Step by Step

Shine's feet pounded on the forest floor, her breath coming in short gasps. She glanced back at the crashing noise every now and again. Her eyes wide and fearful. She pushed herself harder, her legs pushing harder and faster at the ground. A black shape erupted from the forest, leaping at her.
She yelped as the shape landed on her, Its red eyes gleaming and teeth flashing as it grinned at her. "Ha!" it said. "Gotcha, Shine! You're it!" Korramyr grinned down at her, then leaped up, prancing.
Shine growled, a fake scowl crossing her face. Then it split into a grin. She leaped at Korramyr, pushing his head into the dirt. "You're it." She whispered in his ear, leaping away into the forest again. Aqua Splash suddenly appeared in front of her, her forearms crossed. "Woah, woah, woah! Shine said, sliding to a halt at her Queen's feet, Korramyr seconds behind her.
"Oh, Hi." Korramyr said, blushing bright red.
"Where have you two been?" Aqua Splash said sternly, her eyes narrowed in disapproval. "We needed you at the Tribe meeting. And what were you two doing? Playing tag?"
Shine and Korramyr lowered their eyes, ashamed. "Sorry." They mumbled, very interested in the dirt at their feet.
Aqua Splash snorted. "I should hope so." She sniffed. "Come on. Let's get back. I'll fill you in on the meeting." The mates followed Aqua Splash, dragging their tails and carrying their heads low.

They reached the SeaWing Palace, Aqua Splash finished filling the two in. "So, the humans are starting to become a real problem for the other tribes, and we are all going to send two members from each tribe to investigate. Against my better judgement, I am sending you two."
Shine and Korramyr immediately perked up. "Really? Thank you, thank you, thank you!" They chorused, bowing their heads low in respect and gratitude.
Aqua Splash smiled slightly. "You will be going with Avian and Enz Zzio from the FireWings, Twilight and Gemini ((No other active NightWings that I can accurately represent their personality)) from the NightWings, Kokoro and Baelorfiron from the SkyWings, Chloe and Frostflare ((Same thing)) from the IceWings, and-unfortunately- none of the EarthWings were present-and Xylnthian is missing as well-, an action we suspect is because of the humans." She finished. Korramyr and Shine exchanged excited glances. They knew all of these dragons well. "You leave at dawn."
Shine grinned and bowed to her queen. "Thank you, thank you very much." She said, backing away with Korramyr. "We will go and prepare now." She said slipping away.

Shine bounded towards the meeting point, everything she could ever possibly need in the never-ending bag hanging around her neck. It wasn't even that heavy! She looked back at her mate. "Come on, slowpoke!" She called, her tail twitching impatiently.
Korramyr stumbled along, a huge backpack slung across his wings. "Well, pardon me if I have to actually work to carry my stuff." He said in between pants, setting the bag down to take a break. He studied her tiny bag around her neck. "How is it that," He said, a confused expression on his face. "That little thing doesn't weigh any more that it used to, and you pack twice as much stuff as me, all the herbs you can carry, and a few cakes?"
Shine shrugged, a smile on her face. "I dunno." She said. She looked over at the horizon. They were supposed to meet the others at the central area before the sun was all the way above the horizon line. It was halfway over. Shine jumped up. "Yow! We're gonna be late!" She yelped, sprinting towards the meeting point. "C'mon, Korramyr, I don't want to be late again!" She yelled behind her.
"Wait!" Korramyr said, heaving the bag onto his shoulders again. He began walking after her, muttering under his breath. "Crazy, hyper-active, sugar-high little wacko. Why did I ever give her so much cake?"
"I heard that!" Shine yelled behind her. Korramyr cringed. Now he was going to get an ear-full. He slumped his way towards the meeting point.

Shine stood, her tail-tip twitching in annoyance, in the center of the meeting point. Everyone was there-accept Korramyr. The sun was almost all the way over the horizon. "Where is that crazy Dargon?" She muttered to herself. Everyone there looked annoyed-aside from Avian (he was laying on his back, a safari hat cocked at an odd angle over his eyes, sound asleep), Twilight, who looked happy that she had been chosen to go on the trip, and Chloe, who never seemed to get annoyed. The SeaWings were the last dragons there, no big deal. Someone had to be last for everything. And Shine had gotten there when the sun was 3/4 over the horizon, early. But Korramyr ... well ...
He finally stumbled into the meeting area, panting heavily. "I ... made it ..." He panted, flopping down onto the ground the second he was all the way in the clearing.
Gemini nodded. "Good. Then we can be on our way." She laughed as Korramyr gasped, a wide-eyed stare on his face.
"You gotta be kidding me!" He said, not loudly or annoyed, but exhausted and shocked. He groaned, flopping a paw over his eyes.
Shine leaned forward, poking his paw with a claw. ((lol, rhyme)) "It's your fault for packing so much." She said, laughingly.
H lifted his paw to glare at her. "You're one to talk." He let his paw flop down again.
Shine giggled. "Yea, I know. But, I'm still ready to leave whenever." she looked expectantly at Gemini and Frostflare, semi-designated leaders, as they were Queens.
"We can rest for a moment, but we should get going as soon as possible." Gemini said, a huge smirk spread across her face as she looked at the exhausted Korramyr.

