Reunited: Beyond the Sun

## Description

Kangaroo is a SandWing who has never been out of The Volcano once. But that all changes when she becomes the chosen SandWing to reunite the world. However during the journey, Kangaroo and her friends discover a terrible disaster that is going to happen. She then discovers the only things that can revert the disaster and maybe reunite the world as well...

## Prologue

Three years ago...

"Thousands of years ago, the world was at peace. Everyone was in harmony with the tribes collaborating to do monumental things.

The legends had said everyone had just defeated a big enemy that threatened to take over their souls. The defeat told the world that different is a superpower. Several intertribal schools were built, they conducted trade and even built a bride between Pyrrhia and Pantala. But as centuries of prosperity and peace passed, something started. It was small at first, only being a few dragons protesting but grew larger with entire crowds protesting that the era of friendship had to come to an end.

Soon the entity took over the queens and they shut down their borders. They closed their borders, took dragons back to their rightful place and abandoned the intertribal schools. The NightWings and SilkWings left to form their own kingdoms. The last act of teamwork was demolishing the bridge that connected the continents. Then the tribes put in borders, some physical others being rumors saying the outside world is a dangerous place. The tribes never saw each other in centuries and the world was at peace once more."

Saturn rolled up the history scroll and smiled faintly at the dragonets sprawled on the floor. "That's all for the day little dragonets; it's time for you to go to sleep."

A small NightWing no older than two stepped out of the crowed and puffed his chest. "It's nighttime so I don't have to go to sleep! I'm a NightWing! I gonna never sleep!" Saturn stood up, looked at Starcrusher and said "Maybe I taught you too much little one", poking his snout and he fell over giggling.

Kangaroo's friend Yucca watched Saturn walk out of the cave until she disappeared. "She's so cool! She teaches us lots of history and has cool antenna of course all SilkWings have antenna but she's still cool!" She said jumping up and down. "You should tell her that," Kangaroo said to her.

A smile appeared on Yucca's face. "I'm going to do that right now!" Yucca said and bounded down the tunnel. Kangaroo watched Yucca and the other students leave the cave and turned to the other students on the floor. Amla and Cockroach were sleeping in the history classroom, Kangaroo hoped they didn't get in trouble. Kangaroo then looked at the history scroll.

*That history scroll is like a portal to the other world, but if I went outside this cave system right now, I could show my friends the outside world instead of waiting three more years.*

Yucca came back into the history room and told Kangaroo about how she reacted.

*But I don't blame them, they're only waiting for a perfect time where the tribes forget about each other but then they'll be even more suspicious if the chosen dragons arrive.*

Yucca left the cave again to go to sleep. Kangaroo, Amla and Cockroach were the only ones left in the room.

*So how long has it been? Two thousand years since the tribe shut their borders? Falcon has been looking for a time like this for twenty-seven years.*

Amla woke up and decided to not wake Cockroach. Amla then waved goodbye and went back to her cave.

*Of course I'll be in trouble if I go outside but why? Probably because a patrolling SandWing might spot us out on our lonely volcano island.*

Cockroach finally woke up and left the history room. Kangaroo was alone in the darkness, and she figured that it must be midnight.

*Well then, I'll just wait for three years to be chosen. I'm at the top of the class, it shouldn't be hard for me to be the chosen SandWing.*

*I just hope I made the right decision.*

## Part 1

### Chapter 1

Three years later...

If you lived in an underground cave, you would never see the light of day. But then again, if you lived outside, you would be in danger. And that was what Kangaroo was going to do. At least probably going to do.

It was the choosing today, they day where select one dragon from each tribe and have take a quest to reunite the world. Kangaroo wanted to be the SandWing in the group, she wanted to explore the outside world. But if she didn't, she would be stuck in this cave system until the group completes the quest and what happens to the other twenty dragons that were remained in the caves? No one knew.

The choosing would start in the evening so Kangaroo had hours to prepare but she still found that extremely nerve-racking that it was today.

Kangaroo woke up just before sunrise, dripping with sweat from a dream where she was eaten alive. Kangaroo adjusted her earring and went to the nearest cave to wake Yucca.

