The Ironclads

This is a fanfiction on an unofficial called Ferrowings, this particular one are about their ancestors or Ironclads and their relationship with the Pyrrhians, the story takes place before The Scorching, note that this is all a headcannon you DO NOT need to agree with all of this, its just for funzzies!
==Prologue==
"Hello? Are you... alive?"
He was in a dark plane of reality, just barely hearing that female voice inside his state of purgatory, the world was gone, all that was left is a blank space, a blank canvas. It was a new opportunity for him, and to be honest...
He was scared.
"Can you hear me?"
"I... think?" He tried saying, his voice feeling rather dry.
"Yes, you must be confused, this is will be your first and last true life, I will grant you a true physical form, not just a piece of clockwork, but a being."
"A being?" The lost soul silently echoed, "Not just some piece of scrap more intellectual creatures abuse?"
Although he could not see her, she felt her nod. "Precisely, call it an exam if you will, I want to see if you are worthy to remain here or if you are better off getting purged."
Now that was unsettling... "So do I just live a life that I am uncertain of? A life where I need to make my own choices?"
"You always had a choice." The being replied sternly, "All you had to do was simply ask."
"Ask who?"
"Me."
Silence fell for an undefinable amount of time, there was no such thing as time there, not yet at least.
"You mean... I could have requested what I could live as? This entire time?" He said, with hints of minor anger.
"Correct." He imagined her nodding again, "Please Minotaur, you know I am much more generous than I think."
Memories started flooding in again, remembering small fragments of his past lives. His name was Minotaur and was always Minotaur, and she was...
"Time." He began.
"The Time" She corrected, "I am merely a fragment on what they truly are."
"Right," Minotaur continued his interrupted statement, "The Time, may I kindly request to live as a dragon?"
"A dragon?" She snorted for once, "A being who cares not about the universe, yet is attracted to shining wealth that certainly isn't gold?"
"Not just a dragon." The Ironclad shook his head, things are coming back, and now he realized he had a head, go figure. "I... rather enjoyed being a machine actually, is it alright that I could... keep some of that life?"
Another immeasurable unit of emptiness followed.
"I will try my best, whilst trying to not make you those kinds of dragons. The exam would be a tad bit unfair now wouldn't it?"
"Truly." He started to laugh, "Well... perhaps you could give me the same conscience as those humans in one of my more recent lives?"
"I was considering, but as you brought it up, it seemed obvious to do so," She said sentimentally. "Would you like to proceed at once?"
"Yes," Minotaur took a deep breath, the last one he would take in this state.
"Yes I would."
==Chapter 1 [Cairo]==
Mother Nature was being questionably forgiving nowadays, he could feel the calm streams of water swipe through his talons. A flock of albatrosses were flying overhead, or were they seagulls? That wasn't important, what was important however was land. No, not an island, not some random rock floating in the sea.
An entire continent.
"Land! … Ho?" Casco, one of Cairo's closest friends half-hesitated, "Is that still relevant? We're not privateers aren't we?"
"Just use that to simplify things, everyone gets what that means." A part of Casco that made Casco... Casco was that he is always worried about the smallest of things, especially when it comes to wording. "Everyone, steady turn to starboard we're checking out the land!"
Cairo was commanding a fleet of 12, an expedition team dedicated to find new land, Ironclads didn't have leaders, so they were constantly at war with each other, colonizing resource-rich land was vital for their success, and he hopes this is one of them.
The fleet advanced further inland, like many, it seemed rather empty. Cairo commanded a significant portion of the fleet to reside at the coast, while the other would follow him to step on the newfound land. Crabs scurried below them in a way that would very likely make a 4 year-old Cairo tempted to squish them, nonsense out of the way, his task force advanced slowly, to be immediately met by a desert.
“Well this is a fantastic start.” He sarcastically growled in disgust.
“Hey, at least there’ll be oil around here!” Casco chimed, “So we wouldn’t have to
hunt a whale to satisfy someone’s hunger.”
Ironclads… to put it simply, they are the biggest eaters the world has ever seen, a cow was nothing to them, and so they needed oil, a gift that ensured that all the other animals in this world wouldn’t go extinct just because of them. For the Ironclads, nothing is better than a good ol’ barrel of finely processed oil.
“Alright the coasts are clear! Camanche, tell the coastal force to regroup with us.”
“Understood!” The young ironclad sprinted to their initial landing point, to get the full force here just in case other Ironclad groups beat them here, in which case exchanging fire would be almost certainly necessary.
