Jade Winglet: The New Generation

=Chapter 1=
Sandshifter was standing under a tree, looking at the entrance of Jade Mountain Academy. There were many dragons there, talking and laughing and yelling and just generally having a good time. The entrance was a large cave opening, but with a sort of stone highlight around the opening, decorated with different patterns.
“Don’t worry about it. It’ll be great.” Mother said, tenting a wing around Sandshifter.
“Are you sure? It looks… scary” said Sandshifter as he eyed the entrance nervously.
Mother crouched beside him to look into his eyes, her teardrop scales glistening in the sun.“I was like you when I came here for the first time, but you need to be brave. This is not the worst thing that can happen to you.”
“What is the worst that can happen?” Sandshifter asked.
“Well, remember those stories we told you about our times at JMA? It’s like those.” Mother said.
In fact, he did remember the stories. He was told about Icicle attacking them and the Rainforest, about Darkstalker returning, and other adventures. Sometimes he wishes he were alive back then 6 years ago so he could slap Darkstalker in the face. But the past is the past is the past, and he didn’t want to mess up his own timeline.
He was thinking about how the  timeline would change when his mother interrupted him. “I think you should go in”, she said.
“Mom, I don’t want to go. Maybe next year I can.” he said.
Moon bent down low to peer into his face. “I said that to my mother when I came here and she wouldn’t let me. She pushed me to go and give it a try, so I will do the same”.
She then hugged Sandshifter and then she was off, gliding away to the Rainforest.
Well, I guess I have to go in now, he thought with a sigh. He beat back the worry flooding his head and hurriedly sprinted to the entrance. When he got to the entrance, he saw that through the small groups of dragons that it was beautiful there. Large lanterns hung from the ceiling above him, casting warm rays of light throughout the cavern. The floor had stone bricks with intricate patterns on them. Statues jutted from the walls, clearly carved out of them. There was a giant carved wooden scroll that was opened and had words sprawled out that said,
Welcome to Jade Mountain Academy! We are glad you are here. With all the gold that was donated from the queens, we have upgraded our school with some of the best resources we can find. Near the back of the cavern, there is an enrollment desk where you can get yourself situated. Have a nice day!
He looked around and saw a small line in front of a stone desk with intricate patterns carved in it. Sandshifter walked over to the line and stood behind a Skywing a bit younger than him. The Skywing was reading some kind of scroll in his claws. Sandshifter looked over his shoulder and saw that he was reading ‘Detective Jaguar’. His favorite scroll series! But when he went back to his original place in line, he realized something was different with the Skywing. For one, he looked half Nightwing. His claws, back, and wing membranes were black with white star scales. The rest of him was deep red. The second thing he noticed was that he had teardrop scales by his eyes. He's a mind reader, like Sandshifter’s mother. But they were red instead of silver. It was odd really. He’d seen a few dragonets with the silver teardrop scales, but never red.
He was thinking about how he should introduce himself when he sensed hatred coming from his direction. He looked around and saw a Sandwing elbow him to the ground. He landed abruptly, slightly hurting his wings. Everyone in a radius of 10 feet stopped and stared in alarm. The Sandwing didn’t look back as he walked away, mind filled with anger.
The Skywing in front of Sandshifter turned around and glared at the Sandwing before turning to Sandshifter and helping him up.
“Hey. Sorry about that,” he said.
“Thank you.” said Sandshifter.
“Name’s Crow. Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Sandshifter. Nice to meet you, too.”
“Well, welcome to JMA, where we learn stuff and have some fun,” Crow said smiling
“Well, that’s a better greeting than getting elbowed,” Sandshifter joked 
Crow laughed. Sandshifter knew they would be great friends. They finally got to the large desk and saw in surprise that a Rainwing was there. But then again, Rainwings have improved over the last five years. He looked about 15 years old, smart, and a bit nerdy. He had flamesilk glasses and a few freckles on his thin snout.
“Names, please,” the Rainwing said.
“Crow and Sandshifter,” Crow said.
“What’s your name, sir?” Sandshifter asked the Rainwing.
“Javaa,” he said while checking his list.
“Hm, nice name,” Sandshifter thoughtfully.
“Thank you. My parents were very creative. I am the secretary here.”
Sandshifter and Crow frowned.
“What is a secretary?” Crow asked.
“I do office work for my boss.” Javaa said.
“Oh, okay.” Sandshifter said, still a bit confused. Office work? Boss?
“Here are you name tickets,” Javaa said, handing them 2 slips of paper.“ Take these to the library and hand them to the Librarian. They’ll give you a list of what Winglet you are, cave dorm, and schedule.”
“Ooh, thanks!” Sandshifter said.
“Thank you,” Crow said, taking the schedules.
There were three tunnels behind the stone desk. Crow led the way through the tunnel on the right. It had three doors shooting off in different directions. On door was labeled ‘OFFICES’,
The one across from it was labeled ‘NURSES OFFICE’, and the one at the end was labeled,’LIBRARY’. 
“How do you know where everything is?” asked Sandshifter.
“I was one of the few people who got to take a tour around the place”, Crow said.
“I didn’t know there were tours for this place”, said Sandshifter with sincere honesty, looking at Crow.
Crow looked confused.”Really?”
“Yeah! No one told me about it.”
“Well, sorry no one told you sooner.”
“It’s fine. It’s more fun and challenging to figure it out than to know where to go. To me, anyways.”
“Huh. That’s cool.”
“Are you ready to see the Library of Awesomeness?” Crow asked.
“Sure.” Sandshifter said.
Crow opened the door and beckoned Sandshifter in.
=Chapter 2=
When they entered, Sandshifter gasped. It was beautiful! Scrolls and books were all over the place; stacked, labeled, and organized by the genres. The ornate bookshelves were almost as tall as the ceiling, yellow lamps hung on it, casting a light that was almost like the sun. There were only a few dragons in there, but it was like a whole new world. Mother would be so fascinated, Sandshifter thought.
There was a circular wooden desk in the center of the room. It was labeled LIBRARIAN in silver. There was a Nightwing in it sorting out the scrolls on his desk and feeding a red, blue, and green parrot in a big cage labeled, “PEANUT”. Sandshifter noticed that the Nightwing looked familiar, and after a moment, he realized it was Starflight! He wasn’t blind anymore! He heard that Turtle, Mother’s friend, healed his eyesight with his magic. He had seen Starflight in the Rain Kingdom many times, talking to the Nightwings and Rainwings, even Queen Glory herself!
     
