Survival of the Youngest

[GreatDragon]

 

Rim watched as so many other hatchlings hatched, moved around, and interacted with others. No one, of course, seemed to notice him and Madness. Maybe it was because he didn't have the bright colors like some of the others.

 

That is it...I think. Maybe...Where's Madeline? Is Madeline lost?

 

(Sorry for short post with Rim. I don't know if I should wait for Skiddajane or not.)

 

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

 

 

The hatchling had been silent and just observing for awhile, not being interrupted by anything. It was as if he had an invisible force surrounding him, keeping everything away; the only thing he could think of that was around him was the smell. It was nice, and he starting to wonder why it hanged out around him.

 

And then some noises interrupted him. They weren't loud, just footsteps really, but not interacting with things made one want to hear things. Looking behind him, the hatchling noticed another creature. It was laying on the ground, eyes closed, looking like it was doing nothing.

 

Staring at it for a second, the hatchling wobbly got to his feet and, after a second of thought, stumbled over to it. His tail was dragging on the ground and he lowered his head so that, with the creature's head laying on the ground, their gazes would meet if the creature opened their eyes.

 

Its colors were just like the rest of the things around him, black and white, but it had a different shape. For some reason, it's shape got a little fuzzier the closer he got, but it wasn't that bad and he wasn't paying that much attention to it.

 

Stopping right in front of it, the hatchling lowered himself to his belly and continued to stare at it's face. It was the first time he had gotten really close to one of them, with all the others running around to other places, so he really wanted to get a good look at it.

[Cendaquenta]

(Sorry for the late reply - been busy with Christmas stuff.)

 

“Fr-fr-frrrieeend?”

The brown hatchling grinned. “Frennnn!” she quickly agreed, bouncing a little in imitation of the other young dragon. She soon stopped, however, as an unpleasant nauseous feeling swept over her, accompanied by a loud growl from her stomach. Oh. Food. In her excitement at meeting another of her kind, she had forgotten about her hunger. Now it returned with a vengeance.

Giving the blue hatchling a look, she chirruped and moved a few steps closer to the cave entrance. “Go fin’… go fin’…?” she began, but the words seemed to be garbled somehow, and the protruding fang scraped uncomfortably against the side of her mouth as she tried to speak. Exasperated, she scratched at it, and settled for another chirrup, hoping the other hatchling would understand. Let’s go find something to eat!

[Spark-Dragon]

(Maybe they can go look for Madeline around the cave while waiting for Skiddajane to come back? Or something like that?)

 

The strange feeling built up in Madness' stomach until he heard a low growl. He spun around with a yelp, his small, rock-like spikes rising up.

Whatever made that noise must've been huge... and close by! Maybe it got Madeline? but where was it?!

He turned his head nervously to find the giant monster, he would fight it if he had to!

 

But to his disappointment he saw nothing...

[Dream_Dragon]

The Daydream hatchling cocked her head as the other hatchling tried to speak. "Fin? Fine? Find? Find! Find...find what?" Did it have something to do with the sound that had emanated from her stomach?

 

"Fiiinnnd..." The Daydream was about to ask the brown hatchling her question aloud but just then, she felt something bump her from behind. She jerked, turning around to face a pink cloud. Curious, she poked a claw at it and it suddenly began to move. Startled, she backed away, accidentally bumping into the brown hatchling. The pink cloud moved towards her before lowering itself onto the ground. The Daydream frowned, confused. She placed a wary paw onto the cloud. It sunk a little into the cloud but otherwise, it held. Suddenly grinning, she jumped onto the cloud, nearly losing her balance and turned around, flashing her sudden grin at the brown hatchling. Then her own tummy rumbled and one word flashed into her mind. "Food."

 

"F-fiiind f-f-foood?" she asked the other hatchling.

[Cendaquenta]

The Daydream hatchling regarded her curiously for a moment, and the brown hatchling’s heart sank. She doesn’t understand? She chirruped yet again, trying to convey her meaning.

“Finnnd…” the blue hatchling began. The Whiptail nodded happily. Yes! Find food!

