The hatchling is pissed

I adopted a dragon egg from my sister a long time ago, back when she was ranmas_gal. This is what hatched out of it. Why does he look so put off? Well...

(Storytime begins!)


I'd had the egg for quite a while now. I guess dragons, at least whatever type of dragon laid this egg, don't stick around to care for their eggs, therefore leaving them free for the taking. Before I adopted the egg, I'd thought differently. I'd thought that the mothers closely guarded their embryonic offspring until they hatched and for some time afterward, warming the eggs all day and all night with a continuous stream of fire. Guess I was wrong, not that any dragon mother need worry about her eggs; no predator could crack the diamond-hard shell, and baby dragons themselves are far from helpless and are in fact highly dangerous and unstable, a good deterrent against any scumbag who would capture the baby and use it to make a buck. But the eggs at the adoption definitely didn't all come from the same mother, unless she happened to be a legendary multi-elemental dragon. For no two eggs were of the same element. There was Fire, Water, Ice, Dark, Light, Earth, you name it. I chose the Lightning egg, and thus I find myself here today with a massive handful of a child to take care of.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I was on a simple walk through the woods, idly passing the time, with several other adopted friends by my side: Searchlight, trailing me silently; Thymeleaf sliding along in his graceful, almost uppity manner; Seed, bounding along beside Thymeleaf; and Charlatan, riding along with his tentacles wrapped around my head. And the egg tucked away safely in my backpack. It had been years since I adopted it, and it still hadn't hatched. I wasn't and am not exactly an expert on the subject of dragon eggs, so I wasn't sure if I should have been worried or not. The egg definitely wasn't dead; in fact, it was almost hot to the touch. Perhaps this particular species of dragon needed a considerable amount of time in order to hatch? Or maybe it needed to be placed in a certain environment? With Chicane, my other, less complicated dragon hatchling, I had merely kept him close and warm and he had hatched in a matter of days. I certainly hoped I wasn't doing anything wrong this time around.

On a lighter note, it was very nice outside that day. It was nearing the end of summer, when the temperatures weren't so God-awfully hot anymore, but the leaves had not yet started to change. Very nice, much better than the last heat-stroke-inducing couple of months had been. It was, in fact, the first nice day all summer, which is why I had decided to take a walk. Little did I know when I set out that I would not return with the egg.

Here's how it happened: we were all strolling along, making small talk, absorbing the scenery, climbing things in Seed's case, little spunkball that she is. All was quite well, until we were suddenly and unexpectedly attacked from behind by the evilest of all Pokemon. You guessed it: Spearow. One minute I was walking along, talking with Thymeleaf about the very definition of insanity, the next minute a wild Spearow was tugging away at my backpack. I thought it was after the food I had packed, and I tried awkwardly to hit it, but it didn't work because every time I turned to face it, it would not be there, for its talons were firmly sliced into the backpack's fabric. Thymeleaf, in a better attacking position than I, leaped at the bird and tugged it to the ground. Unfortunately, the Spearow's talons had not detached in time, so the combined weight of it and Thymeleaf unzipped the backpack. After the Spearow hit the ground, Thymeleaf still clawing at it, the egg fell out of the unzipped pocket and onto the Spearow's head. The egg then began rolling steadily down the path, picking up speed as it traveled further down the hill.

Seeing this, the bird immediately gave up the fight with Thymeleaf and pursued the runaway egg. Here I panicked; I didn't want to lose the egg!

"Hurry! Get the egg!" I shouted while flinging off the backpack to allow for quicker movement. We all began dashing after the egg, miraculously not tripping as we flew down the hill. I had Pokemon with me at this time, of course, but I didn't want to waste valuable time calling them out to assist me. Besides, I wasn't interested in a battle with the Spearow. I just wanted the egg to be safe, and I worried about it as it bounced down the path. I knew the shell wouldn't break, but I was scared that the baby might be affected by the violent shaking.

Searchlight, the swiftest of us, practically didn't touch the ground on her way towards the egg, and was soon far ahead of us. By this time the Spearow had gained on the egg and probably would have caught it had Searchlight not tackled the bird to the ground.

By this time, we were gaining, too, and the egg was slowing down as it passed onto more level ground. But straight ahead, there was a tangled mess of wild rose bushes, which are practically the cruelest, most unforgiving plants in existence. If the egg were to get lost in that, and the baby hatched before we found it, I doubt it would be able to find its way out before getting caught on the prickers. And once THAT happened, I doubt it would be able to escape on its own.

But the egg never reached there, because the Spearow, having momentarily escaped Searchlight's attack, had leaped in front of it and hit it with it wings, halting its process towards the thicket. The Spearow then tried flying away with the egg it its talons, and I was amazed that it even managed to get it an inch off the ground, considering the egg was almost the same size as it. But the Spearow was actually rising quite quickly, considering how much weight it was carrying. But, luckily, I got there in time, and Charlatan, who had been gripping my head this entire time, leaped from his perch onto the escaping perpetrator, weighing it down even more and wrapping his tentacles around its wings to render flight virtually impossible.
The battle was already won for us, as the Spearow was in a very tight grip, and even though it had not yet let go of the egg, it wouldn't be able to hold onto it forever. But then something - rather unexpected happened.