After a ten-second walk from her cave, she spotted a sleeping pale yellow SandWing with brown spots on her wings. This was Yucca, her best friend. Even though they fought a lot, she was still a good friend.
Kangaroo hit Yucca with her tail, being careful not to stab Yucca with her tail barb. Yucca grumbled and opened her eyes. "Ouch. Be careful with that thing on your tail," Yucca groaned. "I will," Kangaroo promised, grinning.

Yucca sat up, almost knocking the bookshelf. Kangaroo began picking up the books when Yucca said "All right, let's go," and walked out her cave.
When Kangaroo finished picking up the books, Yucca was in the hallway. "Let's go, race you!" Then they took off towards the great hall. Kangaroo was so distracted that she didn't even think about the choosing.

When they arrived at the great hall, it was empty. Kangaroo had never seen it empty like this; even if she woke up early to look at how many stones she had, she would find Egghunter on one of the platforms keeping watch. However when she looked she didn't see Egghunter at all. What she did see was the Wall of Stones.

The Wall of Stones

HiveWings:

Damselfly 38

Termite 35

Cockroach 19

IceWings:

Blizzard 11

North 32

Ferret 27

LeafWings:

Ginkgo 15

Laurel 22

Toona 29

MudWings:

Quagmire 40

Puddle 35

Bittern 8

NightWings:

Galaxy 36

Philosophy 42

Starcrusher 24

RainWings:

Rainbow 25

Morning 15

Amla 26

SandWings:

Kangaroo 37

Drought 3

Yucca 26

SeaWings:

Cucumber 17

Zaffre 32

Mirror 28

SilkWings:

Sulfur 31

Atlas 18

Isabella 30

SkyWings:

Bonfire 35

Buzzard 14

Jasper 18

Teachers: Saturn 34, Egghunter 19, Dust devil 45, Floe 69, Archipelago 20, Locust 97, Gumwood 89, Hickory 68, Kindness 12, Falcon 100
Kangaroo sighed with relief. She had the most stones of every other SandWing, thirty-seven! "Where's Egghunter?" Yucca asked. "He's preparing for the choosing," Kangaroo said, though she wasn't entirely sure.

"Look! Drought's at the bottom! Take that camelsucker!" Yucca exclaimed. Kangaroo smiled. Drought was a psycho that insulted the students and teachers. In all the sixteen years that he existed, he only got three stones.

*Don't worry, he deserves it.*

"I think it's almost sunrise," Kangaroo said. Floe was going to be disappointed if they were late for their daily hunting class. Kangaroo could barely breathe. *I'm going to be part of the group. I'm going to save the world and the tribes can be best friends again.* This was going to be the best day of her life.

### Chapter 2

Kangaroo and Yucca left the great hall and took the classroom hall and came across a sign that she didn't see before.

Please note that today's schedule is different from usual because of the choosing. Good luck with the choosing and I hope you get in!

Sunrise - Daybreak: Hunting with Floe

Daybreak - Morning: Grammar with Dust devil

Morning - Midday: Study of the tribes with Hickory

Midday - Late morning: Battle skills with Egghunter

Late morning - Noon: Manners with Locust

Noon - Early afternoon: Break time

Early afternoon - Midafternoon: Biology with Gumwood

Midafternoon - Late afternoon: Art with Kindness

Late afternoon - Sunset: Math with Archipelago

Sunset - Evening: History with Saturn

Evening - Midnight: The choosing

- Falcon

"Look's like the schedules for art and manners switched," Yucca said. A pause. "Are you nervous for the choosing?" Yucca asked Kangaroo amongst the crowd of dragons that just woke up. "I guess," Kangaroo replied.

The pathway to the hunting cave was dark and cramped and smelled like meat. Kangaroo didn't like it at all. Yucca led her through the claustrophobic area and they walked for so long that Kangaroo was wondering if the volcano grew twice as big.

