The Foreigner

Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Canon)
30/10/22 Note: This is gonna get rewritten, but not for a while. Do whatever to this page, idc rn. Just... leave this note up here, k? Actually, random idea: how about this is an add-on fic? Yea sure, since no one's gonna see this anyways. If you want to edit the story, go ahead. It'll be public and open to anything until I get around to the rewrite (which might be, like, a year from now).
Forenote: This story will take forever to be finished is the backstory of Mystery, one of my OCs. It starts around the time of Tempest's death.
All characters are original, unless stated otherwise or are known as canon. Any similarities to others' OCs is coincidental. 
Also, sorry about some of the grammar. I tend to throw words into unusual orders that make sense to only me. I welcome all constructive criticism, even if begrudgingly.
==Prologue==
Teal swam in her spot in her village's military formation, heading towards a territorial battle with a neighbouring village. The leader of her wing was flashing orders at them, but Teal watched half-heartedly. There was a greater war going on above the water, one that concerned all dragon tribes, and she didn't understand why she was fighting one that was no more than a never-ending squabble over a stretch of barren gravel flats. As they reached the ambush location, her fellow SeaWings split off to various vantage points. Teal swam up to hers; a rock near the surface that allowed for a perfect dive lunge. Perching on a rocky crag, she surveyed the battlefield. She didn't see much potential in the area; prey was scarce and the land was too uneven to build anything of use upon. The only things of value were two small heat vents. She huffed with disappointment, turning her back to judge the underwater portion of a small island behind her. I might as well get some sun on my scales; no one can be bothered to die in these fights, she thought, and she swam up and out of the water, not caring if she was spotted abandoning her post. 
The island wasn't much, to Teal's displeasure. There was a strip of sand encircling the island, not enough to call a beach, that quickly transitioned to a dull green centre comprised of bushes and a few small palm trees. With a turn of her head, she had seen the entirety of the pitiful land lump. She trod towards a rockpool on the far side, hoping to see a starfish or some other lifeform, despite the low chances of anything finding a home in this part of the sea. But something had. There was an unusual, sodden... box in the rockpool, made of an unfamiliar wood that had cracked and fallen away in places, revealing its fabric-covered contents. Teal stopped dead in her tracks. Nothing interesting ever came out of this place, nothing... except for today, for her. Without thinking, she pounced on the strange container and compulsively pried it open.
==Chapter One==
Darkness. Chipping. More darkness. The newly-hatched dragonet reached out, brushing against the silken layer that wrapped around its egg. Why was there another wall? Wasn't the shell enough to keep it warm and safe? The dragonet tried to break this second layer until a sudden unknown force violently shook its egg. Danger, its instincts whispered. It flinched as a sharp hook peeled the silk away, then looked up at the blue face that towered above. Light. The blue creature jerked away from the dragonet, as if its existence offended them. A harsh sound was heard, stirring memories of dangerous safety of... some forgotten, long-gone place. The creature shook their head, huffed and left the view of the dragonet.
The dragonet squeezed its eyes shut. This sudden new sense hurt a lot, and it wasn't helped by the fact that the creature had been blocking the worst of the light. The dragonet flailed an arm outside of the crack, hoping to swat the brightness away, but to no avail. Fortunately, the pain began to subside after some time, and the blinking dragonet stared out at the sheet of blue it could see through the crack. It gazed on for a while before reaching out, seeing the flurried yellow-and-green of its talon. It clambered out of its egg and glanced around at its surroundings. There was plenty of blue; above the dragonet was a solid, slightly-pale blue that faded to a much paler shade of blue, all throughout with white clusters. Then there was a sort of line, below which was a darker blue. This blue was mixed with smaller white clusters that disappeared and reappeared quickly, and came right up to the patch of which the dragonet was standing on. A ways off, there was a small, faded patch of green. What exactly the dragonet stood upon was pale yellow, somewhat matching its talons. The ground was very powdery and it had to keep shuffling to stay above. Behind the yellow strip was a large expanse of green, some of which towered above the little critter. The dragonet let all this sink in. After it had had enough of the invisible pressure that blew upon its face, it tottered off the explore the inner green area.—————————————————————————————————
The young dragonet went on to explore the entire island. It had paddled through the shallow waters of the rockpool, yet didn’t stay long as the rocky ground cut open its talons. Small shellfish and leaves were welcome snacks and the trees were considered fun to climb. The dragonet had fallen asleep at one point, then awoke to fearfully cower under a bush as the blue sky and water had faded to orange. Once the sky had darkened to a tranquil black and the stars started to shine, the dragonet calmed down and emerged from its nook to admire the shimmering wonder. There were three great lights in the sky, all of different sizes. The dragonet repeatedly napped and awoke until dawn came. 