Suddenly the blue hatchling jerked and turned around. The Whiptail cocked her head, trying to see what was wrong, but the other hatchling’s body blocked her view of whatever it was. The blue hatchling seemed to paw at something, then darted back away from it, colliding with her.

The Whiptail gave a quiet “oof” as the blue hatchling bumped her. Moving a little to one side, she followed the other hatchling’s gaze - only to see some strange pink thing floating just above the ground. She stared at it, puzzled, then stretched out her neck to sniff it, uttering inquisitive “pheep” sounds as she did so. Finding no scent, she moved a little nearer. What is this thing?, she wondered, this thought being closely followed by, Can I eat it? Experimentally, she tried to bite at one of the outer wisps, only to find that her teeth passed through without any effect. She gave a small growl of frustration.

Suddenly the thing - a “cloud”, she realized, that was the word - rocked, and she jumped back. Glancing up, she saw the blue hatchling was sitting on top of the cloud, grinning. How?, she wondered, pawing at it. Again, her paw passed through.

The grumble of the Daydream’s stomach brought her back to the present.

“F-fiiind f-f-foood?” the blue hatchling asked.

The Whiptail nodded enthusiastically, glad that she’d been understood. The strange cloud could wait for the moment. Chirping loudly, she bounced a few steps. Come on, then!

[Kitkat10]

Tahbaki stared at the round bright orange in his paws, noting almost every detail it had to give. And he had to say, there wasn't much to look at, but it still intrested him, for he hadn't seen anything like this in all the hours in his life.

 

He attempted to squeeze the round object in front of him, but it hardly even flattend. 'This... shell is hard. Not good.' He took note of this, inspecting the hard surface of the orange. 'The shell is not soft. It needs to be peeled off. And then, the inside might be more promising.'

 

He sharply dug his claws into the orange, prying away at the hard cover until he had completley peeled it off and tossed it away.

Without hesitation, he sank his stubby teeth into the flesh of the orange and began to lap up the warm, delicious sticky juice that flowed out of it.

 

In no time, he had already eaten the whole orange except for one single slice.

He peered closely at it, and looked through the murky cover of the orange's slice.

Inside of it was a single seed. Tahbaki dug his claws into the slice, and more juice poured out. He slid the orange seed out of the slice and held it in between his claws.

His eyes widened in realization, he could probably save so many hatchlings the pain of looking for food.

This single seed could probably stop hunger.

 

"We can plant this seed near the cave! Then we won't have to journey so far for food!" He cried out.

[Dream_Dragon]

<OOC: Sorry for the super late post, my brain had trouble with thinking up a post for Dream Dell...and my other two characters are stuck in limbo... >

 

Excited, the Daydream fidgeted as the cloud followed the brown hatchling...until she couldn't take it anymore and jumped off the cloud, rolling into the spiky, green stuff that poked up from the ground. She stopped rolling and lay on the ground, staring curiously at the green stuff.

 

"Wh-wha-?" She poked at a tuft of the spiky, green things. "Is it ed-ideb-gah, whatever the word, I wonder if I can eat it?" On impulse, she jerked her head forward and bit on a blade of grass, pulling it out of the ground. Two seconds later, she jumped and spat it out some distance away, her mouth twisting in disgust. She turned back to the brown hatchling.

 

"Bit-bitter! Th-thee-thiss gr-grass," she explained, poking at the grass as she spoke.

[LegendOfKorraFan]

Kumma huffed as the small pygmy didn't listen, even though Venus did. Clearly Emberthief wasn't as smart as he initially thought. Kummaline patted the Pumpkin Pygmy on the head with his tail, then proceeded deeper into the thick bush. Kummaline perked his ears as the sound of rushing water could be heard off in the distance. Kummaline turned his head slightly and licked his nose.

"What be that Veeeeeenus?".

He flicked his tongue in and out of his mouth like a snake, tasting the air around him.

 

((I'll post Ryker tomorrow sorry ))

 

P.S I'm sorry for this terrible post.

