Survival of the Youngest

[Narath]

As the creature once more attacked the purple female, Tenebris moved to attack. This time however, he took an approach different than charging in blindly. This time, he tore at the animal's rear leg, hoping to immobilize it before it could cause more damage.

[LegendOfKorraFan]

Ryker looked up momentarily as a hulking grey dragon approached him. It talked pleasantly, but it was still pretty big! What was it going to do to him? The albino wrapped it's pale tail around his body as he curled up tighter. Ryker was being very shy for reasons unknown. Ryker wanted to say greet the new dragon (kinda), but he just didn't feel it at the moment. Instead, he began to quiver and shake violently as Rale Rock hovered over him.

How am I supposed to deal with this? I'm not prepared for social confrontation!, he thought to himself worriedly.

Ryker peered up from his shell, moving his tail away from his face. As soon as he made eye contact with the Guardian Dragon, Ryker immediately slunk back into his shamble of a home and resumed shaking.

[Dream_Dragon]

<OOC:

Ryker looked up momentarily as a hulking grey dragon approached him. It talked pleasantly, but it was still pretty big!

I thought that Rale Rock, as a hatchling, would be about the same size as Ryker? It would be understandable for him to be ever-so-slightly bigger than Ryker (since he's like, half a day older), but I do think that Guardian hatchlings have a smaller build than Black Tea hatchlings (based on the sprites). So "hulking" really doesn't make any sense. >

 

Sparkly Scaler stood rooted to the spot as the creature howled in pain when the black hatchling raked his claws down its hind leg. The creature reacted by kicking out backwards in panic. Sparkly narrowed her eyes. The creature's head had lowered a little. Just right. Turning around, she kicked out with her own back legs and felt triumphant when her hooves connected with the creature's furry chin. The creature let out a yelp, flinching.

