{"sf1_id":782598,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Year of the Black Dragons - Chapter #1","author":"FBtH","words":2324,"posted_at":"2014-11-16T14:24:00.000Z","tags":["Beau","Beaucephalis","Bondage","Dragon","Dragon Booster","Fracshun","Human","wyldfyr"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/782598-year-of-the-black-dragons-chapter-1","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/782598","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=782598\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"This is the beginning of a multi-chapter story which I've had on a shelf in the back of my mind for a while now. I've had vague ideas here and there but never managed to come up with a solid unifying plot thread to tie it all together. Don't expect deep or engaging character development. The plot is basically just a prop for the other stuff to come.","content":"Dragon Booster: Year of the Black DragonsIf you wish to see the full, visual designs of the dragons from Dragon Booster, Google is your buddy. ~\nDisclaimer: I do NOT own Dragon Booster, its characters, locations or\nanything associated with it.           ~ Warnings: Situations of a graphic and extreme nature.  Chapter #1 - The Shadow's\nPresence A young rider and her energy-class racing dragon were making\ntheir way back to their stables through the outskirts of Dragon City's smoggy\nand cluttered Work Town district.The rider perked as her four-legged steed came to a halt and\nraised its head, alert.\"What's wrong, chump?\" she asked, but then caught herself. A\npeculiar sensation had come over her - an uncomfortable prickling sensation,\nlike they were being watched. She looked nervously around at the surrounding\ndeserted blocks of warehouses, factories and industrial sites.\"Is there someone, or something?\" she whispered to her\ndragon, who nodded in affirmation.\"Let's get out of here as soon as possible,\" she muttered,\nand urged her dragon on.As they enlivened their pace through the empty and lifeless\nstreet, she chanced a backwards glance and noticed the flitting silhouette out\nof the corner of her eye of something moving quickly behind them.Passing a dank alleyway on the left that connected with the\nnext street parallel to theirs, she caught a fleeting glimpse of a similar dark\nshape through the opening between the buildings that told her that there was\nmore than one, and whatever they were, they were both flanking and tailing\nthem.Her unease elevating into terror, she pleaded once again\nwith her dragon, who broke into an open run. Tearing down the avenue, they\nneared the end when something flung off a ledge above them to land in the\nmiddle of the road, squarely in their path, forcing her dragon to come skidding\nto a stop.She opened her mouth and a small, petrified gasp came out, like\nthe escaping wisp of a person's dying breath.Blocking their way was an enormous, bulky and sinister-looking\ndragon of the blackest shade. It turned its face toward them: frighteningly\nbrutish with blank eyes that blazed with a ghoulishly scarlet glint, and when\nthose bloody jewels locked with hers, its thickset jaw curled into a wide sneer\nthat lowered the very temperature of the immediate vicinity.As she was about to scream, a heavy blow caught her in the\nback of the neck and at once, all her fear dissolved into non-existence.* * *Artha, Kitt, Parm and Lance entered the Gold Draconium\nTemple hidden beneath Penn Stables at the summons of their close friend, the\nGold Draconium Priest, Mortis, who was awaiting them in the antechamber.\"Another seventy-nine dragons have fallen to the taint since\nyesterday,\" Mortis announced.The trouble had started about five months ago, when people\nall over Draconis had begun reporting sightings of a new species of Black Draconium\ndragon. As if that wasn't alarming enough in itself, the reports further\nrevealed that this particular species possessed the unique ability to spread\nthe dark substance like an infection by tainting other dragons with it.When the Penn Stables crew had been informed of the situation\nby Mortis, they were flabbergasted.\"How do they taint other dragons with the Black Draconium?\"\nArtha had demanded to know.Mortis cleared his throat uncomfortably. \"We do not know the\nfull details, but from what all the reports so far have indicated, dragons that\nbecome tainted are themselves transformed into new vessels for the Black Draconium\nand become compulsively driven to spread it as much as possible, thereby\nmultiplying the number of Black Draconium dragons and the Draconium itself at\nan exponential rate with each victim.\"\"Is there any good news in all of this?\" Parm asked,\nhopefully.\"Well...at the current rate that the Black Draconium is\nspreading, there's still three weeks left before nearly every dragon on the\nplanet will become infected by its taint,\" Mortis said brightly.\"You're not very good at this, are you?\" Parm guessed.