[HomeForFlowers]

Venus glanced at Ember as Kumma began to stalk away. She was feeling a strong emotion gripping at her breast. She didn't know what it was, but she didn't like it. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that her and Ember looked a lot a like. Maybe it was the fact that they were so similar, and yet he did not seem to understand Kumma's command. Venus shook her head and turned her back on Ember. He had made his choice, and he would have to live with it.

"What be that Veeeeeenus?"

Venus perked up when Kumma spoke. She stopped and listened to the air around her. Something nearby was making a noise. Water rushing down the river, the coolness of it practically brewing into the forest. She could taste the cold water, she could feel it on her skin.

"Don't know, don't know," Venus replied with a smack of her lips. She wanted to go towards this sound. It was oddly comforting and comfort was something Venus wanted.

"We go investigate? Yes? We go check it out?"

[Cendaquenta]

“Bit-bitter! Th-thee-thiss gr-grass,” the Daydream complained, poking at the ground.

Experimentally, the Whiptail licked at a clump of the grass. “Bleccch,” she quickly agreed. “N-no good.” Turning in circles, she tried to locate something to eat.

“Ribbit.”

She focused on the source of the strange sound. There - something moved a little way away, a patch of brownish-green that blended in almost perfectly with the surrounding vegetation. Instinctively the hatchling dropped into a hunting stance and began to stalk closer, examining the creature as she got closer. It was very odd, she thought - a slimy-looking blob of an animal, supported by stubby little forelimbs, but with long bent-up legs at the back, and a pouch on its throat that kept expanding in an alarming fashion whenever it made that “ribbit” noise. She crouched, readied herself for the spring… and pounced.

“RIBBIT!”

“Owww!”

She landed badly, completely missing her prey, and tumbled over a couple of times before coming to rest in an inelegant sprawl. She sprang quickly to her feet, hissing and spitting, and gave chase to the frog which was now hopping away at top speed.

Suddenly, with a soft plop, the frog seemed to disappear. The Whiptail scrabbled to a halt and looked around. In front of her stretched a stream, with ripples spreading on the surface where the frog had dived in. Curious, the hatchling sniffed at the rushing water, then took a cautious sip. At first she drew back at the unexpected coldness and wetness, then began to lap enthusiastically at it.

Thirst satisfied, she raised her head and gave a long, loud chirruping call. I found something!

[Narath]

((OOC: Sorry that I haven't posted. I thought that the days off school for christmas would have made me less busy. I was wrong.))

 

As the other 'dragon' hit the creature, Tenebris lunged for it's neck by instinct. The fox, still recovering from it's previous hit, was taken unawares from this attack and went down without too much struggle. Tenebris took a step back, tired from the fight, but proud that he had made his first real kill. As his stomach rumbled, he was reminded of how hungry he was, and so he began to dig into the fox.

[Shibadruid]

Seraza smelled the blood. It called her, almost forced her to follow and find the poor creature that would taste her wrath. She didn't even try to resist. Following the scent, Seraza came upon a clearing where she saw two other normal hatchlings, one who seemed to be unconscious ... or dead, and a fox, which was most definitely dead. Stalking up to the fox, Seraza glared at the other hatchlings and began eating from the end farthest from the other hatchlings. the fur tasted horrible, but the meat underneath it ... it was the best thing Seraza had ever tasted, and she found that she didn't hate it. It was a new feeling for her, to not hate something, but Seraza didn't pay much mind to that. She merely needed to get some food in her stomach before finding some prey of her own. With a full mouth, she growled, dun't folluh.

 

~~~~~

 

Madlia smelled something sweet, and very enjoyable, but she had on idea what it was. She decided to open her eyes and go find out what it was, but her energy almost launched her headfirst into another hatchling just in front of her. Oh! She said, somewhat startled, w-who are you? I-I'm Madlia. D-did you just hatch? D-do you know where the s-sweet smell is coming from? Madlia had many more questions, but realized that the hatchling's head would be spinning even if it hadn't just hatched. In an attempt to seem less overbearing, Madlia smiled sweetly and waited patiently for a response.

 

~~~~~

 

Still unconscious, but his wounds now healed, Calearn moaned slightly. Why did he decide to help that other hatchling in the first place? She was useless and couldn't fight.

