Survival of the Youngest

[Onixthebunny1]

The young dragon's eyes fluttered open as something was tickling his nose. H-huh? Wu-what is this? He thought. It was almost too dark to see anything, but it was something long and slender flicking it's tip on his snout. Need to get a-way! He panicked, and tried to back up, only to see his space was limited. The hatchling shot his paw somewhere in frustration, the punch landing on his face. He was stunned as his muzzle started to sport a nasty bruise, but soon the tears welled up. He started to cry, and punched again, this time it hit the shell. Immediately, a jagged hole appeared, ceasing his sobs. The hatchling started to pick at the paw-sized hole until it was wide enough to tumble out. He wiped his nose gingerly, and tried to take in his bleary surroundings with difficulty. He wobbled out of the cave blindly, and soon received a face full of something fluffy, with a faint outline of bright blue upon it.

"Wh-Who?" He asked it shakily, trying out his newfound voice.

-----------

Annoyance. That was the first thing she felt when her eyes opened. How dare this... 'thing' trap her. With her idea of a snarl, she swiped at the thing, scuffing the shell while small wisps of smoke drifted from her nostrils. Outside, the shell of the egg was heating up slowly while it shook and rolled. The hatchling started to kick, punch, anything to get out of there! There was a sudden, harsh bump outside of her egg that sent her tumbling out. She tried to recollect herself as her vision cleared. Whatever had hit her shell was an enemy. She turned and saw the thing. It was large and gray, with specks of brown on it. She lunged at it, and scratched it. It didn't react at all. The young dragon realized it wasn't alive, it was simply a... rock. She puffed in irritation, and walked out of the cave in a sort of dignified way.

Edited February 23, 2014 by Onixthebunny1

[Spark-Dragon]

The smell of the dead fox lingered thickly in the air, mixing with the slightly gloomy aura from the argument, for Madness this was torture, standing still, saying nothing, hearing nothing...

 

He took a small breath and spoke up, breaking the silence, "Hu-hi?", but his voice sounded different from before, and when he spoke something scratched his throat. The hellfire decided not to say anymore than that and waited for a reply, hoping it wouldn't take long... he needed food, and felt like it would stop that scratch in his throat.

 

[GreatDragon]

 

Rim took a step back from his attempt at hugging, giving both Swallowtails breathing room. He tilted his head, fin raised up and eyes wide.

 

"Noelle..." He said, thinking of the name and placing it on the blue look-alike of Madeline. "My...my naime ies Rim."

 

He nodded thoughtfully, glancing at both Swallowtails. Before he could say anything else, a low grumble echoed from his stomach region, scaring the Dorsal Dragon into dropping his belly to the floor and snap his fin closed. It passed quickly, but Rim was now trying to figure out why his belly was making sounds.

 

Sounds....Madness had noises, thought...monster? But...no monster...so. My belly make sounds. Meaning....mmm....hunger? What....hm. Hunger...yes? Maybe?

 

The new word didn't bring much to mind, though it seemed to fit his situation. Focusing back on Noelle and Madeline, Rim raised his head up and blinked slowly at them.

 

"I hungwry? Hunwriy? Are youo, Noelle aand Madeline?"

[Dream_Dragon]

<OOC: Either my eyes are playing tricks on me or it really is gone but I can't find the OOC so...yes, I know I disappeared and I'm really sorry and you guys will probably hate me now and oh, hi Onix! but I'm really sorry for disappearing, oh my God, what have I done?! I was too afraid to come back here and I kept putting it off. I'm sorry...but I'm back now, right?>

 

Sparkly Scaler looked back at the fox corpse laid out in front of them. Well...now it was dead. So...should they bring it back to the cave for the others?

 

"We are...bringing this back to..the cave, right? For the others? We can't possibly eat this...fox thing ourselves," she said, a little slowly. "Not that I want to, anyway..." Now that she had gotten used to the art of speaking, it was only a matter of constructing her sentences properly. Speaking was easier than she had thought and she grinned. However, as she did so, the little red and brown hatchling who had been watching them all along spoke up and she turned to it.

 

"...Hi?" she said, a little unsure of the hatchling. It seemed...hungry. It wasn't going to eat them, right? She suppressed a shudder at the memory of the green-spotted hatchling feasting on one of the other eggs in the cave. As she wondered, she glanced at the fox that she and the black hatchling had killed and something clicked in her mind.

 

"Do you want some?" she offered.

