The Hatchery was a light gray egg-shaped dome that had dark red streaks lining the detail. Inside, the walls were lined with light green polished wood. The floor was flowing with multi-color pillows and on the edges of the walls were crevices with soft, cushion-like leaves and moss.

Silverstreak the NightWing was in the hatchery every day he showed up, and he was there when Bubbles was making sure that Aster was fast asleep next to her adopted mother, Queen, before he left for the day.

“Hi, Silverstreak,” Bubbles said calmly, greeting Silverstreak as he walked past the healing room doorway.

“Why are you still here?” Silverstreak asked demandingly. He trotted inside the room.

“What do you mean?” Bubbles asked, now realizing that Silverstreak had a silver teardrop scale near his eyes, meaning he can read minds. Uh oh. Bubbles hoped Silverstreak’s powers weren’t very strong.

“Well, aren't you supposed to be monitoring the eggs?”

“What do you mean? I wasn't informed about any monitoring." Bubbles said, very confused.

“Well, exCUSE me, but I told everyone their part in the last meeting!” Silverstreak instructed.

"Nobody told me there was a meeting, Silverstreak."

"I told everyone to be there!"

"Well who, specifically, did you tell?"

"The annoying SandWing!"

Silence.

"And?" Bubbles offered.

"And.. That's it." Silverstreak admitted. Bubbles couldn't help but groan.

"Silverstreak. There are more dragons than a single SandWing. Now could you please get out? I don't want you to wake Aster."

“Fine. Your choice, not mine” Silverstreak muttered as he left. Bubbles continued to tend to Queen’s wounds while trying to stay awake, but heavy determination to help her couldn’t stand the power of sleep deprivation.

The next morning, Bubbles awoke inside the dormhouse. He assumed Silverstreak had dragged him inside, but there wouldn’t be any clarification. Today would be the last day for a month that Bubbles would feel Pyrrhia ground beneath his talons. Today, he and the rest of the crew will be leaving for their mission. Since Bubbles spent his time in the hatchery, he didn’t have a chance to get to know the dragons he would be flying with.

Bubbles marched himself down to the beach to find that he was the last to arrive. Everyone else looked like they were superior, since they were supposed to be high in command. All the other dragons were wearing armor, jewelry, and many colorful accessories. The LeafWing was sitting alone, and she looked asleep under the only palm tree in sight.

The SilkWing was colored light blue, with her wings edging with gray to white. Her talons were dotted with speckles of light purple and green, complimenting each other against the blue. She was pretty, and her antennae were plain white, white like the snow shining on a glacier as it melts. Bubbles walked up to her, since she looked like she knew what was going on.

“Hi. You seem to know what’s going on,” Bubbles said.

“Oh, hello. Well, right now Silverstreak and Sandfur are arguing who can hold all of the food for the group. It’s hilarious, I know, " SilkWing replied, laughing a little. “What’s your name?”

“Bubbles. How about you?” Bubbles asked.

“My name is Spring Azure, but please, call me Spring.”

“Well, hello, Spring. Do you know when we take off to the distant kingdom?”

“Right now we’re waiting for some SilkWings to come and give announcements, then I think they’ll give us starter food. I’m not certain, so don’t rely on me.” Spring said, as she squinted in the sun. The two sat together in silence as the MudWing tried to pry in his suggestion to the fighting dragons before them, but it only made Sandfur sigh in frustration.

“Just let me carry the food! Please!” Sandfur pleaded.

“Nuh-uh. I’m carrying it, I called it first,” Silverstreak added.

“You totally did not! I’M the one who called it first, and you know it!” Sandfur objected.

“DRAGONS. SERIOUSLY. STOP FIGHTING.” the MudWing inquired.

“Hush up!” Sandfur and Silverstreak said in unison. The MudWing looked appalled and stormed off to the SkyWing and RainWing who were giggling at the scene.

“I have an idea,” Bubbles said to Spring. He trotted over to the NightWing and SandWing.

“How about this. You two race to the end of the beach and back. Whichever one of you two gets here first gets to carry the food,” Bubbles ranted as he drew a line in the sand, “And here’s the start and finish. Ready?” The dragons looked at each other in panic. This was happening so fast!

“Set?” Bubbles continued. Sandfur looked ready to go. Silverstreak was getting into place.

“GO!”

Silverstreak and Sandfur flew past at lightning speed. They had a long way to fly, since the end of the beach was a couple thousand feet away.

“Nice work. That’ll get them out of our scales for a hot minute,” The SkyWing said as she trotted over to Bubbles.

“Maybe they’ll be tired out by the time they get back,” The RainWing added, as he tagged along. The MudWing looked insulted that dragons kept leaving him.