They finally emerged into a cave with the area of one hundred adult dragons. The hunting cave was filled with posters that tell you how to hunt and prepare the food. It had a stream which emerged from the right, did an arch and disappeared through the second entrance as a waterfall. Kangaroo thought that the stream was like a barrier to prevent the animals from escaping. It was bright and airy, being the only cave in the whole cave system that was open outside. Kangaroo looked outside, it was sunrise. *Just in time! Floe won't get mad at us!*

Floe was standing right behind the outdoor entrance with one wing spread, surrounded by students. "Kangaroo and Yucca. Kangaroo: the SandWing with the most stones. Take a seat," Floe said waving to the open spots around. A few moments later, a yellow and white SilkWing ran into the cave out of breath. "Sulphur, you are late." Floe said. "No!" Sulphur said. "Please I'll do whatever you ask me. Just don't take away my stones." Floe studied him with her cold IceWing gaze. "I'll ask the founder but you know the rules: if you're late two stones must be taken. Now let's start our hunting class."

*Poor Sulphur*. He was so obedient and loyal to them, this must be his worst nightmare. *Are you kidding? Focus on class Kangaroo!*

"What I have here are some chicken and blackberries. Remember: blackberries are edible but you must avoid the spikes. Chickens have very sharp beaks so dodge that too. Ready! Set! Go!" Floe roared.

Buzzard reacted first, leaping off from his seat and catching a orange-feathered chicken and breaking it's neck. "Now, now," Floe said waving her wings. "You mustn't act like that. You should act sneaky so you have a better chance of catching your prey."

"Sorry," Buzzard said while ripping a wing off the chicken that looked ridiculously similar to Buzzard except the red wattle and comb. Kangaroo turned and saw Atlas picking blackberries from a bush. "This is easy, I can avoid the spikes -" His voice was cut off as his tail slammed into a very thorny blackberry bush and began screaming.

"Come on!" Yucca said. "This is one of our only chances to eat today!" She lead Kangaroo into the chaos and snatched a fish from the stream and ate it whole. "I'm not hungry," Kangaroo replied. She looked out the cave and took in the view of the vast ocean.

"Why not?" Yucca said. "I am sooo hungry! You're seven so you're an adult so that means you have a much slower metabolism and I'm only six so I have a much faster metabolism than you! It makes sense that you're not hungry but actually it doesn't make sense for me to be hungry because we're SandWings!" Kangaroo tried not to laugh; she had never heard Yucca talking about science, Gumwood was her least favorite teacher.

What doesn't make sense that is that hunting class in inside. How can we hunt well if they're so many hiding spots outside?

Eventually Floe released the dragons for grammar. Kangaroo was sad to enter the dark and cramped cave system again but excited to be the chosen SandWing.

Kangaroo and Yucca entered the grammar cave. The grammar cave was twice a small as the hunting cave and had a poster that explained that alphabet. It also had an array of thirty stones circled around one big stone and half of the stones had dragons sitting on them. "Hello Yucca and Kangaroo. Hi Rainbow," Dust devil said to a RainWing with gray scales with hints of all the colors in the rainbow. When all the stones had dragons sitting on them.

"Today we're going to have a spelling test because for some dragons it's their last day here. No looking at anyone's paper except yours or I'll take your stones."

The surrounding dragons grabbed their quills and paper, waiting for Dust devil's next command. "Aggressive. Pacifist. Fuchsia. Dialect. Intelligence. Acceptable. Auklet. Definitely. Pronunciation. Encourage. Now I will tell you the answers and see if you get it right. Remember that we've been studying these words for days so if you spell it incorrectly I won't be pleased. Can anyone tell me how to spell Aggressive?"

A NightWing raised his talon. "Yes Philosophy?" Dust devil asked. "A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E," Philosophy spelled. "Correct Philosophy. You always got one hundred precent on all of the spelling tests. You're probably going to be the chosen NightWing. Can anyone tell me how to spell Pacifist?"

"P-A-C-I-F-I-S-T."

" D-I-E-A-L-E-C"

"A-C-C-E-P-T-A-B-L-E"

"A-U-C-K-L-E-T"

"That's all for now. I'll look at all your papers and you can go to your study of tribes class. See you at the choosing," Dust devil said after the end of the class. "Finally! That spelling test is over!" Yucca said. "I'm sure we have more tests," Kangaroo replied. Yucca frowned. Kangaroo totally got her. She would probably die if she had to complete fifty more tests. *Well I'm almost there. I just have to attend seven more classes.*

### Chapter 3

“Do you think the classes will be short because of the choosing?” Kangaroo asked. They came upon an intersection and turned left. “I don’t know,” Yucca said.