 

~~~

Dream Dell bounced up and down on her cloud at Thea's excited tone. If Thea was excited, that meant that there was something good and if there was something good, it made Dream Dell excited! ...Right? A flurry of thoughts passed through Dream Dell's mind, though none of them made any sense.

 

"Breally? Really? Phere where?" In her haste, she tripped over her tongue, messing up a few words as they came out of her mouth but she could tell that her speech was improving and she got even more excited, she bounced right off her cloud and rolled over, giggling hyperactively. It was then that she noticed another hatchling that had stumbled into her low-flying cloud. It was white with gold scales and a red muzzle, which had a purple bump on it. For some reason, Dream Dell felt that she should be...coerced? Cornered? Concerned? Yes, concerned. Her giggles stopped abruptly.

 

"H-hi! I'm Drea Dll, I mean, Dream Dell, are you oakee? I mean...okyy..okay?" she asked, her tongue not entirely used to speaking as fast as she was trying to. Although she made mistakes, she decided that she liked talking fast. It was fun so why not?

Edited April 1, 2014 by Dream_Dragon

[Narath]

((Sorry for not posting. Kinda a combination of writers block, work, school, parents, little sister, and a whole bunch of other stupid annoying stuff kept me from here.))

 

Tenebris glances up from his meal at the purple hatchling as she spoke. He guessed she was right, maybe they should bring it back to the others. Also, she did help with the kill so she should get a say in what happens with it.

"Very well. I shall be but a moment more." He replied as he lowered his dripping maw back to the carcass.

When his belly was full to the point where it was slightly bulging, Tenebris backed away from the dead creature and began to clean the blood from his claws.

"Now that was a feast." Tenebris said as he finished one paw. "Are you sure you would not want some yourself ma'am? The flesh is truly savory."

[Spark-Dragon]

Madness walked closer when the purple hatchling offered to share, but somehow it felt a little strange to just take some, he was still hungry though...

"Tha...ank you..." That fixed it! A little... "I hlep, next one you hunt." He offered, it seemed like a good trade, he would help them next time if they wanted him to! Not that he knew if he knew how to hunt...

 

He poked the flesh slightly before pulling off a piece of fat, as he chewed it he realized why the black hatchling seemed so satisfied with it. It was great and stopped the pain in his stomach! The blood stopped his throat from hurting too.

[Dream_Dragon]

Sparkly Scaler smiled gently at the red and brown hatchling-no, wait, the Hellfire Wyvern. Wait, what? She was getting distracted.

 

"Sure!" she responded, albeit a little half-heartedly. She wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to hunt again. All the blood and the meat and the smell was just awful! However, she held her composure and suppressed a slight shudder as the other two hatchlings seemed to enjoy it. Her ears pricked up as the black hatchling spoke and she bowed her head slightly, somewhat embarrassed when he called her "ma'am". Although she did not know the exact definition of the word, she could roughly deduce its meaning.

 

"Uh...it's..alright, I think the others need it...more than me," she replied. She wasn't exactly lying. The others did need it more than her. She still felt...what was the word?...guilty, though. It just didn't feel right, even if she was only leaving a small fact out. It still felt like lying and she focused on the grass to avoid looking at the other hatchling.

Edited April 4, 2014 by Dream_Dragon

[Narath]

"I would very much appreciate it if you did." Tenebris replied to the new hatchling as it began to gourge upon the carcass. "This creature was rather dangerous, so your aid would help very much. It managed to scratch us up a fair amount before it fell."

As she spoke, Tenebris noticed that the purple dragon was getting rather uncomfortable. Or perhapse it was a different, but similar feeling.

"Are you all right miss?" He asked, approaching her slightly. "Is something the matter?"

Was it him maybe? Was he causing her to be uncomfortable? Thinking back, Tenebris couldn't think of anything he did that would illicit such feelings, and he definetly did not want to do anything that would turn others against himself.

[Dream_Dragon]

Sparkly Scaler shook her head, still feeling guilty for the sort of white lie she had said. She smiled lopsidedly at the black hatchling.

 

"No...erm, I'm fine. Really," she pawed (hoofed?) at the ground nervously. She was aware of a hollow feeling in her middle now and she wanted to get the carcass back to the cave quickly so she may find some other type of preferred food that she could stand smelling.

 

"Shall we, uh, take the...this creature back to the cave now?" said Sparkly, referring to the dead fox.

Edited April 4, 2014 by Dream_Dragon

[Narath]

