Swiftwater

creator 	Scorch
coder 	Moonwatcher908
playlist 	
aesthetic 	text
color 	mottled green
tribe 	DriftWings
gender & pronouns	Male (he/him)
orientation 	
sun sign 	Cancer
job 	Arsonist
hobbies 	Chess
family 	Wavethrasher (sister)
Swiftwater
"Dragons aren't all good or bad. They're like chef's salads, with little bits of good and bad mixed in." -Swiftwater
Character © ~warmbluevanilla~, do not use without permission. Credit: Himmalerin's Image Coding Guide, Moonwatcher908's Free Formats.
:
please keep this
four lines
so the format
doesn't get messed up!
:
appearance
text here
:
lyrics
lyrics
lyrics
lyrics
:
personality
text here
:
lyrics
lyrics
lyrics
lyrics
:
abilities & weaknesses
text here
:
i wanna be the very best
like no one ever was
to catch pokemon is my real test
to train them is my cause
:
history
Fifteen years ago, you wouldn't have found the infamous criminal if you asked around for the name Swiftwater. You'd be hard pressed to find a DriftWing of that name until you came into a shelter, one among many, and a timid young dragon with both his talons and dreadful scars scored across his sides was pushed toward you. Maybe, if you were lucky enough, you'd also find an IceWing near him, grinning at him with a full set of perfect teeth.
Swiftwater was hatched to a family of DriftWings. His family seemed to have been hatched with a taste for adventure, his father having already traveled the sea in his own submarine before meeting his mother. His first two years passed happily, exploring the ocean with his parents. Until... something happened, something Swiftwater wouldn't completely understand until many years later. His memories were of his father taking out a photo and showing it to his mother. His mother screamed something about 'that suicidal group' and smashed the photo. The relationship between his parents was never the same after that, the whole thing ending with his mother simply disappearing from the submarine one day. But before that, they had another egg. A pathetic, fruitless attempt at making things better.
Swiftwater was devastated. His five-year-old self had always been closer to his mother, his father appearing as an unknown, imposing dragon. He simply couldn't take the notion that she might be dead, and he slowly began to resent his father for making her leave. He had a spat with his father a few months after the disappearance, a simple argument that started over whose turn it was to go fishing. But it escalated, and Swiftwater finally exploded with anger, all his frustration coming out in a rush.
It ended with Swiftwater storming in a rush out of the submarine door and setting foot on dry land for the first time in his life. He didn't look back. The vessel had lost all semblance of home once his mother had left. He hoped for a peaceful, quiet life, but his story was only just beginning.
The DriftWing in reality had no idea how to take care of himself, being coddled for his entire life. All the dragons he found either looked down on him with disdain or spat on him. He slowly began to lose hope that his life would ever improve, and took to hiding away and digging food out of the garbage at night. But one night, though he slept in the same place as usual, he woke up in a dark hallway. A massive white SeaWing came into the hall and introduced himself as Cetacean.
He said that Swiftwater had been recruited into the firestarters.
Life with the firestarters was bitterly hard. Though Swiftwater was among dragonets his age, all of them were far more hardened than he was and he got battered every time Cetacean forced them to fight. And none of them held back, tearing into him as if their lives depended on it. On top of that, the true bullies found him easy picking and started to verbally torture him.
One day, a pale purple IceWing - Galapagos - was ribbing him about his lost family when she suddenly screamed in pain. Swiftwater looked up from where he was curled into a helpless ball on the floor and saw another IceWing, who had apparently come to his rescue, viciously attacking Galapagos. She begged for mercy, but the smaller IceWing tore her throat without hesitation. Swiftwater watched in horror as Galapagos died in a massive pool of blue blood.
Her attacker introduced himself as Aqualon.
Slowly the two began to grow closer. After the news of Galapagos's death, no one dared to go near Swiftwater. Aqualon was never kind to Swiftwater or actually ever cared about him, but the DriftWing was too relieved to have an ally to notice. Three years passed, with the IceWing and DriftWing always staying close as each other's only associates. Their stay with the firestarters came to an abrupt end when Cetacean ordered Aqualon to kill Tephra, a young SkyWing who Aqualon knew prior to joining the organization.
Aqualon refused to kill her. Cowardice was punished by death in the firestarters, and Cetacean, proclaiming the IceWing a failure, pinned him onto the ground in preparation to cut his throat. Swiftwater knew he had to act. He lept onto the SeaWing's back and clawed him, bright red blood spurting onto white scales. Cetacean turned and snapped at Swiftwater, but by doing so, he let go of Aqualon. Wasting no time, the latter raced towards the control room and pulled a lever. A golden cage crashed down right on top of Cetacean, trapping him. Tragically, Swiftwater's talons were also crushed under the cage's weight. He managed to pull them out, but he had already broken all the bones inside them.