The room they entered was filled with posters of dragon descriptions and three objects: A piece of pottery, a painting made from crushed berries and a model of a dragon talon. Actually, way too many dragon talons. Kangaroo never liked the tribe cave; the models of bloody dragon organs and body parts gave her nightmares a much more creepy vibe.

Hickory sat on a bench which was surrounded by a desk. While Gumwood was Yucca's least favorite teacher, Hickory was Kangaroo's least favorite. It was Hickory's idea to have bloody talons everywhere.

Yucca didn't like them either. When she was three days old - the age for your first classes - she cried and kicked and screamed and had to be taken out of the cave and into the nursing room where the dragonets stayed for the first six months of their lives. Yucca had to stay in there for another year and she didn't meet Kangaroo until she was one.

"All right. Now that everyone has come in, we are going to learn about NightWing royalty." Hickory announced. "The leader of the NightWings is a king called Truth. Truth's wife is a NightWing named Fateclaws. They have two daughters; The oldest daughter goes by the name of Fortuneteller. The youngest daughter's name is Moonwalker and her older brothers are Egostealer and Quicktail."
Hickory passed everyone a scroll. "Once you read all of the scroll you're done with class."

As soon as Kangaroo read the scroll Yucca was already waiting for her. "Come on Kangaroo! Let's learn battle skills!"
As time passed they went to battle skill class, manners ("Hmph!" Said Yucca. "Why do we need to learn manners?" Kangaroo told her so the tribes won't be offended by them.) and ate jackrabbits and beetles for lunch. Midafternoon they did biology and then art (Kindness got paint all over herself while painting a sunrise) and math with the snobby SeaWing Archipelago.

Kangaroo knew it had been hours but for her it felt like seconds in all that time from sunrise to sunset as she and Yucca went to history class. The history class had many scroll shelves like a library. It had no seats so the dragonets could sit wherever that wanted. Kangaroo chose a spot in the middle and Yucca sat right next to her.
Saturn suddenly entered the room flaring her red and pink wings. "Hi everyone! Who's ready for the choosing?" Saturn said happily. Two IceWings then went "Me! Me! Me!" As Saturn sat in the center of the room. "Let me tell you about a SandWing called Sunstone." Saturn said as she unrolled a scroll.

"All right," She said as Kangaroo prepared to listen to her story voice. I hope this has to do with the choosing or else history is not going to make sense to me anymore.

"Many thousands of years ago there lived a SandWing called Sunstone. Sunstone is a royal SandWing that chose to be wit other tribes rather then to become Queen. Legend says that Sunstone was the chosen SandWing two thousand years ago. She had an IceWing friend called Silver and a LeafWing friend called Aspen. The three solved many intertribal problems and later recruited seven other dragons from different tribes.

But even though she and her friends are well-known throughout the Kingdom of Sand and the whole world, legend also says that she and her friends tried to stop the splitting of the tribes but failed.

However it is said that she left an artifact buried deep beneath the dunes of the desert that might be one of the only ways to bring harmony to the world again."

### Chapter 4

It was almost midnight and Kangaroo was preparing for the choosing.

*Great. I'm going to be the chosen SandWing. What should I wear to the choosing anyway?* She looked at herself in her cave's mirror. Dark yellow scales with brown freckles on her talons, she needed more then just her diamond-shaped earring to stand out. Kangaroo eventually settled on an onyx bead necklace and silver horn bands with a chain connecting the two.

Her heart beating very fast she ran out of her cave to Yucca's cave to find Yucca not waiting for her. She already there, Kangaroo thought and kept running to the SandWing cave. Instead of taking the regular left to the great hall she took a right to find the SandWing cave. The tribe caves were used as a backstage when there was a play but the tribe caves were made specifically for when the choosing happened.

Kangaroo entered the SandWing cave out of breath and studied the space. The cave was around the size of her sleeping cave and had a drawing of a SandWing. It also had a balcony overlooking the great hall, Kangaroo could see the other tribe's anxious faces through the other balconies.

