Sorry, it’s been a while. This role play will contain some spoilers.

*Darkling is a lanky adult female RainWing. She is 48 years old. She has grey-ish yellow scales and her underbelly is orange, her eyes are black, her wing membranes are amber in color, her spikes are silver, and her frill is the same color as her wing membranes. She decided to stay in Pantala unlike other dragons from Pyhrria*

Darkling: *Stares at the ball of fire* What happened?!?!

*Most of the dragons around you are staring up at the sky in confusion, aside from the leafwing dragonet that took off towards the Poison Jungle. Suddenly you see another dragonet take off, this one is a little older*

???: IVY, COME BACK! *she roared in pursuit of the other dragonet*

*a Hivewing tried to follow her too but her tail got caught by a leafwing adult*

????: you’re not going in the poison jungle, it’s dangerous.

??????: why do Ivy and Maple get to go then?

????: they shouldn’t be going at all.

(Sorry for responding so late, I’ve wasn’t expecting to be so busy today)

Darkling: *Looks around and then chases after Ivy and Maple* Get back here! You two are not supposed to be going into the poison jungle!!

*the leading leafwing appears to be following the meteor, they have an orange underbelly and green scales everywhere else, it’s hard to see more details because they aren’t as close to you. The one in front of you appears to be mostly green, with some leaf patterns in her scales, she has a bag hanging around her neck. She roared again.*

Maple: IVY!

*neither dragon stopped, they kept flying.*

Darkling: *Flies up to maple*

*You easily caught up to Maple, however Ivy had a head start, and she was much further ahead of you two.*

*the fireball fell below the tree line in front of you, one of the trees was burning. You saw some dust fly up from the ground, but not that much else. Ivy banked towards where it crashed, and Maple turned to follow her.*

Darkling: Be careful you brats! *Darkling Flies straight at Ivy to stop her*

*Ivy made it to the Poison Jungle before you or Maple did. She flies straight in. Maple was right behind you.*

Maple: Rainwing, stop don’t follow her in!

Darkling: *She growls and stares at Maple* Why not?

Maple: so you don’t get eaten by carnivorous plants. I’m more worried about you, but Ivy and I have lived in there for most of our lives. Let me find her.

Darkling: Alright

*She flies ahead of you*

Maple: if you’re going to follow me, I suggest you stick close and be careful. You seem alert enough, but I’ve you guys have this “sun time” I’ve heard about in Pyhrria. If you fall asleep while you’re in here, you might die.

Darkling: *Rushes towards Ivy* I don't care!

Maple: then you’re sticking with me. Don’t fly too high, and don’t fly too low. Any branch can be dangerous, so stay close. It’s safer on the outskirts of the Poison Jungle, but still, we need to be careful incase we fly through a rough patch.

*Ivy appears to have disappeared*

Darkling: Well Ivy is gone so I will stick with you then

Maple: alright, let’s go find her. And I have a good idea of where she might be going.

*the canopy was preventing some of the sunlight from getting in. There was moss on a lot of tree branches. Occasionally Maple would stop and hover next to a tree with her talon on it before continuing on. So far it’s been about 10 minutes.*

Darkling: *Searching around for Ivy while still following Maple*

*eventually you both find a long trail of pulled up plant roots and fallen trees, a little further to the side you see an even longer trail of dirt*

Maple: “something new?” Yeah I can see that. Careful, there’s some dragon traps that fell there… We’re close, she’s nearby.

Darkling: *Gets past the dragon traps and follows the trail*

*Maple appears next to you*

Maple: whatever crashed here must have been huge. *you’re following the path from the side in the trees. Maple keeps guiding you away from it, the further you travel down, the side of the path, the safer it becomes and the less plants on the dirt path there are*

*You and maple start to hear waves. After another minute Maple spots her*

Maple: there. I see her. She standing in the middle of it… *she lands in a safe area without coming onto the trail of dirt kicked up from the trash* Ivy?

*no response*

Darkling: Ivy! Listen to us! *She walks closer to Ivy*

*Maple steps out onto the pathway*

Maple: *looking at Ivy first* Ivy, whaa— *she turned her head down the path the way you were following.* What is that? *she tried to get closer to it but Ivy’s arm shot up, blocking her*

Ivy: *quietly* I don’t think that thing is pointing a weirdly shaped and painted metal stick at as for no reason.

*down the trail was a clearing. A large metal object as large as a dragonet was resting half off of the cliff edge, it appeared to be damaged with some metal pieces fallen off and exposing some sort of mess underneath. It looked like different colored string. Some sparks were coming off it, and occasionally different parts moved as if it were repairing itself. Next to it was a strange light emitted by a small metal thing on the ground that looked like a square, it had some text on it that no one could understand and several graphs and other pictures you you three couldn’t make sense of. And finally, there was what looked like to be a scavenger next to it holding something metal, it wasn’t one of those pointy sticks they had, it looked like the end of it had a barrel. The scavenger completely covered in some kind of blue armor, parts of it seemed to be glowing, one part on its chest was even spinning. It also had a metal backpack of some kind.*

Ivy: I think that’s a scavenger, they have a lot of them in Pyrrhia.. but none are like that.

*Darkling opens her mouth and gets into an attacking position*
Darkling: I don't trust that scavenger

*The scavenger swivels over to you, they still don’t say anything. They gesture the unknown weapon forward and to the side two times.*

Ivy: … I think it wants us to move back.

Maple: are you sure? *looking from you to the scavenger*

Ivy: no, but unless you have a better guess of what it wants us to do, then I think we should move back.

Darkling: *Moving back* I agree with Ivy for this one moment

*Ivy and Maple back up a few feet, the scavenger lowers whatever weapon they were holding, it walks backwards as well, keeping an eye on the three of you. The third eye attached to the backpack seems to help it see behind it.*

Maple: … hey, do you have a lot of these in Pyrrhia?

Ivy: they do, but not ones that look like that.

Darkling: *Her right eye glows a deep blood red while she stares at the scavenger*

*the scavenger finally squeaks a little, and of course none of you understand it. The scavenger turns toward the metal object currently hanging over the cliff, the thing that looks like a third eye is now looking at the three of you.*

Maple: any clue what it said?

Ivy: look, just because I’ve spent more time on Pyrrhia than you, doesn’t mean I can understand a scavenger.

*the scavenger picks up a tool it left on the ground and begins rummaging through a hole in the strange object’s wing where some sparks were flying off of it and begins connecting wires back together. The small disk on the ground emitting the strange square light with some symbols on it changes to a map of the current surroundings. There were some more symbols on the side with a picture of what the metal object once used to look like, some of the symbols just under it were large but the rest were small, one of the symbols next to the picture of the object was changing continuously.*

Darkling: *She looks at Ivy and Maple allowing them to see that her right eye has changed in color to a deep blood red* Should we go help it?

Maple: we don’t even know what it’s doing…

Ivy: looks like it was pretty clear it wanted us to stay back. Are you ok? Your eye is… your eye changed to a dark red.

Maple: *surprised* wait rainwings can change their eye color?

Ivy: *shaking her head* I don’t think so.

Darkling: I am perfectly fine, anyways, lets just stay put until we know exactly what it is doing *She sits down with her mouth wide open*

Ivy: then why did your eyes change colors?