Edited January 2, 2014 by Shibadruid

[Narath]

Tenebris looked up to see that a new hatchling had come into the area, but this one was different. It was very similar to him. Maybe it could be an ally. And then it started eating the fox. Now that was never going to happen. Tenebris growled at the stranger, and swiped a claw at it.

"This is our kill!" He growled, referring to him and the other hatchling. "Find your own!"

[Shibadruid]

Seraza jumped back, a chunk of meat still in her mouth, and growled, make me. It took you twoo hatchlings, and maaybe that other oone. You can't tel me what to do. Narrowing her eyes, Seraza crouched down and walked off into the shadows. She abhorred others telling her what she could and couldn't do. This wasn't their world, they shared it with her, and she made her own rules. For example, she already firmly believed that power was the only reason that hatchlings should get food. It didn't matter if the were hurt, or hungry. Only the strong ones ate, and those who could steal food from others. Walking off into the forest, Seraza began to hunt for herself. Of course, first she had to find something to kill.

[GreatDragon]

 

The hatchling jerked back when the creature suddenly seemed to wake up, pulling his head up and staring at it. It was very loud, speaking sounds that made no sense to him. Tilting his head sideways, the hatchling wondered what it was trying to do. The sounds were interesting, but they didn't seem to really mean anything at all.

 

Funny thing. Dark, white, loud sounds. Sense not.

 

After a second of observing the creature, he tapped the ground with his tail. Lowering his head slightly, the hatchling let his jaws open a little and made a light rumbling sound. It wasn't quite as loud as the creatures sounds, and didn't sound exactly the same, but he thought that this weird creature was interesting and making noises seemed to be something that it did a lot. If he did the same, maybe the meaning would make itself clear at some point or another.

[Narath]

Tenebris hissed at the black hatchling's back as she disappeared into the forest. He definitely did not like her. Now that she was gone though, Tenebris went back to eating his meal, enjoying the sweet succulent taste of the fresh kill.

"Would you like some?" He asked the purple dragon, momentarily raising his bloody maw to look at her.

After all, she did help kill it.

[LegendOfKorraFan]

The Spotted Greenwing nodded in response. As he walked closer, he noticed that the shrubbery had little droplets of water on their leaves.

"Closer we must be getting".

Kummaline inched through the forest until he arrived at a small clearing; a beautiful waterfall and a grove of daisy's glowed in the afternoon sun. The grass however, upon closer examination was actually dying. A dull yellow shade plagued the once presumably lush field, and tiny, aggressive insects swarmed to hatchling. He swatted most of them with his tail, sending the remainder of the scuttling away back to their holes beneath the earth. Separating them and the cliff side was a fast flowing river, definitely the source of the mystery sound.

Kummaline laid down on his belly, allowing Venus to depart from his back, giving it a moment of rest.

"Explore you should, rest I will".

Kumma stuck his tongue out in exhaustion, the Sun's rays beating down on his dark green scales. He started to lick a daisy as he flopped his head on to the ground.

"Be here I will. Worry not".

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

"I already told you; I don't have a name!".

The Black Tea was getting fairly annoyed at this point. Not only with Rale Rock, but with himself. He now knew what a name was, but how was he supposed to come up with one? Did something have to happen to him for him to have a name, or is it something he decides?

"Well, I do like your name. how about I'm Rale too?!".

The white hatchling was very excited by this idea since Rale was his very first friend, so wouldn't Rale be humbled by this? He let out a loud, yet oddly adorable snort as he waited for a response, his cat-like tail twirling about uncontrollably.

Edited January 3, 2014 by LegendOfKorraFan

[Spark-Dragon]

Madness waited a little as Rim looked around, but he was getting nervous with this many little creatures running around looking like him, but not at the same time.

 

"I go..." he looked at the light, where all the hatchlings were heading wondering what it would be called, "Maybe Madie-in there." It was logical... since everyone was going there maybe the white hatchling did too? But right now he just wanted an excuse to leave the cave.

 

Without waiting for Rim to respond he made it towards the light, lifting himself up onto his back legs since his front-claws were hurting from the jagged rocks. Climbing over the eggs was especially hard for him, trying not to break them was even harder...

