A New Beginning (Hikari and Jadespine)

A sound of creaking wood filled the air around the trees, like they were crying their disapproval. Though, any tree would if they had been landed on by a large, currently blue, male dragon. Hikari kept still until the tree had finished it's complaint. He knew it was big enough to hold him. When silence finally came, he turned his head and looked curiously around him, his amber gaze searching for anything out of place. He'd already finished his rounds for the day, but there was no harm in keeping an eye out. Officially, he was hunting anyway. With that in his mind, he glanced down at the forest floor. Any prey around surely would have ran as soon as he landed. That was a given. Sighing, he started to spread his wings to take of once more, the tree restarting it's disgruntled complaints when he moved.

(To lazy to change accounts)

Jadespine was walking along the Lightwing border, looking for a cave. So far, she hadn't found any. She was turning around to leave when she heard a commotion behind her. Jade raced toward the noise. Upon arriving, she discovered that the noises were coming from above. Looking up, she asked, "Who's there?"

Hikari's wings froze at the sound of a voice, and he nearly fell out of the tree in shock. He was sure there hadn't been anybody around... His amber eyes narrowed, his scales starting to fade from blue to orange. He looked down into the forest curiously. He didn't see anything, but that meant nothing to him. Folding his wings to his sides, Hikari began to claw his way down the tree head-first, wood creaking and branches cracking under the strain. Reaching the bottom, he curled his tail around carefully, the poisoned point of his armor ready. "My name is Hikari, a LghtWing Guardian. Show yourself and tell me why you're here."

Jadespine crept slowly out of the trees. She wasn't sure whether or not to trust the voice. Jade kept a careful eye on the orange lightwing. "Jadespine, Earthwing guardian. Have you seen any caves around here? I was looking for some." she said. Silently, she wondered if telling him who she was had been a good idea. That tail armor looked awfully sharp and smelled weird, like poison.

(sorry about the short post, but I just woke up.)

Looking the other dragon up and down, Hikari tipped his head to the side. Caves? He knew he'd seen caves. But why was a EarthWing in LightWing territory? It didn't really bother him, as the other dragon seemed to mean no harm, but still... all the caves he knew of were inside LightWing territory. He was supposed to protect it, not give it out to other tribes. Hikari's eyes flicked back to Jadespine. The ever off-topic part of his mind noted she fit her name very well. Jade scales for a dragon of the name. "I know of caves," he replied carefully, choosing his words as wisely as he could. "May I ask how a cave on LightWing territory could interest you? Are there not caves in the EarthWing territory?" There was a channel in between their territories, even if they were next to each other. Such a far off place for... whatever she wanted the cave for seemed strange.

((That's cool. I was sick anyway, so I was just kind of sitting around.))

Jadespine started an explanation without thinking. "We have caves, we have lots of caves." She said. Then, proudly, "And I've explored them ALL. I'm looking for new ones to explore." She thought about asking him to help her. No, I go alone, like always. Jade thought. The Lightwing, Hikari, looked slightly suspicious. Jade tensed, in case he attacked. "I figured there might be a few undiscovered ones in Lightwing territory, I was bored so I went looking for them." Suddenly she spotted a small, dark pit. She got up slowly and padded hesitently toward it, sniffing the entrance. It smelled like an old burrow, too small for a dragon, but maybe it lead to something interesting. She had seen burrows like this lead into giant tunnel systems before. She threw a pebble down the hole and listened for echos.

Undiscovered caves? he thought, mostly in surprise. He was pretty sure he knew the entirety of the territory pretty well, but he'd never payed any special attention to caves. They hadn't seemed overly important to him. That said he doubted that Lucian or Devi would appreciate him letting an EarthWing loose on the territory. He shifted slightly when she went to investigate the burrow, his head tipping to the side. "I know of caves," he finally replied. "But I'd have to go with you. I'm not letting another tribe wander around this forest unguarded." He stopped there, looking confused when she threw a pebble inside it. "What are you doing?" He asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

Jade heard nothing that suggested a cave below the surface. She sighed and pulled back. "I'm listening for echos. That way I can tell if this burrow leads into a cave." She threw another pebble. "You hear that?" She asked. There was a solid thump as the pebble hit the back wall. "That means it's just a hole. Where are these caves you mentioned?" She considered running off to find them on her own but decided against it. Suddenly a thought popped into her head. "Do you think there are caves under the ocean?" It took her a moment to realize she had said that out loud. Absentmindedly, she wondered why she was being so and patient and explaining so many things. It was not normal for her to be like this. Subconsciously, she wondered if he could turn green to match her emerald collection.