Maple: …

*the scavenger seems to have finished it’s task and pulls the metal plating back over the hole, it somehow seals itself. It looked over the edge of the cliff, then quickly turned around and barked something at the three of you. Seconds later, another metallic object had appeared from behind the cliff and was now hovering above the scavenger’s position.*

Maple: what the—

*the flying object started firing balls of light from barrels attached to the wings, they rose slightly above them. The scavenger jumped backwards, and much higher than it should have been able to, landing on a fallen tree and was using it as cover. Most shots that hit the ground caused the dirt to spray upwards. One hit a another and burned a hole straight through it.*

Maple: take cover!

*Maple shoved Ivy down behind some more fallen trees dove towards your side of the artificial clearing. It doesn’t appear that any of you three are the targets, just the scavenger.*

*the scavenger unholstered something from it’s waist, it looked like a smaller version of the weapon it seemed to be threatening the three of you with. It loaded something onto it, and from behind cover, fired it towards the flying object. It looks like a grappling hook. It jumps up from behind the tree and swings towards it, it swings under the object and flips back over to land on top of it, from there, the metal flying thing can’t hit it and attempts to shake it off. The scavenger plants severel items on its back and wing and jumps off, landing on the cliff, it presses a button on it’s armor on it’s wrist and the flying metal thing explodes, spinning as it descends towards the water. Before it could reach the water, it hits the cliff and the rest of it exploded in a cloud of smoke, the scavenger puts the small weapon back in its holster. The engagement barely lasted 30 seconds.*

Ivy: *poking their head up to make sure it’s safe* … *surprised* did you guys just see what I just saw!?

Maple: *shocked* I don’t believe it either.

Darkling: *Frozen in place* ...

*part of the cliff begins to break off, taking the scavenger and the damaged flying machine with it. The scavenger managed to grab the flying object before it went over, the glass window slid open to reveal some kind of control system, Ivy quickly sprinted and leaped over the cliff intending to save them.*

Maple: *running to the cliffside* IVY WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

*Ivy couldn’t answer, she was trying to grab a smoking piece of the machine, she ended up getting a hold of it for several seconds and let go. Suddenly a light appeared from the back of the machine as it oriented to point itself out towards the sea. Then it took off, and it was fast. It was so quick that Ivy was forced into the cliff, hitting her back on it, she landed in the water. All that the scavenger and the machine left was a blue trail and the light in the distance. It looks like it’s much faster than any dragon. Once Ivy could get out of the water, she slowly flew up. She was out of breath, like the wind got knocked out of her.*

Maple: what were you thinking?!

Ivy: *coughing* I wasn’t… I wanted to save it. *more coughing and wheezing*

Maple: don’t do that again. Especially not when whatever that thing it got into is there.

Darkling: Are you okay at least? *She walks up to Ivy*

Ivy: *more coughing* I’m fine… *finally getting control of her breathing, it’s still heavy* I’ve been in much worse situations. This is nothing.

Maple: seriously, don’t do that again.

Ivy: I don’t plan on it.

*suddenly a blue light starts scanning Ivy, it’s coming from the disk on the ground the scavenger left, it made a noise and then it showed the three of you from how a scavenger would see you, in a small box that appeared, more symbols you didn’t recognize were there, but under those ones, it read in dragon “New Creature Detected, use caution”*

Ivy: huh..?

Maple: that’s so weird, it’s like a mirror. *she waved her claw through it, no reaction other than part of the image was distorted. The text then changed to “New User Detected, this time the box was under both Ivy and Maple.”

Darkling: *She touches the box* ...this is strange...

*another box of light appeared under the one showing the three of you, this time it had a bunch of different symbols all spaced out, none of them were letters in dragon. Ivy waved her claw over it and it disappeared*

Ivy: … ok? That happened…

*both boxes disappeared, in place of the image of the three of you, a see through screen appeared of what the scavenger had before it, “error fixed, thank you for your patience” it said in another text box.*

Maple: the map is back!

Darkling: Nice....

*on the side is a picture of what the flying machine used to look like. The glass is black so you can’t see the inside. It has wings that are almost flat. On the backside it has a foil and a the place that emits light, it’s labeled as an “engine.” There is a short description under it which reads:

Challenger of The Void

This starfighter is a one of a kind starfighter designed to cross the spatial anomaly currently known as The Void safely. Unmanned craft have already proven it is possible, but the ongoing battle in The Void has made it impossible to preform reconnaissance necessary for the rescue mission. Avoiding combat is recommended.

The description ends there.*

Ivy: what?

Maple: … something weird must be happening on their end.

Darkling: Another mystery...

Maple: I wonder what else this thing can do.

Ivy: should we take it back with us?

Darkling: *Picks it up* We should bring it back just in case, now lets go!

*the light immediately stopped when you picked it up. A couple seconds later it started whirring again and a new light appeared. This time it was a picture of the machine from the top down, listing how badly each part was damaged on the right side of the “move through box”. The right wing was marked in yellow, the left wing was almost all orange and red. However the entire middle section including the labels “cockpit,” “engine,” and “hull” were green. On the left top corner was an image of the scavenger sitting from inside the machine at a 3/4 angle. It was a moving image and no damage could be seen from the inside, it appeared to be controlling the machine. Below that was another moving image from the outside of the machine on the right wing looking back. There were three of the other flying machines you saw attack the scavenger. It looks like it was measuring something because at the bottom left corner was numbers rapidly changing going both up and down. Below the image showing the damage to each part of the Scavenger’s machine was writing words as the scavenger was speaking them in dragon. Above that it said “Rough Translation, still a work in progress.” Anything the scavenger was saying was being translated and they appeared to be contacting someone.*

Scavenger: *after translation* come on...

Ivy: is he trying to contact us?

Maple: one way to find out. Set it back down, let’s see if we can respond.

*you’re claws were large enough to cover all of the disc, but because of the way you’re holding it, only the part that emits light can be seen.*

Darkling: *she puts it back down and stares at it*

*Ivy goes to tap a flashing button but it looks like someone else answered already*

*another screen appeared below the scavenger it appeared to be coming from within a metal structure. A short feathered creature in similar armor to the scavenger was there sitting at some sort of control panel. More entities were walking behind them in various different sizes, but most of their faces were either behind helmets and masks or out of frame, they all seemed scavenger like but were covered in similar armor.*

Feathered Scavenger: Sky? Never mind I can see what trouble you’re in. Need backup?

Scavenger (Sky from here on out): No, can you reroute power remotely?

Feathered Scavenger: would be more effective if you could do that, I can take control of the cannons and be gunner for you.

Sky: that’s perfect, the longer I keep this thing flying, the more time I have to find a better chance I have at pulling this rescue off. *multiple different beams and balls of light were beginning to fire past the scavenger’s flying machine*

Feathered Scavenger: I’ll make sure you keep breathing. Taking control of the guns now. I could use a bit of target practice anyway. How are the shields?

Sky: almost nonexistent. One bad hit and they’re done.

Feathered Scavenger: alright, time to be the best pilot in the galaxy commander. Now we really need you to be.

Sky: good luck, Aanvi.

Feathered Scavenger (Aanvi from here on out): *chuckling* I’m not the one that needs the luck. Just a reminder we packed four proton missiles on that thing. They’re there if you need ‘em.

Sky: *shrugging* just trying to be nice.

Aanvi: seriously, try not to get the Challenger scrapped. Those corrupted sentinels are gonna be calling back up.

Sky: let’s see what I can do with the odd’s I’ve been given.