 

But after what seemed like ages of scampering around, a cold breeze hit his scales, making him shudder, new smells came with it making his nose itch...

One smell stood out of them all though, his stomach twisted and he heard that growl again, this time not paying attention to it, Madness stepped out of the cave wanting to follow that delicious smell as fast as possible.

 

 

(Edited :3)

Edited January 5, 2014 by Spark-Dragon

[GreatDragon]

 

Rim was stuck at the moment. His mind was preoccupied by all of the movement around him and the fact that Madeline wasn't there.

 

"I go..."

 

It didn't make much sense to him; the Swallowtail had been around since he first became friends with her, but now she was gone. Tilting his head, eyes wide and blank as he retreated into his thoughts, Rim pieced together the events so far.

 

Out of warm. Wander, see green and yellow light. See Madeline. Loud, speak to Madeline. Find...'dead'. Find Madness. Try play poke. Never play poke again...Find mean purple. Smell yummy. Run from mean purple, speak to Madness. Madeline gone?

 

"Maybe Madie-in there."

 

Madness, Madeline....what bout others? Why only two friends? Why only speak to Madness, Madeline? Why no others? Others ignore, cause supposed to? Like I ignore yellow light....

 

It took a few more minutes before Rim noticed that Madness was gone now. Looking around, mind still elsewhere, a dull rumble came from his belly and his body suddenly started to hurt. Leaning forward for a second, fin flared up, Rim stayed still as the pain disappeared as suddenly as it had came. It wasn't like when he had tripped and gotten the bruises, but completely different.

 

As he took in a breath of air and straightened back up, Rim noticed the very first big scent that he had smelled first. The one from the 'dead' hatchling. It made him uneasy, since he actually felt that it was important again. Just...not in the good way.

 

Flicking his tail hard against the ground, Rim turned and slowly wandered back to the little 'dead' hatchling. It wasn't much of a wander, since it wasn't that far, and Rim stood staring at the 'dead' hatchling. He wondered what that word actually meant; 'dead' seemed to hint to something bad and negative, but he really didn't know.

 

After a second, Rim felt he should do something about the 'dead' hatchling. The others that were wandering around the cave were going to find it soon, so...he should hide it.

 

Quietly and carefully, Rim circled the 'dead' hatchling and then, decided that he should move it close to the rocky wall of the cave, started to push it towards the wall with his clawed hands and snout.

 

The things skin wasn't that nice, but Rim was determined that it should not be staying here. Prodding it all the way to the cave wall, Rim took a few steps back and stared.

 

Others see it. 'Dead' other not okay for others to see.

 

It only took a few seconds to notice that he could move some small, loose rocks onto it. Rolling and pushing the stones around it, the 'dead' hatchling was soon covered up; while it wasn't completely covered, it was good enough to Rim.

 

As Rim stared at the small pile, his stomach made another weird rumble. A tiny ark of pain flashed up to his chest and Rim decided that he had to do something about that. Opening and closing his fin for a second, Rim turned around and stared at the white wall. Didn't Madness go there?

 

After a second of thought, Rim started to jog towards the opening, fin flared up and eyes wide. Maybe Madeline did go that way. If she did, then he was going to find her. If she didn't, then Rim was going to go and find more friends.

[LegendOfKorraFan]

Bump

[skiddajane]

Madeline suddenly snapped back to reality. She had mindlessly wandered to a far corner of the cave, far away from everyone else. "Oh..uh..." She looked around. She shrugged carelessly as she skipped back to where everyone else was. She saw Rim facing away from her, and slowly snuck up on him. When she was right behind him, she poked him lightly on the back of his head. "Poke" She giggled.

 

 

Noelle followed Madila into the cave, still worrying about what she had said about her "map." Maybe if she dew it into something more perminant. Like a leaf or a slab of rock. She walked about the cave, thinking. She saw a few more hatchlings than when she had left. A valentine dragon, a Black tea- An albino black tea. Strange. And another Swallowtail. Another albino. Stranger. Although it was weird seeing albinos, she was happy that she wasn't the only swallowtail. It looked like she was sneaking up on a Dorsal. Was she going to hunt it? They didn't need another cannibal! she swiftly walked over to where the two were in hopes of stopping her.