Shine skipped along happily, she was the least burdened of all the dragons on the mission. Korramyr was still stumbling along, his heavy backpack slowing him down. Though it was considerably smaller. He had (reluctantly) taken out much of his larger magic items. (mainly 15+ large books on party magics.) Avian was fully decked out in camo safari gear ((You're welcome. XD)) with a sword and shield strapped to his back ((You're double welcome XD)), and everybody else had a small, single-strap backpack with very little supplies. Shine ran up next to Gemini and Frostflare, skipping happily. "So," She asked. "What are we planning on doing? Go directly to the humans, check out the EarthWing Palace? Or something else?" She asked respectfully, as she was talking to two Queens.
"Probably the EarthWing Palace first, that way we can-" Gemini stopped mid-sentence, a spike had just erupted from the ground in front of her. As she stared it in shock and slight awe, Frostflare and Shine turned back, glaring.
"AVIAN!" They yelled at the same time.
"Not. Funny." Enz Zziio growled.
Avian's eyes were very wide, and he jumped a few feet into the air as they yelled his name. He seemed to have been more startled by the spike's sudden appearance than the others. "It wasn't me, I swear!" He said quickly, then blushed, "Eh heh. Uhh...." He grinned oddly, then turned to Korramyr, the only other magic user in the group. "What do you think?" He asked, looking at Korramyr expectantly.
Korramyr looked up, as though he knew he was being watched. He shook his head, his eyes quite wide as he looked at the spikes. "Wasn't me either." He said. He walked over to the nearest spike and tapped it. "But I do know that it's metal." He said, a hollow-like clang confirmed this assumption.
Shine looked at it with wonder. "But ... How? Who? Why?" A bunch of questions erupted from her mouth, ones no one could answer accurately.
Avian had been digging near the base of one as they were talking, and his eyes grew very wide. He began talking to himself. "Wires ..." He looked at the other three spikes that had come from the ground. "Four of them, all connected to a large metal plate underneath all of us ..." He put the pieces together. He looked up and yelled out: "Everybody! Move! There's a plate under us, and it's gonna-" He got no further. Shrieks rent the air as electricity surged through the metal plate and spikes underneath them. A collective sigh swept through the group as the electricity stopped and they all hit the ground, out cold.
Around them, shapes emerged from the forest ...

Shine woke with a start as someone coughed on the other side of a room. It echoed hollowly, distorting the sound and making it impossible to figure out who it was. She blinked open her eyes blurry. She groaned, clutching her paws around her pounding head. The pounding went away after a moment, and she sat up awkwardly. She looked around.
She was in a dank room, rather small and cold. It was made of chiseled stone blocks, the markings faded and undecipherable. She swallowed nervously, then glanced up. A chill ran down her spine. Chains hung from the low ceiling, bones hanging from a few of the loops. A grimace grossed her face as she noticed an entire human skeleton in a dark corner. She then glanced around her, closer to the floor, and noticed some different colored lumps on the ground. She could make out the colors easily from where she say. Two black dragons, that would be Gemini and Korramyr. A silver dragon, which would be Twilight. One purple dragon, easily identified as Chloe. One light-blue dragon, Frostflare. One multi-colored dragon, Avian. One white dragon, Kokoro. One large, grey-green dragon, Baelorfiron. And two red dragons, Enz Zzio and ... Shine wrinkled her forehead, trying to figure out all of the dragons who had come. She couldn't match the other red dragon.
He was the only other dragon who was awake and conscious. She shifted to get a better look at him, and his head swiveled around to fix her in his stare. He had an eye that had a red pupil, and it seemed to swivel. Only one dragon she knew had a metal eye. And a metal arm, known as Automail. "Xylnthian?" She whispered. His face split into a grin. "Good to see that someone's awake. I thought you were all dead." He whispered to her. He crawled silently towards her, his metal eye gleaming in the dim light. He sat down next to her, looking her over with his odd stare. "You're Shiningwater, a Healer, right?"
Shine nodded. "Yes, SeaWing."
Xylnthian laughed quietly. "That much was obvious by your color and fins." He grinned. Shine looked sheepishly at her tail-tip. He laughed again. "Don't worry about it! I get that reaction a lot." He pointed to his eye. "This helps see in the dark, so I see some things that you might think I can't." Shine nodded, understanding. "So, how come you're awake and no one else is?" He asked, changing the subject.
Shine looked around. Everyone was sound asleep, Avian snoring loudly, his camo hat torn and tipped at an odd angle again."I don't really know. My best guess is that it's because I can heal people with my powers, so they somehow healed me and made me wake up faster than the others." She shrugged. It was far-fetched, but possible.
Xylnthian nodded, turning his gaze towards a door Shine hadn't noticed before. She watched as something behind it struggled to open the door. Gemini was conveniently laying right across the entrance to the door, curled up. She seemed to have rolled over and blocked it in her sleep. Shine giggled as noises came from behind it. They were high-pitched and sounded angry. They were yelling and it sounded like more than one of them was pushing on the door. Gemini snorted as the door opened slightly, hitting into her elbow. The noises behind the door abruptly stopped and the door stopped moving. Xylnthian chuckled. "They've been doing that for hours, but they don't usually open the door that far. She normally snarls at something in her dream first." Shine laughed, watching the others.
She turned to Xylnthian. "When do you think the others will wake up?" She asked.
He shrugged. "Dunno. It's been a few hours since they dragged you lot in here, so I'd have to guess a few more hours, since you have magical healing powers and they don't."
Shine nodded, settling down to wait.