*one “cannon” can be seen from the view of the outside of the starfighter, it did a full 180 and began firing back, it was firing at a much faster rate. Maybe it was a different type of weapon than what the “corrupted sentinels” were using.*

Darkling: Oh my god....

Ivy: what the heck is this?!

Maple: looks like whoever they are, they’re at war with something.

*they’re flying extremely fast. The machine is weaving trying to avoid getting hit, occasionally it spins around. At one point Sky pulled back a lever and the machine completely halted midair. The other machines chasing it fly by extremely fast, Sky pushed back the lever again and “The Challenger” began to accelerate again. Aanvi managed to take out one of the enemy machines that way, destroyed it as it flew past*

Sky: nice shot.

Aanvi: thanks.

*the machine sped up to it’s original speed, though you could see it got hit several times. One time it got hit really bad, the inside of the machine shook*

Sky: shields are down. *somewhat panicked fiddling with the controls.*

Aanvi: hang in there. Almost got another on.

*another couple shots punch through the hill of one of the other machines, it starts smoking before it explodes, the left over sheet metal falls into the ocean. Unfortunately 4 more arrive in flashes of light in the atmosphere*

Aanvi: four more just warped in.

Sky: this is gonna be one hell of a race.

Darkling: ...

*you can see on a graph on the left side, power was being redirected towards the engines, increasing the speed while Sky turned to another panel to attempt to fix the shielding.

Aanvi: Sky, watch the air traffic.

Sky: what?

*the view of outside the machine switched to an angle from above the glass area. 7 dragons were in front of the machine which was approaching them rapidly from behind. Sky barely had the time to switch panels to move out of the way, he nearly hit the seawing’s claws, it was the party that came to destroy the othermind.*

Aanvi: too close. You’re giving me a heart attack just from looking at that.

Sky: a better heads up would have been nice.

Aanvi: I’m doing the best I can.

Ivy: were they who I think they are?

Maple: yeah, that looked like Tsunami.

Aanvi: *loud squeaking, it translated as “WATCH YOU’RE RIGHT”*

*one of the other machines was now flying side ways, cannons pointed directly at Sky’s flying machine*

Sky: I see it.

*Both Sky’s starfighter and the other starfighter fired at each other at the same time. Sky did an aileron roll right to avoid it and the top of The Challenger was now facing the ground, and the sentinel machine below him. Aanvi began firing at it, and most of the shots looked like direct hits, but it wasn’t doing much. The areas being hit were turning a blue light that was slowly turning red*

Aanvi: that bucket of bolts has some tough armor.

Sky: keep the pressure on it.

*eventually the light broke, two shots into the hull and it was smoking, though several shots went through Sky’s wing as well. His right wing was now smoking as well. One shot went into the sentinel’s engine and it blew up, the remains of it crashed into the ocean.*

Aanvi: keep going, we still have more hostiles on our six.

Sky: I wasn’t planning on stopping.

Darkling: *Creepily staring straight at it*

*another sentinel fighter came up along side The Challenger opened fire. After disabling its shielding, two well placed shots to the engine caused the whole thing to explode. A piece of the debris he got stuck in The Challenger’s wing. At the same time, that part of the wing got shot through, and a part that was previous lighting up red was now gone. The Challenger was sent careening towards the water*

Sky: *shouting* Stabilizer’s gone!

*on the screen, you could see the landing gear was being deployed*

Aanvi: are you planning to use the Challenger as a boat?

Sky: better than having to eject, give me some time to—

Aanvi: you don’t have time!

Sky: then give me some cover.

Aanvi: *she turned towards someone next to her* get some combat drones in there ASAP. He needs backup.

Someone you couldn’t see: yes sir! *running away from the transmission*

*Sky grunted as the starfighter hit the water, it was now gliding on top of it using its landing gear to stabilize itself. Aanvi was now firing directly into the air, hoping land hits. Smoke was blocking part of her vision. A couple seconds later, another sentinel fight crashed into the water on the left side.*

Aanvi: heads up, island, dead ahead.

Sky: I see it. I can’t turn to avoid it in time.

*the camera changed views again to back over the area with the glass, dead ahead was a small island. Sky was turning toward a beach on the island’s southern side*

Darkling: *Watching it*

*the challenger plowed into the beach, at one point it got air from hitting a rock, an alert showed up saying “HULL BREACHED” and you could hear something fall. Sky then hit something out of view and the alert went away. The engine cut out and Sky was able to steer the starship towards the water, though it was still drifting along the beach and still moving very fast. Without the dust obscuring vision, Aanvi managed to shoot down the last enemy machine
and like the others, it fell into the ocean, though it exploded upon contact because it fell in shallow water. There was another bump and the stabilizer was working again. The engine was turned back on and Sky’s starfighter began to fly higher again*

Sky: now that’s what I’m talking about. Good shot!

Aanvi: *the cheering in the background was so loud not even the translator could pick up what she said initially* … … *the crowd that had gathered behind Aanvi began to quiet down* -own, settle down! *she sat back down* Sky, I’m not sure if there are more hostiles coming. So be careful and fly low. You’re not exactly hard to spot right now but the very least you could do is try to avoid detection from their scanners.

Sky: understood, Aanvi.

Aanvi: hang on I’m picking up a weak signal… and I’ve just received data. Let me decrypt this.

Sky: somehow it seems like it’s smooth flying from here, though I have a feeling this is going to get much worse.

Aanvi: … if this isn’t confirmation she’s on the surface, I don’t know what is.

Sky: what?

Aanvi: Apparently The Challenger’s just received a data transfer from Stardust, or a part of it at least. *Ivy suddenly got tense* So she’s either here, or somewhere in the star system, I’m betting money she’s somewhere on this planet. Should we launch a frigate for support and rescue? They know we’re here already.

Sky: no, we need to find her first. If we launch a frigate now, it’ll be a sitting duck for any sentinels here, it’ll most likely be destroyed in the void from the current battle. Focus most of our resources towards that, if we control the spatial anomaly, we can safely send more ships here. A frigate would draw too much attention right now.

Aanvi: alright then. *alert appeared on everyone’s screen that just said “DATA TRANSFER RECEIVED.”* Looks like it’s done. I’ve got a map of a continent and several short entries. I’ll try to get a lock in that signal.

Sky: Let’s see if this thing can even make it to the next island after that.

Darkling: This is insane....

Maple: since when could scavengers develop machines that fly?

*Ivy didn’t respond, She seemed to be staring at the name “Stardust” until it disappeared from the screen*

*It seems to be smooth flying from there are on out. Sky’s attempting to recharge the shields of The Challenger. No more enemy space craft showed up.*

Aanvi: … yep. I’m transferring you the coordinates now, they seem to line up with the eastern coast of this mountain pass here, but of course that’s just going off the information we’ve been sent. I don’t know how accurate the map is. *the map of Pyrrhia now has a yellow circle in the middle of Pyrrhia, it’s on the outskirts and eastern coast of the skywing kingdom.*

Sky: well, if we don’t have any more complications, we should get there very quickly.

Aanvi: … I’ve just realized this data transfer is very incomplete. It looks like she tried to send more but we’ve only got a small amount. I’ll tell you what we have. The continent’s name is Pyrrhia, we have a rough map, there’s three moons which are the same three The Challenger scanned in, in fact you should be able to see them now. I have a couple short entries, one of Pyrrhia as a whole, one of something called “Leafwings,” and I have a very small entry for something called “Hivewings.” I’ll read them once you get the Challenger on the ground.

