Fault Ripper

The **Fault Ripper** is a large Boulder Class dragon that first appeared in the fifth chapter of the Bye Bye Person Series.

### Appearance

The Fault Ripper appears to be the size of a Titan Wing with pupilless eyes, large nostrils, huge wings with paler underparts, and very tough scales covering its body. It has long horns on its head which appears to be hollow. On its back are medium, sharp spines that run all the way down to its tail which is covered in solid scales, making it look like an axe or blade. It has long, sharp claws, as well as long, sharp upper teeth that protrude out of its mouth, giving it an overbite.

### Abilities

The Fault Ripper can create powerful jets of orange and purple flames from its mouth. It can even spin in a circle while emitting these flames, making it a very powerful drilling-attack which it can utilize to melt the rock in its path while borrowing through the ground. It appears that this species of dragon has a high shot limit.

### Senses

The Fault Ripper has giant ear canals near its eyes, allowing it to listen and hunt by sound to make up for its poor eyesight. Even the faintest sound will alert the Fault Ripper to intruders in its territory. After the encountering it in its lair, Jun, Tom and their dragons hide from him, but the Fault Ripper found the dragons with its sense of smell.

### Tunneling

The Fault Ripper is a dragon that lives primarily as a burrower. It can dig very quickly by spinning around through the earth, releasing its fire and weakening the rocks while drilling. This can cause earthquakes if it happens to drill into fault lines. In “Dragon Club” it was shown that Fault Rippers are able to burrow straight through solid rock, and solid crystal as well.

### Strength and Combat

Fault Rippers are very powerful with extremely durable skin. Because of its incredible body strength, a Fault Ripper can withstand multiple attacks from several different dragons. Though these attacks can cause the Fault Ripper to stagger, it isn't enough to bring the dragon down. This shows that Fault Rippers possess large amounts of stamina and endurance. Their physical strength is so great that one as was able to knock Thunder and Tom away with just a swing of its tail and was strong enough to burrow underground, much like a Whispering Death.

That endurance and stamina shows itself again when the Fault Ripper wasn't only shown to survive the fall but live at the bottom of the fissure.

### Speed and Agility

Even with its great size, the Fault Ripper appears to be a very fast moving species, especially when using its spinning-flame attack. One Fault Ripper was even able to keep up with Thunder, a medium sized Strike Class dragon, and nearly caught him had it not been for the intervention of Plowhorn and Wu and Wei.

### Intelligence

These dragons are actually pretty smart as the Fissure Fault Ripper dragon fearfully remembered its first encounter with the Dragon Club. It was able to understand what Tom wanted and follow his commands flawlessly, as well as rally the dragons of the Crystal Realm against the Fire Dragons.

### Weaknesses

As an underground dragon, the Fault Ripper has poor eyesight, depending mostly on its sense of hearing for hunting. Because of this, the dragon is virtually blind, being unable to see objects even up close to its face. Due to having poor eyesight, the Fault Ripper has to rely on sound instead. While this gives the Fault Ripper an acute sense of hearing, it also makes it extremely sensitive to loud noises. Loud sounds, such as a Featherhide's sonic scream, can cause a Fault Ripper pain, disorientation, as well as disrupt its ability to fly.

### Behavior and Personality

The Fault Ripper is a very aggressive and territorial species of dragon. It has shown extreme hostility towards anything in its domain whether it be human, dragon or machine and will viciously attack if it deems anything as a threat. Because of their territorial nature, Fault Rippers appear to be very solitary, preferring to be by themselves instead of being around other dragons, which seems to include other Fault Rippers.

Being a burrowing species, Fault Rippers spend most of their time underground constructing new tunnels for them to travel through. They will often use the tunnels they create in order to serve as both their homes and places of rest. In addition, if a Fault Ripper loses a fight with another dragon, it will also construct a tunnel to serve as a place of refuge, where it can hide from its enemies while also recuperating from its injuries. Fault Rippers feed on a variety of rocks, ores and minerals found throughout the environments of the Hidden World.

As revealed in "The Sky Torcher", Fault Rippers are also shown to possess sharp memories, especially when it comes to remembering those who have done them harm. They are capable of bearing grudges, and will act very hostile to those who have previously trespassed into their territory or have harmed them in the past. Despite their aggressive attitude, Fault Rippers are not incapable of empathy or working with other dragons during intense situations. When they face a common struggle or foe with other dragons, Fault Ripper will demonstrate a surprising level of teamwork, empathy and protectiveness to those who they consider allies.

Like any other dragon, Fault Rippers, despite their mighty size and strength, are by no means incapable of experiencing fear. If the dragon goes through a fearful encounter with someone or something, they can be easily scared, and even left shaken from the experience for long periods of time, extending several weeks.

### Training

Due to their aggressive nature, Fault Rippers are a difficult species for humans to train. This is especially the case if the dragon has had a previously negative experience with the human in question, which can cause the dragon to either brush off its attempted trainer attempts, or attack them out of anger. Despite this, training a Fault Ripper is by no means impossible for a human to do. In order to train one of these dragons a person must approach it from an emotional perspective. To do this, the trainer must make an attempt to make the dragon comfortable by understanding how it feels, while also showing that they are no threat to its wellbeing. If the dragon doesn't see the person as a threat, it will slowly begin to calm down and become more docile, allowing the human to establish a bond with it.

For a trainer who has had a previously negative experience with the Fault Ripper in question, they must also demonstrate a sincere apology for the prior experience, demonstrating regret and humility for their previous actions. Doing so will further convince the Fault Ripper that trainer is now trustworthy and of no threat. Once a bond has been established, a Fault Ripper will become extremely loyal to its trainer, being unafraid to challenge other dragons that threaten said trainer or working alongside other dragons to protect them, despite the species' aggressive nature.