky, “And why did it not kill me again?” There was no sign of the strange dragon, but now he had to draw it, to commit it to his memory, because whatever it was would make very pretty drawings indeed. He’d drawn every other kind of dragon except it, in various poses, and now he would have a challenge once again. Not only that, but now he could properly document it.
Size: Large, possibly more than a Nightmare or a Zippleback.
Length: Unknown, possibly as long as or more than a Zippleback.
Wingspan: Unknown, kept wings folded, maybe more than a Nightmare.
Shot Type: Unknown, probably fire.
Shot Limit: Unknown.
Speed: Still very fast.
Characteristics: Pure black with gray spots (scars?), different eyes (My left: green with slit, my right: yellow with big pupil and large gray scar)
Age: Broad Wing or Titan Wing
Notes: Still creative, interested in the sketchbook; still didn’t kill me on sight.
As he closed the sketchbook with the new notes, he thought, What the hell is with this dragon?
The next day, instead of the Gronckle, Group 2 had to face off against a Deadly Nadder. Gerard watched as Matt directed the group through the maze against the dragon, instructing them to be quicker and lighter to survive against this speedy dragon. The group didn’t seem to complete, though, they were working together rather than fighting, especially Tyler and Josh. It was almost like those two could communicate without words, allowing them to avoid the Nadder and stay in its blindspot when they were caught, but eventually, the teen who was at the top of the class was Andy, who broke off half of the Nadder’s nose horn with a stray hammer. The dragon ran back to its cage in pain and Gerard couldn’t help but wince for the poor thing. It probably wouldn’t be fighting for a few days after something like that.
“Where are you going today?” Mikey asked, trotting to Gerard’s side when he prepared to leave, now that the lesson was over.
“Back to the cove.” Mikey stuck out his tongue.
“Cove cove cove, it’s always the cove! Why don’t you go somewhere else for a change?”
“Mi-”
“C’mon!” Mikey grabbed Gerard’s hand and pulled him along, regardless of what he wanted. It looks like learning more about the mysterious dragon would have to wait.
Mikey dragged him to play with some of the other teenage vikings, who were playing a game of fotboll. Gerard wasn’t exactly the sportiest person and tended to avoid that stuff like the plague, but Mikey wasn’t going to have any of it. And so he was made the goalie at one end while Spencer was at the other, and they had to keep the ball from going into their goal. It was easier said than done. Most of the time Gerard wasn’t a good goalie, dodging the ball instead of catching it, and was nearly knocked out a few times, especially when rowdier vikings were trying to kick it into the goal. Gerard was pretty sure Ronnie was trying to purposefully take off his head for some reason with those maniacal kicks. Eventually, though, the game was over and most of the day had already passed, so everyone headed home. This was the first day when Gerard hadn’t been able to draw with the dragon and he hoped that this wouldn’t make the dragon stop. He was curious and wanted to know more, he couldn’t let this pass away, but he also had to take care of his brother. He had that much he couldn’t do without, even if it meant missing out on the dragon.
“After the lesson tomorrow, can I come with you?” Mikey asked as Gerard stirred the soup pot that hung over the fire. He’d set it up to make beef stew tonight and shook his head at Mikey’s question.
“Not at the moment. I’ve got something going on down there right now and it’d be too dangerous.” Mikey rolled his eyes.
“First, the cove’s not dangerous. And second, what you could be doing that’d make it dangerous for me?”
“A lotta things.”
“But if they’re dangerous for me, then they have to be dangerous for you, too.”
“Not really.” Gerard corrected, “And I promise, when things are done, I’ll take you to the cove and show you what I’ve done.”
“...Okay.” Mikey didn’t really get why Gerard wouldn’t let him come along, but he didn’t argue. He knew that, once he had his mind set on something, Gerard wouldn’t budge. He was as bad as their father in that way. That depressed Mikey a little, so he needed to ask, “Gee?”
“Mikey-”
“It’s not that. I just wanna ask…When will Dad be home?” This caused Gerard to pause.
“...I don’t know, Mikes. I know he’ll come back safe and sound, but I don’t know when.”
“I hope he comes home soon.”
“I do too.”
Out on the sea, the ships were finally coming up on the edge of the map, where the fogbank was. It was the last unexplored territory this way that they knew of and was the closest place that could possibly house the dragons’ nest.
“Steady!” caustioned Chief, “This is it. Let’s not back down now.” And so, with trepidation, they sailed into the fogback. But, as they entered, above them, a shadow exited the bank. It flew over their heads and was too far away to see clearly, so they couldn’t tell what it was, only that it was flying away from them.