Sky: *nodding, continue to fly across the sea. The speed of The Challenger of the Void looked like it was flying faster than any dragon could.*

Darkling: ...woah

Maple: how do you think they built these machines?

*Ivy still doesn’t talk, she seems to be thinking about something*

Aanvi: can The Challenger still “pulse jump” or is it too damaged?

Sky: one way to find out. *he pulled back a lever and suddenly the starfighter slowed down for a second before accelerating to a much faster speed* there’s our answer. *they immediately lost their speed but they were now on the coast of the sandwing kingdom. It was night time there.* Never mind, the pulse engine gave out… and we have more friends.

*three of the sentinel fighters of similar make were descending from the cloud’s above. It looked like just a patrol, they emitted a small purple trail from their engines. Once they got closer they began to dive at Sky’s flying machine*

Aanvi: I think they see you, get out of there.

Sky: don’t have to tell me twice. *the engine revved up and the smoking starfighter shot away going northbound along the coast. The enemy machines were not far behind and quickly accelerated. Most of the power appears to be going towards the engine with a little towards the guns for defense. The guns began firing again and soon there were bolts of light flying passed the machines again both ways.*

Aanvi: keep it study will you?

Sky: trying my best.

Darkling: *Her right eye glows an even brighter red*

*Ivy wasn’t paying attention to you, Maple noticed*

Maple: uh… are your eyes okay?

*an explosion was heard from the screen. Sky looks like he was almost forced out of his seat. Behind him, you could see sparks coming from the ceiling and back wall.*

Aanvi: be careful!

Sky: … *he was now flying down the coastline and suddenly it got to be very snowy. The icy coastline suggested he just strayed into icewing airspace. The Challenger began to climb higher as more machines showed up. Suddenly something pinged on the screen*

Aanvi: Why is your distress beacon online? Normally I wouldn’t question it but it’s pinging nowhere near your current location.

Sky: I didn’t activate it, must have lost it. Focus on the battle.

Aanvi: I hope you have a plan.

Sky: no but I can improvise. *he suddenly made a sharp left turn and started flying towards them, he blew past them in two seconds. Aanvi was able to score a couple hits on starfighter, sending it into the ocean. 5 more they needed to shoot down*

Aanvi: why didn’t we install a mining beam on this thing?

*Sky made a sharp turn around again, it seemed to confuse the sentinels less this time though. Aanvi was able to shoot two more down in the following exchange and Sky continued northbound up the coast*

Aanvi: I’ve got a weather hazard—

Sky: great, maybe it will slow ‘em down.

Aanvi: it’s a blizzard. I advise you avoid it. *she shot down another fighter, one of the bolts shot towards the challenger tore through the upper part of the wing. 2 remaining enemies but the Challenger looks like it can barely take another hit* Yikes, that was close.

Sky: I don’t have a choice. I’m going to have to fly into it to lose them.

Darkling: *Red cracks appear in her skin/scales*

(Sorry for not responding for a while)

*Maple was looking at you with much more concern now*

Maple: rainwing are you alright?

*Ivy was now looking at you as well.*

*meanwhile*:
*The Challenger flew directly into a blizzard. Sky was following the coastline as best as he could. You couldn’t see much past the wing anymore. Occasionally you could see the ground and coast line and whatever bolts of light flew past the view from the wing. Somehow, Aanvi managed to shot another machine down, it hit the cliffside in a large explosion. Nothing seemed to be left to it and it was quickly lost to the blizzard. However Sky’s own starship now had much more damage. The engine was now critically damaged, one hit in the right place would essentially vaporize The Challenger, and him with it. There was still one more enemy sentinel out there, and Aanvi seemed like she was firing blind into the snow storm.*

Aanvi: you’re still close enough that you’re both picking each other up on your radar. The only problem is judging elevation.

Sky: just do your best *he made a sharp right turn inland. Fire could be seen inside the cockpit. The screen now displayed a large red flashing text box over everything that read “WARNING: REACTOR CORE IN CRITICAL CONDITION.” Aanvi looked like she was starting to panic.* Well isn’t that just nice.

Aanvi: PORT SIDE!

Sky: SH— *an explosion rocked the left side of the starship and Sky began to lose control. The Challenger began to lean left. The camera feed briefly became static. When the image returned, it was Sky frantically hitting several buttons and switches on one of the panels of the machine. Even in its severely damaged state, The Challenger flew on. Aanvi shot down the last enemy starfighter. The explosion was seen far below them before it disappeared.*

Aanvi: Sky, land that bucket of bolts now!

Sky: *cutting in and out, but with what came through the translator, it looked like he was saying something along the lines of “losing control” of the spacecraft*

Aanvi: I don’t care, land before The Challenger blows up! That is an order!

Sky: *cutting in and out again* This thing is going to land, but I don’t think it’s gonna make it in one piece.

*you could see that the machine was leaving a trail of smoke from the outside camera. The leftwing looks completely on fire and all you can see is flames and smoke on that side. The underside of the machine looks heavily damaged from the camera angle*

(Sorry for responding late)

(lol you don’t need to apologize for that, I’ve been doing that too lol. Don’t need to worry about it)

Darkling: Quiet! *she motions for them to look at the recording*

*Maple and Ivy turned back towards the see through screen*

*there was now a loud fast paced noise coming from the background that sounded like “BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP” along with another warning that the “reactor core” was severely damaged.*

Sky: *even more staticky and distorted* I’m detecting a massive structure near me, the sonar is a bit messed up from the wind but it looks like a castle.

Aanvi: disregard it, The Challenger cannot continue flying.

Sky: — *the camera became static again for a few seconds* I’ll attempt to steer clear if I need to. *he hit another button, you can see on the screen with both the diagram of the starship and the view from below the starship that the landing gear was being deployed again*

Aanvi: you’re passing over the detected structure now. Watch out for towers.

Sky: *he buzzed right by one, but he didn’t see any more* I believe were clear of any structures.

Aanvi: alright, find a safe place to land and—

*a loud boom was heard, on the underside view of the fighter, a massive explosion was seen from the bottom left corner.*

Sky: *breaking up* AANVI. Listen to me. If I die, do NOT send someone to collect this starfighter or me. Stardust’s rescue is the priority. I made that kid a promise, and I expect you to keep it if I’m unable to. *there was another explosion, this time even louder. The starfighter started spiraling out of control. It was losing altitude quickly. It was impossible to tell how it was going to land*

Aanvi: I— *she looks shocked* I—…. Affirmative.

Sky: *trying to be positive, trying to minimize any stress* Aanvi… don’t worry. I think I’ve got a pretty good chance at surviving this as long as the core or engine doesn’t fully explode. We built this thing to be tough, it’s survived several crashes most starfighters would not even be partially functional afterwords, let alone fly. I’m sure it will protect me one more time.

*you could see Aanvi nodding but she didn’t say anything, it looked like she was trying to hold back tears*

Darkling: This is a bit sad.....*Her left eye glows the bright red color like her right eye and the red cracks in her skin grow larger*

Sky: If I don’t make it out… *brings his right hand up to his head, just above where his eyes would be, his arm and elbow stuck out. It might have been a salute* It’s been a pleasure serving with you and the crew.

*Some other life forms joined Aanvi in the background watching in dismay as the starfighter crashes, many of them were taller, most wearing armor similar to Sky’s but with different helmets and paint. Aanvi was the only one that wasn’t wearing a helmet.*

Aanvi: just hold on, keep it together.