Tenebris looked at the purple hatchling quizzically. Why was she acting so nervous? Was she hiding something?

"Yes, we shall move it, only after the two legged one is finished his meal however." Tenebris answered. "Could you perchance tell me your names? I would much like to be able to call you by something other than your description ((as lovely as your purple hue is ma'am) oh, shoot me now). You may call me Tenebris if you'd like, or if it is too tiresome to say, you can shorten it if you'd like."

[Dream_Dragon]

"Tenebris...I like that name." Sparkly Scaler's smile stretched a little.

 

"I'm Sparkly Scaler...but you can just call me Sparkly," she offered shyly, crossing one hoof over the other.

 

"And Tenebris sounds just fine."

Edited April 5, 2014 by Dream_Dragon

[HomeForFlowers]

The hunger was too unbearable and the light was far too comforting. The scents of the outside world tempted Nein out of hiding. With sparks prickling his sides, he began to crawl forward, his stomach grazing against the cave floor. He quickened his pace as the sunlight began to peer into this eyes. For a moment, he became blinded. A whimper escaped him and thoughts of running back inside of the cave clouded his mind. However, as soon as his vision cleared, all thoughts of returning back to the cave vanished. Exotic scents filled his nostrils and vibrant colors stretched all around the outside world. Nein was mesmerized by the glorious outdoors. He was so captivated by the scene that he forgot to hold his submissive position. Nein straightened himself upward and stood normally. His gaze wandered throughout the scene before him. Why hadn't he gone out here sooner? There was nothing but gorgeous scenery out here! There were no mean hatchlings who tried to hurt him and there was nothing threatening out here at all! Or... at least it seemed that way. Before Nein could begin to question whether or not the outdoors was safe, he heard a loud cackle. With a yelp, he sprung away from the sound and threw himself into the grass. His heart pounded madly as he looked around desperately for something big and scary to come lumbering towards him. After a few minutes, Nein realized that there was nothing out of the ordinary. Well, all expect for the sizzling smoke emitting from a few feet away in a patch of grass. For a moment, Nein just stared at the smoke. He was too petrified to even move. The Electric only began to regain his sanity once the smoke had vanished. Slowly, he began to move his body. First his legs, that were still trembling but could move an inch once pushed. Second, his head which had a twitching nose and eyes wide with fear. Lastly, his tail began to move. It laid flat on the grass, causing a shift within the blades whenever Nein moved. It took what seemed to be an eternity for Nein to reach the object, but when he did, he found himself pleasantly surprised. Not only was the object much smaller than he was, it smelled... good/ By pure instinct, Nein lowered his head towards the crisp object and lapped it up on his tongue. It gave a satisfying crunch as he grinded it between his teeth. The beetle was gone in less than a few seconds. Now that he had a taste of food, Nein began to lose his cowardliness in exchange for pure instinct. His eyes became more like slits and he began to hunt. He lowered himself into a prowling position and began to stalk forward. Any signs of the shy Nein had disappeared. A beast of prey overtook him and oh did he enjoy it.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Doctortear

[Spark-Dragon]

Finally Madness lifted his blood-covered muzzle from the flesh, if he ate anymore he felt like he wouldn't be able to move, but it was a good feeling!

 

He looked at the other two having a conversation, yes, he would help them hunt! And maybe even be as good at walking as the purple hatchling, and he would talk as well as the black one too!

 

He licked his wet muzzle of the blood and stood up straight, folding his small arms against his sides.

[Dream_Dragon]

Rale Rock sighed as he quietly turned away. The hatchling didn't seem to be responding. Maybe he didn't like the name that Rale had suggested? Or maybe he just wanted to be left alone. As Rale Rock padded to the entrance of the cave, there was a sudden pinch in his stomach and he winced. What on...What was that?! "It means you're hungry." There was that voice again! The voice he had known to be his Instinct since he was trapped in his egg.

 

If he was hungry...did that mean that he had to go and find food? "Yes...food."

 

A weird gurgling sound erupted from his stomach and Rale Rock rubbed it in an attempt to soothe it. He had to go find some food quickly. Oh! He should probably find some food for the others too! He walked out of the cave, his eyes blinking in the light and he looked around at his surroundings. Where would be best to find food? "The forest." What forest? Rale thought that the green place full of...trees...looked a lot like how a forest sounded like and was about to make his way there when he noticed a familiar yellow and black hatchling crouching on the grass. All thoughts of hunger vanished for the moment and his hopes were lifted. If the shy hatchling had left the cave, did that mean he had overcome his shyness? Cautiously, Rale went over to the Electric hatchling and when he was right behind him, he spoke softly and gently, so as to not startle him.

 

