The Calm Before The Storm

26

"Labra?" Crystal squeezed the little child's hand tighter. He was slipping ever so slightly.

"M-mommy?" Crystal smiled. He had just started talking due to his accelerated growth, but he thought she was his birth parent.

"I'm right here," she said.

They slid and shimmied (and occasionally fell) around the vent system. If I was a dragon I could just blast everyone out of here.

Crystal made sure to keep that thought to herself. She didn't want to change back in that enclosed space.

They finally saw daylight. Crystal pushed the grate with all her might, but it didn't budge. She couldn't turn around to kick it. Then she had an idea. It wasn't a very good one, or very smart, but it was an idea.

"Labra?" Crystal asked him. "Can we change back? Into dragons?"

"Dragons?" she heard him say.

"What we used to be," Crystal said.

Almost immediately she felt her body changing and growing. The shaft around them was slowly expanding and becoming even more cramped than before. Crystal opened her mouth and blasted the grate off. She wriggled forward and nearly fell off the edge of the cliff.

She flapped furiously, stretching out her wings. When she was stable enough, she reached into the ravaged vent and pulled Labra out. Placing him in the cozy spot, which he was starting to outgrow already, she flew around the mountain, searching for the entrance to the...what was it? Science lab?

Whatever it was, she found a small door, barely big enough for her to fit in, and opened it. She squeezed in and almost crushed the people waiting for her.

"Tempest! I'm so glad we found you guys!" Crystal said, before realizing that they wouldn't understand yet.

Crystal backed out and waited for everyone to jump and change back. When they did, they took off immediately.

"Where should we go?" Whirlwind asked while they were flying. She was lazily soaring higher than the others, barely moving her wings.

"I don't know. The Gem Queen will have every clan out looking," Oak huffed. He obviously wasn't used to flying. Earth dragons like the ground.

"Maybe... I don't know... It's a crazy idea," Crystal said. She was flying in front for once, next to Tempest and Nightmare.

"What?" Solar Flare said. For once she wasn't being an annoying serpent turd.

"Maybe we could go to the Tribal territory," Crystal said.

"Wait what?" Flame nearly stopped flying at that idea. "You don't mean the Tribal dragons that are the entire monarchy's enemies?"

"Who else would I be talking about?"

"Why can't we just go with the humans?" Tempest asked.

Solar Flare butted in. "Humans take a lot longer than dragons to establish a feeling of mutual trust. We could be there our entire lives and not even become acquaintances with one person."

"So what?" Nightmare said. "We've got each other. What else matters?"

"Humans are very dangerous creatures when they put their tiny minds to it. Outsiders create fear, and fear creates bloodshed. Plus, us just having discovered this new ability of ours is not good. We haven't spent time with real humans, so we don't know how to act."

"Solar Flare...you can be a real butt sometimes," Tempest muttered.

Crystal almost laughed but kept it to herself. "So where are we going to go? We can't stay in the Gem Queen's territory."

"Looks like the Tribal territory is our best bet," Flame said reluctantly.

Crystal immediately veered left, off to a crest of mountains that looked like a dragon. That was where they would find the elusive Tribal dragons. That's where they might have a chance to survive.