Sky: *nodding, hitting several switches, he tried restoring power to the the stabilizer and it failed. All he could do now was continue to hold onto the control stick in an attempt to slow the spinning.*

*there was a moment of silence, all that could be heard was the failing engine that sounded like it was ready to explode again, the wind, and the flames*

Aanvi: Brace for impact!

*you heard the fighter hit the ground from the video, it looks like it managed to land with the cockpit facing up, but it hasn’t stopped moving yet, in fact it was still moving very fast. It hit something and jumped once and the starship started rolling, the straps holding Sky in place on the chair were broken and he flew up and hit the window. The Challenger finally came to rest with the cockpit on its side. Sky wasn’t completely visible, but just enough to tell he was on the floor.*

Aanvi: *distressed, worried* SKY!

*there wasn’t an initial response, Aanvi began typing furiously at the control panel she was on, whatever she did it ended up replacing the diagram of The Challenger with a line that occasionally fluctuated with a beep. It was labeled heart rate. Under that were some strange numbers under a category labeled pulse.*

Aanvi: Sky, can you hear me?! … Sky, if you hear me, please respond!

*Sky wasn’t moving*

Aanvi: SKY, DO YOU COPY?

*suddenly you see a thumbs up appear over the the console the camera angle was on and the hand fall limp again*

Aanvi: *looks like that helped her a little* okay… he’s still alive. *turning around* Prep a drop pod with a medical bot with supplies and have a fighter escort prepared. Looks like he’s just going to be unconscious for a while.

*a new voice was heard, it didn’t seem natural, and the translation was still appearing under Aanvi’s name*

???: the blizzard will affect the drop pod’s targeting system. I suggest we wait until the blizzard subsides for optimal conditions. The chances the drop pod makes it through the void is 2%.

Darkling: ...

Aanvi: I know but we don’t have time for—!

*the more robotic voice spoke again, it was coming from a more scavenger-like figure, their helmet had a small light that was blinking in different patterns when they talked*

???: I understand, I was suggesting we wait for the best possible chance to send supplies, otherwise they may end up somewhere else. Possibility that it ends up in the correct location is less then 0.002% right now, and again, making it through the spacial anomaly will be a whole other challenge in itself. Again I suggest you wait out the blizzard. Besides, opening cockpit with the current weather outside might do more harm than good.

Aanvi: *staring at the scavenger-like thing before turning away* you’re right.. but I can’t just leave him down there.

???: I am suggesting you send the drop pod as soon as possible, the drop pod is ready and on standby for launch. *the figure walked away*

Aanvi: … *turning away from the camera* Everyone back to work.. we still have a fleet to run. *the crowd behind her began to disperse, Aanvi turned back toward the view of the camera, hit something on the control panel, and her screen disappeared, what was left was the image of Sky’s arm hanging over there panel on his screen. The outside view indicated the ship was slanted at an angle with the cockpit facing up.*
————
Ivy: what in the book was that?!

Maple: maybe the events that happened on the screen just happened now.

Ivy: then that means we have a strange visitor on Pyrrhia that’s from Clearsight knows where. And he has a flying machine that can rip a dragon apart in seconds. I don’t think it’s here to kill us but it’s still dangerous, unless it’s dead.

Maple: well, it said they were on a rescue mission… we’ll have to check the disk again later..

Darkling: *Her claws grow red and she seems to grow double in size* I agree with Maple

Maple: *nodding, looking back at you and she’s shocked by how you’ve changed* By the trees, what happened?! You were smaller before.

Ivy: *getting nervous, trying not to provoke you* uh… your claws are glowing.

Darkling: Nothing has changed

(Sorry I haven’t replied in a while, I’ve been super busy lately)

*both dragons look confused*

Ivy: but you were just—

*Aanvi’s screen briefly reappeared they were with someone who appeared to be a doctor or someone from the medical field ready for combat in armor, they had a Red Cross on their left shoulder pad*

Aanvi: can you tell anything from here?

Med personnel: ideally I’d like to be standing over him, but the ship’s scan indicates no broken bones or other life threatening injuries despite the severity of the crash. Heart rate seems to be normal, I believe he will live but you should keep an eye on him. You made that starfighter well, it protected Sky from most of the crash, his own armor did the rest. Give him a couple hours and he might be moving again.

Aanvi: … thanks. *the background suddenly turned red and some loud alarm could be heard, Aanvi grabbed a helmet that was left on the console and quickly put it on. The image quickly left the screen again before Aanvi had time to shout something.*

Maple: well that looked ominous…

Darkling: *Speaks something in an unknown language*

Maple: what the—

Ivy: what’s going on?

Maple: only Clearsight know’s what she’s saying right now.

Darkling: *Looks at them with a stare that frightens them a lot*

*both of them back up a lot. Ivy looks at her wrist for a second and back to you. Maple almost backs up over the cliff*

Darkling: *She speaks with a terrifying voice* Is there something wrong?

Maple: uh… d-define wrong…

Ivy: *ducks behind a nearby tree*

Darkling: Like is there something worrying you, scaring you or hurting you?

Maple: m-maybe?

*Ivy appears to have gone missing again, or at the very least she’s hidden in the surrounding area*

Darkling: ?

Maple: *awkward smile* uh… yeah it’s… *sighing* fine.. you grew almost twice your previous height, your voice has changed, your claws and eyes have been glowing red for a long time, and you were just speaking a random language we didn’t know… *Maple takes another step back, if she takes one more step backwards she’s falling off the cliff*

Darkling, normal form: Hmmmm.....

Maple: perhaps I just don’t know enough about Pyrrhian dragons?

Darkling: You know enough about those type of dragons

Maple: I do?? *nearly crying at this point*

Ivy: *from somewhere above* hey, is it safe to come down or is the rainwing going to kill us?

Maple: uh… please don’t kill us? *awkward and nervous chuckle*

Darkling: I won't kill any of you

Maple: thank you! *genuinely crying now* thank you for helping me find Ivy by the way.

Ivy: *somewhere above* oh come on I didn’t need any help.

Darkling: *Nods*

Maple: let’s all go back to camp. I’m sure Ivy’s mother is wondering where we are.

Ivy: oh.. right.

?????: you bet she is. And she’s probably angry I got away too.

Ivy: Sumac, how in the three moons did you— OW, HEY!

*another leafwing dragonet comes out of the jungle pulling Ivy by the ear*

Ivy: Sumac, let go of my ear.

Maple: seriously Sumac? That’s not necessary.

Sumac: *lets go of Ivy* what the heck have you two been doing? Rose is getting worried.

Ivy and Maple at the same time: uh… nothing..

Darkling: I was helping Maple look for Ivy. Lets go back to camp, now.

Sumac: yeah, can we just go back before Rose kills us all? Or worse, those two hivewings decide they’re gonna kill some of us as revenge for imprisoning Wasp?

??????: I want to do what now?

*a Hivewing dragonet around Ivy and Sumac’s age poked her head out of the underbrush*

Sumac: HOVERFLY, YOU FOLLOWED ME?!

Hoverfly: yeah? What, you thought I was going to miss out on all the fun?

Sumac: you little—

Hoverfly: what did Rose say about fighting? *smug look on her face*

Sumac: well, does it look like Rose is here?

Maple: oh Clearsight, can you two shut up? No one is planning to kill anyone.

Ivy: permission to paralyze Sumac?

Maple: no. Let’s not get into more trouble than we already are. Did Rose send you?

