Cody frowned as he looked at the message from Obi-Wan. He's not sure why he needs to translate a message for him; Obi-Wan was fluent in over forty different languages, but he was only fluent in two.
-----
Three.
He was fluent in three languages; he forgot dragon was a language.
"What is he saying?" Obi-Wan asked, looking over at Cody.
Cody stared at the comm. "He's annoyed that you can not understand him."
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes, "Quin, what else do you want beyond becoming a dragon?"
Cody waited until this 'Quin' had finished before translating. "He's stuck in dragon form with no one to help. He thought you'd be able to understand him and get assistance sent to him."
"What assistance?" Obi-Wan asked.
"He mentioned the Guard, whether they'd be able to send anyone out," Cody shrugged, "not sure whether Fox would allow his men out for a retrieval." Cody's eyebrows shot up at the man's answer. "You're sure? You think Fox will allow it because of who you are?"
Obi-Wan shrugged, "I guess it is worth a shot. Quin always has some weird connections."
-----
Cody's eyebrows rose as his ori'vod burst into swearing.
"Where is that du'kutla Jetii now? I'll send a squad to retrieve him," Fox sighed before muttering. "One mission; I couldn't trust him for one mission."
Cody waited in shock as he heard rustling from Fox's end of the comm.
"I'm unable to send out any guard members to go collect him as he's outside of Republic space," Fox sighed, "would you be able to collect him and drop him off at Kaal for retrieval?"
Cody quickly pulled up his datapad, noticing they had a big enough wait period, so they were available to retrieve a wayward dragon Jetii. "We should be able to; I'll notify you how large of a transport you need."
"Thank you," Fox stated.
Cody's eyebrows rose again; Fox hardly ever said thank you, especially to him. "No worries."
-----
Obi-Wan stepped out of the cruiser, walking forwards until he was in a space with ample enough space before shifting, feeling Cody do similar. "Did he say any particular place to find him?"
"Something about darkness?" Cody said. "He mentioned finding the day too bright."
"The mountain might have a large enough cave for a dragon to rest in. He knows I have a large shift, so he probably will keep to the larger spaces," Obi-Wan said, using his wing to point to the mountains in the distance.
"Well, best way to find out," Cody shrugged.
-----
Cody chuckled when Obi-Wan stumbled and nearly fell over when they landed.
"Not everyone first shifted flying," Obi-Wan grumbled.**
"You were able to fly last time," Cody pointed out.
"I had full dragon instincts then; my body just did it," Obi-Wan said, "now I have to think about it."
Cody chuckled, hearing Obi-Wan huff at him. "We should probably head deeper; this cave seems to stay wide for a while."
Obi-Wan nodded, signalling for Cody to lead on.
-----
The two continued to walk silently, moving deeper into the cave. Obi-Wan started to duck his head when Cody signalled them to stop.
A dark dragon was hiding off to the side.
"Are you Quinlan Vos?" Cody asked, looking over at the dragon.
Obi-Wan frowned; he could not see anyone. But focusing hard, he could sense that there was someone there.
"Yes," the dragon replied, moving more into the tunnel and revealing itself.
Quin was small, about the height of an average human. His scales were a dark grey, almost black, and his head and neck were covered in spines. His eyes were bright blue, almost shining in the dull light. He had a horn on the end of his snout, and his main horns were long and slightly curved. He had some raised scales down his back, getting smaller and smaller until they reached the fine tip of his tail. His wings were tiny, almost comically small, but thin, coming down to sharp points. And his talons looked sharp enough to scratch even the hardest of rocks.
Obi-Wan made sure it wasn't visual that Quin had managed to startle him. "You ready to go?" Obi-Wan asked.
"How bright is it out there?" Quin asked. "It was hurting my eyes."
"It should be dark by the time we reach the mouth; we were searching this cave for a while," Cody answered.
"I didn't know how to describe where I was," Quin said, "nor could I drag my locator beacon over; it is attached to the ship."
"We don't know how quick sunrise will be," Cody pointed out.
-----
Cody stepped off the ledge, quickly increasing height until it was clear enough for Obi-Wan to get up.
Obi-Wan turned, seeing Quin hesitate briefly before jumping off.
Cody's eyes widened as Vos' screams filled the air.
"Spread your wings!" Obi-Wan shouted, eyes wide as Quin began to plummet.