\"I am not,\" Mortis reluctantly conceded. \"In any case,\nseveral of the new Black Draconium dragons have been spotted right here in\nDragon City, up in Work Town,\" Mortis said. \"You should go check it out, but be\ncareful.\" * * *\"Alright, so where do we start?\" Artha asked, reining his\nred and blue styled dragon, Beau, in to a standstill as the group, following\nMortis's suggestion, came to arrive at the edge of Work Town during the early\nafternoon.    For a racing dragon, Beau was relatively unremarkable\nappearance-wise, apart from his elongated chin and strong jawline. However, as\nthe dragon of legend blessed with Gold Draconium that ran through his very bone\nand veins, he was able to transform into his spectacular and flashier true\nform, which was rarely seen by most others who weren't a part of the crew. \"Well, this whole place is pretty damn big,\" Parm piped up.\n\"I say we split up to cover more ground.\"\"Good idea. Kitt and I will take South. You and Lance head\nin the other direction.\"\"Why am I the one who gets to be stuck with babysitting\nhim?\" Parm whinged, prompting Lance to scrunch his face up and stick his tongue\nout at him in retort.But Artha had already turned Beau around in order to\ncontinue along. \"Look, if you guys find anything, just call us,\" Artha said.\n\"And at least try to stay out of\ntrouble.\" And with that, they took off.\"Have fun,\" Kitt teased, smirking down at Parm before\nbursting after Artha atop Wyldfyr, her own red Magma-class dragon. Unlike Beau,\nWyldfyr was a bipedal dragon. His sturdy hind legs, ideal for sprinting, spoke to his fearsome speed and nimbleness coupled with a terrific balance. * * *\"A sun?\"\"Nope.\"\"Oh, I know! A post!\"\"Double nope.\"\"...the moon!\" \"Hat trick.\" \"Fine. I give up, mister smarty pants. What is it?\"\"The letter 'R'.\"Parm was momentarily dumbstruck by the revelation, and then\nhe exploded.\"That's stupid!\"  \"No it's not,\" Lance insisted. \"You're the one that's stupid\nfor not knowing the answer.\" But Lance had already worked himself into a\ntantrum that had been in the making ever since the two had been paired off. \"That's stupid! And this\nis stupid. We've been looking for three straight hours and we still haven't\nfound anything! There's nothing here! Everything is stupid, today!...Lance?\"Parm had glanced around at the lack of reaction to his\noutburst and subsequently realized that Lance was suddenly not with him\nanymore.  Spinning around to look behind, Parm saw that Lance's small\nblue and yellow dragon, Fracshun, had stopped in his tracks about ten metres\nback and that Lance was staring intently at yet another dilapidated factory\nlike many others they had already passed by. Work Town was bloated with\nbuildings such as these.\"Lance, what is it?\" It's just another ugly factory.\" \"Since when did abandoned, broken down buildings have\nstate-of-the-art Ultralocks on every entrance?\" Lance observed. \"What?\"Parm joined Lance at the towering mesh wire fence that\ncordoned off the factory from public entry and followed Lance's outstretched\nindex finger with his eyes. Sure enough, he glimpsed one of the heavy, rusted\nmetal doors on the side of the building bolted shut by a gleaming, brand new\nUltralock with a sophisticated design the likes of which he had never seen\nbefore.      \"...Huh,\" mused Parm. \"Well, would you look at that.\" Simultaneously, they gazed together up at the large sign\nthat fronted the fence. \"WARNING! HAZARDOUS\nAND UNSAFE - DO NOT ENTER! \"The two looked at each other, exchanging conspiratorial\nsmiles. * * *\"So...how's Beau been, lately?\" Kitt asked Artha conversationally\nduring the midst of their yet uneventful search. \"Still loves showing off,\" Artha sighed. \"I think he's\ngetting cockier and cockier by the day.\"\"Well, he is pretty strong, and quick, and the Dragon of Legend,\" Kitt chuckled. \"So there's that.\" \"But still, I keep telling him that if he gets too\noverconfident, he'll start becoming lax and lose races that way-OW!\" Artha\nexclaimed indignantly, for at that very moment, Beau had suddenly given a sharp\njolt that nearly dislodged him from his saddle.Kitt stifled a giggle behind her hand.  \"I'm just sayin'!\" Artha addressed Beau directly, who had\ncraned his neck sidewards to eye his rider unapologetically. \"It wouldn't kill\nyou to learn a little bit of humility.\" Artha turned back to Kitt and countered with his own\nquestion, \"What about Wyldfyr. How's he doing?\" \"Not behaving well either, I'm afraid,\" Kitt answered. \"He\nkeeps picking on Fracshun by playing tricks on the poor thing. I think it's\nbecause Frachshun's a lot smaller and younger than he is. I had to break them\nup just yesterday before they got into a tiff.\"\"Sounds like Wyldfyr can be a downright pest, sometimes,\"\nArtha commented. \"Kind of like an annoying older brother.\"\"Never mind Fracshun, Wyldfyr drives even me nuts,\nsometimes. Last week during a race we hit a fork and I clearly told him to take\nthe left because it's pretty much a straight line to the finish and what does\nhe do? He takes the right with the hairpin in it at the last second instead and\nlaughs about it.