The Forgotten Zodiac

Boko sat them for a long moment, just appreciating the contact for awhile. Then he slowly moved his head away, crooning softly. He quietly unraveled himself from her, closing his eyes and nuzzling her with his nose. Then he trotted forward, moving to the path again, the end of his tail still wound around Shiya's. He turned and waited for her, smiling. "I wanna be your mate, in return. I want to be there for you...no matter what happens."

She hummed softly, resting her head against his, and they walked away together, feeling more at-ease. Behind them, the body faded away, an illusion from the start.

Not long afterwards, they reached the edge of the fiery volcano, which was poofing light puffs of smoke at the air. It was completely dormant; the puffs were like snores. After all, there was lava inside it. It was dangerous, for certain. Not even a dragon's fire-proof scales could protect them from that intense heat.

"We need to pick a lava rock to take back," Shiya said, beginning to carefully climb the huge mountain. "There are better ones up top."

Boko nodded, following quietly with his head low and his gait loping. "This volcano..." He shivered a bit. The volcano was dormant, of course. The lava was covered by a thick layer of obsidian, cooled lava. But if it were to crack or break in any way, the volcano could potentially become active again...

Well, that wasn't really how it worked, but Boko didn't know any better. If there was lava at all, that would mean there was activity in the volcano, and it could erupt at any time. But Boko led the way up, albiet not very happily.

Shiya stayed close to him, putting her head under his chin to comfort him. "Hey, it's okay," she murmured. "I'm here. I'm here..." She licked his nose gently, keeping her tail twined around his, and led the way up, closer to the top. "There's one!" Shiya said, spotting a round, still-warm piece of rubble. She trotted towards it, only to yelp as a tail lashed out, knocking the rock away into a bigger one, where it broke.

Leonen grinned in a snarling sort of way, Nilia hounding his steps as usual. "Ooooops," he spat, looming over the small red female. "Sorry about that."

Boko immediately drew himself up to his full height, lifting his front paws off the ground so only the tips of his claws and his coils were holding him up. "Excuse me," He snarled dangerously at Leonen. "We were here first. Wait your turn, Leonen." He growled, clearly not in a mood to deal humbly with the bully. He bared his teeth and moved between the larger Dragonling and his mate-to-be. "Just face it, you're not getting her. We already agreed that we would be mates in the future, and we're going to do the Skydance together. You're just jealous because Shiya is the most perfect female anyone could ever ask for," He said with complete confidence. "But she doesn't want you because you're a stinky poo-poo head." He sneered, the feeble insult meaning quite a lot coming from his mouth. Boko was a kind and gentle boy, he had never insulted anyone before, really...

Leonen stared at the drakeling before him for a moment, then roared angrily and leapt for him, teeth bared furiously and claws poised to tear. "Leonen!" Nilia cried, jumping aside for fear of being crushed. "Stop, stop! We're almost done!"

"Shut up!" he shouted at her, sweeping her aside with his tail. "Once I take care of these pests, we'll be able to move on!"

"What is WITH you and them?!" she shouted, clearly hurt.

Leonen snarled and swiped at him, trying to snap and bite at his remaining wing. "Can't bond with her if you can't fly, can you?!" he growled, advancing on the two.

Boko whipped his wings back, snarling. "I can too fly! A good friend of mine made me fake wings to replace my torn ones. My father is keeping an eye on them for me while I don't need them," He snorted, backing up and pulling Shiya along with him. "Just stand down, Leonen. This isn't the time, nor the place for fighting!"

"I don't care," he hissed, grinning. "You still aren't going to make it through that bond. I've made sure of it!"

"Leonen, let's go!" Nilia cried, tugging at his tail. "Please! This can't be healthy. I love you, Leonen! Don't you love me too?"

"Get off, brat!" he snarled, lashing his tail so hard that she fell over, her purple scales scraping painfully against the heated rocks. "I don't care about you! It's all about hurting them!"

Tears leapt into her eyes, then she turned and ran off, wailing her heartbreak.

Boko watched sadly. "You poor fool, blinded by hate and jealousy...you couldn't see that the love of your life was right there." He shook his head and sighed unhappily. "Shiya, I'm going to need you to move. Find a good-sized rock, okay? I'll hold Leonen off..." He gently  unraveled himself from her again, preparing himself to fight the big dragonling again.

Only this time, it was more serious. There were no Elders around to stop the fight. Shiya was in danger, quite literally. Boko would fight himself to death if he had to. And he'd incapacitate Leonen, if that's what it came to.

Shiya scrambled back, looking fearful, then turned and ran further up the mountain, quickly setting to work searching for a proper stone.

Leonen leapt at Boko, snapping his jaws and trying to sink his teeth into the drakeling's wings, snarling and growling like a mad animal. He roared and spun around, biting at Boko's tail, but it was clear that he was too angry to fight properly.

Boko zig-zagged out of the way, darting here and there. He didn't strike back much; he only darted in to nip at Leonen, then jump away again. Which only served to make him more mad. Boko wasn't enjoying himself, he was employing strategy. However odd it might have seemed, he was actually working his options very wisely. Making Leonen angry would make it easier to avoid his enraged swings.

Leonen snarled and leapt for him again, still staggering and looking almost...sick. He panted heavily, gasping and stumbling as he tried to go forward again. He glanced up, spotting Shiya scrambling about on the slopes, then he growled and suddenly leapt high, spreading his wings. He obviously didn't care about being disqualified anymore.

He dove for Shiya, teeth bared.

Boko screamed, throwing himself in the way. He wound up with his midriff caught in Leonen's jaws; his ribcage, just below his arms. "No, no, no, no, no," Boko snarled and raged, clawing as Leonen's eyes and wrapping his coils around the beast-like dragon's throat. "Stay away from her! I won't let you!" He shrieked and screeched.

((By the by, if you've the time, we seem to be running low on vegetables on the Blothera server. .o.

You really are the bestest farmer, y'know. ;D))

(('Kay. -hugs and sighs-))

Leonen snarled and shook his head back and forth, growling and swiping at the drakeling. Enraged, he tried to bite down on Boko as hard as he could, but for some reason, his jaws seemed not to work anymore. He frowned, then realized that his legs were unable to support him.

He slumped to the ground, unconscious, and Boko and Shiya saw the ghost-effects of a spell leave him.

A moment later, Mithor flew down out of the sky, the same effects trailing from his nose.

((^^ -hugglestight-))

Boko heaved in a breath and dislodged Leonen's jaws from his middle. He limped back, trembling with fear. "M-Mithor, he...he attacked..." Boko panted, feeling blood start to seep from the cracked scales that Leonen had managed to damage. It wasn't too much pain, but it definitely hurt. He scrambled around and made it to Shiya's side, leaning against her, his head low. Was he in trouble? Was Mithor mad at him? He couldn't tell.

"I know," Mithor said. "It's okay, Boko. Your father is coming along too. You're not in trouble. It's okay. We understand."

Shiya curled closer to Boko and started trying to bathe his wounds, looking upset as tears leaked down her cheeks.

Boko nuzzled her gently, then looked around. He limped away for a moment, then staggered forward and set decently-sized lava rock down at Shiya's feet. Then he relaxed and let her lick his wounds again, shutting his eyes and sighing through his nose. "Thank you, Shiya..." He murmured.

Zephyr landed a moment later, looking concerned. "Boko! Are you okay?" he asked, immediately pressing his tongue over his son's body, crooning softly. "What happened?"

"Leonen...snapped or something," Shiya said, pressing her head against Boko's neck. "It was...scary..." She whimpered and closed her eyes fearfully, sighing.