“I’m Cloudjumper, and this is Msitu,” The SkyWing introduced. “The MudWing over there is Frog, and the LeafWing under the palm tree is Sunflower. The IceWing, Alabaster, keeps disappearing, so I don’t know where he is. I assume you already know Spring?”

“Oh, yes. We just met. My name is Bubbles, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Bubbles. It’ll be a pleasure to work with you, I’m sure of it.” Msitu added cheerfully.

Cloudjumper was the color of Grey-browns, and her wings, eyes and claws radiated with bright orange. She wore a metal chain on her neck that looked heavy. Her eye and cheek were scarred, but her legs looked like they were cooked in between her scales. Bubbles guessed that it was from a lava attack.

Msitu was beautiful. He had reds and yellows, so faded together and clashing like a sunset. His eyes were against that, since they were dark green. He wore a light gray hood, a brass chain and brass spiral tail ring that looked handmade, and he had a deep horn scar that matched the scar on his tail. He also had bits of grass-dyed green on his hood that was covered with small bits of vine.

Frog was less pretty of the color sort. He was Brown, with Maroon-red and Maroon red-gray. He wore fake metal neck armor (fake metal was much, much duller than real metal and was frowned upon when it came to battle) with a pouch for a dagger attached to his side. He had, again, fake metal chest armor plates with three cloth pouches layered on top. On his left arm was a thick gold bracelet with a scar running through it, which definitely looked cool. He wore a silver ring on his ear, and it was pretty obvious that Frog had traded his real armor for the shiny accessories.

Bubbles glanced over at Sunflower. She was definitely better looking. She was light tan-brown, and her body was covered in gorgeous dark forest-green, and her underbelly, eyes, claws and the underside of her wings were a paler version of that. She had a gold hoop earring that looked amazing on her, a thin gold chain, a gold bracelet and a silver spiral on her tail. She only had one visible scar, and that was a small one on her horn.

Bubbles could see Silverstreak and Sandfur winging their way over, so Bubbles prepared himself for the impact. Even though they were hundreds of feet away, he could already hear them shouting at each other. As they got closer, their bickering stopped suddenly and they hovered in midair. What was going on? Bubbles looked around. Everyone was staring at something with jaws open. Bubbles turned to face something, or rather someone. Oh. Oh, wow.

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It was Cricket! The Cricket, walking over to them! Oh, wow, she is pretty. Cricket’s glasses sparkled as the sun reflected off of them.

“Hello, dragonets,” Cricket announced. “I assume you know who I am?” Everyone nodded. Sunflower opened her eyes. Frog bowed.

“Oh, no, please. I’m not royalty at all. You don’t need to bow.” Cricket said, stopping abruptly in front of Frog. Bumblebee snorted.

“Not yet.” He added. Cricket gave him a stern look.

“Now, I assume you all know each other, so there’s no need for introductions. I have some SilkWings on their way to deliver everyone’s items that they have been assigned with. Now, I need everyone to come here so they can listen.” Right away, all the other dragons ran and sat in front of Cricket, making Bubbles’ head spin.

“There are only nine of you,” She continued, “So, there will be nine eggs. In the hatcheries, there is a section for orphaned eggs, and that’s where you’ll take them from. Try to not get close to any HiveWings, please don’t get captured, and definitely do not get yourselves killed. It isn’t an easy task, but if you ever come across Mind Vines, destroy them and burn them, but try not to inhale the smoke. Everyone gets a food bag, but that should only last until you reach the other continent. There isn’t much else to say except ‘please don’t die’, so I guess that’s the end of my speech.”

Bubbles was listening so intently, he didn’t hear the dragons flying towards him. Three SilkWings carrying bags landed with a sandy thump beside Cricket. A bright yellow one stepped forward and handed Cricket a sheet of paper and three bags. A dark purple one handed Cricket four more bags. The last one, a light green SilkWing, handed the last of the bags over to Cricket.

“Can I have.. Msitu, Sandfur and Frog come up please?” She said, reading off the names on the list. The three dragons she called up formed a line in front of her.

“Msitu. You’ve aced and mastered the building skills in your rank. Your bag holds tools and items to help with your journey.” Cricket said, handing Msitu a cloth bag that clanked with metal tools.

“Sandfur. You’ve mastered the chemistry skills. Your bag contains potions, gasses, and mixing tools to create what you need.” Chemistry? Bubbles didn’t get to do that.

“Frog. Your specialty is.. unique, to say the least. Here are some cooking tools. There's a map of the islands in there as well." Frog looked rather embarrassed, but took the bag with enough glee to make up for it. "Can I have Cloudjumper, Silverstream and Alabaster come up please?"

Same as before, the three dragonets formed a line.

"Silverstream. In this bag is a thief's kit, including lock picks and a disguise manual. Cloudjumper. You've got weapons. Use them carefully. Alabaster. You haven't exactly.. mastered any skills. Your bag contains coins for the journey." The dragonets sat down as Cricket called the last three up. Bubbles knew he was next.