 

~~~

Rale Rock sighed as the hatchling shrank back. He lowered himself to the floor and peered into the egg, or what remained of it.

 

"Pl-please don't be scared. I won't hur-hurt you. What's y-y-your name?" he asked in a soothing tone.

Edited December 26, 2013 by Dream_Dragon

[GreatDragon]

 

Rim listened as the other hatchling stuttered out their chosen name.

 

"I nameed Madness!"

 

The Dorsal hatchling thought about this for a moment. His name was Rim. The other hatchlings name was Madness. Madeline was Madeline. He was a Dorsal, Madeline was a Swallowtail, and Madness was....

 

At that moment, Rim decided that it didn't really matter. Names were enough; it didn't seem like knowing exactly what each of them were was important.

 

After that was decided in his head, Rim nodded at Madness.

 

"Mmaddnesss. Yoou Maaddnesss."

 

So, now all three of them had names. Rim blinked as he thought of something. Raising his head up and looking around, he spoke to the other hatchling.

 

"Wwheres Mmadeliine?"

 

As he looked around, Rim could see a bunch of other hatchlings around now. He had been so preoccupied by the purple hatchling that he hadn't noticed all of the activity in the cave. Some of them were close to the wall of white and Rim wondered if that was important or not.

 

However, his mind was now on the fact that Madeline wasn't exactly right with them. And while his belly was starting to feel weird again, he wanted to know what happened to his friend.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

The hatchling had stopped when he had walked for a few minutes. He wasn't at all far from the cave; he could actually see the big black wall if he turned around. One of the creatures by the fast grey winding thing had run off and the hatchling just stood by, watching.

 

Now that he was out here, with all these white and black things and the nice smell, he didn't actually know what to do. It was as if nothing was here at all.

 

That...kind of made him sad. It was just like when he was behind the black wall, except there wasn't the smell and the huge amount of space.

 

Why....why out here? No thing here...only white and dark. And space and scent...What do?

 

He didn't want to go back to the black wall where he had come from. While alone, it was still nice being out here. The wide openness of the place appealed to him, with just how much space seemed to be around him.

 

So, not really having a plan in mind, the hatchling sat down, tail twitching every once in awhile. He just continued to look around, observing his surroundings and staring at the white sky.

[Cendaquenta]

((OOC: Okay, finally putting up my first post! Not sure if it's exactly the right point to place it at, so sorry if it seems out of place or anything else.))

 

-->

 

In a dark corner of the cave, a brown-and-blue egg was shaking energetically. It had begun to show signs of hatching several hours ago, and now a long diagonal crack extended most of the way across it. As the youngster inside threw itself against the shell, the egg rocked wildly, leaned forward, and began to roll across the cave floor. Alarmed peeping emitted from it until it was brought abruptly to a halt, bumping against a rock and knocking a small hole in its side in the process.

The egg lay still and silent for several moments, until finally, a small brown snout poked out of the hole. It sniffed a few times, then uttered a quizzical squeal.

"Phee-ee?"

 

A wave of overwhelming strangeness assaulted the hatchling's senses. Her tender snout was hit with a blast of cold air, with it coming more scents than she could have possibly imagined - the dry earth and the barely-there rock smell were first, but beyond that were the individual odours of many different dragons... a suggestion of blood... something tangy and juicy... and even further beyond, more and more, nigh-undetectable and tantalizingly mysterious.

Enthralled, the hatchling began to nudge the hole wider, scratching at the restrictive shell with her claws. Out now! Smell! See! Managing to free the rest of her head, she squinted her blue eyes against the light and began wriggling to get the rest of her body out.

Some time later, the little Whiptail lay panting and shivering behind the rock, recovering from her unaccustomed exertion. Turning her head, she licked away the film of yolk that still clung to her, feeling warmth enter her limbs as her bloodflow quickened. She winced as something caught on one of her scales and pawed at her mouth - on one side her lower jaw seemed to curve oddly, and a pointed canine tooth jutted down, with a few others behind it. Why that there?, she briefly wondered, before being distracted by her stomach's rumblings of hunger. The yolk had been nutritious, but there was little of it and it had served only to awaken a fierce appetite in the newborn.

Stumbling to her feet, she ventured unsteadily towards the front of the cave. Perhaps somewhere in among all those smells was one that meant food.

[LegendOfKorraFan]

((Well, full grown Black Tea Dragons are only the size of Ox's, as Guardians, I woud imagine, would be quite a bit larger. In addition, he thinks everything is bigger than what it really is since he's on the ground looking up, Rale seems quite large))

 

Ryker peered up from his shell, moving his tail away from his eyes. Even though Rale seemed nice, he just couldn't bring himself to responding right away. On the other hand, Ryker didn't want to seem rude, so what the heck, might as well attempt an introduction.

"I-I don'-t-t hav-ve a n-name" he replied with a shaky voice.

Ryker inched towards Rale, chipping off pieces of his shell. He extended his paw forward and bopped Rale on the nose playfully before retreating back to where he started. Ryker was calmed down at this point since nothing crazy, loud, or scary was happening.

Edited December 24, 2013 by LegendOfKorraFan

[HomeForFlowers]

Venus obeyed the command without hesitation. She instantly slithered through the grass and crawled onto Kumma's back. Her needle claws stuck into his flesh as she crawled up his back. She tried her best not to harm her, but the damage that was done was done. There was nothing that could fix it. Venus spun around and chirped at Ember. If he wanted to come along, then he could. However, Venus wasn't sure Kumma would wait for him. If Ember took too long, they might be gone before he could even move.

[Dream_Dragon]

<OOC: Oh, well then, that makes sense. I didn't know that.

 

@Cendaquenta No, it isn't out of place. Your post's fine. Also, your hatchling's energetic, eh? Just wait - another energetic hatchling is on her way. >

 

Rale Rock smiled, despite being bopped onto the nose. He lay down completely onto the cold, hard ground just so he could see the other hatchling, which remained inside its cracked egg.

 

"C-come on, ever-evera-everyone h-has a name," he responded. He thought for a moment. If the hatchling didn't have a name, maybe he could call it something?

Edited December 24, 2013 by Dream_Dragon

[Shibadruid]

Darkness. Great. Seraza hated the darkness almost as much as she hated a sentence without sarcasm. Of course, she couldn't understand what sarcasm was yet, but that was her secondary concern. The first priority was still the darkness. Kicking outwards with her weak legs, Seraza managed to make a crack in her prison, which somehow let in something more abhorrent than the darkness. Liiiiigt? Liiiht. Liight. Light! I hate light. Angered, Seraza kicked at the eggshell again, but only succeeded in letting in more light. Woow. I'm stuupid. Must be more light. I hate light. However, realizing that there would be no way to escape the light, Seraza finished the task at hand and broke free fro her egg, leaving her to tumble out onto the jagged, painful rocks. I hate light. I hate rocks. I hate ... things. Grumbling, Seraza scrabbled for purchase with her weak limbs and, once she achieved stability, sped off to the darkest portion of the cave. Once there, she peered out onto the world with her bright green eyes, the only sign of her existence in this strange, hated world.

[LegendOfKorraFan]

"W-well I d-don't. What's-s a name?" he asked inquisitively.

Now that he was getting to know Rale better, perhaps he wasn't such a scary dragon after all. Smiling shyly at the Guardian hatchling, Ryker crept out of his exotically scented eggshell and snorted rather loudly. He was taken back by this strange and sudden sound, but decided not to question it; he thought it was funny. The young Black Tea looked outside, natural causes insisting he go out of the cave. He looked at Rale with a disgruntled face as his tail swayed nervously to and fro.

[Spark-Dragon]

"Maadie-lin?" Madness stuttered, but he was happy that he was getting a hang of his speech.

 

For a moment he watched as Rim looked around, he was looking for 'Mmadeliine'... was that a name too? Maybe he could help!

 

He turned to see where the other hatchling was, but instead noticed at least 10 others! All of them different, and all of them doing different things, he saw small hatchlings, and big hatchlings... many, many different baby dragons.

 

A feeling of claustrophobia fogged his mind for a few seconds, it made his stomach feel strange, and he didn't like it... he finally noticed just how cramped the cave was, and how loud it was getting.

More and more hatchlings showed up, some went to the light. Madness looked over to Rim again, maybe one of them was 'Mmadeliine'?

[Dream_Dragon]

<OOC: Seraza! SERAZA! YOU'RE BACK! OH MY GOD, YUS! Now all we need is Efflorere... Also...ta-da! I brought back Dream Dell!>

 

Rale Rock backed away to give the hatchling space as he crawled out of his egg. He flashed a sudden grin, glad that the hatchling was now relaxed with him.

 

"W-well, a name is someth-thing th-that oth-others c-call you by," Rale explained, "L-like my name, R-Rale Rock. S-so wh-what's yours?" He was a bit out of breath by the time he finished, but he was still happy that he had gotten the hatchling to not be so afraid of him.

 