Quin panicked, spreading himself as wide as he could, feeling the air catch beneath his wings. He grinned, realising he wasn't plummeting to his death so fast anymore. He tried to go up, flapping his wings to join the pair in the sky.
Cody dove, quickly grabbing the small grey dragon as they began their plummet again. "I don't think you can fly," Cody commented, holding Vos in one hand as he flew back up to join Obi-Wan.
"How did you get to that cave so high if you can not fly?" Obi-Wan said, looking over at Quin in Cody's talons.
Vos chuckled nervously, "I walked. It didn't come to mind to try and fly."
"That should have warned you," Cody said.
Quin looked over at Obi-Wan in confusion.
"You are full dragon at the moment; everything should come instinctively, as easy as breathing," Obi-Wan explained, "the fact it didn't should have warned us that you can not fly."
-----
Cody's eyes went wide behind his bucket as Fox stepped out of the retrieval craft.
Quin grinned, bouncing over to his Fox.
Cody winced at what the dragon started to say. "Please remember that I can understand dragon!" He called out before removing his bucket. "There are certain things I do not want to know about my ori'vod."
Cody chuckled as Fox went the same colour as his armour.
"Well, I do not think we'll have to worry about finding Quin's bonded," Obi-Wan smirked.
"Guess not," Cody smiled, "wonder how 'ika my ori'vod will be."
"Bigger or smaller than Quin?" Obi-Wan asked. "The loser has to explain it to the Council."
"Smaller," Cody said, smirking. "Fox has always been smaller."
"I'll have you know, you were smaller once!" Fox defended.
Cody smirked, walking over to Fox and proving to the vode that the size gene was definitely in his defence. "Not anymore." His smirk grew as the vode around him burst into laughs.
-----
Cody grumbled, unhappy — he didn't have enough blackmail. He wasn't even sent a message about the size of his ori'vod!
"I am sure he will show you," Obi-Wan reassured, "only fair. And if he refuses, then you could spread that he is so tiny he refuses to show."
Cody grinned.
-----
It was impressive how quickly Fox could track Cody down once he realised there was a threat of Kote coming out. "Kriff you, Kote," Fox growled, almost dragging the man outside.
Cody grinned, crossing his arms as he waited for Fox to shift. Obi-Wan and Quin told the council together, so he didn't have to worry about that, but he was curious as to what his ori'vod will be.
Fox was small, easily smaller than Vos was. He was a light stone colour, his underbelly almost the same colour as rain clouds. Instead of sharp spines down his back, there were golden brown feathers with deep grey tips. These feathers also followed the line between his underbelly and upperside. His snout was rounded off, stubby, and his wings were the same. They were thin but came to rounded edges. The membrane was covered in feathers, with only the scales over the bones shown. He had rounded off, curling horns, and his claws were ridged. His tail ended in an almost extra wing of feathers as if to help catch the wind. He had the same tuff like ears, large like Vos'.
Cody grinned, shifting. He quickly picked Fox up by the scruff, the small grey dragon wiggling in his gasp.
"Put me down!" Fox shouted, trying to free himself. It was impossible; the enormous gold dragon had to solid a grip on him.
"You're so 'ika, you fit within my claws." Cody couldn't believe his luck; Fox would never raise sizes again. "Look at you, hardly larger than my palm. And you have more feathers than some birds!"
"Birds use feathers to help get through the air!" Fox defended, annoyed at how his voice sounded lighter and squeaky next to Cody.
"You're a dragon," Cody snorted, "feathers hardly make for a scary creature. You're just a shiny, fluffy rock, like what the senators decorate their homes with."
Fox tried to growl, irritated as it became more of a clicked hiss. "And what are you? You're an overgrown golden gecko!"
Cody laughed so hard he had to place Fox on the floor before he shook the small dragon to death.
Fox stumbled back; the ground shook beneath his feet. He could see that it was meant to be laughter by how the wings moved and the head was tipped back, eyes closed. But his ears heard growls, deep-chested growls.
Cody slowly regained his breath before looking down at Fox; he moved so his snout was closer to Fox's. He pulled his lips back into a grin. "I'm a fire-breathing dragon; my wings are large enough to empty lakes, ears sharp enough to hear the panic of your heart. My lungs are powerful enough to dive deep. Scales that turn invisible in space, travelling at near hyperspeed. That is what I am."
Fox thinks he squeaked.
1693