Battle Training

[Midnightmoon]

Starlight was emanating so much cold that now tiny clouds of ice dust whisked around him. The same thing was happening with the other ice dragons. They whole time energy dragons flitted about sucking up electricity in the air and wind dragons controlled the winds. With their combined work, the raging lightning storm petered down to thin gray cloud cover with very thin showers. "I think that should do it everyone. Good team work." Starlight called and let out a breath she didn't know she had.

(OOC: Ok, I'd like to be the first to say FINALLY!!!!

[Kauria]

"Thank goodness," Naïma sighed, lowering her head and closing her eyes. "Is everyone okay?" she called over her shoulder, quickly scanning for any injured dragons that might have been missed. Her face fell.
"Where are they?" she asked uncertainly, her voice little more than a whisper.
"Who?" Shya-tael stepped out from her position by the column, shaking herself off. "That was way too much water in for one day. At least I'm clean now," she added with a small smile.
"Visch and Rogue and the injured hatchling." Naïma looked up at the fire dragon worriedly.
"I...don't know," Shya replied, looking uncomfortable. "There was something weird about that hatchling, though." She looked back up at Starlight. "We need to find One-Eye now. These're his trainees."
"'One-Eye'?" Naïma interrupted, shrinking back in apology. "Is that Zarin? I—I've got a message for him from the Air Clan elders..." Her voice grew progressively softer as she spoke, embarrassed.
"Well?" Shya asked, looking expectantly at Starlight. "Where do you think he is now?"

(OOC: Seconded. ;D Sorry about all of the back-and-forth without room for interruption. But hey, look! Naïma might finally get to introduce the plot devices she's been carrying in a scroll case on her leg since August! )

(...I always plan way too far ahead in roleplays. T.T )

[Morty]

(( Ooh, finally, this thing is up and running again! I can't wait! Hmm, do you think it would be worth it creating a new character for this? 83))

[Kauria]

(OOC: You know, you really ought to. It's fun. )

[Morty]

((Uh... Not sure if I was supposed to do this just yet, but we seemed to have reached an agreement this afternoon soooo.... Here goes.))

"We're not quite sure." said a female water dragon in exhasperation, walking up to the two. "For now, I'll be filling in as the Commander's second in command. Do you have anything to report, miss?"

[Midnightmoon]

"Pfft. Miss makes me sound like a troublesome hatchling, though I guess at some points I am." Starlight scoffed, adding the last part to mainly herself. She continued, "Nope nothing really here. You, as second in command, should round up some water and earth dragons to attend to anyone hurt though. There was a bit of a panic before everyone pulled themselves together."

[Morty]

"Which is good, because I wasn't talking to you." interrupted the water dragoness, sidling past her and over to Shya-tael and Naïma. "My first duty is to my guests. A little rain never hurt anyone, either." she said with pride. "You, miss, with the spinning thing. I heard you have an urgent message?"

[Midnightmoon]

Starlight snorted, mumbling, "They aren't hatchlings either." before going to get something to eat.

[Kauria]

"Oh!" Naïma looked up, startled at being addressed directly. "Um, I mean yes, I do." The little white air dragon turned and started to fiddle with the strap of the tube tied to her leg, talking nervously all the while.
"You see, in my clan, I can't train under the professional aerial acrobats unless I've already proven myself to be a worthy apprentice. I can fly fast, so I'm working as a messenger for a little while," she explained, worried that she might be testing the water dragon's patience. Naïma succeeded in detaching the scroll case and began to twist open the top, grimacing with the effort.
"Even though Zil'Caron said that the dragons shouldn't go back into separate clans, we just can't. The Whisper Clan has to cling to their former life. It's the only way some of the older dragons can cope with the war."
The top of the tube popped off, and a sodden piece of paper slithered out.
"Oh," Naïma whimpered. "I bet staying out in the rain did that," she said softly, picking it up between to of her foreclaws and watching the message tear.
The air dragon glanced sheepishly from side to side before she spoke again. "I know I wasn't supposed to, but I may have stopped and read some of the message on my way here," she whispered. "I...I don't exactly remember all of it, but there were a couple of things..." She trailed off uncertainly.
Too late to go back now.
"Er, the year's coming to a close, so the meeting at the Ancient Tree's coming up. There was something about a competition and some concerns about the recent expansion of some of the human towns. I believe that the message said that several of the inland villages have gone military in addition to growing; they've started fortifying the walls and importing weapons." The air dragon paused only long enough to draw in another swift breath.
"This is what really got me, though— hatchlings have been disappearing lately. No blood, no signs of violence. There'll be perfectly healthy dragon chicks in the hatchery one day, and then the strongest of them will be gone the next. No one has any idea how or why this is happening. The elders know that Zarin comes in contact with dragons of every clan each day, and they want to know if you've heard rumors of this happening anywhere else."