Sumac: *turning away from the Hivewing to face the rest of you* what do you think?

*the Hivewing shakes her head to tell everyone that no, Sumac didn’t get permission to be in the poison jungle either*

Maple: I think you’re a liar whose tail is on fire. Rose was probably on her way as soon as she noticed you and Hoverfly were missing.

????: AND YOU WOULD BE CORRECT. *an angry looking young adult leafwing appeared standing over Hoverfly, who was now cowering beneath her, you now realize this was the Leafwing and Hivewing you heard before flying after Maple and Ivy*

Darkling: *Yawns*

Rose: WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING? ALL OF YOU?

Ivy: s-sorry Mom.. I wasn’t… I thought they were going to send some dragons to investigate anyways and I wanted to help.

Maple: I was trying to catch up to and stop Ivy.

Sumac; *he seems to be the most afraid next to Hoverfly* I-I was coming to l-look for them w-when they didn’t c-come back..

Hoverfly: *too scared to even speak*

Rose: *while looking at Hoverfly she seems to understand why Hoverfly followed Sumac even though Hoverfly didn’t say anything, her tone lightens up a little, but still very serious and angry* Ivy, over here. Now. *she nudges Hoverfly all the way into the clearing while she walks into the jungle with Ivy, they both speak in low voices away from everyone else*

Hoverfly: *standing next to Sumac* what do you think she’s saying?

Sumac: Rose is probably making sure Ivy is ok before she starts lecturing her…

Maple: yeah, that’s usually how it goes, we’re next.

Darkling: This is shit, I am going now-

Rose: *seeing you’re leaving* thanks for finding them and making sure they didn’t get into more trouble. I was trying to keep Hoverfly from coming into the Jungle too but as you can see they’ve slipped past me. Maple, take Hoverfly and Sumac with you back to camp. We’ll be right behind you.

*Maple nods takes the disk from you*

Maple: thanks for helping me. We should probably get this back to camp.

*Hoverfly and Sumac somehow didn’t notice it.*

Maple: come on guys, let’s go.

Sumac: thank the trees.

Hoverfly: wait for me!

*Maple, Sumac, and Hoverfly’s took off flying out through the clearing and along the coast, Maple still has the disk and is keeping it safe and hidden from view*

Darkling: *Follows Maple*

Sumac: what were you and Ivy doing in there really?

Maple: what Ivy said we were doing actually.

Sumac: sure.

Maple: there was no other reason for her to follow that fireball.

Hoverfly: come on, you both were just curious like I was.

Maple: that was probably part of it. Though when it comes to this sort of thing, she takes it seriously. I think she feels like she still needs to prove herself to Belladonna and the rest of our tribe.

Hoverfly: why?

Maple: I’ll explain later…

Darkling: *Crashes into the ground*

Hoverfly: oh my god!

Maple: THREE MOONS!

*Maple lands next to you, Hoverfly and Sumac hovering a over you, unsure what to do*

Maple: are you alright?!

*My wings are bent and my right eye has been torn out*

Maple: Rainwing, can you hear me?!

Sumac: uh… Maple? I think they’re dead..

*Hoverfly looks the other way, she looks scared*

Darkling: *not responding*

*Maple starts panicking*

Sumac: nothing we can do. Her wings are broken. We’re not trained to be healers either!

Maple: then get to camp and find someone who is and bring them over here.

Sumac: I’ll do my best. Come on Hoverfly. *Both Sumac and Hoverfly leave*

*Darkling gets up and flies after them*

Maple: what?!

Sumac: THREE MOONS, WHAT THE HECK.

*Hoverfly is flying as fast as she could, not paying attention and focused on finding a healer*

*Darkling bites Hoverfly's tail and stops her*

Darkling: Stop. Running.

Hoverfly: huh..? WHAT IN CLEARSIGHT, YOUR EYE! *she looks like she’s a little squeamish, maybe that’s why she wasn’t looking at you after you crashed*

Darkling: I am fine, please stop screaming

Sumac: uh… no you aren’t.. one of your eyes is missing and your wings look like they’re bent the wrong way.

*Hoverfly stares at the ground*

*Maple finally catches up*

Maple: was that crash intentional?

Darkling: The crash was not intentional

Maple: okay, uh.. yeah your eye is missing.

Sumac: I just said that.

Maple: You need a healer, and you’re probably going to need an eyepatch later.

*Hoverfly continues staring at the ground*

Darkling: *Sighs*

Sumac: uh… let’s get you to camp and see if we can get you treated..

Maple: I couldn’t agree more.

*Hoverfly and Sumac lift off, Maple waits for you*

Darkling: *Follows after them*

*Maple follows behind. Ivy and Rose were now behind you as well but haven’t completely caught up.*

Hoverfly: so what’s the weird circle thing you got, Maple?

Maple: what? Oh.. it’s nothing.

Sumac: nothing my tail. You wouldn’t be carrying it if it was nothing.

Maple: I’m serious it’s not important.

Hoverfly: so why do you have it?

Maple: just thought it was interesting.

Darkling: shut up

*Both Hoverfly and Sumac drop the subject. Much to Maple’s relief, the rest of the flight was silent, you were almost to the camp and flying low over the ground*

Sumac: can I see the weird metal thing?

Maple: … *she shrugged* I don’t see why not.

*Maple reached out to pass the disk to Sumac, but the handoff somehow got messed up, which made Sumac drop it. Sumac watched it nervously. Maple dove to catch it but it was too late. The disk was only slightly damaged, but when Maple tried to activate it, it didn’t work, she looked a bit disappointed*

Sumac: sorry—

Maple: it’s fine, I’m not mad. *she definitely was annoyed*

Hoverfly: are we still taking it back?

Maple: it made it this far. Might as well.

*Maple and Sumac took off with the disk again, you made it back to camp with no further incidents. Suspiciously, the disk disappeared after Ivy got and Rose landed but Maple didn’t say anything*

———
Later…

Hoverfly: … so what happened out there?

Maple: I’m not entirely sure.

Sumac: just tell us.

Maple: … you know what, I don’t know why you two fight… you have so much in common.

Hoverfly: uh huh, sure.

Sumac: don’t compare me to a— *she stopped as soon as he realized Hoverfly was looking at him* … continue.

Maple: alright hatchlings, settle down. The reason I haven’t told you is you wouldn’t believe me if I did tell you. All you need to know is whatever crashed in there disappeared.

*Maple walked off, she looked very annoyed*

Hoverfly: … she’s right you know, we are similar.

Sumac: you used to be the scared and shy one.

*Hoverfly walked off, leaving Sumac alone, despite hating hivewings, he decided to run after Hoverfly. Surprisingly the two began to chat as they walked towards their sleeping arrangements.*

[end]

Epilogue:

*later that night*

Ivy walked to the edge of camp where she knew no one would hear her. Her time in exile was really paying off, she creeped soundlessly towards the edge of camp. She had to talk to Stardust, she probably could make sense of what was going on, and she definitely at the very least had some explaining to do. She had two bags with her, a gift from Stardust so they could talk over long distances, and the disk from earlier. Finally, she found a place behind one of the makeshift storage areas and pulled out Stardust’s gift. It was a small chunk of metal, it appears to have been made by someone much smaller than a dragon. It resembled a wearable version of the disk, but slightly smaller. It had several buttons that had different functions but she only knew the ones that started and ended “calls” is what Stardust called them. She activated the gift and waited for Stardust to answer.

