The Cold Boot ( open )

[Cookiemonster]

(( location : 0.tqn.com/d/geology/1/0/A/V/1/peatbog.jpg
character: images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100714235324/monsterhunter/images/0/04/Gypceros.png ))

Pete bogs were supposed to hold a multitude of dead things. Not dead as in rat corpses and bird heads or things like that (although those were in there too), but like old mummified human skeletons, from all the way back in the Bronze Age or something. The thick muddy water hid the mummies deep underground and teemed with insects and the bathing frogs that ate them during the summertime. They had to flee whenever winter reared its ugly head and littered everything in ice and snow, or freeze to death. Summertime it became a giant humid mass of small accumulated areas of dead grasses and deep waterlogged ditches, man-made as a sort of self-containing sewage system blast from the past, and a major spot for finding fossils and artifacts.

He probably broke a few of them on his tread over here.

Sometimes strange creatures that weren't normally from around Green Stead decided to come to Green Stead anyways. Usually migratory reasons were behind it, tropical birds often grouping around the large pine trees that overshadowed the wetlands, or somewhere further upwards, maybe even closer to the cities. Flurries of colorful beaks and plumages that were all sorts of shades in the color spectrum gathered in big clusters of squawking, insect snacking flocks. It was a joyous occasion for the average tropical bird watching group, and the average native mountaineer could enjoy the avian assembly too. Heck, some people even grabbed their dates to watch the flocks. This was not one of those occasions. This was quite different. Instead of a flock, there was only one individual here, and instead of tropical birds, he was a wyvern.

Monsters around here were used to the cold water, and though he wasn't, he was trying to tough it out by testing it. Dipping his talon in just to freak out and spaz like a little child going to the beach, learning for the first time that although it might have been hot outside, the sea was going to be a lot cooler. He snorted and made a fit; like the migrating birds he wasn't here except for an instinctual sense of direction, and was just here to reap the benefits. There had to be a reason for his ancestors to ingrain it into his mind to come here afterall. It was a cloudy day, the sun peeking out for short periods of time to reflect itself in bright gold and silvery sparkles around the pools, warming the skin on his back as he stared into the ditches, trying to use his mind to will them into heating up from their icy temperature. It looked like the water he was used to, that water being equally murky. And it was definitely a bog. So why so cold?

He noticed a couple of water striders, gliding across the ripples caused by his breath. They weresmall bugs, with long insectile legs and the typical set of wings most insects have. What was important was that they could walk on water, which meant they were the easiest target there. He wasn't sure when he last ate, but suddenly he was very hungry, and the water striders were very close. In an instant they were in his jaws, crushed with a load of icy mud-water caught in his mouth in the crossfire. His fangs rang with cold, a nagging pain that he tried to ignore as he snacked on the bland-tasting but edible creatures, and he spat the water out from his beak, while trying to hold on to his prize.

He managed to keep half of them.

The wyvern, an adult male Gypceros by the name of Helder, was entirely ignorant of any other creatures there. Creatures like Man or Vampire, who although usually avoided the swamps and forests like a plague, were a lot like migrators; They instinctually went into the wilds for unspeakable reasons. Helder flexed his huge, leathery wings, raising himself into the air like a recoiling horse, and snorted in frustration. Focused on the still not warming water, he had not yet caught the scent of another creature there, nor heard the noise, the snap of a twig...

[Lady Amira Nuit]

"Come on girl, you can do it!" Cassandra thought in her mind as she knew her dragon could hear her thoughts.

Rainbow began to try and fly faster as the dragon behind them was closing in.

Cassandra looked back and the man riding the other dragon smiled at her. His black eyes so ready to destroy her. She turned back and thought to Rainbow, 'Dive!'

So her dragon did just that. Rainbow began to dive straight toward the ground but it was like the man saw the move coming and slammed into Rainbow forcing Cassandra off her dragon. Screaming she was now falling through the air with only the ground to break her fall if Rainbow didn't recover in time to save her.

Looking up she saw the man on his dragon headed right for her which made her begin to panic. If she Rainbow didn't get to her first then it was all over with here and now. All that they had fought for was about to go done the drain if she couldn't get away from this man. All she could hope for was that Rainbow could get to her in time....

....................