~~~

-->

 

Two bright, pink eyes opened in the darkness. What was this? She felt cramped. She wanted to get out! Squirming, she kicked out with her legs and heard the sound of shell cracking. Thinking that she was getting somewhere, she kicked out again. A jagged piece of shell broke away and the little Daydream dragon had her first glimpse of light. She froze. Was the light going to harm her? How did she know that it was light? After a moment, nothing happened. She relaxed, making a funny-sounding noise. She stopped abruptly. Was that normal? What sound did she just make? "A gig...gag...gittle...giggle!" After considering the name for a moment, she decided that she liked making this "giggle". She giggled again and shot out with her front paw, shattering a bit more eggshell, creating a hole big enough for her to squeeze out of.

 

Blinking in the light, the little Daydream clambered out, her grin fading as she stepped onto the rough stone floor. What was this thing beneath her? Curious, she tapped the floor with her paw, unaware of the pink cloud that had slipped out from under her egg and was now hovering over her.

Edited December 24, 2013 by Dream_Dragon

[Cendaquenta]

 

Oddly, the more the hatchling’s senses became accustomed to the world, the more confused she was. Now there was not only an overload of smells, but of sights and sounds, too, and the sun was still too bright for her. Instinctively she wanted to find somewhere shaded, but hunger overrode discomfort, and she continued approaching the blinding light of the entrance. Managing to clamber over a couple of large, rough-shelled eggs, she fell ungracefully to the ground with a surprised squeak and got up again, before stopping short as she saw two other hatchlings in front of her. With so many things to smell and hear, she hadn’t realized they were close by, and they seemed totally unaware of her, too. One was blue, with horns, and a pointed shield on the end of its tail. The other was smaller than the blue one, but chunkier, and it was almost pure white. They were talking - she caught the word “name”. That seemed important, though she wasn’t sure why.

Curious, the Whiptail began to edge closer to them. Maybe know where food?