Rather than green, Hikari's scales began to change a light shade of yellow, showing his amusement. Seeing the color out of the corner of his eye, he was shocked. He rarely was yellow, if at all. He'd never been an easily amused dragon. He gave a mere nod at her explanation of the hole, versus a cave. As for the two rapid-fire questions, he darkened into a golden yellow before responding. "There are mountains scattered along the territory, but the closest one should be that way." With the word 'that', his tail lifted, pointing in the general direction he knew the mountain was. "As for underwater caves, I've never checked. I'm sure a SeaWing could tell you."

(Too lazy to change accounts)

Jade watched as he turned yellow. She had no idea what that color meant. She had heard somewhere that Lightwings changed color depending on their mood. I wonder what mood green is. she thought. She hoped it had lots of caves. If it didn't, well she didn't know what she would do. Mountains normally had some caves. So she probably shouldn't be worrying. "Race you there!" Jade shouted as she darted off in the direction of the mountain. She tucked in her wings as she crashed through the trees. Jade was making quite a bit of noise as shedarted through the forest in the direction he pointed.

(Sorry about the short post, again. But I just got up.)

((Same here xD ))

Suprise coursed through Hikari when Jadespine simply ran off, and he stayed for a moment, his mind catching up. Then he smiled, a mere twitch of the corners of his mouth, and opened his wings, taking to the air, though not without difficulty in the close contact of the trees. He looked around for the rustling of trees and the sound of breaking wood on the air. Finding that, he chuckled in amusement, a rare thing for him, and followed, speeding through the air until he's caught up then gliding lazily.

Jade spotted him and pushed harder, spotting the mountain, she grinned. She jumped from rock to rock with ease, until she reached the mouth of a cave. Jade spotted an emerald and completely forgot about the race. She grinned and hoped he wouldn't take it away because it was his territory. She sniffed the air and listened for anything. Feeling the roof, she decided the cave was safe, and walked a little farther in. The cave quickly got narrow and Jade had to start sliding on her stomach. Remembering Hikari, she pushed herself out. Normally she would have kept on going, she wondered what had gotten into her today. Sh clutched her emerald tightly and waited for him.

As Hikari neared the mountain, he climbed in spirit use until he was level with the cave entrance. Swooping in, he landed with a tapping of claws and scales, folding his wings neatly to his sides and glancing around. He spotted Jade waiting near the back of the cave, and he made his way over. He noticed she was holding an emerald. Common sense told him that he should tell her to put it back, but the irrational part goaded him to let her keep it. After a silent moment of an inward battle, the irrational side won out and he nodded gently to her his acceptance of her ownership to it. "Find anything interesting around?"

"Yeah, this tunnel!" she flicked her tail and pointed at the low-hanging cave roof and the tunnel below it that sloped steadily downward. Another cave branched off that had a few glowing mushrooms and was easier to fit in. But of course Jade chose the narrow one and squeezed beneath it. For a long time she kept slithering through the darkness with closed eyes. She didn't open them in case dirt got in them, besides, in the inky blackness she didn't need to. She could just use her nose. Eventually the space around her widened, and she found herself in a circular chamber with a river running through it. Glowing mushrooms grew in small patches all around. A hole was open to the sky, and shined some light into the place. If only the Earthwings had a cave like this. "Wow!" she shouted.

At the words "a tunnel", Hikari froze. EMd already gone into a cave, but a tunnel... He began to turn a pale shade of green as fear washed over him. "Ummm.. I'll wait here," he called after her. "It seems a bit too small in there for two." To emphasize his point, he backed up slightly towards the cave entrance, sitting down.

"Wow! This place is so cool!" Jade shouted. She sort-of wished Hikari would come too, but he appeared to have claustrophobia. Jade found a patch of glowing mushrooms that seemed to exactly match his scale color when she mentioned the tunnel. "You have to see this! I can't believe your tribe doesn't know about it!" Jade bounded off and tasted the river. The water was clear and cold. Not the kind she would have expected. She circled around the room again, before lying down on a huge patch of moss and grinning.

(Sorry about the short post, but I just got up and I didn't have time because of school. This is Jadespine, I'm just too lazy to switch accounts.)

Hikari peeked down the tunnel curiously, tipping his head to the side. He retained his green color, backing up slightly. "I'm sure others do," he said. "I don't know much about caves... Personally. They're a bit... Small." He layed down, putting his head on his claws and patiently watching her, his amber gaze intent. He was patient, he'd wait for her. He was curious at how long this would last. His patience with other dragons usually didn't extend through a very long time span.