Many days and nights passed by, and this would have been a summary of the dragonet’s life if it weren’t for one thing; curiosity.
==Chapter Two==
There came a time when the dragonet could blindly run throughout the whole island with the same precision if it had walked with its eyes open. Shortly after this time it would turn its attention to the distant green patch. The dragonet had spent two years of its life in one area; it had seen the three moons go through their seperate cycles and had watched blue dragons frolic in the water, which the dragonet itself feared. But by this time, it wanted to leave its crib. 
The dragonet had learnt to swim in its small rockpool, but knew that it wasn’t good enough to swim to the far island. It paced the shore, wordlessly planning a safe way to travel. There were pieces of wood in the sand, as the dragonet noticed, that had floated in years ago. The dragonet stopped, an idea forming. It grabbed a piece of wood and dragged it towards the water. Clambering onto the wood, the dragonet paddled out into the sea. Salty waves splashed in its face, stinging its eyes and scales. Long after its talons left the sandy ground, it realised that it might have made a very, very stupid idea. The current only pulled it further out, stronger than the paddling of its talons and tattered wings. The dragonet, now regretting everything that led up to this moment, swam towards the far island.
<————————————————————————————————>
Teal swam through the small outpost, revisiting the area that had been bloodily won years ago. Life had continued since the battle; now the SeaWings couldn’t trust the MudWings, for one. What she had dismissed as a useless piece of ocean had become one of her favourite hangout places. 
As she swam past the outpost building, one SeaWing soldier swam up to meet her. Hey there, back again so soon? the SeaWing flashed. Teal smiled back. It’s not that soon.
Either way, there’s been a fairly suspicious piece of driftwood. Nothing much, but still.
Ah, cool.
With that, they split. Teal had visited the surface many times since she discovered the strange egg-thing. This time as she circled the island, though, there was no sign of the strange green dragonet, whom she found herself calling Greenie. Not thinking much about it, she swam off to find the driftwood the soldier had mentioned. She was a sucker for weird things.
It didn’t take long to find the wood from under the water, but Teal was surprised to find Greenie on top of the wood. 
”Whatcha doing, little one?” she asked, popping up right next to Greenie. The dragonet squeaked and splashed water in Teal’s face. She smiled sweetly, silently criticising the way Greenie was ‘swimming’. She spread her talons, hoping the dragonet would calm down enough for what she was about to do. It paused and looked her up and down. Sensing this was the moment, Teal pushed Greenie of its piece of wood, receiving flailing and loud squawks of indignation in return. “Now, darl, that wasn’t right,” she said in a hopefully calming tone, “Let me show you a better way.”
She gently held the dragonet’s head above water, although it hissed at her. Teal paused; she’d never taught a dragonet how to swim. What was she to do next? Luckily, Greenie seemed to know what to do. Releasing its head, Teal purred and tried to demonstrate a simple swimming stroke. It blinked at her, but didn’t exactly copy her. Rather, it flailed away from her. Knowing that words were useless, Teal purred to get its attention. She repeated the stroke once it looked back, then pointed at it. After it stared at her for a bit, the dragonet copied her sure stokes, although it used its wings a little differently. Teal purred and smiled, hoping the message would get across. It apparently did. Greenie was now swimming properly, even if it was a bit clumsy. Maybe I do have half a hope at teaching, she thought, allowing herself a shred of satisfaction. 