It wasn’t long before she got a response.

An almost exact image of Stardust appeared in front of her.

Stardust whispered as always trying not to alert anyone. “Hey, how is it over there?”

“It’s getting better… something strange happened though. There was this meteor and a metal machine almost the size of me had crashed on a cliff, there was some blue scavenger trying to repair it and—“

“Woah… slow down Ivy, that’s a lot. Were you hurt?”

“Actually, me and Maple somehow made it out with almost no injuries when another machine showed up and starting throwing light bolts that burned holes through trees at us. The way the scavenger took it down was insane, I couldn’t even begin to describe it.”

“You said blue scavenger… you mean blue armor right?”

Ivy nodded, “it also had some strange weapons.”

“Hang on.. did they look like this by any chance?”

Stadust’s image became smaller, an exact image of the scavenger appeared next to her, just taller.

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I saw!”

“Ivy… you know what this means right?”

Ivy looked at Stardust. She knew exactly what was going on, the translation said “rescue mission.” Stardust was leaving. Tears began to well up in Ivy’s eyes. Stardust looked like she was about to do the same, but Ivy couldn’t see her very well through her own tears, Stardust was just a messy blob for her. She began to cry for the first time in almost 2 years.

“Ivy, it’ll be alright.”

“But where are you going? Will you be alright? What’s going to happen?”

“Duty calls Ivy, I’m going back to the front. I was wondering why the sentinel presence suddenly increased around the planet.”

“Is the scavenger this ‘Sky’ person you were talking about?”

“Yes… he is. I haven’t told you about him, but he’s saved me from a lot of things.”

“How long will you be gone?”

Stardust suddenly paused. Ivy’s heart sank. She was hoping Stardust would come back, but even if she was going back to some war torn planet, she knew the chances of coming back were low.

Stardust finally answer “I don’t know.. all I know is that someday I will come back to visit this planet. It’s been my home for almost an earth year now. I’m going to miss you all.”

Ivy couldn’t speak. She was sniffling now, tears were streaming down her face.

“I know, I’m sad too, I almost don’t want to leave, but this was going to happen at some point. I couldn’t keep hiding here forever waiting for rescue without putting this world in danger…”

Ivy still couldn’t talk. She wanted to be she couldn’t.

“Hey… you won’t always be without me. That device I gave you should be able to reach me from almost anywhere. If you need to talk, I’ll be here.”

This comforted Ivy enough to ask a question. “Are you sure?”

Ivy could hear the sadness in Stardust’s voice creeping up. “As long as I’m not in battle or dead, I’m sure. At the push of a button, I’ll be there.”

Ivy thought Stardust tried to give her a weak smile through the “hologram.” She saw stardust lift her talon and place it out in front of her. “I promise, I’ll come back one day.”

Ivy began to se stardust more clearly again, she could see tears were also streaming down Stardust’s face. “You better keep that promise or I’ll find you and scream at you myself.” This made both dragons laugh. Ivy reached out to touch Stardust’s talon only for her talon to float through it. She settled for holding I’m her talon next to Stardust’s to give it the illusion of the two of them holding talons. “It’s not the same as you being here. And seriously, please.. come back. I’ll miss you, and so will everyone back in Pyhrria.”

“I’ll try to.”

Both of them sat there in silence for a long. Stardust eventually broke it. “Thank you Ivy. It was nice hiding in Pyhrria with you.”

“I know I’ve already said this, but I’m going to miss you so much.”

“I’m going to miss you too Ivy.”

Stardust’s “hologram” began to fade away.

All that was left now was the silence of the camp, the sounds from the trees that the leafwings rapidly grew, and Ivy’s muffled weeping. She sat there for a while, until she realized someone had their wing wrapped around her.

“DEAR CLEARSIGHT,” she screamed at a whisper. It was Hoverfly, and Sumac was behind her. “What the heck are you doing out here?”

Sumac answered, “Guard duty.”

“Like they would let your idiotic tail on guard duty.”

Hoverfly answered this time. “I don’t know what’s going on between you two and Maple where you can’t tell anyone the truth the first time but we came to find you when we woke up and saw you weren’t there. We were getting worried.”

“I guess I have been out late haven’t I? Alright, let’s head back.”

All three dragons made their way back to their sleeping arrangements, Ivy taking less care than before but still now managing to wake anyone up. When they finally got back, Ivy quickly fell into a deep sleep.

[do I continue or not?]

[if you want to sure. This will be part of a larger story though]

[okay]

[what happens next may or may not matter in the events of the full story btw, if you want to continue, we can start on the morning of the next day. I’ll let you decide how to start it.]

[actually I forgot to do the logs that got transferred to the device you found. I think I mentioned that an entry of Hivewings and Leafwings got transferred. If you want to do them, you can start here.]

[okay[

[it’s just a couple of short descriptions written in the device, do you want to start or do you want me to start?]

[you start]

[ok]

*early next morning, Ivy was awake messing with the device that had “disappeared” earlier. She was in a secluded part of camp so no one would notice… until Maple walked over to where she was and started watching her. It was damaged from Sumac and Maple dropping it. Sumac and Hoverfly were asleep, and Rose was off somewhere.*

Darkling: *Walks up to them*

Maple: shouldn’t be getting treatment for your injuries? I we brought you to one of our healers last night.

Ivy: if you aren’t going to let me concentrate Maple, please stand further away.

Darkling: *Fully healed* ...

*Maple turned around*

Maple: … you know what after everything that happened yesterday, I’m not going to question it.

Ivy: … got it! Ha ha. *the light on the device flickers for a moment and the screen suddenly appears again, though it looks like now you just have a map of the surrounding area.*

Maple: what are you planning to do with it?

Ivy: well, this thing supposedly has information on it, let’s see if I can learn some more about the strange scavenger.

*Ivy begins messing with the screens now*

Maple: how are you doing that so quickly?

Ivy: I’ve been trying to figure this thing out for a while and I saw you mess with the light thing when you waved your claw through it. So that gave me an idea.

Darkling: Interesting...

*Ivy took a second to analyze a menu she had opened that took over part of the screen. Noticing the screen now, it grew to be more comfortable for Ivy and Maple to utilize.*

Ivy: alright, let’s see… this should give us some information. *she gentle “tapped” part of the move through screen ok a button that was labeled “logs” and it took away the map*

Maple: what did you do?

Ivy: I think I just found something.

*It brought you to another page that was mostly text*

Maple: what does it say?

Ivy: hang on. Something about a “spatial anomaly.” I don’t know what they’re referring to. Give me a second to read the whole thing it’s short.

Darkling: alright

Ivy: “it’s been 6 months since the spatial anomaly appeared. All of the sentinel cruisers in the area were pulled into the black hole, but somehow they weren’t ripped apart. Or maybe they were but they managed to repair them before we decided to chase after them. Even more concerning was that many of the enemy sentinel AI controlled cruisers immediately switched sides, thanking us for freeing them. We’re still not sure why this happened, even after 6 months of research. The only thing we know for sure is that most of those ships that got sucked into the thing are still enemy ships. We’ve decided to call our new allies the free sentinels, since their counterparts appear to be under the influence of corruption or a virus in their system. Either way, each sentinel ship must be treated with caution incase they become corrupted again. The free sentinels have been pouring into the anomaly to fight a battle that has begun a little over 5 months ago once we realized something was in there. Even after all this time, we don’t know much besides that the ship Stardust was captured on was the first ship to disappear into the anomaly, and not by choice since it appeared that the anomaly came from inside of it and nearly exploded outwards. There has to be some exit to another star system or galaxy in the Abyss because from the scans of the battle, the capital ship Stardust was captured on nor Stardust herself were ever found inside it. We’re working on a drone specifically made to get to the other side and planning for a recon mission so we may begin a rescue operation.”