[HomeForFlowers]

Venus blinked at Kumma's words. Explore? What did he mean by explore? What was she suppose to do? Looking around, Venus almost shivered at just how large everything was in comparison to her. She was so tiny, oh so tiny. Kumma could probably swallow her whole if he wanted to. He was much bigger than she was. After a moment of hesitation and looking around at the big world around her worriedly, Venus decided exploring was not the best action. Taking a more submissive side, Venus climbed on over to where Kumma was and flopped herself down on the ground. She gave Kumma a happy chirp before flattening herself down on the ground. She watched the water in the river rush by and began absentmindedly chew on a nearby daisy.

Edited January 9, 2014 by Doctortear

[Dream_Dragon]

Sparkly Scaler glanced at the dead creature before looking at the other black hatchling. His snout was now covered with some kind of red liquid...blood? For some reason, she didn't like the smell of...blood. It made her feel sick. So did the dead creature...fox. However, the other hatchling seemed to like eating it and she didn't want to hurt his feelings.

 

"N-no, thanks," she shook her head shyly. Then she caught sight of the limp figure of Calearn.

 

"C-Calearn..." she muttered worriedly to herself, running over to him. She studied him for a moment. Would he be okay?

 

"W-wake up," she said softly, gently nudging him with her hoof.

 

~~~

The Daydream hatchling watched, grinning as the brown hatchling tried to catch the green blob of creature. She followed the other hatchling to the stream and was right behind her when she made a long, chirruping sound. Albeit a bit confused as to why the brown hatchling had made that sound, the Daydream waved it off and stared at the moving stream with wonder. She dipped a paw into it and quickly took it out from the ice-cold water. It was freezing! However, her curiousity increased as she watched the brown hatchling drink from the water by sticking her tongue into it and drawing it back into her mouth. Cautiously, she lowered her head to the water and...licked it. "Hey, this is good!"

 

Soon, she was also licking enthusiastically at the water. It was cold, yes, but cold and refreshing. She liked refreshing. Suddenly, her mind flashed back to the hatchlings at the cave. She stopped licking the water abruptly and turned to the brown hatchling.

 

"N-nnn-nay-naame?" she asked.

Edited January 12, 2014 by Dream_Dragon

[Spark-Dragon]

After what seemed like several hours of wandering around, Madness finally reached the source of the smell.

 

Several hatchlings were standing over a bloody clump of fur and bones, torn up meat and fat seemed to ooze out from where one of them tore the skin, the smell of blood was overwhelming.

In fact it was everywhere! On one of the hatchling's legs, on the floor, one of the hatchlings had his snout covered in blood... that didn't put him off one bit though.

 

Instead some sort of instincts told him to grab the meat and fight for it. It could've been the aching feeling in his legs, or the fact that there were at least 3 or 4 hatchlings there that stopped him from doing that.

 

 

(Several hours because hes only a hatchling and the walk would seem long to him ^^; )

Edited January 12, 2014 by Spark-Dragon

[Cendaquenta]

The Whiptail took a last couple of sips of the water, then sat back and watched as the Daydream drank. She felt a little more comfortable now - still hungry, of course, but the water seemed to have helped a bit, and the hunger was less pressing now.

Suddenly, the Daydream seemed to think of something. She stopped drinking and turned to the Whiptail.

“N-nnn-nay-naame?” the blue hatchling asked.

The Whiptail was puzzled for a moment. Name? She vaguely remembered hearing another hatchling using the word, soon after she’d hatched. What was it they’d said…? “Something others call you by”? Yes, that had been it! But… what’s my name?

“Phee?” she cheeped in confusion. “Phee… phee…” An idea came to her. “Pheee-aaah? Th… Theeeaaa!”

Thea… somehow, it felt right. Yes, that would be her name! Grinning, she gestured towards the other hatchling.

“I… Thea. You?”

 

((OOC: So glad this seems to have revived, I was getting worried there! Also I hope it’s okay that I had Thea overhear/remember what Rale said… sorry if I should have asked first. ))