Upon Fangs of Fate

~Chapter 2~

I spent months stuck in that glass container before everything fell apart for the scientists.
A few of the containers broke free from their protections and shattered on the ground.

The free dragonets quickly opened the rest of the containers, and after what felt like an eternity, we were free!
We thought maybe there was an attack, or a disaster, but the last thing anyone expected was an alien invasion.

There was nothing any military could do.
In no time at all, humans were gone, along with my MMA career.
The other dragonets were more concerned with losing their families.
Was being 'chosen' a blessing or a curse?

We all collectively agreed we would hide from the aliens we came to know as the Votaks, and we all kept to that decision.
Those that were more in tune with nature, like anyone that's gone camping before, were the first to start setting up burrows.

Jayla was the first dragonet to talk to me, so I stayed close to her since she was the only one that regularly approached me without hesitation.

Given our small size, the world was so much more dangerous.
Even birds wanted to attack us, the already established dragonets had to share their shelter with the less survivalist dragonets that didn't know what to do.

Not every dragonet was a competent fighter, for more predatory birds like hawks, even multiple dragonets teaming could have trouble with their lack of practice using their claws.
Scratching up a scientist that isn't allowed to fight back was much different than a giant bird that was trying to kill you.

A couple dragonets were unlucky enough to be caught alone and, well... You know.

That wasn't a problem for me or Jayla, though.
Jayla was almost useless in a fight that couldn't be brute forced with clawing and biting, but she had me there to account for that.

In regards to fighting ability, I was by far ahead of everyone else.
All I had to pass the time in the months leading up to escape was practicing using my claws and tail.

I could take down any hawk all on my own.
All of the dragonets had good reaction speeds since they needed to be able to fly and move fast without running into things, but I seemed to have even better reaction speeds than the other dragonets by a hefty margin.

Plus, my tail was sharp enough that I could get a good enough swing to slice most birds in two.

That was why Jayla was the only one that really approached me unless it was a dragonet asking me to help them deal with attacks.
Even with the mindlink making emotions and thoughts difficult to hide, they were still subconsciously avoiding me.

After all, I could easily slice another dragonet clean in half the same way.

After a certain point I started refusing to help unless it was a big threat like a fox or something.
It might sound mean, but they were never going to learn if I dealt with every threat.

Foxes and similar predators were a big problem for most the dragonets, even with fire breath they didn't always run away immediately.
I was the only dragonet that could consistently inflict fatal wounds on those without putting myself in too much danger.

Even though I was a dangerous match for foxes and the like compared to the others, I wasn't omnipresent.
We still had some casualties before everyone stopped making shelters on the ground.

None of us had many fun activities anymore except for games like tag.
That's about all they had, so that's all they did, except for me.

"Come on, Kairo. You should play too, I bet you can't catch me!" Jayla challenged.

"You already know I can easily do that." I complained lazily.

"How would you know, you haven't tried yet! But you'll have to retract those claws. You haven't learned how to control your claws yet after all this time?" She asked.

"I've already tried that, this is as far as they retract." I answered honestly.

"What?" She let her confusion leak through the mindlink and I showed my claws fully extended for her to compare that mine were actually moderately longer and wouldn't retract as far as what was normal for the rest.

I'm the only dragonet that doesn't have fully retractable claws.

---

As the years passed and the dragonets got better and learned about their fire breath, they began rarely calling on me for help.
Something about not wanting to see me decapitating animals?

Once everyone could use fire, at some point most of the birds gave up even trying to go after a dragonet anymore.

It's a shame, that was my only source of fun.

Even during the Morning Song, everyone else kept their distance from me in the aerial dance.
It only took flying close to me the wrong way for my tail to drag across them and slice them open, so I didn't push to get too involved either.

The Votak didn't last very long, as they were replaced with the Kymari soon after they conquered earth.
We still kept our intellect hidden, but we didn't have to hide our Morning Song anymore like we did for the Votak.

Things happen, and even our secret didn't stay perfectly sealed.
Some dragonet named Tasha already got all buddy with one of them and even revealed our secret so easily.
Thankfully that didn't launch our secret across the whole universe.

Before that, everyone was too scared to even try to interact with any of the Kymari, and they still are.
They're just cowardly in my eyes, there's no reason to compare literally everyone with those scientists.

But maybe I'm not the best person to say such a thing.
I had a hard time maintaining my own fear and apprehension towards them, considering I felt I could take on multiple Kymari at once if they didn't have ranged weapons, and Kymari are huge.

It's about time I joined the dragonets that chose to 'work' for the Kymari. There was nothing left for me in the park.

Ever since the Kymari removed the foxes from the park, there was absolutely nothing for me to do anymore.
I couldn't safely play with anyone and that was especially true for anyone's fledglings...

Not having claws I can retract all the way is a pain but I don't want to just make them so dull that I can't use them anymore.

Now the real dilemma begins... How to choose my Kymari?