A RainWing was at the desk talking to Starflight. The RainWing had hydrangea blue scales with lighter under scales, her wings faded into a golden yellow color, as did her feet and tail. Her snout had golden flecks that glowed in the beaming sunlight that came through the windows. Sandshifter felt like he had seen the RainWing before, but he was uncertain.
Sandshifter and Crow moved up behind the Rainwing
"Thanks for the scrolls Starflight!" She said. 
"Anytime." Starflight responded with a smile. 
       
The Rainwing turned around and collided with Sandshifter and Crow with a yelp. Her scrolls feel out of her talons. 
     "I am so sorry! I didn't realize you two were behind me." The RainWing apologized.
 
     “So sorry, May!” Crow helped her pick up her scrolls. 
 
     “It’s fine, Crow.” Mayflower looked up and noticed Sandshifter. “I assume you are my new clawmate?”
       “New what?” Sandshifter asked, confused. Mother told me something about a thing called clawmates.
        “A clawmate! You know, the dragons in your winglet. Crow and I are in the same winglet now.” Mayflower explained. 
       “We are?” Crow asked. Mayflower nodded. She opened her winglet scroll and handed it to Crow. He looked at the scroll. “Oh. . . I guess we are.” 
“Sorry, I don’t know your name, new dragon.” Mayflower tilted her head at Sandshifter. 
“I’m Sandshifter, nice to meet you.”
"Nice to meet you too! My name is Mayflower, but I normally go by May." Mayflower smiled. 
“Nice to meet you. Can I see that scroll?” Sandshifter asked Crow. Crow handed it to him.
It said: 
  Jade Winglet Clawmates
Sandshifter the SandWing
Mayflower the RainWing
Crow the NightWing
Borealis the IceWing
Calico the MudWing
Wildfire the SkyWing
Moss the SeaWing
Hornet the HiveWing
Emerald the LeafWing
Lapis the SilkWing
     