A large triangular piece of glass exploded out of the shell and, arcing back around, sliced the Spearow across the upper body.

It shrieked in pain and surprise, and Charlatan, spooked, released his grip and immediately climbed back up to my head. The Spearow, no longer interested in this prize, fled the scene and left us to stare, wide-eyed, at the egg, which was now writhing around on the dirt.

The glass appeared to be a tail tip, and the tail snaked completely out of the shell. After that came the wings, which burst out and flapped, spreading eggshell everywhere. Then the little dragon stood up inside his prison, breaking it further until all that remained was a fragment on his head, which he offed with a quick twist of his head.

Just when we thought it might be a good idea to approach him, he made a sound like this:

Nnnngrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

He was growling at us. As if we were to blame for this rude awakening. But, of course, he had no way of knowing, and at this point his rude awakening was the only thing he knew in life.

Searchlight tiptoed towards him, but before she could get close, he turned his whole body towards her, barked, and thrust his tail tip forward. She jumped back to avoid being impaled. Curiously, he continued staring at where she had been, rather than where she had moved.

The ground seemed to have come alive the moment his feet had touched it. It buzzed underneath our feet like...

...static electricity. Of course. Practicing his element. But why wouldn't he look at us?

I took a step forward and he turned his tail so the tip pointed at me. I went no further. His wings were flared up, his front feet were together, and, obviously, he was trying to kill us with his tail. Not a good idea to approach such an aggressive dragon.

So I sat down and stared at him for a moment.

Thymeleaf asked what we should do. When he spoke, the dragon's ears twitched.

I told him that, for now at least, he wasn't about to let anyone near him. So he shouldn't be approached, but also shouldn't be let out of our sight.

Seed asked if we were gonna take him home with us. I said yes. Searchlight asked how. I said I don't know, but I hope you're all up for a night under the stars, because this dragon needs some time to calm down, and until that time, he definitely was NOT going to let anyone move him.

So Charlatan, Searchlight, Seed, and Thymeleaf all kept watch over the baby while I retrieved my backpack from where I had dropped it. When I came back, he hadn't moved a muscle.

We set up a makeshift shelter and distributed the food amongst ourselves. Calling out Billyjoe, my Typhlosion, I had him make a campfire. He eyed the child curiously.

We spent the night there. Sitting around the fire, we told stories, but avoided talking in loud voices, which could startle the baby into running away. The baby himself stayed where he was, for the most part, and none of us approached him. And it might have been my imagination, but he seemed to get closer and closer every time I looked at him. Also, he was facing us now, or the fire. Of course, he needed to keep himself warm through the night. Keeping my distance, I pushed him some food before I turned in for the night. He did not seem to notice. But the next time I looked in his direction, it was gone, and he was in its place.

When I woke the next morning, the dragon was asleep, curled up right next to the warm campfire rocks. No one else was awake yet, and the morning was still gray. I got up quietly, stretched, and slowly approached the dragon. I tried to make no noise but he roused anyway, and stood up quickly and alertly, his tail tip once again pointing in my direction.

I crouched down. He did not move.

And I pushed some more food towards him.

For several minutes, he remained statue still. And just when I was about to walk away, he took a small step.
I dared not move in case this would spook him. I didn't want to ruin it: he was walking towards me! Well, towards the food, but progress is progress. With each step he took, fresh shocks excited my feet. Electric footsteps. Interesting.

Finally he reached the food and bent to sniff it, his tail still threatening to lunge towards me at any minute. But it didn't. After a minute of contemplation, he apparently decided the food to be safe and chowed down on it. Of course. Babies have to eat a lot.

When he was done he raised his head back up and lowered his tail a fraction, though the sharp purple arrow still had me in its sights. I noticed how, even though he was facing me, he wasn't looking at me. His eyes were, I suppose, facing in my direction, but I got the sense that he was staring off into space instead of...

Oh my God.

How could I not have noticed it before? The way he wouldn't look at us, the unnaturally light color to his eyes - and of course most babies are born...

...blind.

We considered each other for several minutes. Eventually I got up to wake the others. The dragon did not move or run or attack.

We all helped pack up and enjoyed a small breakfast before setting off for home. The dragon didn't move from his spot, but also was more lenient in letting others approach him. He didn't lash out, but did growl at anyone who came too close.

When we were all set, Charlatan asked what to do about the dragon. I told him not to worry about it. I turned and walked from the campsite, with the others reluctantly following.

When I felt little shocks in my feet, I knew he was following close behind.



And that's how it happened. :D
Story and art by me, do not steal, ever, thanks.