After some meandering they found a suitable spot to set camp, nighttime was lurking around the corner, some slept earlier so they could take the midnight shift, but not Cairo, he was up the whole time, staying on alert and observing every pixel of the land despite the dark.
== Chapter 2 [Minotaur] ==
Sunlight attempted to wake him up, his entire body felt heavy for sailing non-stop for the past few days, and so was his fleet, only 9 ships cut down to 5 because the blue just had to throw a fit.
“Alright everyone we’re advancing further inland!” Minotaur announced, some of them woke up, though another was shivering in the middle of a desert. “What’s wrong with her?”
“She seemed to have caught a fever along the way.” One of the Ironclads said, “She had it for a while, but she insisted not to worry about-“
“I’m FINE,” The ill dragoness croaked, “I-it’s just a flu or something we can press on.”
Minotaur was skeptical about it, as she struggled to even get up, though sending her home was not an option because A) She’ll need an escort, that’ll leave them with only 3 ships, practically dooming them if they encounter another group and B) she probably won’t even make it, most of their energy was gone now, and if they don’t get any oil or significant influxes of food they would probably starve and sink midway.
“Very well,” The flagship decided, “However if you feel something is out of place for you we won’t hesitate to rest for you-“
“Yes, yes come on let’s go!” The female named Warrior hurried along, with the rest of the group following, it was as if she was the flagship.
Warrior has always been a stubborn individual, especially compared to the rest of the Royal Ironclads, no they are not part of royalty, it’s the name of their faction, and it’ll probably split into 2 again soon. How convenient… Minotaur sighed in his mind.
And so the group that shouldn’t be called a fleet due to how little in numbers they are, pressed forward at a slower pace so that hard-headed Warrior could keep up, all this time they had all their armament showing, because attacks can happen anytime, and they sure take their sweet time to materialize.
The sun was starting to set, it will be wise to rest so they can conserve their energy, unless there is an ironclad base they could plunder for oil here (Which is very unlikely) they’d be goners in the next 3 days or so, and Minotaur couldn’t hide it, he was very hungry, and so is his fleet, especially Warrior, but again she didn’t want to admit anything that made her seem weak.
The flagship kept watch as the rest of the fleet tried to comfort themselves to the cramp rocky space in the wasteland, he eyed the mysterious beauty this place had presented to him, the sunset left lashes of orange onto the sand which happily blended in, making a valley that could rival a serene forest. 
Some very long minutes passed and in the distance he saw a shape, though it just seemed like a shadow, its silhouette clearly suggested it, it struggled and battled some smaller shapes he couldn’t quite make out.
Is that another dragon?
== Chapter 3 [Carmine] ==
"Begone you Scavengers!"
The Skywing projected her inner fury as an inferno that melted her attackers, there were around 30 that she could see, heavily armored whilst wielding sharp metal sticks and large plates of steel, some lobbing iron-tipped arrows in her direction, although Skywing scales were fairly armored, some still managed to pierce her underbelly, just narrowly missing her heart.
She swiped and lashed her tail furiously, sending several of them flying to the mountain ranges, hitting the ground that would certainly break a few bones.
Carmine began to focus her attack on the archers, sending another explosion of flame their way, a sword pierced her leg while another scratched it, the Skywing tossed them aside with her powerful jaws to the distance never to return, however her efforts weren't enough.
It soon became apparent that this would be her end, but it can't be! There was an entire group of dragons that want to be free, just like her! She can't simply let these measly scavengers win! Just like the many that passed away before her, she will fight till the last breath, and shall never surrender, for the dragons of Pyrrhia!
And then, the tides turned, the wind screamed and whistled an screeching tone, the desert sand was pelted by cannon balls miles away. How many? 2? 4? Much more, too many to keep track of, however they don't seem to be targeting her.
With her slowly blurring vision, in the distance the wounded Skywing spotted a dragon like no other.
Sparks of yellow and red flared in comparison to the sunset, and in a matter of seconds they reached her location, presenting ground shaking amounts of firepower.
Though it is not all good, the bits of shrapnel struck her abdomen, the sheer amount of smoke from the explosions made it hard to breathe, the pain simply broke her, she see the distorted view of scavengers retreating with very few survivors, afterwards, the leader of the rebellion could feel reality drifting away as she entered the realm of unconsciousness.