Rainbow had fell to the ground and began to try and shake off the in packed but it just wasn't happening. She heard her master scream but she could not focus enough to get herself up off the ground. So she began to speed walk as quickly as she could to hopefully at least help catch her master before she hit the ground...

[Cookiemonster]

It disoriented the wyvern; the two ink like blots or shapes of winged creatures flitting past him in the reflection of the murky water he had been staring at. Along with the sound of their wings flapping, heard from even this far below their aerial chase, was like a booming thunderstorm, and unfortunately he was standing right below it. Wind flared up around the pete bog and grass seemed to bend downwards as if gravity had just stamped two huge biker boots into the earth, and yet none of it mattered. Not the force of their wingbeats making the very terrain quake beneath them or the cracking noise of their bodies hurtling against a backdrop of cloudy gray sky, but the fact that immediately, instinctively, Helder knew what they were. Could smell it in the air, from their scent carried in the wind underneath their wing; it filled him with a sense of impending doom.

Dragons.

Wingbeats echoed through the formerly peaceful pete bog and he was raised up on his hindlegs. Like a giant grizzly with a pair of pterodactyl wings, he was trying to get a sense of what was going on. They weren't just passing by - an unfortunate revelation for everyone involved - they were chasing each other. Darting up and through the clouds, trying to outfly the other. Sometimes they'd fly a bit too far up and his neck seemed to extend vertically like a crane's in an effort to watch them swoop back into view, wings pelting and the one in the back gaining speed. Another cracking noise as the front dragon suddenly folded in its wings, attempted to escape the other in a sudden dive. Helder took a couple of shaky steps backwards, trying to get a better look, snarling a little out of fear.

Without a second of hesitation one dragon slammed its massive body into the lead dragon, and it began to spiral from its diving path like a scaled missile, wings struggling to flap down and down into the thicket of forest closest to the peat bog. Thankfully a mile or so from the wyvern. Helder stared, puzzled at where the other dragon had gone, on edge as he clung to the dry grass of his place on the peat bog. When he looked ahead he spotted the dark shape, plunging itself towards something else. Something that was tumbling not far from where the Gypceros was perched.

And whatever it was, it sparkled red.

Red caught his eye, the color dazzling and so bright to his eyes that everything else had turned a pale black and white. Maybe if he moved close enough, he could snatch that red thing before it broke, and just stare at it all day. It was a mesmerizing color, and before he could register what he was doing Helder was plodding across the peat bog, closing the couple of yards between him and the red. He launched his huge body into the air and used his leathery wings to glide across the water pools, landing forcefully on the ground and rushing to leap-glide at the next patch of land. His neck was raised up and his head turned at an awkward degree as he sped up, the red thing getting closer and closer as it tumbled down through the air. In one last leap, he flexed his wings and gave a powerful flap that pushed him up into the air.

In mid-air, the Gypceros pulled himself back, throwing his talons up to catch the falling figure. It was then he realized what it was, croaking in surprise. A human! Behind her dived the dragon from before, murder in its eyes and another human on its back. The wyvern couldn't get out of the way in time, and the human fell on his neck, slamming into his back as he desperately tried to flap his wings and gain air.

Unfortunately, being a Gypceros, Helder couldn't actually fly.

[Lady Amira Nuit]

Cassandra just stared up at the evil man as his dragon was about to catch up to her. With inside her, Cassandra could feel her magic began to boil but she was to afraid to concentrate on resiting a spell. As the dragon was just about to snatch her up something happened that stunned all of them. Just as she was about to hit the ground a creater leaped into the air and catch Cassander and began to rush off with her.

The evil man tried to pull up on the ranes on his dragon before hitting the ground but it was a little to late. The black dragon hit the ground and slid cutting down everything in its path. The man that was on his back leaped off and rolled as a tree forced him to come to a sudden stop.

Rainbow saw the dragon down and snorted at it as she turned and tried to find her master. Unsure of where she was she began to panic as she pressed on to find her.

.......

Cassandra looked down at the creature that had caught her in mid-air and was curious of what it was. She had never seen anything like that before in her life. Looking behind her she saw that the dragon that was chasing her had crashed and it might take it a little while to get it barsing back.