"Hello ag-again...a-are you h-hunting too?"

[Onixthebunny1]

The hatchling shook his head and looked at the bright blue dragon. New friend? Yippee! He gave a radiant smile and hopped.

"I mam..." He thought for a bit, looking for the right name.

"Haalietuus!" He chirped, stretching his cool new name out for the sake of his poor tongue. Yes, his tongue would suffer much in his life from the amount if talking he would do.

"I oakee... Okkai... O-kay!" He answered, trying to imitate the way she said it. He was, in fact, fine. It was probable that his ditziness would have made him forget about his little incident.

Halietus pawed at the fluffy cloud, feeling an urge to simply tackle and roll around on it. His energy was bursting, especially now that he was out of his egg prison.

Edited April 6, 2014 by Onixthebunny1

[Dream_Dragon]

Dream Dell's worried expression disappeared and a cheerful grin replaced it.

 

"Hal-Halietus?" she repeated, hopping onto her cloud. She cocked her head, her grin never wavering.

 

"Halietus!" She bounced up and down, before jumping right over Halietus, narrowly missing his head, and rolling onto the prickly grass. Her stomach suddenly pinched painfully and she winced, stopping altogether. "Huh?" A low rumble emanated from her stomach and she smiled sheepishly at Halietus.

 

"H-hungry?"

Edited April 6, 2014 by Dream_Dragon

[Onixthebunny1]

Halietus snapped out of his straight-faced trance after hearing the loud growl behind him.

He turned around, seeing the other hatchling on the ground. The ball of energy hopped over and lay down beside her.

 

"Hun-gary? S'tat why tum make snounds?" He asked, tripping over his newly learned words. He tugged on the grass and smiled at her.

"We make hunungary go awea!" Hali affirmed with his cheerful grin, scanning the area for something possibly edible.

[HomeForFlowers]

"Hello ag-again...a-are you h-hunting too?"

 

Nein spun around as soon as he heard a familiar voice. The blue and gray hatchling from earlier was standing right behind him. Although the sight of the bigger hatchling was making Nein's cowardliness show up once more, his primal instinct was still in charge, for that moment, that is. What exactly was this hatchling doing behind him? Was he trying to attack Nein? It wasn't like he could cross it off. After all, it wasn't like Nein hadn't met any scary hatchlings before. Take that black one for instance, the one who failed to see the logic in Nein's words. The Electric hoped he wouldn't have to see that hatchling again. After all, it would only end up in either him running away or the other hatchling trying to convince him that Nein was wrong. Of course, none of that mattered to the current situation. The Guardian was still looming over him, and Nein needed to deal with that.

"I suppose," he said flatly, trying to hold back his timid side screaming at the back of his head. Although Nein was managing to hold his position, he did begin his feral side losing. The white sparks emitting from his body were becoming more frequent. The tip of his tail was beginning to twitch and thoughts of what horrible things the blue hatchling could do to him began to form.

H-Hold your ground. Don't do anything brash...

 

(Nein is yellow and blue, Dream, not yellow and black. He's not a bee. ^^)

[Narath]

(Sorry I didn't respond earlier. I was kayaking all day, and now my arms are incredebly sore. Sore arms do NOT encourage writing. Or any activity really.)

 

"Well I'm glad that you approve of my name Miss Sparkly." Tenebris replied with a polite bow of his head.

Then, noticing that the two legged dragon had stopped eating, swiveled his neck to face him.

"Are you finished your meal now?" He asked. "If so, we can now bring the food back to the cave."

[Dream_Dragon]

<OOC: Ooh, kayaking sounds fun! On the other hand...sore arms don't sound as fun.

 

@Doctortear Whoops, sorry! My mistake! >

 

Sparkly Scaler lowered her head slightly as a mixture of shyness and embarrassment panged somewhere inside her.

 

"Err...just Sparkly is good enough," she laughed softly, her tail swishing gently behind her. As Tenebris spoke to the Hellfire Wyvern hatchling, she realised a very important factor in what they were about to do. She frowned worriedly, uncrossing her hoof from her other hoof.

 

How was she supposed to help them return the carcass with hooves? Heck, she hadn't even inflicted that much damage to the fox during the fight. She hadn't helped much; it was Tenebris who had saved her. She sighed sorrowfully. So much for helping others.

 