"Kangaroo!" Yucca said, running up and hugging her. "Where have you been?" She let go of Kangaroo. "I was picking out jewelry," Kangaroo replied, hoping that sounded like a joke. "Fashion lover," Yucca said with a playful smile while showing off her orange and pink agate bangle that she was wearing for the choosing. "Wow pretty cool bangles you have there," Drought smirked. Drought had these claw-shaped earrings that looked so much like claws that Kangaroo wondered if those actually were claws.

"Go away Drought nobody likes you," Yucca said venomously. Drought made his I'm-going-to-tell-the-teacher-because-you-are-evil face that made Kangaroo think I need to protect Yucca! What move should I use first? "Calm down Drought. Calm down Yucca..." Dust devil warned. "The choosing is starting soon so you get rea-" "Oh that's definitely an invitation to get hit young dragon," Drought half interrupted half threatened. "Yucca please stop!" Kangaroo said when Dust devil shouted "Drought stop right now this instant!" at the same time. "You can't hit me without being in trouble," Yucca retorted. "and I think you've been in enough trouble now-"

"SILENCE," Dust devil roared. The whole cave went quiet. "You will not fight each other. It's a relief that none of you will be the chosen SandWing."
The great hall was twice as big as the hunting cave but it had no openings to sunlight. Stalactites hung everywhere and there was a small river and the great hall had four entrances.

Falcon flew down from the SkyWing cave and spread his crimson wings. "Welcome every dragon to the choosing. It is such an honor to find out who are the chosen dragons. For thirty years us ten teachers have searched far and wide for eggs, now we will choose which ones will lead." Falcon made a signal and all the teachers flew out. Falcon held a bag filled with what looked like paper and each teacher picked one piece of paper and the volcano was silent. Finally, Falcon broke the silence.

"Since I got the highest number I will go first. This SkyWing has been obedient and always cracks me up. I don't think I would've been happy if they never existed. The role of the chosen SkyWing goes to Bonfire."
A bright red dragon with orange wings and eyes flew out of the SkyWing cave with the other SkyWings cheering on him. Kangaroo had known Bonfire for a long time but she didn't expect him to take the role of the chosen SkyWing. Falcon patted Bonfire on the head and gestured to Locust and it wasn't long before Locust began to speak.

"This HiveWing is very responsible and keeps others in line. He is very generous and willing to help my class often. The role of the chosen HiveWing goes to Damselfly."

Damselfly! Kangaroo thought as Termite and Cockroach hugged him and sent him down. This is not going to end well. Gumwood began to speak now as Bonfire and Damselfly were whispering to each other.

"This LeafWing shows me great compassion to my work unlike some dragons," Gumwood said appearing to look at Yucca which made Kangaroo a little frightened. "The role of the chosen LeafWing goes to Toona."

A LeafWing with lime-green scales with flecks of orange and brown wearing a leaf head dress flew out of the LeafWing cave and landed with a thump on the cave floor.

Floe was speaking now. "This IceWing has shown me great respect and even though she dislikes hunting, she still follows my instructions and takes my classes seriously. The role of the chosen IceWing goes to North."

Ferret was sending North out of the IceWing cave while Blizzard was booing at her. North was wearing a diamond bracelet and anklet and was wearing the happiest expression as though this was the best day of her life. Kangaroo too could relate as she couldn't stop the flow of excitement and anxiety.

"This MudWing is very smart and observant even though they talk slow and hardly say much they still have the most stones out of every MudWing." Hickory announced. "The role of the chosen MudWing goes to Quagmire. Quagmire come down here!"

A very built strong muscled MudWing with dark brown scales emerged out of the cave and flew down. Kangaroo suspected that her turn would come soon as Quagmire shook talons with the principal and the other teachers. Kangaroo expected Quagmire to be the chosen MudWing as he got 100% on every test he took.

Kangaroo was right as Dust Devil began speaking. "This SandWing is very smart and clever. She also tolerates everyone and never gets into a fight." I would disagree, Kangaroo thought looking at Yucca. "The role of the chosen SandWing goes to..." Everything seemed to pause as he said her name. In one second she would be the chosen SandWing, reuniting the world and stopping wars and disasters. She would be a hero that everyone would like and she can feel good all the time.