"Well, it looks like we are all in the same winglet." Mayflower walked to Sandshifter's side and looked at the list. "You guys should get your scrolls, then we can find the rest of our winglet. She walked away. “See you soon!" She yelled back at them from the hallway.
“Bye!” Sandshifter and Crow said simultaneously. They turned around and greeted Starflight, who was very cheerful for a reason.
“Are you two here for your scrolls?” Starflight asked Sandshifter and Crow. They both nodded. Starflight looked for their names that were in the basket of scrolls under the desk and handed each of them two scrolls. One was of their classes, and the other was their winglet and sleeping arrangements.
“Thank you.” Sandshifter said, taking the scrolls and handing one to Crow.
“Hey, we’re in the same cave together, with a Seawing named Moss.” Crow read the cave arrangements on the scrolls. They stepped aside for the other students who were waiting for their scrolls. “Oh, Starflight! Can we have a pouch to keep our scrolls in?”
“Of course. What color would you like? We have black, white, dark blue, and gold. Not real gold, of course.” He gestured at a display area with different pouches and different designs on them. 
Sandshifter looked at the display and saw a black pouch with fake star scales that glistened in the sunlight
“Hi, Starflight!” a LeafWing about Sandshifter’s age entered the library and walked up to the counter. She had dark green scales dappled with golden sunlight scales on her wings and neck. She has golden yellow eyes and long green wings. She was quite pretty, but Sandshifter did not notice.
“Hello, Emerald.” Starflight said back. The NightWing passed Emerald her scrolls. “Good to see you again.”
“Thank you, Starflight.” the LeafWing said smiling. 
“Wait, Emerald. Isn’t she the LeafWing in our winglet?” Crow said to Sandshifter, looking back at his scrolls. The LeafWing turned and looked at Crow. Apparently he said that louder than he thought, thought Sandshifter. She gave him a confused look. She then saw Sandshifter and dropped her scrolls.
“What do you mean?” she asked as she made her way to them to keep the line of students moving. Sandshifter helped her pick up her scrolls. She mumbled, “Thank you”, when she finished.
“Well, your name is on our winglet list.” Sandshifter gave her the scroll he was holding.
Emerald took it with a blush. “Thanks,” she said. She looked at the Sandshifter’s scroll and looked at her scroll afterwards.
“Wow. I didn’t expect that.” she said, handing back the scroll to Sandshifter, smiling.
“You can hang out with us if you want.” Sandshifter said to Emerald. Crow nodded in agreement.
“Uhhh. . . You know what? I-I got to be somewhere. I have a, uhh, a-a instrument recital! Yeah, umm, just in a bit so, uhh… Bye!” Emerald stammered nervously. She ran away in a hurry.
“Wow.” Sandshifter said.
“First day of school and someone has a crush on you!” Crow said, smiling smugly and trying not to laugh.
“She does not!” Sandshifter proclaimed.  “She was probably nervous to be around other dragons!”
“Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!” teased Crow. “We’ll say that.” They turned to Starflight and made their way to the main entrance/hall.
        “This says that our sleeping cave is the second tunnel from the Great Hall and the fifth cave on the left.”
“Let’s go, then. I wonder what our other clawmates are like.”
“I hope they’re at least kinder than that dragon that elbowed you.”
“Yeah. Feels like it happened 50 years ago.”
Then Mayflower came walking up to them
“You guys took your sweet time in the library.” she said. Crow snorted. Sandshifter gave him a look. 
“We were talking with Emerald, the LeafWing in our Winglet.” Sandshifter told her.  Mayflower raised a brow arch at the snickering Crow. 
“Was it that bad?”
“Uhh, best not to talk about that,” said Sandshifter.
“Okayyy?” she said, tossing an amused look at Sandshifter. I don’t think she’s buying it, Sandshifter thought nervously.
Mayflower stared suspiciously at Sandshifter for a good 5 seconds, but returned to her cheery self quickly afterwards. “Anyways! Let's settle into the sleeping caves. I wonder what they're like.”
=Chapter 3=
They stopped by the cave that had "Jade Winglet" above the entrance. It led to a common room that branched off into the sleeping caves. Sandshifter and Crow dropped their stuff off before the announcements came on. Mayflower walked into her separate cave and quickly claimed her bed, which was a hammock in one of the corners of the cave surrounded by jars of fireflies. A shelf was carved into the wall next to her with some scrolls.
"Oh this feels so good!" She announced. "This is just like the hammocks Dad and Aunt Glory talk about." 
“Really? I’ve never been in a hammock before.” Sandshifter commented.
“Huh. One day I'll show you one." Mayflower poked her head out of her cave. “You have  been to the Rain-Night Kingdom before, haven’t you?”
“A few times. My mother used to live there." Sandshifter answered. “She still visits every once in a while.”
“Hey, Sandshifter. What’s that amulet around your neck for? I never noticed it before." Crow asked. Mayflower looked at Sandshifter’s amulet and gave a confused look.
“Oh. Mom and dad gave me this as one of my hatchday presents. I really like it.” Sandshifter said. Should I tell them I enchanted it? No I shouldn’t. It would ruin my opportunity to make new friends.
       
"Oh cool! My aunt gives me a new weapon for every hatchday. And my parents give me a flower of some sort to add to the collection I have!" Mayflower added. New weapons? That’s a weird hatchday present. But then again, weapons are also used for self defense. So, pretty cool!
"That's kinda nice." Crow told Mayflower. Mayflower shrugged 
"She insisted I bring some with me. Cause of the school's reputation for chaos." Mayflower rolled her eyes as she took out a small dagger with emeralds in the hilt. “I honestly don’t know if this is allowed in school. But I took it anyways."
“Chaos?” Sandshifter asked, confused. “No one told me about chaos here." 
 
