How to Find Your Fire

(WoF) Chapter 15: The Arena

Otter's POV (ThatAnnoyingDog)

Otter waited patiently for the guards to come and fetch her. She had been told earlier that she was to fight, again. She wanted to rebel somehow, figure out some way to escape, but she knew that she needed to fight to protect her brother.

She hadn't seen her sibling in weeks. After they had tried to escape once, the guards knew better than to let them see each other, just in case they wanted to try something again. Oyster was really quite helpless, at least, in Otter's eyes. He was too friendly and was quick to trust anyone, even if they obviously had bad intentions. His kindness has gotten him nothing but trouble. Otter thought to herself. It is the reason we are in this dump. It is the reason we don't have any parents. I wish he could just see that the world is cruel, dragons are bad,and that we only have each other. Even after he has seen countless dragons slaughter each other here, he seems to remain oblivious to any threat. One of these days, Queen Ember is going to stop being so lenient and letting me fight his battles for him. It is only because she enjoys watching me fight so much that she hasn't forced him into the arena yet.

Buried in her thoughts, Otter hadn't noticed the Skywing guard approach. "Hey there, Seawing." he said with a flirtatious smirk. Otter rolled her eyes. I hate this guy. Can I please fight him? "You are going to have your work cut out for you today. Queen Ember has arranged a battle with a bunch of hybrids for you and the other champions. I think at least ten dragons will be fighting. " He paused and looked at her. "This is going to lots of fun to watch! For me, of course, I doubt you'll enjoy it much. Don't die, though! I'd hate to see such a beautiful dragon like yourself dead. Kill everyone else, though. There's nothing worse than a boring battle in the arena." Otter had heard about the other champions before, but she had never actually seen them. One was a Skywing and the other was supposedly a four-part hybrid. A four-part hybrid? Pfft. That's impossible. There's no such thing. The guards have just been saying that to try and intimidate me, well, I'm not scared a bit. I can take her on and all of those hybrids, no problem. I have to or I will never get to see Oyster again. Fighting in the arena used to bother Otter, but after the first couple of battles, she didn't mind. It had become more of an inconvenience for her than anything else. She remembered before her first battle, her brother had begged her to try and find a peaceful way out of it. She had tried and was nearly slaughtered. It was after that battle that she knew that she would have to teach herself not to care, and at this, she had been mostly successful. The only exception was a small Seawing dragonet that Queen Ember had forced her to fight. Otter knew that she hadn't put them together to make an amusing battle, for a young dragonet didn't stand a chance against her, but rather the queen had been testing her. The roaring of the crowd snapped Otter back into the present.

The Seawing scanned the battlefield and saw her competitors. She could recognize the other champions immediately. They were the only ones who appeared confident and ready to battle; all of the other hybrids looked nervous and terrified. The hybrid champion was easy to recognize, of course, because she had the deadly, venomous tail of a Sandwing, the form of a Mudwing, and the scales of a Rainwing and Seawing. The dragon also seemed to be missing a leg. She's part Seawing, huh? Otter insulted her in aquatic. The four-part hybrid was looking right at her but didn't seem to register that Otter's stripes were flashing at her. Huh, is she blind? Never mind that, now I need to stop being so immature and assess the rest of my competition. She quickly assessed the other champion, a dark red Skywing that appeared to be glaring at her. She had fought a couple of Skywings and definitely felt more confident with facing the Skywing than her other competitors. Curiously, Otter now drew her attention over to the hybrids. Back home, Otter had never really seen any hybrids before, so she was intrigued. Immediately, she noticed a Seawing and Nightwing hybrid who looked very nervous. Otter felt a shred of sympathy for him, but she quickly smashed it. I need to win this for Oyster. Next to him stood a beautiful Nightwing. She didn't look much like a hybrid, but then Otter noticed the unique scales on her large wings and inferred that she must have Skywing ancestry from a previous generation. Hmm..a Nightwing and a Nightwing hybrid...if what they say about Nightwings really is true, I should not think too hard while I am fighting. This should be easy though, considering most of my fighting is instinctive, but it never hurts to be careful. Otter saw a Mudwing hybrid, although she couldn't figure out what the other parent would have been, as well as an Icewing and Rainwing hybrid. Finally she noticed a Skywing and Icewing hybrid, a Nightwing and Sandwing hybrid, and a Mudwing and Rainwing hybrid. Wow, there sure are a lot of dragons here. Just don't bite off more than you can chew, ok? Be smart for Oyster. Focus! Maybe instead of gawking at all of the strange dragons, perhaps I should be thinking about the best way to kill them.

All of the dragons were released from their chains. Who should I go for first? Eh, that Seawing and Nightwing hybrid looks scared, maybe I can take him out quickly. Ducking away from a blast of fire that the Skywing champion had sent at her, she ran over to her target. He looked horrified and a bit nauseated; Otter assumed this was because of all of the blood and the bodies of the weakest dragons that were lying on the floor of the arena. Most importantly, however, he wasn't paying attention. She took this as an opportunity to attack; she shoved him over forcefully. The terrified dragon lay on his side. Suddenly, a blast of fire shot right past her. It barely missed the side of her face, which suddenly now felt very warm. It was enough to distract her, however, and her target managed to get up and flee. "Coward! Come back and fight me!" Otter yelled at the dragon. You are only delaying your death. If I don't kill you, someone else will. She began to chase him. A Mudwing hybrid started to attack her but thought better of it as the dragon noticed the Skywing champion creeping up behind him.

Finally, Otter caught up to the terrified Seawing and Nightwing hybrid . He looked miserable and his eyes were watery. She swore she saw him mumble something to a pebble. Uhh..is this guy crazy? Whatever, I just need to kill him. She immediately noticed his exposed throat and went for it with her talons. What an idiot. Otter's talons, however, had just slid of his scales as if he was wearing armor. Wait, what? That's not supposed to happen.. Suddenly, he rammed his head into her chest. She fell back as the breath was taken out of her for a moment; the hybrid took this as an opportunity to flee and flew in the other direction. Ugh. I don't know what just happened. She suddenly felt angry. It just wasn't fair, maybe Nightwings had special scales or something that she had forgotten about. Otter noticed a small Skywing and Icewing hybrid trying to run away from all of the violence. She ran after her and killed the dragon by slashing her talons across its throat. Well, at least I know my talons still work fine. To her surprise, the Skywing champion jumped on Otter and shot a hot blast of fire at her leg. Otter felt a painful burning feeling and struggled to get up from underneath the large dragon. She fought through the pain and managed to push herself up and bite her opponent's throat. The crowd roared. Huh. I guess the death of all of these weaker dragons wasn't nearly exciting as the death of one of the champions. Well, if I make it through this, hopefully the queen will stay interested in me.

Otter suddenly realized that the battlefield was a lot less crowded now. The only dragons who remained included herself, the weird four-part hybrid, the Nightwing, and that annoying Seawing and Nightwing hybrid. I am going to kill him this time.