"Kangaroo," Dust devil finished. All of a sudden the whole world turned upside down. "I knew you were going to be it!" Yucca cheered while Drought was growling. Barely standing what happened, Kangaroo flew out of SandWing cave and onto the cave floor. She shook talons with Dust devil and Falcon. "I knew you could do it," Falcon whispered.

Time passed more quickly now. Isabella became the chosen SilkWing, Zaffre became the chosen SeaWing, Philosophy became the chosen NightWing and Amla became the chosen RainWing.

"That's all for the choosing; there will be a party in two hours. Chosen dragons, follow me," Falcon said. Falcon picked a tunnel and headed straight to it. Kangaroo and the others followed and Kangaroo stopped to look at Yucca. *Bye Yucca, I'm going to reunite the world so you won't live here forever, I promise.*

### Chapter 5

Kangaroo followed Falcon through the hallway. She had never been through this tunnel in her whole life: It was the same hallway that joined the teacher's caves and Kangaroo would be in serious trouble. But she couldn't help wondering what was in those tunnels ever since Egghunter said it was closed 6 years ago. *Are they hiding something? Does it have another cave open to the outside? Why is it so forbidden?* She was probably going to find the answers now.

Kangaroo and the other chosen dragons passed what she thought were teacher's caves because of the blankets and scroll shelves and finally emerged into a cave much bigger than any sleeping cave in The Volcano.

This cave was the size of the hunting cave and though not filled with light it was filled with plants and had a small waterfall and a crystal hanging on top of the ceiling reflecting the torchlight of the cave. Falcon was already sitting on one of the eleven pillows. "Welcome Kangaroo take a seat as we wait for the others to catch up."

The next dragon that arrived was a small RainWing with pear-green scales. "Hi Falcon," Amla said breathlessly and sat on the pillow next to Kangaroo's. The next dragon that arrived was an orange HiveWing with black spots on his wings. "Termite told me good luck and she said that I should give this to you Kangaroo." Kangaroo took the piece of paper from Damselfly. It had a drawing of Kangaroo and Termite together. Termite was originally hatched as a male but because there were so many males Falcon switched her gender to female.

Zaffre ran in next, her royal-blue tail swishing from all sides. Bonfire came in next saying "Am I late?". "Of course you're not," Falcon said gently as Quagmire came in. Philosophy was next, his black scales blending him in with the shadows. North entered the cave after Philosophy. "This is so cool! I can't wait for my first mission! When are we leaving?" Falcon told her that they were leaving at dawn (*That's so early I might sleep in!* Kangaroo thought worryingly).

Toona, a lime-green LeafWing, and Isabella came in last. "How did you get here?" Bonfire asked, surprised. "Oh. Since Sulphur got in trouble I'm taking his place," Isabella replied simply. "How's everything going around here?"

"Toona, Isabella you're just in time. The reason why we're here is so you can learn more about each other." Kangaroo glanced at her gift. Maybe Damselfly wasn't so bad after all.

"All right," Toona said. "I'm Toona (which you probably already know) and I'm very glad to be The Chosen LeafWing." Toona sat back in his pillow and gestured to Isabella. "I'm Isabella. Turns out I'm The Chosen SilkWing so now I'm famous." Isabella breathed. "No you're not, only once you go out into the world." Falcon replied.

"Am I too young?" Amla asked Falcon. "I mean, it's not everyday you see a four-year old saving the world." Kangaroo felt sympathy for her as she also felt unimportant. "I don't know," Damselfly replied. "But age doesn't really matter this moment."

"Is saving the world exciting?" North asked Falcon. Falcon froze as though he knew something they didn't. "Well it depends," Falcon answered nervously. "Will we all be useful?" Philosophy asked. "Of course! All of you are useful not just because I love you all but because you have to reunite the tribes!" Falcon said. *That's weird. Why did Falcon freeze? Did he once save the world and it turned out badly? FOCUS.*

"I'm Zaffre and I look forward to reuniting the world," Zaffre said trying to get them off-topic. "Nice to meet you again Zaffre but I'm afraid we have to go back and sleep because we're waking up early right? Now I have to consult Egghunter," Falcon said and went out of the cave.