[Dream_Dragon]

The Daydream hatchling's attention quickly wandered off and she slowly stopped tapping on the ground. In which, the Daydream began to wonder how she was...thinking. What was thinking? How did she know that she was wondering?

 

Looking around, she saw that she was in a small, cramped space that was enclosed in...walls. Rocky walls, where it was rough in some places and smooth in others. "Cave?" There were also other creatures too, she noticed. Most of them seemed similar to her own self. Maybe she could make friends! The hatchling didn't know what a "friend" was, but she could tell that it was something good to have. She rose to her paws, wobbling a little, as a funny feeling swelled up within her. What was it? Happiness? Excitement? The hatchling wasn't sure but she didn't really care either. Stretching her mouth into a smile, she bounded excitedly over to a brown hatchling with blue stripes, stumbling as she went. The hatchling was unaware of the pink cloud following her, hovering closely above her.

 

"H-hi!" she said, before looking confused at what she just did. However, she decided that this...speaking thing she did was another "good" thing and relaxed, her grin returning. Then she randomly giggled.

Edited December 24, 2013 by Dream_Dragon

[Cendaquenta]

 

“H-hi!”

The Whiptail jumped and yelped in surprise as a voice spoke just behind her. Growling quietly, she turned to face the speaker, falling silent when she realized it was another hatchling. This one was blue too, but a lighter shade than the shield-tailed one. It stood a little taller than the Whiptail, but was thinner. And it was… smiling? Even if she’d never seen a smile before, she realized it was something good. She tilted her head, working out how to respond.

“H… haa?” she tried. It was hard to shape her mouth correctly, she noted - the sticking-out teeth got in the way. “Haa… iii? Hi!” She found that she was smiling, too.

Edited December 24, 2013 by Cendaquenta

[HomeForFlowers]

The hatchling peeped his head out from the rock he was hiding behind.

Name? Nein? My name is Nein? What is a name? Is... is that what you call yourself? Am I suppose to call myself Nein?

Confused that he was now named after a sound he had made out of panic, the newly named Nein peered at the orange laid in front of the Canopy. The orange was... very tempting to say at the least. Nein's hungry had only grown from the time he had hatched and it was now gripping at his conscious. His instincts were building up to the point of him wanting to leap from behind the rock and swallow the orange whole. In fact, he almost did that exact thing. Had it not been for his gaze to flicker upward and onto the Canopy, Nein would of charged out and grabbed that orange. The Electric's fear of strangers grew and his sparks reflected his emotions. He wasn't even trying to hide well now. The amount of white sparks dancing around him made him very noticeable to those who looked in his direction. Nein knew this was happening, but did nothing to stop it. After all, he didn't know how to control his power. So, Nein stayed in his corner and watched the green hatchling warily. He didn't trust her, let alone anyone else. Why should he go out and be friendly to her? She was nothing special.

[Shibadruid]

Madlia sighed, and looked over at Nein. C-come on, I don't want to h-hurt you. I just want to be y-your friend! E-everything's nice o-out there, I promise! I h-haven't ever s-seen a mean hatchling. Madlia was speaking the truth, at least from her point of view. She thought that the Greenwing had merely made a mistake, and was nice at heart. Other than that, she couldn't even think of another hatchling that had done something mean, hurtful, or even less than helpful to her! Madlia smiled at this information, and watched Nein carefully. She couldn't understand what he was thinking, or why he acted the way he did. It was a complete mystery to her.

[HomeForFlowers]

Nein flattened himself against the ground. He still didn't trust this hatchling. How could he just take her word? She could be lying. It wasn't like she couldn't be. But as to why she was trying so hard to possible hurt him was beyond him.

Maybe... maybe she isn't trying to hurt me?

It was possible, but not very. Sure, she could mean it, but Nein wasn't sure. After a moment's thought, Nein decided to test her.

"H-How do I know you won't h-hurt me?" he asked shyly. Nein avoid gazing at the green hatchling and made sure no other noise came from his lips. He wasn't entirely sure how this would work. He wasn't sure why he even asked. She'd probably just hurt him anyway.

I'm wasting my time with her.

[Dream_Dragon]

The Daydream giggled and jumped up and down, but then she ceased doing so as she quickly tired out. She then thought for a moment. Perhaps this brown hatchling could be her...friend?