Maple: .. how long ago was that?

Ivy: what’s a month?

Maple: why?

Ivy: it says the last time this log was updated was 2 months ago. I think I would have still been in Pyrrhia around that time. Maybe when Darkstalker was messing with the balance of power there.

Maple: who?

Ivy: nevermind.

Darkling: Darkstalker.....
anyways, a month is about thirty days long

(The rest of the logs won’t have time stamps because I forgot how long each arc takes up in days [arc 2 and arc 3 partially overlap with no clear hint at when arc 3 starts besides either during the middle or end of the Darkstalker crisis] and I don’t know how long the time gap is from arc 1 to arc 2 and I don’t want to mess up the timeline.)

Ivy: let’s see if I can find another one..

Maple: I wonder who Stardust is.

Ivy: yeah me too… *she seemed to space out for a second, she looked sad, but quickly regained her composure. She navigates to another data entry* found one… looks like it’s us.

Maple: let’s read it.

(There’s not enough space in the comment for the full log. I’ll put it after your reply)

Darkling: ...

The log reads:

Leafwings are a two winged tribes of dragons that currently live in the Poison Jungle in Pantala. They’re typically green, their tails are shaped like leaves, and have a power that allows them to manipulate/communicate with plants they call Leafspeak. When Queen Wasp of the Hivewings took power, she demanded the other tribes give up their queens to have Queen Wasp rule over the continent citing the Book Of Clearsight (a book full of predictions or visions of the future) that she was to rule over the three tribes of Pantala. The Silkwings complied because their queen thought that avoiding conflict was better for the silkwings. Queen Sequoia of the Leafwings wanted to make sure this was a true prediction by Clearsight and demanded to be able to read the book (it’s important to note that Clearsight is a religious figure, though was she was just a Nightwing with good future sight powers who fled Pyrrhia). Queen Wasp refused, and after failing peace talks and negotiations, war broke out. The leafwings ended up losing a key hive and the rest of the war was a genocide where Queen Wasp almost drove them to extinction, they escaped her by hiding in the Poison Jungle. Even though they were close to extinction, a group of leafwings wanted to continue the fight against Queen Wasp though Queen Sequoia wanted the tribe to remain hidden. This resulted in a split in the tribe, the Sapwings were more peaceful and wanted to bide their time, the Poisonwings were the militaristic group that continued operations like spying and destroying/stealing key targets and items, they were led by the commanding general Belladonna. Even then, Queen Wasp prevailed, and for a while, the majority of Hivewings and all of the Silkwings thought that the leafwings had been completely wiped out. Poisonwings are typically named after venomous or poisonous plants, Sapwings are typically named after trees.

I suggest caution if you are near one, if you can, get away ASAP. These dragons are carnivores. Even though they might be confused by seeing a human, they may still try to eat you.

Update: They look like this: [there was an image of a group of leafwings talking together in a desert. There was another image of a leafwing speaking to other tribes] Queen Wasp found them. About half of them got across the ocean, the other half including Queen Sequoia were somehow enslaved.

Update 2: they’re heading back, Queen Wasp was captured.

Darkling: Humans..?

Maple: Ivy, do you have any clue what a human is?

Ivy: *suddenly defensive* I’ve been in Pyrrhia longer than you have, trust me, if they had whatever humans were, I would know. The only thing that appears to come close is a scavenger.

Maple: three moons. Quiet down. I don’t want Hoverfly or Sumac to hear any of this. If they found out, this might get confiscated.

Hoverfly: oh come on, I’m way too interested in what that thing is to tell anyone. It’s Sumac you’ve got to worry about.

*Hoverfly was lying on top of one of the storehouses the three of you were behind*

Maple: how the—

Hoverfly: just because I’m a Hivewing doesn’t mean I don’t know how to sneak around.

Darkling: ...Alright, Hoverfly

Hoverfly: that and.. Rose is wondering where you are, so just a heads up, she might come your way.

Maple: thanks. Ivy, we probably have time for 1 or 2 more.

Hoverfly: I wonder what the Hivewing one says.

Ivy: how long have you been up there?

Hoverfly: only for the last thing you were reading. Sumac would be here too if he was told to do something else by another leafwing.

Maple: … you want to just read the next one?

Ivy: I’m curious about what it says as well, so yes.

Darkling: *Nods in agreement*

*Ivy navigated to the next log, this one was about hivewings*

It read:

Forgive me for the lack of information on this tribe but I haven’t actually met one. Queen Wasp is their current queen. She quickly took control of the Silkwings by saying that Clearsight had written her rule over the three tribes in the Book of Clearsight. The silkwing queen at the time gave in but this resulted in a conflict with the leafwings, who challenged this statement. After negotiations broke down, the two tribes went to war. Queen Wasp was able to gain control alt most of the territory and committed genocide against the leafwings. Hivewings themselves live in 9 different hives, each governed by one dragon that reports to Queen Wasp. These dragons are often called “ladies” of their respective hives.

Hivewings are typically orangish or dark yellowish colors with some patches of black scales anywhere on their body. Unlike most of the tribes they have a set of 4 wings instead of 2. Some hivewings have stingers in their wrists or on their tail. Unlike sandwings, their venom paralyzes their target rather than killing them outright. Some of them also have the ability to create terrible odors to either make dragons leave them alone or get their way. Some Hivewings don’t have either of these abilities. Queen Wasp is able to control her entire tribe with some type of mind control that allows her to take over many different dragon’s minds at one time.

I suggest caution if you are near one, if you can, get away ASAP. I think these dragons are carnivores but I don’t know, maybe omnivores since they grow plants for food as well. Even though they might be confused by seeing a human, they may still try to eat you.

Update: this is what they look like: [there was an image of Cricket talking to Moon and Luna] The other two dragons are a Nightwing and Silkwing. This is the only Hivewing that came to Pyrrhia. Apparently Queen Wasp’s mind control isn’t natural. It comes from a plant they call “the Breath of Evil.” For some reason there is a variant that only infects hivewings and a variant that infects everything no matter if it’s burnt and inhaled by breathing or eaten.

Update 2: Former Queen Wasp has been captured and this “breath of evil” thing seems to be taken care of. However this leaves hivewings without a clear leader, so be prepared for political instability.

Darkling: So this one is about hivewings

Hoverfly; I wonder who wrote this.

Maple: your guess is as good as mine.

Ivy; how many more do you think we can read without getting caught?

Hoverfly: *whispering* Ivy, your Mom’s coming this way. Whatever that thing is, hide it.

*Ivy manages to figure out how to deactivate it and hides it beneath her wing*

Darkling: *Lowers her voice until it is a whisper* you should hurry off now, I will stay so you won't get caught

(Sorry for not replying, I was busy for most of yesterday and today)

*Ivy Hoverfly and Maple scatter just before Rose showed up*

Rose: … I just saw them here. I’ll make sure to talk to Ivy about the weird metal thing she has later and about Hoverfly. Thanks for making sure they weren’t getting into more trouble, now I have to find Sumac.

Shit.. too late huh.