Wild Kratts: Here Be Dragons (Wild Kratts X Monster Hunter)

Chapter 4: The Fated Four

15 minutes and a ride on Astalos's back later, they were back at the Tortuga. Chris had been gushing about the monsters being new, undiscovered species until Astalos had cut him off, revealing that their species were already named. Astalos was an electricity wyvern, Glavenus a cutting wyvern, the fox-like monster - who was called Mizutsune - was a bubble fox wyvern, and the blue mammoth-like beast - named Gammoth - was a snow mammoth.

He had also been quite particular when it came to being called a dragon, insisting that he was a wyvern and that dragons and wyverns were two completely separate families of monsters. He also talked quite a bit about a city called Dragonsreach, a city full of similar creatures.

Once they were back at the Tortuga, Aviva turned and asked, "Can we go with you to Dragonsreach? We'd like to learn more about creatures like you."

Astalos nodded eagerly, and said, "We've never interacted with humans ever since the Great Dragon War."

"Great Dragon War? When was that?" asked Martin.

"It happened long before your recorded history. The reason why you haven't found evidence of it yet was because we destroyed it, to prevent something like it from ever happening again."

Gammoth spoke up. "Also, if you want to go with us to Dragonsreach, you'll have to leave that turtle ship a good ways away from the city. It'll attract way too much attention."

Martin still wanted to ride on Astalos's back so he could talk to the wyvern and relay what was said back to the rest of the team.

Now they were flying through the sky, Astalos leading the way, to Dragonsreach. Martin was talking excitedly to them through his Creature Pod, and Astalos seemed quite curious as to how their technology worked, which Aviva was more than happy to explain to him.

"So, Astalos, Mizutsune said that you were part of some group called the Sapphire Talons. What does that mean, exactly?" Martin lowered the Creature Pod so that they could hear Astalos over the wind.

"The Sapphire Talons is a special forces group in the military. Its members come from all branches of the military and are monsters of all types. We're part of it, and we've come to be known as the Fated Four, since we always work together on missions. We make a great team. The leader is a black fox wyvern called Mi Ru. I'll explain him once we get to Dragonsreach. Speaking of which," Astalos suddenly stopped, hovering, and slowly turned to face the Tortuga. "You should probably land somewhere around here. Any closer and the city guard'll probably attack you."

Jimmy managed to lad the Tortuga on flat ground, which was a little tricky, considering the fact that the place was littered with rocks. Jimmy, Aviva, and Koki opted to ride on Glavenus's back, while Chris chose to ride with Martin on Astalos. They talked to each other through their Creature Pods still, as Astalos would be flying into the city from above.

"So, I was wondering, no offense to you guys, but what's with the accent?" Jimmy shifted closer to Glavenus's head.

"Well, English isn't our first language. Us monsters have our own languages. Wyvernian is spoke by wyverns, and really most monsters. Aquatic is spoken mainly by leviathans, like Mizutsune. Elder is the language of the elder dragons." Glavenus turned his head to see them better.

"So, you seem to have a civilization of your own. Can you tell us about it?" Aviva was furiously scribbling down notes.

"Sure!" said Astalos. "The dragons taught mankind what you would consider the hallmarks of civilization. Writing, agriculture, law, you know what I mean. The first king was an emperor conquering dragon named Cyrus the Conquerer. He's legendary for both his power and his leadership skills. He created the ravine Dragonsreach is built in with his roar alone!"

"Wait, wait, wait, what? How could he have created a ravine with a roar?" Chris raised an eyebrow.

"Emperor conquering dragons have massively powerful roars that are known to shatter stone. And Cyrus was a particularly old and powerful individual. The next king was Gaius. Gaius was actually a disabled dragon. He was missing his entire right arm. But he was well known for his knowledge of law and great sense of both morality and mercy. It's for that reason that he is now called Emperor Gaius the Just. Suceeding him was Emperor Ten'no the Mighty. He took after his grandfather Cyrus, as he was both a powerful fighter, even more so than him, and a brilliant tactician. His son and the present ruler is Emperor Guanzorumu. He is quite well known for having destroyed the Cloud Viewing Fortress during the Great Dragon War and making it his palace after the old one was destroyed. It's much larger and now called the Heavenly Palace."

"So the line of succession is from father to eldest son?" Koki asked.

"No, it's more loose than that. It's from parent to eldest child, so if the eldest is a daughter, she inherits the throne unless circumstances say otherwise. And if a ruler is unworthy of the throne for any reason, the Imperial Court, the highest judicial order in the land, can remove them from power and replace them with someone they deem fit for the responsibilities of ruling. Being emperor or empress is a difficult job, after all. And look here! We're already at Dragonsreach!"

Dragonsreach was built within a massive canyon. Surrounding the canyon were high mountains, which seemed to have caves carved into them. Wyverns were flying in and out of these caves. Astalos called out to another wyvern carrying a spear, then turned and flew close to the ground entrance, landing only a few dozen feet behind the gates of the city.

The rest soon joined them. Mizutsune led them to what looked like a pottery shop and went inside, to the back of the store, to a staircase that lead up. Above the shop was an apartment-like cave. There was a large entranceway at the front of the cave with a stone shelf jutting out from it, probably for flying monsters to land safely. The cave itself was pretty small, with only a large, empty room at the front, a living room, a kitchen, and a bedroom that the monsters shared. In the living room were four other monsters, all looking to be older than the four monsters that had accompanied them.

Astalos pointed at an electricity wyvern that looked similar to himself, but had blue eyes instead of green. "They're all our older siblings. That's my brother Boltreaver."

He pointed to a bubble fox wyvern with an eyepatch. "That's Soulseer."

Then a snow mammoth. "That's Elderfrost."

Then a cutting wyvern. "That's Hellblade."