((On a phone... Short post. Gomennasi.))

Jade gave the room one last look before crawling out. Was it her, or was the ceiling sagging? She slithered ahead as fast as she possibly could, but she was a 64 foot tall dragon being smashed into a tiny space. After a lot of crawling she managed to get out, and just in time too. The tunnel completely collapsed. Jade sighed, she thought that cavern was amazing! May be she would dig the cave back out someday. But it wasn't in her territory, so maybe she wouldn't. "Let's go down this one!" Jade shouted. She bounded down the larger tunnel, this one was big enough to stand in. Maybe Hikari would come this time.

When the tunnel began to collapse, Hikari froze, his eyes as wide as dinner plates as he jumped to his feet, forgetting to even speak as Jadespine wiggled out just before the tunnel fell in. Seeing she was unscathed, he let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. "I hope that sigh was relief," he said finally, shaking his head in exasperation. "You just almost died." Jadespine didn't seem to notice, however, only asking about the next tunnel. His wings were shuddering slightly at his sides as he looked after her worriedly, unsure whether to move or not. Would the tunnel fall in on him? What if they both died? He took a deep breath, curling his tail around him ask he watched her go in, trying to stop the wing shudders but entirely unable to.

Jade spotted that Hikari wasn't coming and shouted, "Not afraid are you? This thing is perfectly safe!" She bounced a little, hitting the ceiling with her tail. Hearing a distinct rumbling noise, she bolted. Only she darted further down the tunnel. She knew that was incredibly dumb of her but Jade really wanted to see what was down there, if it wasn't pitch black. Jade came out in a small ravine, a few holes let light from the surface shine through, even more tunnels dotted the sides of the ravine. Then she looked behind her and realized just how bad an idea her's was. Jade looked for another way out, so far she wasn't seeing one that didn't involve flying, Jade hated flying! She pondered what to do.

Opening his mouth to reply about the safe comment, Hikari heard the rumbling, and his eyes widened. "Get out of there!" He roared, standing to go over. Dust, sand, pebbles, and boulders fell as he moved, covering the entrance. He was met with a wall of rock. "Jadespine!" He called, digging at it a bit and coughing at the rising dust, panic rising in his chest, memories of the last time this happened resurfacing. Rocks falling, tunnels collapsing, a young LightWing hatchling thrown away just before everything fell, and he was made forever an orphan. "Come on! I can't let an EarthWing die on this territory, a war will break out or something!" He crouched slightly, taking a larger rock in his teeth and tugging at it, a little growling noise coming from his throat as he pulled.

Jade started to dig through the rock, eventually reaching Hikari. "Found you!" she shouted playfully. She tapped him on the shoulder and darted down the ravine yelling "You're it!" She silently wondered why she was so cheerful around this Lightwing, she had never EVER played tag after becoming a trainee. She scrambled into a tight space and squeezed in. She could hardly fit but hopefully Hikari wouldn't find her. She waited quietly for him to go looking.

(I'm sorry this post is short.)

Hikari nearly jumped out of his skin and scales when Jadespine burst through the rubble, and jumped back in surprise, his scales shimmering into a few different colors before fading to a calmer shade. He was still tapped on the shoulder, however, and before he could properly reorient himself, Jadespine was off, leaving him bewildered. He paused a moment, taking a deep breath to calm himself, wondering why he was breathing so hard. He'd only been worried about the prospect of a war... Right? Shaking his head and folding his wings to his sides, he started carefully after Jadespine down the ravine, crouching slightly and glancing warily at the walls around him.

Jade hoped Hikari wouldn't find her. She had managed to hide her 64 foot tall self into a narrow space near the top of the ravine. She grinned. Unfortunately, as she inhaled, she breathed in some dust, causing her to cough, when she exhaled, dust got in her nose, making her sneeze. Oops. she thought. She tried to squeeze backward, only to find that the niche ended there. She darted down a steep path and into another niche, hoping the movement or the falling pebbles didn't give her away.

As he crawled down the ravine, rather uncomfortably, might he add, Hikari jumped when the sounds of pebbles falling down reached him. He looked up, seeing a small flash of green high up in the ravine. Tipping his head to the side, he followed after it, tripping over a stone as he went. When he reached just below where he'd seen the green flash, he reared up, gripping the stone with his claws and starting to climb slowly up, leaving deep furrows in the rock where his claws had been, his grip being practically a death grip.