Fly High (Ninjago Dragon AU)

Chapter 2: Others Like Me

He has a name now- Echo. I caught him mimicking the calls of the birds outside with near-perfect accuracy. He mimics me as well, my tone if not my words, with the same level of detail. This must be his power- sound. I wonder how it will progress as he grows. How will it develop? What abilities will he learn? He's calling for food now- I will update this journal after dinner.

-From the journal of Professor Julien, noted dracologist (current whereabouts unknown)

Lloyd threw his arms up as another rock flew toward him, then winced as it scraped painfully along his scales. Coming here had been a mistake. What on Earth had made him think that a human village would be a safe place to stay for a while? A rock hit his leg, and he fell to his knees. Well, this is it, he thought. They won't go away and let me leave, I don't have space to fly to safety, and I don't have the strength to use my power. Fourteen years old, and the young dragon was already meeting a sticky end. 

There was a sudden rushing noise, the sounds of screaming and running footsteps, and- was that the smell of smoke? Lloyd looked out from under his wings and saw that a pile of hay bales across the square was on fire, and the villagers were scrambling to put it out. A moment later, his view was blocked by a new figure, running towards him.

"Come on! Run!" A hand closed around his wrist and hauled him to his feet, rough leather against smooth scales. Still not sure what was happening, Lloyd allowed the newcomer to pull him along, away from the square. His injured leg throbbed, but adrenaline gave him strength, and he ran to keep up. The stranger still had an iron grip on his wrist. They didn't stop running until they were safely in the woods outside the village. Then, whoever it was let go of Lloyd, and the green dragon dropped his hands to his knees, panting. The stranger was also gasping for breath. They had run hard.

"Th-thanks... for... the help," Lloyd gasped between breaths.

"No... problem," the stranger panted. From the sound of it, he was a boy, about Lloyd's age. Now that he had a moment to look, Lloyd realized he was wearing heavy work boots and a long, hooded cloak, as well as the gloves he'd felt. He seemed to be trying to disguise himself, but Lloyd couldn't think why, unless... were those folds of the cloak's fabric, or were they...

"Why did you save me?" he asked, having regained his breath. In reply, the stranger lifted the hood of their cloak. Lloyd sucked in his breath sharply. From the boy's unkempt, spiky brown hair protruded dark red horns, just above ruby-scaled ears. His eyes glowed a flickering red-orange color, and his toothy, mischievous  grin revealed sharp fangs. "You're like me," Lloyd breathed. "You're a dragon!"

"A fire dragon," the boy amended. He then shook his cloak back off of his shoulders, stretched out batlike, ruby-red wings, and uncoiled and lashed a glittering prehensile tail. "Ah, that's better! I didn't even know it was possible to have that many wing-cramps!" He turned his gaze back to Lloyd. "My name's Kai. What's yours?"

"Lloyd."

"Well, Lloyd, do you think you're okay to fly?" As he spoke, Kai's eyes were flicking from one patch of bruised scales to another, all across Lloyd's wings.

"Yeah, I think so. It's just a little sore." To emphasize his point, Lloyd stretched out his wings and flapped them. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I don't want to walk all the way back to the Den."

Lloyd blinked. Was- was he- it sounded like- "Y-you want me to come back to your den?"

"Not my den. The Den. As far as I know, it's the only safe place for dragons like us." Kai stretched his wings again. "It's all of us against the world, isn't it?"

Lloyd thought for a moment. On the one claw, he really didn't know who Kai was, or what he might find at this mysterious Den. On the other, the fire dragon had saved him, and was now offering him a safe place to stay. "Alright... Is it very far?"

"It's an easy flight, but it'd be a long walk." Kai jumped into the air, beating his wings to rise higher. "Let's go!" Lloyd stretched out his own wings and followed.

A few miles later, as the teenage dragon flies,  Lloyd found himself almost struggling to keep up with Kai- not because the fire dragon was particularly fast, but because Lloyd's wings hurt a lot more than he'd previously thought. Apparently, the rocks had done a bit more damage than he'd realized. Glancing to his left, he saw his wingtip trembling. A moment later, he yelped as his wings gave out.

Wind rushed past, whipping his hair and tail, stinging his eyes, catching in his wings. As he fell, Lloyd found himself reflecting on the fact that he was about to die for the second time that day. New record. Panic, apparently on a delayed reaction, finally hit as he plummeted closer and closer to the ground. Desperately, he tried to force his limp, useless wings to move and keep him in the sky. Something slammed into him from the side and suddenly, he wasn't falling anymore.

"'Just a little sore,' huh?" For the second time today, Kai had saved his life. Lloyd felt his face go hot, though he wasn't quite sure why. Kai laughed. "We can walk from here. It's not much further." Slowly, he dropped to the ground. Lloyd felt his feet sink into the mossy grass, and a thrill of relief shuddered through him, from his horns to his tail-tip. "This way!" Kai called, and Lloyd realized that he'd set off toward a rocky cliff. 

As he caught up to his new friend, Lloyd realized Kai was looking for a specific spot on the cliff side. He apparently found it, and pulled aside a curtain of long, hanging vines to reveal a tunnel. He nodded to Lloyd, then stepped inside. The green dragon followed. Ahead of him, Kai breathed a flame into his hand, then held it up like a torch. "That's a neat trick," Lloyd commented.

"This is nothing. My sister can make her wings and tail light up!"

After a short walk, the fire dragon stopped, doused the fire he held, and rolled aside a rock that covered the tunnel. Lloyd blinked stars out of his eyes as they stepped into a huge cavern, sunlit from gaps in the roof. As his vision adjusted to the sudden brightness, what he saw took his breath away.

A lightning dragon with bright blue scales seemed to be moving something on one of the walls as a tall, black-scaled, wingless earth dragon directed him. In a corner full of pillows and bookshelves, a silvery-white ice dragon was absorbed in a scroll. A spring bubbled in one section, and a small water dragon was swimming. As he watched, she shot up into the air, brushed a wing against the ceiling, and plunged back down into the pool, past a white dragon with odd purple markings who was telekinetically moving some flower petals in an intricate dance. "Welcome," said Kai, sweeping a hand across the scene, "to the Den."

IT'S FINALLY UP!!!!!! I'm so sorry it took so long. I really hope you enjoyed this new installment. Serious imaginary bonus points to the first person who comments the names of the other dragons correctly and in the order they were described! And in case you were wondering, when Kai saved Lloyd from falling, he was, in fact, holding him bridal style ^w^

We WILL eventually see the mist dragon again! I promise I haven't forgotten her!

Bye for now, and watch for Chapter Three!