To Claim an Island (RISK, DRF Edition)

Wake flew over the northwestern oceans, looked for the small group of unclaimed islands. It may have seemed odd that the rogue would want to take hold of an island, but he had his reasons. The main land just wasn't safe, and his mom, dad, siblings... niece.... he hadn't found any of them. He had found himself falling a bit for Lilith too, so if they did become mates, he wanted them to have somewhere safe to live.

It took a long time, but Wake finally landed on the island. He looked around, sniffing the air to find any danger.

The island did indeed house danger. Just not the sort one would expect. Though there was no evidence of them, humans had claimed this island years ago. For whatever reason, they left it... but not unprotected, however. The bipeds had left behind one of their dragon slaves to guard the island. And island they would never return to. It would have meant freedom for the dragon, had it not been left chained. The chain was considerably long, at least, so that it could have been left uncaged, and therefore more useful. By now the elements had rusted it, but the made-to-obey beast, even when abandoned to her own devices, dared not apply enough force to break it. It was a curios decision, given this particular slave had not been captive-born.

This chained dragon was a FireWing, and one of the few giants left. This one was 120ft tall. Her coloring was that of lava that hadn't quite cooled enough to solidify. It camouflaged her against the mostly dirt hills around her. She was lean, in part from her limited diet. That aside, however, she didn't appear to bear any physical signs of having been a slave. Perhaps she had not been used for intensive manual labor.

Nearby, in a tree, sat a Fire Phoenix. This Fire Phoenix was the reason the chained FireWing wasn't significantly malnourished or dead. Upon seeing another dragon move to land on the island, the bird squawked and flapped its wings wildly, before taking to the air and circling above the FireWing. The dragoness, who had been napping, awoke. She opened her eyes and raised her head, looking around.

She looked up when she heard the Phoenix, and quickly stood. She spread her wings and lifted herself into the air enough to look over the hills and for any sign of an interloper. She let out a menacing roar as she did so, in hopes that that would be enough to scare whatever it was away.

Wake's horns flared out when he heard another dragon's roar rock the island. He quickly ducked, able to tell that whoever owned it seem unhappy with his presence. Wake growled lightly. He was desperate for somewhere safe, and would fight if needed. The small dragon let out a couple of reptilian barks before walking towards the roar a short ways, then wrapping himself into an illusion of shrubs, allowing him to hide. The demigod also formed an illusion of himself, allowing a target for the other dragon.

Wake need to see this dragon, figure out what they were. If he could learn that, he could beat them. Who knew, maybe they simply thought he was a monster, and were just scared. The wyvern knew how it felt to have no help right now. So he'd watch and wait. See what the unknown dragon did. He was ready for a fight though. Wake had finally gotten a handle on his storm formation, so he'd be ready.

The sun was currently at its highest point. There were plenty of shadows, except for one spot. The Fire Phoenix noticed there was a shrub that lacked a shadow. This struck the bird as being very odd, especially when it noticed that the dragon that had come to the island also didn't have a shadow--when moments ago, it had. The Phoenix shrieked at its chained friend, relaying its thoughts.

The FireWing was confused, however. For one thing, she couldn't see the shrub--she was, in fact, blind in her left eye. She did notice the dragon was without a shadow, but it didn't strike her as odd. The reason was anyone's guess. The dragoness flew a little higher up--just shy of what her chain would allow--before shooting a 12ft fireball at the interloping dragon. If it hit, she would simply go back to the ground, for she figured that would be enough to scare them away. If it missed, she assumed the dragon was probably going to take a little more convincing, and would let out a menacing roar.

Wake watched from his fake hiding place, waiting for the dragon to appear. Then not only did the dragon appear, but also a friend. A fire phoenix had come with her. One thing that surprised the small wyvern was the dragoness's shear size. She dwarfed some Earthwings, but it was clear she was a Firewing. Wake then looked worried when she quickly let loose fire on the illusion, and used it to make the illusion vanish without being found.

He tensed, but realized something. She was chained. Maybe.... It was probably crazy, but Wake had an idea. One where neither had be attacked, but the wyvern would have to distract the dragoness and her feathered friend. Wake created two more illusions of himself, both flying over head before he popped out of his own hiding spot and joined them. He let out another barking call before the illusions "attacked" the island's two inhabitants, while Wake himself didn't attack, but instead dove to follow the chain.

The Fire Phoenix wasn't one for battles. He just served as a friend, hunter, and early-warning system for the FireWing. Nevertheless, he decided to help. He found it odd that two identical dragons appeared along with the third... that he could have sworn had just been attacked by his friend.. Maybe he had just been distracted and hadn't seen them... But why did they all look exactly the same?

The FireWing, unable to fly any farther than she already had, resigned to shooting fireballs at the one dragon she could see. They were smaller than the first, so she could fire more, four in total in quick succession. The Phoenix lit itself ablaze and gave chase to the second.