== Chapter 4 [Minotaur] ==
He had to do something, yes she was a stranger, yes she wasn't even a BLOODY IRONCLAD IN THE FIRST PLACE, but it felt... wrong, no ethical being would simply let someone so much like their own die, right?
That was... interesting.
What?
The mysterious voice in his head faded away, however Minotaur magically forgot about it instantly, as if it never happened, though due to the gun fire, the entire group jolted awake.
"W-WE'RE UNDER-" Warrior choked herself, barking something while you were sick was never smart.
"No we are not!" The leader assured sternly, "I was simply doing a favor."
"F-for who?" A young Ironclad asked with vibrations in his voice, this young chap only went through the most basic training, making him very prone to trauma, Minotaur wasn't the 'do all I say' leader, he wanted to feel like a father, know how it feels to be in their talons.
"A fellow dragon," He said calmly, letting steam come out of his nostrils, a common thing for any Ironclad to do, especially after firing a volley, "the rest of you stay put-"
"Y- Wai- N- What?!" The dragoness surged with energy, forcing herself to stand up, "you are saying there is ANOTHER dragon out there besides us, I am not-"
"Going to let me go?" The flagship sighed, completing the sentence for her so she wouldn't throw herself into another coughing fit, "Fine, you won't sleep unless I knock you out anyway, so if you wish, you may come with me as back up." He looked to where the dragon was, who was laying unconscious in the sand, "The order remains the same for the two of you! Stay put."
They nodded and settled where they were, the two major Ironclads moved forward, Minotaur slowing down to let his stubborn subordinate catch up.
The pair got into eye's view, she was a blood red dragon with long swirled horns, quite a bit larger than the two. Wounds were in her talons and underbelly, arrows sticking out from her scales like grass on a plain, it was horrible, despite shooing away her attackers, the shrapnel seemed to do more damage to her instead.
They wished to get a closer look, check her pulse, whether or not she was breathing, however that plan was cut short, as a salmon red male darted to the ground and blocked their path, getting into a defensive stance, glaring them with blue eyes that pierced the through evening sky.
== Chapter 5 [Incline] ==
Stay away from her.
Carmine was lucky he just so happened to pass by, these dragons won't simply run away after doing this to her, not so quickly, but... she had arrow wounds on her, were they with those scavengers? Were they responsible for this?
Of course they were why wouldn't they.
He cautiously eyed the bronze male dragon in front of him, what is he equipped with? Several pairs of large tube-like structures and a dozen smaller ones on each side, on his back, a long crossed-shaped pole balanced on his spine. The female looked no more different, though she was looking rather pale compared to the other.
"Oh," The stranger calmly replied, in an instant, his 'accessories' glowed and faded away, the other still kept it on her, giving him an expression that seemed to show disbelief, the rusted dragon sat, his tail curling neatly beside him, the classic 'I'm open for discussions' posture, the other was significantly less reluctant to do the same, "perhaps I look a tad bit more friendly now?" 
Incline kept his guard up, Carmine couldn't last much longer, he needed seek medical attention quick, "Who- what are you?"
"Well, we are-"
"EXCUSE ME?! What are we, oh so you're saying we're-"
It showing now that the male was the dominant individual here, jabbing a scowl right at her, he seemed like a calm individual, but anyone's patience can run thin.
"As I was saying," The 'Alpha' continued, "we refer to ourselves as Ironclads, this is simply a misunderstanding here, I... was trying to help her by scaring away her attackers."
He wasn't buying it, not yet at least. "Why would you help her?" Incline asked cautiously.
The Ironclad sighed, steam flowing out his nostrils and mouth, "Apologies." He excused himself, "We are all dragons aren't we? One way or another, we are the same."
The other was tossing a disgusted expression elsewhere, not interested in this negotiation, puffing out the vapor as a sign of impatience, though he was rather skeptical, he needed to get the leader some help, or else the rebellion's morale will drop deeper than ever before.
"Alright, how about this," The brass dragon said, "You get her medical attention whilst she receives the same." He said, gesturing to the other Ironclad.
"I do not need med-" The coughing really went against the statement however.
Incline was forced to agree to that, he can't say enough that she needed her wounds healed, "Alright fine, your companion could walk right? You could help me carry her."
"Comp-" She went into another coughing fit, her condition worsening.
"Alright, just one moment." The ironclad materialized on of his tubes earlier, firing a sprout of flame upward, a noise that almost broke his hears, he gestured something to a den nearby, in the distance he saw another pair of dragons making their way here.
So there are more of them.
== Chapter 6 ==
(TBA)Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
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