<—————————————————————————————————————————————————————> 
The dragonet was silently panicking without its wood. There was a blue dragon swimming next to it, apparently forcing the dragonet to swim in the deep water. It spluttered as water kept washing into its mouth, gagging at the salty taste. It was copying the way the blue dragon swam, which seemed to please them as well as being better than swimming with wood; the dragonet was going a bit faster now. It swam towards the far island, figuring it was too late to turn back. However, the blue dragon wasn’t done with it yet. They glided beside the dragonet, going completely underwater at times. This went on for a little while until the dragonet understood. It swam faster, squibbling in protest. Another wave rolled over the dragonet, but when it came up to breathe, a strong talon kept its head under the water. The dragonet reared up over the surface with a screech, a terrified grimace on its face. It swam on, trying to get away from the blue dragon. It was too slow, though, as they quickly caught up and dunked the dragonet again. It was a bit more prepared this time; it closed its eyes and held its breath, propelling itself with its tail to try and lose the older dragon. When the dragonet resurfaced, it heard a purr; that was correct. Blinking away stinging droplets, it glanced back before diving below water for a few heartbeats. Another purr. The dragonet floated for a bit and thought. It didn’t like swimming underwater, but what the blue dragon showed it was a good way to withstand the tall waves. The dragonet swam on, using the strokes that were shown by the blue dragon, of whom followed the dragonet to prevent it from drowning.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
It took about half the day with no breaks, but with the guidance of the blue dragon, the dragonet had made it to its destination. This new island was much larger than its previous one, and it instantly rushed off to explore. The blue dragon, who had been suspiciously eyeing the island, ran after the dragonet with a surprised growl. It didn’t turn back, however; it weaved through a thick bush that was growing on the edge of the shore and was exploring the dense greenery of the centre. Pausing to take a breath, it took in the fresh smells of the bright flowers and relaxed under the cool shade. It licked one of the flowers, wondering if the smell was an indication of taste, when it heard a sharp cry. Looking up, there was a small creature in one of the trees. It was white and grey with a yellow beak and small legs, and was examining the dragonet with a mild intensity. It let out another rolling shriek before flying off with soft wings in the place of front talons. The dragonet blinked in confusion, then heard a new sound. A heavy thudding came from a spot behind the bushes. It seemed to get closer, like talonsteps. The dragonet managed to crouch under a bush just before a dragon came thundering past. It wasn’t the blue one that had accompanied the dragonet; this one was a dark green with paler swirls. They didn’t notice the dragonet and dashed past. The dragonet itself peeked out of the bush. It hadn’t had much action in its life, let alone had it discovered this much life in one go. Not long after, a strange whooshing sound came from the sky, followed by three dragon-shaped shadows dashing past the already-dappled ground. The dragonet missed a glance at the dragons themselves and so wandered back into the clearing to get a better look. 
It glanced upwards at a sudden volley of thuds to see a flying dragon through the thick canopy. The dragonet didn’t get a good look at it, but could smell the new and acrid stench of smoke and caught glances of soft orange - a colour that the dragonet didn’t know a dragon could have. They flew slowly, scanning the ground. At one point they halted, gliding down to the clearing. They had clearly spotted the dragonet. 
<———————————————————————>
Once he spotted it, Partridge knew his luck had turned. He was one of the lowest-ranking soldiers in Her Majesty's army, tasked with the jobs no one else bothered to do. He'd been doing the final sweep for a patrol that had been chasing down an escaped prisoner-of-war that, really, could return to the ocean for all Partridge cared. He knew he wouldn't be paid anyways, but he would be for the oddity he found. The strange dragonet didn't run when he swooped down; rather, it seemed to be studying him as he was studying it. "Hello there, dragonet," he said, aiming for a good first impression, "You seem to be a bit lost. I can help you find your way, if you want." 
The dragonet didn't say anything in return, but it did growl in a friendly way. Perhaps they can't talk, Partridge thought suddenly. He looked it over. It was rather pretty, with beetle-green scales giving way to a mess of yellow at its talons and a nice-looking, if bug-like, face and build. The shame was that its wings were absolutely mangled, of which it seemed to have three. Yes, 'Queen' Burn should pay well for this thing. He gently prodded it, and it reacted in a playful manner. He sighed, saying, "You sure are a strange little bug-dragon-thing."
He picked it up, surprised that it didn't squirm much but rather 'flapped' its broken wings, and he spread his own wings and took off. The dragonet seemed to pretend to fly with Partridge as he headed towards the mainland, which was a sight weirdly cute enough to make him think about not selling it off. What prevented him from doing so was the thought of his own dragonets. This orphaned aberration would never have had a life, but it could help him give his own children a chance.
==Chapter Three==
The dragonet watched in awe as the ocean rushed along. The orange dragon had introduced something that it never wanted to lose; flight. As they powered along, the dragonet wondered if this was another lesson. It tried to flap its own wings but only managed to shuffle them as the dragon’s rough grip made it hard to move. Rather than vainly trying to flap, the dragonet took in the fast-moving air, considering it an experience it may never have again. They were both high enough to avoid the ocean's spray, which confused the dragonet, but the wind was hard enough to simulate the cold of the water. 
This carried on for some while, with the ocean occasionally being broken by islands of varying sizes. Every time one came into view, the dragonet feared the flight would end, but the orange dragon passed them all. Eventually, the ocean seemed to come to an end. The dragonet squinted into the distance. There was a shadowy mass up ahead, the kind that meant land was near, but... no. There was more land than the dragonet ever thought there was in the world. It looked up at the orange dragon and let out a chirp that was part fear and part amazement. They only huffed in return, unfazed by the impossible sight. The dragonet’s attention returned to the land, its jaw limp from disbelief.
Category:Genre (Adventure)
Category:Public