"GAH WHAT HAPPENED? LEMME AT 'IM! I'LL-Wait....Where am I?" Shine jumped to a standing position as heads shot upwards around the room. The only other dragon standing was the speaker.
"AVIAN! GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK WHY DONTCHA!?" She screeched.
The addressed dragon sweat-dropped. "Eheh....sorry 'bout that...." He said, smiling oddly.
Shine snorted, her anger diminishing. "Now that that's over, where-gah!" She stumbled over backwards as a black shape flew at her. 
"Shine! You're OK!" Korramyr said happily, hugging her.
The dragoness returned it, then pushed him off. She glanced around. The others were all getting up by now, rubbing and shaking their heads. 
Gemini stood and glanced around. "Is everyone here?" She called.
"Yes. I took a count while you guys were still out cold." Shine stepped forward. "Everyone's accounted for, plus one more." She pushed Xylnthian forward. "Look who's been thrown in here with us." She said with a smiled. 
In the dark room, Xylntian's metal eye and arm stood out like a white flower in a mud puddle. Enz and Avian bounded forward. "Xylnthian!" Avian yelled. 
"You're OK!" Enz said, the three FireWings enjoying a hug-fest.
"Ahem." Baelfiron coughed. 
Frostflare elbowed him. "Chill out. We'll get going eventually."
The demigod huffed, looking away. "I just wish to get going. I do not like it here." He said.
Kokoro shivered. "Me neither." She said, glancing up at the bones from the ceiling. One was a dragon femur. Shine had been avoiding that one, but she had seen it.
The three FireWings finally split up and looked expectantly at Gemini and Frostflare. "Now what?" Enz asked.
It was Xylnthian who spoke. "I'm not sure where we are, or exactly why we're here, but I know that it's humans, and that there are other dragons somewhere around. I've heard....things... like dragons .. being tortured ..." He glanced away unhappily.
The gathered dragons exchanged unnerved glances. Gemini stepped forward. "I won't ask you to repeat what, but did you recognize any voices?" Xylnthian shook his head. Gemini sighed, her tail drooping. "I was afraid of that...But we still have to try and free them, whether we know them or not." She said firmly.
"Right!" The dragons answered, their spirits raising.
Gemini grinned. "C'mere. This is the plan..."

The humans guarding the door squealed and jumped as flames suddenly erupted from behind it, flicking between edges and burning some, sending them running with wild howls.
Gemini nodded. "Just a little longer, Enz, it's almost melted."
The addressed dragoness nodded stiffly, unable to reply do to the flames erupting from between her teeth. 
Gemini turned to Xylnthian, the only other FireWing who's scales were remotely fireproof. "Now!"
He charged, his head lowered, at the door. The heated metal warped with the impact, creating enough of a gap that the dragons could pry their claws between the door and the frame to pull it off its hinges.
The dragons charged through, roaring savagely. the humans who had assembled yelped and ran, their resolve broken. Heads turned wildly as they looked up and down the seemingly never-ending corridor. 
"Uh...now what?" Kokoro's small voice came from behind, perplexed and confused.
Gemini's brows were furrowed as she tried to decide which way to go. "Pick something!" She finally cried out.
"Inee, minee, miney, mo!" Frostflare shouted racing down the left corridor. The dragons shrugged, racing after her. Shine skidded to a stop, causing a near-pile-up as she turned her head. "Wait!" The rest of the dragons skidded to a stop, turning to the healer. "I thought I heard something." ((Making this up. Might not be true, but it makes sense)) SeaWings had excellent hearing on account of the need to hear through water, so they all paused expectantly, while Korramyr strained his ears. 
"I hear it too!" He called, turning his head to face down a side corridor. "This way!" he yelled, his webbed feet pounding down the corridor. 
Humans yelped and cleared the way as the ten ((I think...too lazy to check)) dragons pounded through, Korramyr at its head. 
He skidded to another stop, causing a real pile-up, next to a door. He put his ear next to it and grinned. "We've got to get this open!" he yelled. Immediately, the voices inside grew more excited and more joined in. "Stand back!" Korramyr yelled to the dragons inside. "We're breaking it down!" The sound of claws skittering on stone quickly followed as the dragons hastened to obey, and the rescuers repeated the process they used to break out. 
The door was flung aside and they all looked expectantly inside, looking for EarthWings. 
They got a rag-tag group of rouges.