Chapter 10

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Gavin tilted his head at the RainWing. There was tints of magenta in his claws, and his wings were red-pink like the inside of a grapefruit. He had orange eyes and he wore some kind of necklace that was made out of leaves and flowers. Vibrant butterflies flew around the dragon, fluttering gracefully around his head and wings. "Um.. hi?" Gavin says. The RainWing glided down to the ground, the butterflies following him as he held another odd fruit that Gavin didn't bother to ask what it is. The RainWing slithered around him, examining him and touching his sparkly wings. "You're green! But you're a NightWing, correct? If I remember correctly from the guide of Pyrrhia, NightWings are basically dark colored or something, right?" Gavin sighed. "I look weird, don't I?"
The RainWing smiled. "You look weird in a cool way. I've never seen a NightWing with any green colors on them!" 

Gavin smiled as the RainWing's scales turned gold with dapples of rose pink forming on his tail. "My name is Grapefruit!" 
The RainWing's colors then turned back to his normal golden yellow scales. "My name is Gavin," Gavin says as he watched a butterfly flutter onto to his snout. "Nice name," Grapefruit says. He quickly organizes the scattered fruits that were on the ground, putting them into a neat pile. Gavin looked at the fruits, seeing a few familiar ones, like strawberries and bananas, but there was a few that he still couldn't name. "Why are you all the way down here?" Gavin asks. He accidently stepped on a grape and he shook his claws, trying to get the fruit guts off of his talons. "I like to venture down here to find some new things," Grapefruit said. "I found a few scavengers here one time! They made loud noises and ran away from me. But they looked very small and even cute!" 

Grapefruit then grabbed a clawful of smaller fruits before beginning to fly. "Can you help me bring some fruits to the village?" Gavin nodded, and grabbed some fruits into his claws. He thought about using his animus magic to bring all of them at once, but he didn't want to risk wasting it before the attempt to kill Queen Andesine, though he still doesn't know if Queen Glory will even agree to his plan. He still decided not to use his magic, so he followed Grapefruit up into the trees. 

In the RainWing village, Gavin and Grapefruit and a few other RainWing dragonets played with each other, though most of the adult RainWings disapproved of a NightWing stranger in their village. The dragonets didn't mind at all. Gavin was just an odd looking RainWing in their eyes. "This isn't fair!" Gavin whines as he looks for the hidden dragonets on one of the leaf-covered platforms. They were playing some kind of hiding and seeking game, and Gavin was the seeker. "You can camouflage! How am I supposed to find you?" Gavin clawed some leaves in attempt to touch a hidden dragonet. He didn't feel any scales. "You're close to finding Cherry, Gavin! She's not the best hider. Keep looking in that area," Grapefruit suddenly calls from a branch above Gavin's head as he plops a grape into his mouth. "Don't tell him where I am!" A tiny, squeaky voice came out of nowhere. "I didn't," Grapefruit says. "I only told him that he was close."

Gavin tried to analyze where did the source of the voice came from. He looked towards the left. He took one step to the left. "Almost there," Grapefruit comments. "SHUT YOUR SNOUT," Cherry yells again. Pinpointing where Cherry's voice came from, Gavin pounced onto the bark of the giant ceiba tree. Suddenly there was a loud yelp and a tiny RainWing dragonet materialized into a dark pink color. Cherry giggled. "Okay, you found me."
A bright yellow RainWing dragonet raised his claws. "Let's play truth-or-dare!" Grapefruit clapped his talons together with excitement, Cherry giggled even more, though Gavin didn't think it was a good idea. It was kind of scary, actually. Think of all the embarrassing things that could happen! But Gavin didn't tell them, and he just sat into an circle with the RainWings. They all took turns telling truths or dares, until it was Gavin's turn. "Truth or dare?" Cherry says as she looks at the NightWing. "Umm.." Gavin said, nervously tapping his talons on the floor. If he picked truth, he might have to say things he don't want to. But if he picked dare, he might have to go do something awful... what to do? "Truth," Gavin finally says. Its not like they would care about his secrets. Plus, it's better than doing a dare that would've gotten him in trouble. "Alright," Cherry says. "What's the most reckless and careless thing you've ever done?"
Instantly, one memory came into mind: throwing the spear at the NightWing queen. Would they even believe him? Would they even care? It didn't matter, really.  A truth was a truth. "I threw a spear at the NightWing queen. Then I escaped the NightWing island and come here."

The yellow dragonet audibly gasped. "Why would you do that?" Gavin grinned. "Because she was going to keep me hostage. I can do this!" Gavin then lifted Cherry off of the ground with his animus magic. Cherry squirmed around, flapping her wings as she floated a few inches off of the floor. "Animus? You're animus?" Said Grapefruit. Gavin nodded, and slowly set Cherry on the ground. "Woah! I heard all about animus dragons in the scrolls! Wouldn't Tulip be surprised about this NightWing? I'm gonna tell Ocelot, Okapi, Daisy... I'll tell everyone!" The yellow dragonet was about to fly off, before Gavin yelled "Wait!"
"Hoatzin," Grapefruit says softly. "Don't go telling everyone, okay? Just keep it between us. I'm sure Gavin doesn't want to scare the RainWings." Hoatzin sighed, but he smiled. "Fine, I won't." He then flew off.

  ☾ 

More noises of the Rainforest Kingdom came alive at night. Noise came from every direction; squeaks, cricket chirps, rustling, owl hoots and mammalian calls. He spent the rest of the night in the RainWing village, sleeping, until he was awoken by a small whisper. "Gavin! Wake up, you sea slug!"
Gavin's eyes fluttered open, only to see a dark figure of a dragon. Before Gavin decided to automatically blast fire at the creature, he tried to recognize the voice. "Grapefruit?" Gavin whispered back. "Yes! It's me, silly! Who else?" Gavin could think of many other dragons who could've said his name in the middle of the night. One of them was the NightWing queen. He imagined her snapping his neck as he slept. He pushed the thought away. "What do you want?" Says Gavin. "There's some scavengers in the Rainforest Kingdom. I don't trust them, because they're holding torches and sharp things. I don't want them to harm too many animals!" Gavin swore he saw a glimpse of bright red flicker cross Grapefruit's snout. "I need help so I can shoo them out of here."
Gavin made a long sigh, before getting onto his claws. "Let's go scare some scavengers." Gavin says.

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