Heart of the storm

Chapter 2

“Not a very good catch today, scout,” the scout chief stated, stepping from his hiding place in the shadows. He looked almost villainous. Scratch that, he looked villainous, full stop.
Thunder tried to answer but seemed to choke on his words. He’d never talked to the scout chief directly. He usually just dropped his kill into the bin, hoping no one would see, and then left.
“Sorry, sir,” Thunder muttered, staring at the ground. He didn’t need this.
“I’m not surprised. What’s your name?” the chief asked with a snarl in his voice.
“Thunder.”
“Ah, Thunder. I’ve been noticing things lately. You are returning very similar results every day. Even worse results than the Sector 9 dragons. I’m not impressed.”
Thunder grimaced on the inside. Discriminating against scouts because of their situation. Moons!
But also … he’s been seeing my progress. Or rather, lack thereof. That’s not good.
The chief continued. “As you probably know, we don’t accept … inefficient scouts. Perhaps you would work harder as a pumper. Do you understand?”
Thunder nodded slowly. There was NO WAY he would work as a pumper. It was by far the worst job in the system. He didn’t want to spend all of his days in a tight room harvesting electricity from the Storm! They had to use metal rods to channel the untamed energy of the Strom into the different air pockets fairly.
Pumping was so awful, that the job was usually given to the poorer settlers in the Storm. Or the troublemakers. Which made it so unfair that Sprite was a pumper. Just because she was poor, she was forced to endanger her life to get some money.
The scout chief whipped around and strode inside the scout office, a smirk on his scarred face.
Thunder scowled. What a horrible dragon. He'd heard many stories, of course, everyone had, but it was horrible to experience his cruelty firsthand. The scout chief deserved what he threatened on everyone
As Thunder soared away from the cobalt building, he couldn’t help but wonder if the scout chief’s always-angry-and-aggressive attitude had something to do with how he’d gotten that horrible scar…
Thunder was relieved that the following day was his break day of the week. He was happy to never talk with the scout chief ever again.
After about a minute he reached his sector.

Thunder didn’t remember his parents. He never had anyone to talk to on the subject. All he was told was how they had disappeared one night and never returned. It had caused quite a stir with the common VoltWings.
Two dragons had disappeared. How many more would? What had happened to them? Had they revealed the existence of the Storm?
Thunder didn’t like to wonder why they’d left him. Maybe … they had to do something important? Though it didn’t matter. He didn’t miss them too much. Or at least, that’s what he liked to think.
Thunder flew towards the massive Sector 4. All of the sectors were fairly flat, and their size varied. The air pockets were packed together and placed around the edges of the sector. and in the middle of each sector were the main buildings, like the markets.
He reached his air pocket. Lying there was a basket that contained a small rabbit and what looked like a deer, as well as a pile of assorted vegetables. Brilliant. Thunder was starving.
After absolutely devouring the animals (first, obviously) he grabbed a juicy tomato, which he hurriedly gulped down. It had been a long day. After eating a few more tomatoes, some carrots and a huge pumpkin (that was how hungry he was - Thunder didn’t even give a second thought about the vegetables) he entered his air pocket, and collapsed on the bed, exhausted. It was already quite late. His mind was spinning from exhaustion. All he wanted to do was sleep. However…
Thunder groaned and managed to sit up. He reached with one talon and managed to grab the round conduit that allowed him to catch lightning, next to his bed. It had a circular shape, but there were holes poked into its opposite sides. The one side was for lightning to enter, and the other was for it to exit, preferably into the mouth of a VoltWing.
He checked the winds surrounding his pocket for lightning, and sure enough, there was a light patch of it in the northwest corner of it. He pressed the sphere against it, and lightning fizzled through it. He quickly put his mouth to the other side.
Lightning would burn through any other dragon tribe's skin. The VoltWings had reinforced insides, almost made of armour, that allowed them to store and consume electricity.
Another dragonet had once asked his teacher if VoltWings could also swallow fire, but the teacher had replied: ‘Don’t ask ridiculous questions’, and that had been the end of that conversation.
After a few seconds, the lightning patch had dissipated. He had consumed all the lightning from that area.
Thunder put the conduit back down next to his sleeping area, and lay down again. Finally, some rest.
He drifted off into a deep, deep sleep.