              "Well last year some students blew up their sleeping cave. And then some others were picking on other students for a while. And then it got violent and stuff. And you know about Darkstalker and the IceWing mess that happened 5 years ago?”
“Uhh, yeah.”
           "My aunt's just paranoid that something will happen to me so she wants me to be prepared. Trained me in self defense against my dad's wishes. But it's all good. I can kick Libra's sorry butt when she calls me a stupid anaconda." Mayflower growled a bit. 
“Who?” Sandshifter and Crow asked simultaneously.
        
         "Only the most entitled and self absorbed brat in this school." The RainWing snarled in disgust. "Oh yeah, you guys are new. I was here for school last year. She keeps bullying me on how she is sooooooo much better looking and smart! Like she even knows who I am!!"
Sandshifter and Crow were bewildered as Mayflower ranted on and on about her.
         
“Three moons, I didn't know she could get so mad in such a short amount of time." Sandshifter whispered.
“I’m scared now.” Crow said nervously.
"Well that's what you get when you're related to Queen Glory." Mayflower said absentmindedly. Then she gasped. "Ugh. I said it. Three moons I let it slip!" 
“Woah! You royalty!?” Crow asked in awe. Mayflower nodded.
“I’m royalty too. Well, half royalty, but it counts as something. My grandmother is Queen Thorn, by the way.
  
             "Queen Glory's my aunt. Jambu is my father." Mayflower snapped out of her angry rant. 
Just then, a bell rang, echoing across the hallways. It repeated twice more until it was quiet again.
     
      "That's the bell!" Mayflower dashed out of the sleeping caves. “We have an assembly at the Great Hall! Let’s go!”
Sandshifter and Crow followed her, though they had to try and look over other student’s heads. She was fast.
“How fast is she?” Sandshifter proclaimed.
“I have no idea.” Crow responded. They ran after her, struggling to keep up. Soon they reached the Great Hall. Mayflower was already there, talking with a familiar LeafWing. Emerald glanced over and saw Sandshifter and Crow running up to them. She stifled a gasp and looked away with a blush on her face.
“Oh boy. Emerald saw you.” Crow snickered as Emerald looked away quickly. Mayflower looked over, confused. Her eyes sparkled in realization. She smiled, looking like she was holding back a laugh. Emerald was trying to cover her face, but couldn’t hide her embarrassment.
"Move over, May. Only the best get the front row." A female NightWing shoved Mayflower into Crow. She stumbled and fell against him. Crow helped her get back onto her feet. The niece of Queen Glory started to growl under her breath as the NightWing stalked away with a smug smile.
"That's Libra." The RainWing said, rubbing her temples.
"Who?" Emerald asked. That was the first non-stammering sentence Sandshifter had heard come out of her.
“My arch-enemy. She is part of the richest family in the Rain-Night Kingdom besides mine."
“How long have you known her?” Emerald asked.
"I met her two years ago. She tried to be my friend, just because of my title. But she was a brat in the beginning. And still is." Mayflower shook out her wings a bit. "And apparently I did something terrible to her so she treats me this way.  But that's only when Uncle Deathbringer isn't around."
“What do you think you did to make her be this way to you?”
       
  "Ha! I didn't do anything to begin with. But then I put her in her place when she tried to make fun of me for my so-called 'tainted family'." Mayflower explained a bit loudly. But no one paid attention to her. Sandshifter was shocked. Mixed families are uncommon in Pyrrhia, and dragons were mostly all for it. 
Just then, the murmuring in the Great Hall quieted down as a gong sounded loudly. Tsunami walked onto the stage along with Clay, Sunny, Starflight, and Fatespeaker. 
"Welcome to Jade Mountain Academy. " Sunny said. "We are delighted that you will be learning at this school. As some of you know, classes will start tomorrow for all of the Winglets. Some new things to take into mind today is…" Sunny pulled out a scroll to read from. "Wisteria, our school nurse, does not want too many incidents this year. And please keep a school map with you at all times. Some of the tunnels that lead to the lakes are not stable. We already had some incidents concerning them; no deaths of course, but pretty important." 
"We’ve had some questions about sleeping cave arrangements and whether or not individual students can have separate caves. Well, the answer is no. The idea is together the tribes and to get along with each other." Tsunami told the students. Some of the dragonets groaned. 
"They can't be serious." Sandshifter heard a HiveWing whisper. 
“But! There is a way to get separate caves for one night per week. It will cost an extra 10 silver coins to do so. We cleared it with your parents earlier, so that’s covered.
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)