(OOC: Geez, I wrote this just before the beginning of HH. At least, I think that's what the second half of the message is referring to. Sorry if I didn't actually provide that many openings for the new thread, but I tried. If I left out anything major, I dunno, maybe a professional document-restorer could jump in on the scene? Whatever. Finally posted.)

[Morty]

((lmao sounds like Wiremouth.
I'm just gonna wait till Zarin pops in instead of posting right now. :'D
Unless it takes awhile.
In which case...))

[Awesomoman]

"Tell them i haven't heard of anything, but if you want to question any of my students your welcome to." Zarin said coming out from behind a tree. "Sorry i left, with all the students i have i wasn't able to keep them all in one place, so i have another one a few miles or so from here that i had to check up on." He looked around at everything. "Well, i hope you where able to keep most of this place up. I would have come back but i didn't get word about the storm until it had already hit. Then i had to keep it from destroying to other camp and well you get the idea."

[Kauria]

Shya walked back up to Zarin. "Well, at least we managed to pull it together over here before anyone—" The fire dragoness broke off suddenly, the remainder of her sentence becoming a gasp in her throat. "Drakine! He was hit by the lightning, and I don't know if he made it or not. But I bet Starlight does." Shya surged forward with a leap, galloping over to the ice warrior. "Do you have any idea what happened to Drakine when he went down?"

------

Naïma looked up at Zarin, her green eyes hopeful. "Another camp? Just like this one?" The white dragon sat back on her hind legs, twisting her neck to get a clearer view of their ruined surroundings. "You...don't suppose that some of these students could finish their battle training there while the rest stay here and try to clean up and fix the forest?" She looked back down at her claws. "I mean, it shouldn't get too crowded if only half the students are transferred. Even though I'm not much of a fighter, I could help between deliveries with hunting and such."

[Midnightmoon]

Starlight was about to catch a nice deer when Shay came stampeding in, startling it off. To tired to give chase she let it go with a grumble (from her stomack too) and turned to Shya. "Huh? Drakine? No, I last remember us leaving him in camp. Wait no he was actually attacking me and this other little dragon I found. Then disappeared off somewhere. I left the little one with a earth dragon." Starlight s stomach growled again, sighing she got up, walked over to the bushes, looking at the leaves. Selecting a bush she then stuffed a few into her mouth and walked back over to Shya. "Herbs. It'll stay the hunger a bit till everything is cleaned up. I've been around the grumpy Ivy long enough to pick up a few things."

[Kauria]

Shya grimaced sheepishly when she realized that she had just scared off her friend's meal. "Sorry about that," she said, glancing back over her shoulder into the forest. Now that I think about it, no one else's had anything to eat for a while...
"So no idea what happened to the scumbag? I figure that if he's alive, he'll turn up sometime soon, and if not— well, at least he's with Kantanion."
Shya sighed. "This place is wreck now. It'll take months to finish repairing the course. And I was so close to finishing training," she muttered.

[Midnightmoon]

Starlight shrugged at the apology. "You can't be serious. I mean, you all have been training for so long yet you guys can't work together to fix up a camp? How many dragons have you got in this place any way. A hundred? You'll get this place fixed up in the max of a few days and then we'll finish our fight. "Come on. Race you back to Zarin." Starlight said excitedly, crouching in anticipation. "Aaaaaaand-GO!" She shot of like a arrow, running along the ground for a few meters before making a quick and smooth transition into flight.