The illusion dragons continued to fight their opponents. The one facing the fire phoenix darted and weaved around the large bird, keeping its distance but stay close enough to slash and attack. The one facing the Firewing did it's best to just fly quicker than the dragonees could attack. If the illusion was hit, Wake would be found out pretty quickly.

Meanwhile, Wake followed the chain until he could see where it ended. He had to think of something quickly. He then smiled. If the illusion was still around, he'd making it come closer. Then, if there was slack on the chain, the wyvern would grip it in his feet, takeoff, and attempt to pull it loose. The chain was old, so maybe he could get it break.

The Fire Phoenix wasn't really trying to fight, just keep the dragon away. But the dragon seemed interested in fighting. It flew around the Phoenix and kept coming in to slash at him.  It actually succeeded a few times. He decided to turn up the heat, literally. The Phoenix raised its body temperature to 2,000 degrees to make the dragon think twice about coming in close.

The FireWing, in the meantime, was having difficulty hitting the smaller dragon. It was small and fast. She loosed one more volley of small fireballs, keeping them grouped as close together as she could to make it harder for the dragon to avoid them all. Whether she hit it or not, she'd return to the ground to continue the fight there--hovering in place tired her out fairly quickly.

The illusion dragon attacking the Phoenix screeched, avoiding the heat. Wake had plans with the one fighting the Firewing though. After the false wyvern dived away from the shots from the dragon before running some way down the chain. Wake's hope was that she would follow the illusion and release some more slack. If she did so, Wake would attempt to use the slack to pull the chain free once again.

The Fire Phoenix kept up its intense heating, seeing as it did its job of deterring the dragon. The FireWing followed the interloper's descent. She landed directly below where she had been hovering, the chain pulled out as far as it would go. She looked around for the small dragon.

Wake sighed. Why won't you just come closer you dang Firewing? He caused the illusion dragon to run away from the dragoness, and down the chain. Wake grumbled a bit. He just wanted some slack on the chain! The other illusion meanwhile flying around an harassing the Phoenix.

The FireWing finally spotted the smaller dragon and followed it. She made a sort of odd chirping sound. The Phoenix heard the sound and was relieved. He was more annoyed by the small dragon flying around him than anything, and glad for the change of pace. He dove down toward the second small dragon to attack it, as the FireWing had asked. It this time, however, he noticed a third near the base of the chain. He also noticed something he could have sworn he'd seen before--or didn't see. This third dragon had a shadow; the one he had been sent to chase didn't. The Phoenix changed direction slightly and launched an 8ft wide fireball at the dragon with a shadow.

Wake kept pulling at the chain until he heard the bird coming. He looked to see a ball of fire coming his way. The wyvern quickly leaped into the air and flew up as fast as he could. Ok. He'd been holding back. Time to unleash his real skills. The wyvern's grey eyes flashed as a storm quickly began to show out of nowhere. Wake looked back and smiled.

"Let's see how ya handle this." The wind picked up, rain began to fall, and lightning struck the ground.

A storm came out of nowhere. The wind whipped up, rain dropped from the fat clouds that appeared suddenly. Then there was the lightning. It arched across the darkened sky and found the perfect target to strike--the FireWing's chain. The powerful electricity traveled along the chain until it reached the dragon's neck and coursed through her body. The heat of the plasma severed the already weak chain, not that the FireWing was currently able to appreciate it. She fell to the ground, unconscious. The Fire Phoenix flew down and circled over her head, looking for signs of life. Finding it, he turned his attention to the remaining Wyvern.

Wake quickly flew down, dissipating the storm. He landed next to the chain, lifting it in his talons. Finally broken. He noticed the phoenix, holding up the chain so it could see while still keeping his guard up.

"That's what I was trying to do."

The Phoenix looked around as the storm went away. He let out a cry and dove after the Wyvern, but stopped suddenly when he saw the chain. The chain had been severed. The Phoenix went back over to the FireWing and circled over her head, letting out more cries. As the FireWing began to stir, he flew away from the island, free of his obligations.

At first, the FireWing was distraught. Her friend was leaving her?? Why? She slowly got up onto her stomach and looked around. She saw the Wyvern and was conflicted about attacking. She didn't want to get struck by lightning again. But then she noticed that the smaller dragon was holding her chain, and that the chain itself was shorter than she remembered. Oh. It had been broken! For the first time since she had been shackled, the FireWing could leave if she wanted to. Looking in the direction of her feathered friend, who was growing smaller and smaller now, the FireWing took to the air. She never looked back.

(Wake is the winner of this fight. Congratulations! The island now belongs to you, to name and do with as you wish until you are challenged once your grace period ends. Please respond on the RISK topic with what you want your island to be named.)