\"At that moment, Artha's phone went off with a high-pitched\nthrill so he took the call.\"What is it? Did you guys find something?\"\"Oh, yeah. We definitely\nfound something,\" Parm's voice blurted through the phone.* * *Artha and Kitt arrived at the location of the site, which\nParm had relayed to them, to find Fracshun alone and waiting patiently outside\nby the tall fence with the large warning sign. With a single swipe of his forepaw, Beau struck the entire\nfront side of the gate down allowing them to enter the property, Frachsun\ntrotting after them in tow.Lance came dashing around the corner and spotted them. \"Geez, you scared me! I was wondering what that loud crash\nwas...oh,\" Lance added, seeing the flattened gates. \"We climbed over that but I\nguess your way works too.\" Frachsun ambled up to him and glowered resentfully\nat his rider. \"Hey, buddy. Sorry we had to ditch you for a minute back\nthere,\" Lance cooed.      \"Lance, where's Parm?\" Kitt said. \"Inside,\" Lance replied, rolling his eyes and jabbing a\nthumb at the factory that was overshadowing them all. \"I tried to go in too,\nbut he pushed me back out and told me that it was probably better if I stay\noutside and keep watch.\"Rounding the building, Artha and Kitt found a wide doorway\nwith the iron shutters raised and rolled back. Dismounting, they ducked inside,\nwith Beau and Wyldfyr following after. \"Parm?\" Artha called out as Beau plodded cautiously behind\nhim into the bowels of the building. \"Over here!\" echoed Parm's voice from somewhere up ahead,\nsounding a little strained. They found him standing an the heart of the open floor of\nthe factory and they stopped dead in their tracks at what they saw.   Dragons. A lot of\ndragons. Dragons of various species and colours.All of them neatly lined in columns upon columns; each\nsuspended from the lofty ceiling's rafters by metal chains that wrapped around\ntheir bodies, trussing their folded legs together behind their arced backs so\ntightly that their undersides were pushed outwards in a way that, whether\nintentionally or not, drew attention to the male markings below their huffing loin\nslats.  A peculiar tang of tropical saltiness hung in the air, so\nheavy and perceptible that Artha could smell it.Beau let out a quiet, outraged hiss whereas Wyldfyr backed\naway a little. Artha was eerily reminded of a butcher's backroom where cuts\nof meat would dangle from racks by steel hooks. He was startled to hear soft\nnoises emanating from the unnerving assembly which made him realize that these\ndragons were actually alive and whimpering piteously, unable to move at all due\nto the disturbing way that their limbs had been twisted.\"What the hell is this?\" Kitt said faintly, looking as if\nshe were ready to throw up.    \"I don't know, but\nI've already called DC Security,\" Parm told them, looking uneasy and shaken\nhimself. \"They're on their way.\"  \"They're all tied up...\" Artha said slowly. \"This wasn't the\nwork of the Black Draconium dragons, this was done by humans.\" \"Gee, I wonder how many people we know have worked with\nBlack Draconium Dragons, before,\" Kitt remarked, sarcastically.Beau moved to the imprisoned dragon closest to them, an aqua-skinned\nsonic-class, and snatching the hanging chain above it in his maw, he gave a\npowerful jerk off the head and the bale that fixated the chain to the rafters\ncleanly broke. Wyldfyr followed Beau's example and set about freeing the other\ndragons. Artha and Kitt decided to help Beau and Wyldfyr as well\nwhile Parm returned outside to check up on Lance.    \"What is it? What did you find? Can I see?\" Lance bubbled\nexcitedly.\"No,\" Parm snapped. \"You're to stay outside and wait for\nus.\" \"Not fair! This sucks,\" Lance grumbled and turned to\nFrachsun. \"I'm starving. What say we go grab something to eat, buddy?\" Fracshun nodded eagerly and waited as Lance clambered up\nonto him. \"You coming with?\" Lance asked Parm. \"No, I think I'm gonna stay behind and help figure out how\nto stop these new dragons from spreading their Black Draconium taint and, y'know,\nfind a solution to this whole 'end of the world' problem since you're clearly not going to,\" Parm shot back,\ntestily.\"Psht, whatever,\" Lance said, unmoved and rolling his eyes\nagain. \"You're the one who won't let me go in and help.\" Fracshun spun around and they set off, leaving Parm behind\nin a cloud of dust. \"You could at least offer to bring something back for me!\"\nParm called out after Lance, while coughing and waving his arms in the air\nangrily. \"InconSIDERATE!\" As Lance and Frachsun pelted their way towards the tempting promise\nof a hot meal, they failed to notice a pair of fierce and muscular, dark-toned\ndragons that had up until now been patiently surveying them from the rooftop of\nan adjacent building above but now moved, surefooted and agile, to follow them."}