Turning toward the where the creature she was riding was headed she said, "I think you can slow down now my friend. They crashed so I think it will be safe enough to pause for a moment." She was so thankful to this creature that she wanted to do something for it but what she didn't know. In hoping the creature would stop, she was unsure right now if it understood her and she wouldn't know until it did stop. She also sensed feared in the creature. Possibly because of all that was happening around it because it might be peaceful and it liked to be alone. Lord Talon was like that before he took her in. Man she missed that man. He was more like a father to her then her own father ever could have been. She hoped he was still alive and safe.

As she looked back around she could sense Rainbow trying to find her. She was getting closer so she hoped she would find her soon before the big dragon and its master awoke for round 2.

[Cookiemonster]

The fact that he couldn't fly didn't stop him from at least trying. When stuck in a situation with a dragon barreling through the sky and a human clinging to his neck in mid-air, all he could do was flap his useless, clumsy wings. Glide a few more yards, but instead of at a leisurely pace he was moving like a rocket himself, the momentum of his leap making him fly into the ground like a meteor. In that matter of seconds between being shoved into the pete bog or facing certain death at the hands of a crashing dragon, he made a final desperate lunge, talons bracing themselves for impact before they struck into the earth and slid across a couple of meters before finally, Helder was starting to slow down. The dry grass and mud had fortunately caked on to his legs, slowing him down and dragging him into the dry land, the soles of his feet sore and cold after splashing into the icy waters, again.

Shadows collected across the land, and when he turned around he found out why. There was the flash of a panicking human's face and his dragon trying to swoop back upwards, then they both landed with a splash in one of the deeper pockets of water, sliding into the muddy ground with a loud crash. He took a couple of steps, peering to take a look at the damage, a couple of bubbles snorting out of the fallen dragon's snout. Frustrated.

No way was Helder sticking around to watch them get back up again.

In a couple of moments he was rushing and gliding across the pete bogs again, trying to claim as much distance from the dragon as possible. His tail thrashed from side to side in balance, the rubbery end of it striking and flattening down water reeds and tall grassland. Wind hurtled past him, dust skittering as his talons swept up dirt and mud. He leapt and glided across another pocket of water, headed towards the thicket of forest ahead. It was his only chance. Although he was as clumsy at running as he was trying to fly, he was pretty fast, and the dragon was becoming more and more tiny as he hopped over more and more land.

As he approached the forest thicket, he looked down for a moment, and noticed some sort of lumpy smudge attached to his shadow. A voice, female, spoke into his ear. It was then he became aware that he was carrying something. And it was alive.

He skidded to a stop.

Something red - hair - caught the corner of his eye.

A few seconds later, the wyvern was trying to spin around, in an effort to see what was on his back. He lifted up fully on his hind legs again, flapping his wings and pulling his neck back to see what was clinging around his throat. The scent told him it was a human but he couldn't see her. He squawked, the sound croaking in his throat in shock. Infuriated that he couldn't see her he snorted, thudded his tail against the ground. His beak seemed to wrinkle up, pulling back to reveal large fangs as he snarled, trying to scare her into showing herself. Demanding she would reveal where she was.

He was not aware that the other dragon was coming closer.

[Lady Amira Nuit]

Cassander held on as the creature was running and gliding its way as far as it could away from the evil man and his black dragon. As they creature kept and she suddenly told him it was ok to slow down it suddnely began to freak out and slid to a stop. Shaking itself and then standing on end she felt the need to slide off it and fell down to the ground on her butt.

Sensing Rainbow was near she spoke through her mind so only her dragon could hear her, "Stay back my friend unless I tell you other wise. This creature is very curious and it did save my life. I want to make sure it is not afraid of me before you enter the picture, ok?"

She heard a reply ok back in her mind as she slowly stood to her feet as the creature suddenly turned and to face her.

"First of all my name is Cassandra and I just want to thank you for saving my life. I will be forever in your debt." She blowed slightly as she looked back up at the creature. Her red hair fell infront of her face as she stood back up she brushed it back as she smiled up at him. "If there is anything I can do for you please let me know."

She was hoping it could understand every word that she was speaking. For that matter she was wonderful what it was and if it was male or female. She hadn't a clue sense she never saw one before. Waiting for any kind of response from the creature she felt it was a little fasinated with her. She was it too and hoped that they could become friends. If only....