~~~

Rale Rock was slightly alarmed when he noticed more sparks coming out of the hatchling. He could tell that the hatchling was beginning to panic but he would do his best to calm him down.

 

"Please...calm down. I only w-wi-wish to acc-accompany you hunting," he said in as calm voice, stuttering slightly. In an afterthought, he realised that the hatchling had yet to know his name.

 

"By the way, my n-name is Rale...Rale Rock," he added, a small smile appearing on his snout.

 

~~~

Dream Dell smiled at Halietus' enthusiasm. She liked his energetic personality. She got up and jumped onto her cloud, which she had claimed as hers since it hung around her so much.

 

"W-wait...where to find..." she started before her voice trailed off. She spotted a forest not far away and clasped her paws together, sinking slightly into her cloud.

 

"There!" She pointed a claw at the forest, hopping up and down. She tilted her head and gave him a cheeky grin.

 

"R-race you!" With that, she leaped off her cloud and ran off to the forest, her cloud trailing behind her.

 

<OOC: Boom! Super post! ...Not that long, though.>

Edited April 6, 2014 by Dream_Dragon

[Spark-Dragon]

Madness nodded, "Finished... we can." he replied.

The fox was larger than them, clearly they had to carry it together... Madness looked down at the animal, that still didn't look easy. But none the less he took one of the legs into his mouth, almost losing balance but somehow managing to get it back. "ve can dhag et bahh..." he tried to talk with it in his mouth.

[HomeForFlowers]

Only more panic began to bubble in Nein's mind at Rale Rock's words. What did he mean by accompany? Was he going to help Nein hunt for food or was he just going to oversee him? What exactly did he mean? As Nein continued to make excuses in his head, he began to realize something. For one, this hatchling wasn't trying to push back Nein's believes, at least, he wasn't doing so now. He wasn't telling Nein that he had no reason to harm him or that he just wanted to make friends. He had just made a simple statement. He said, "I wish," not, "I have no reason," or, "I need,". He wasn't trying to force Nein of anything nor was he trying to convince. If Nein had his full wits about him, he would of rejected Rale Rock's offer. However, he was still in hunting mode and that side of him was pushing his timid side back.

"I guess w-we could work together," Nein mumbled as he nervously pawed at the ground. That fried beetle wasn't enough to settle the Electric's appetite. He needed something more filling, something more meaty.

[Narath]

Smiling at the red dragon's muffled response, Tenebris walked up alongside him and grabbed on to another one of the creature's limbs with his maw. It was somewhat surprising to him that the other hatchling was able to keep balance as it only had two legs to keep balance on.

"Ar ou rehey..." He began as he glanced up at Sparkly before realizing that it sounded impolite to speak in this manner.

"My apologies. Are you ready Sparkly?" Tenebris repeated, his jaw now no longer clamped on the furry being.

 

(Sorry for the short posts lately. I'm kinda getting writers block... For a long time now...)

Edited April 6, 2014 by Narath

[Dream_Dragon]

<OOC: It's fine, Narath. :3>

 

Sparkly Scaler had the sudden urge to smack her hoof into her face, though she wasn't sure why. Of course, she could have used her mouth! It was only after the thought registered into her brain, did she realise the horror of what she was about to do. She swallowed, her tail twitching nervously. Well, she certainly couldn't back down now.

 

"Y-y-yeah...I...I guess I'm ready..." she said nervously, mostly to herself. She lowered herself to the ground, stretched her head forward and gingerly latched her teeth onto one of the carcass' paws, trying not to look at the bloody parts where Tenebris and the Hellfire Wyvern had feasted on.

 

~~~

Rale Rock beamed, though he was still cautious. The sparking hatchling still seemed shy and to earn his trust, Rale knew that he had to be careful of the way he acted around the shy one. Wait, how did he even know that? "Focus on the food." Right. The food. Accompanying...accompanying...what was the hatchling's name? Rale didn't know but he figured that he'd ask later. Focus on the food.

 

"S-so. To the f-forest, then? Or do you have some other place in m-mi-mind to hu-hunt?" From what he'd seen, the only other place he knew to 'hunt' was the river, where he'd spotted a couple of wriggling creatures with no necks. They'd looked edible enough to him. His tail idly twitched, the shield attached to it brushing against the grass.

Edited April 8, 2014 by Dream_Dragon

[Narath]

After Sparkly clamped onto a paw, Tenebris moved in to help once again. However, there was not too much room left for him to help drag it along so he had to squeeze in the small space left between Sparkly and the red hatchling, causing him to be squeezed slightly. As he clamped his jaw onto the creature's side, Tenebris glanced over and noticed that Sparkly did not look quite well, but rather looked very discomforted. He'd have to make sure that she was well after they took the carcass back though. The others were probably starving right now, and as Sparkly pointed out, they did need to share. Though why she wouldn't have some, he didn't know. And so, after temporarily shrugging the thoughts from his mind, Tenebris began to pull on the creature's side in the general direction of the cave.

 

((I think the writer's block may be steadily leaving. Yay! Mows for everyone!))

Edited April 7, 2014 by Narath