 

"Fr-fr-frrrieeend?" Dream Dell tried to say the word, but her tongue, which was still not used to the glorious art of speaking, slurred it out a bit.

[Shibadruid]

Madlia cocked her head to the side in confusion. W-why would I hurt you? I just want to be y-your friend. I w-want to help everybody b-by getting food and k-knowing them better. I p-promise I won't hurt you. Madlia thought for a moment. How could she make her promise seem more authentic, to please Nein? After a moment of thought, she added, and if I d-do, you can take a-all my food! Happy with her solution, Madlia smiled again. She was happy with how she was thinking up answers to her problems, even if they were simple and childish.

 

~~~~~

 

Seraza watched the other hatchlings with contempt. They were all so stupid, thinking that they knew what they were doing and could make friends. When they saw her, they would fear her, she was sure of that. First, however, she had to make sure that she could take care of herself. To do that, she needed to find a way to quench her urges. instinctively, she knew that she needed water, food, and shelter. The cave was great, but it was dank, dark, and drafty. Stalking out of the cave, Seraza turned to her left to see a fast-flowing stream. Creeping up to it, she took a tiny sip and stumbled backwards, spluttering. Noted. I hate water. standing back up, she convinced herself to get revenge, and attacked the water once more. However, she quickly realized that the water could care less about her attacks, so she conceded that she just had to learn how to drink the water. Dipping her snout down slowly, she opened it cautiously and made sure not to breathe while drinking. Happy that she had mastered the art of taking a drink, Seraza meandered off into the forest, looking for something to kill. The world would quickly feel her wrath.

[HomeForFlowers]

That... wasn't exactly smart. Giving him all of her food? That sounded suspicious. Why would she be so eager to be "freinds" with him.

"That doesn't seem too bright..." he whimpered to himself. "Why would you give all of your food to someone you just met? T-That seems h-highly suspicious to me." Nein was surprised to find that his voice was much clearer when speaking logically. How he did so, he did not know. But Nein made a mental note about it. Shifting his weight, Nein continued to stare at the green hatchling. Why was she even bothering with him? What made him so special? Or was she like this to everyone? Nein shivered at that thought. Someone this overbearing all the time? He could barely stand the thought!

[Shibadruid]

Madlia was confused. I d-didn't say that, I-I just said that if I d-did accidentally hurt you (w-which I w-wouldn't), y-you could take all my f-food. It's a p-promise. Quickly, Madlia decided to take her mind off of the topic at hand, since it was making her sad, and she didn't like the feeling. Looking up at the roof of the cave, she began imagining what Noelle and the Balloon hatchling were doing outside. It pleased her to picture others following an idea that she had come up with. However, Madlia had no idea what the other group was doing. She only hoped that they were having fun too.

[HomeForFlowers]

"I s-still don't trust you," Nein said as he pushed himself further away from the green hatchling. "J-Just leave me alone. I d-don't like being around p-people." Nein was only telling half of the truth. He enjoyed watching other people smile, but he didn't enjoy being interacted with. He would rather be left alone. Although, that orange was pretty tempting. If the green hatchling pushed him hard enough, then Nein might just go out and try to eat it.

But I don't plan on doing that any time soon.

[Shibadruid]

Madlia sighed, and replied, why not? Other p-people are nice. Thinking for a while, Madlia gave up and said, f-fine. I d-don't like l-leaving somebody a-alone, but if it m-makes you happy, then I guess I h-have to. Turning around sadly, she walked out the cave and flopped down onto the grass. She attempted to bring her mind off of the matter, but she was having a hard time, so she decided to take a small nap in the middle of the day to clear her head. Closing her eyes, she drifted off to sleep for the first time.

[HomeForFlowers]

Nein watched the green hatchling walk away. It was only after several minutes after her absence did Nein trot out from his hiding place and grab the orange in his jaw. He picked it up and scurried back to his hiding place. Flopping down, Nein began to gnaw at the orange. The skin was horrid, but Nein was too hungry to care. He managed to finish the fruit in a matter of a minute before licking juice off his jaws and looking around hungrily. The orange had been satisfying, but he was still hungry. He craved for something else. Something stronger, something stringier, something... meaty.