Aqualon and Swiftwater escaped from the firestarters' hideout and flew as far away as they could without stopping. Cetacean was an important commander, and they knew that going back after trapping him would be suicidal. So Aqualon hid in a cave in DriftWing territory while Swiftwater went to a nearby healer. Unfortunately Swiftwater's talons couldn't be saved, but he definitely appreciated the hooks that were fixed on after they were amputated, at Aqualon's suggestion.
Years passed. Aqualon and Swiftwater started to perform to get money for food, and more dragons eventually joined them. Though they all cooperated to earn money, the others notably never saw the true sum they made as Aqualon took it for himself. He purchased a house for himself at the DriftWing border.
Aqualon and Swiftwater never talked about whether they would ever go back to the firestarters, but it was silently agreed that it was too risky to go back. Though after Cetacean mysteriously disappeared, the leaders began to privately reach out to Aqualon again.
As time passed, Swiftwater began to notice little changes in his so-called friend. He had become more closed off, angrier, and more aggressive. And there was the unsettling hobby of his- lighting fires to houses. Even though he'd technically left the firestarters, he still loved setting fires. At first, it was only to abandoned ones, but Aqualon set fire to his first house with inhabitants inside two years after he and Swiftwater had settled down, killing both of the SeaWings inside. Swiftwater was horrified, but the IceWing managed to appease him by giving him the two dragons' inheritance. Swiftwater began to warm to the idea, and could even be seen breathing fire for his boss.
Everything went smoothly for thirteen years. The two dragons made profit off of Aqualon's hobby and continued with their performing, as an excuse to travel around and find choice spots to do their dirty work. Sometimes Swiftwater would have doubts about the morality of what they were doing, but those doubts were swiftly crushed by the rewards of what they did. Besides, Aqualon was his first and only friend. That was not a bond broken easily.
There was one day, though, with a burning unlike all the others. Aqualon insisted on going alone, and snapped at Swiftwater when the DriftWing asked why. Shortly after that, Aqualon brought back a small piece of scroll and tucked it behind Swiftwater's ear. He said that a dragon named Cirrus had gifted it to him for a favor he'd done the IceWing long ago. Then he told Swiftwater to thump his tail on the ground three times. He did so, and had a brief feeling of his scales becoming uncomfortably tight and his wings lengthening. Swiftwater had been turned into Tawny, a SkyWing disguise that had been made for him. He still retained all of his old memories, but a difference was that 'Tawny' had all four of his talons. Swiftwater spent hours testing them out.
Aqualon told Swiftwater why he had turned him into a SkyWing. It turned out the IceWing had killed a SandWing by the name of Python, and he needed Swiftwater to pose as a SkyWing detective to throw some dragonets off the trail. Swiftwater did so, but he was discovered as an accomplice and managed to escape with Aqualon.
Swiftwater thought the dragonets were just a passing wealthy group that had caught Aqualon's eye. After all, it wouldn't be the first time his boss had pursued dragonets because of their wealth. But as time came and went the DriftWing began to suspect that there was something new about these MudWings. Aqualon was chasing them down almost as if he had a personal reason to do so. Swiftwater wasn't sure, but he guessed that it had something to do with the fire that he was so sensitive about.
So they began to pursue these MudWings. There was definitely something off about Aqualon now. He seemed to be far more vicious than he usually was- most dragonets he tracked down got off with a fright and a large amount of gold taken off their talons, but the MudWings were mercilessly pursued and Aqualon continued to chase them far past the point when he would normally have given up. Swiftwater began to feel some semblance of compassion for the MudWings, the first sign of disagreement with Aqualon's ideas in years. The way the IceWing treated them just seemed pointlessly cruel.
One thing led to another, and Swiftwater found himself in the ocean again. This time, though, with Aqualon and some others in a spider shaped submarine. Swiftwater had lost any interest in the ocean long ago, and found himself often bored. In the end he locked himself in a room and played card or chess games, but Aqualon never played them with him.
He didn't expect his sister to come in said room with the MudWing dragonets, though.
Thirteen years had changed his sister from an unnamed dragonet in an egg to a strong young dragoness, and Swiftwater could barely recognize her. But she was the last shred he had of his dragonethood, and the two DriftWings embraced. Admittedly, Swiftwater had missed his old life ever since he'd left the firestarters with Aqualon.
:
ti would travel across the land
searching far and wide
it's pokemon to understand
the power that's inside
:
relationships
text here
:
lyrics
lyrics
lyrics
lyrics
:
trivia
*text here
*slay the day away
:
lyrics
lyrics
lyrics
lyrics
:
gallery
< ref here 300px, center aligned >
for reference! by artist
Placeholder.png|artist
Placeholder.png|artist
Category:Characters
Category:Males
Category:LGBT+
Category:DriftWings
Category:Work in Progress
Category:Content (~warmbluevanilla~)
Category:Inspired by Fiction