"Sunflower, Spring and Bubbles?" Bubbles got a little shaky. What skill would he be chosen for? Healing? Craftsmanship? Communication? He decided to stand at the back of the line. He could tell that Spring was nervous as well.

"Sunflower. Your skills were over the top, the best that I've seen so far! It was a little difficult to decide, but your bag contains dangerous plants, collected and insisted on by Sundew." Sunflower gratefully took her bag.

"Spring? You've been chosen to handle flamesilk. Your rank was very limited, but as long as you can collect some to study when you and your group get back, then that'll be the best you can do." Spring seemed a bit relieved to hear that her job wasn't as serious as handling dragon-eating plants or carrying heavy tools with her.

Uh-oh. Bubbles was next.

Bubbles stepped forward to receive his fate. This was what he would be controlling for the next month. Cricket looked down at him and dead in is eyes and said,

"Bubbles. You've mastered many skills, which is very impressive for your age. But, one skill hasn't been given out yet. Bubbles, you will handle and treat wounds. Your bag contains bandages, healing pads, disinfectant, and a dagger. Use it wisely." Cricket handed Bubbles his bag. Wow, it felt unreasonably light. He couldn't stop himself from smiling. Bubbles turned to sit back down for more instructions. But why a dagger? Bubbles didn't want to hurt anyone.

"Now that you all have your supply," Cricket went on, "it is time for your departure. I wish you all the best of luck. Just remember, my tribe is counting on you."

Oh wow. Oh, wow, wow, wow. This was really happening. Bubbles was actually going to visit the Lost Continent! And with new dragons to become friends with! Bubbles secured his bag to his chest and helped Spring with hers.

"I can't believe this is happening!" Spring announced.

"I know, right? This is a literal dream come true." Bubbles responded.

"Hey. Bubbles, right?" Cloudjumper said as she trotted over.

"Yeah, It's Bubbles."

"Cute name. Now, before we take off, I suggest you stay with me. Sandfur and Silverstream are like frenemies, and I really don't want to be part of it."

"You mean you just want me to treat your wounds first if you get them?" Bubbles suggested (Bubbles is a good guesser).

"Uh, yeah, basically." Cloudjumper admitted, without a twinge of embarrassment. Bubbles liked that about her.

"So, hey, can I call you 'Cloud'?" Spring said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, sure. I don't really care anyway. Oh, by the way, I'm demigirl so my pronouns are She/They." Cloud added. Spring gasped.

"No way! Same!!" She squealed. Then, the next thing Bubbles knew, Cloud and Spring were chatting away with lots of LGBTQIA+ stuff that he didn't understand. Hopefully one of them will explain everything on the trip.

Everyone lined up where the sand met the sea, ready to take off. Bubbles' heart thumped with excitement and fear. What was going to happen? Would he die? Would he lose his egg? Will he be able to make it to the Lost Continent? The tension built up in his scales. Was this a dream?

Sunflower took off first.

The next thing he knew, the group was winging their way to a place they've never been before. A place they might not return from. A place where unfriendly plants and animals and dragons awaited them. A place where unknown dragons could take control of their minds. Well, maybe not that last part, but definitely the other ones.

The first few hours, Bubbles flew near the back of the wing of dragons. He didn't say a word to anyone, hoping to conserve energy and focus. After a while the sun started to set.

"You look like you want to turn around already." Bubbles skipped a beat. Spring had snuck up on him.

"No, I'm good. Just thinking about things an overthinker would worry about." Bubbles tried. "I mean, I'm worried. I don't know what the future will give us, that's all."

"I've heard that SeaWings prefer swimming over flying, obviously. Do you think that might help?" Spring suggested.

"Yeah, sure. I could go for a swim."

Bubbles dove for the sea below them, with Spring right behind him. He splashed himself into the nice, cold ocean. He didn't realize how much his wings ached until the cold relief of the water hit his scales. He stayed near the surface so Spring could see him. Bubbles swam for a few minutes before surfacing.

"Feel better?" Spring asked.

"Much better." Bubbles replied. "I think I'll swim for a little longer, though. You can join everyone else if you want to."

"Ok, just don't get lost." Spring flew up to the crowd of dragons above them. Bubbles ducked his head, making sure to easily see everyone else while underwater.

Bubbles was kind of glad he went for a swim. He saw colorful fish, a few whales, and even a dove came down for a snack. Wait. That wasn't normal. A dove? Bubbles surfaced again.

"Hey guys! I think there's land ahead!" Bubbles shouted. But his call came a tad too late. Frog flew down to Bubbles. Well, actually, from the looks of it, Sandfur and Alabaster kept getting Frog out of their faces and he heard them suggest to Frog that he joined Bubbles.

"There's an island ahead, and we're gonna head there for the night, just letting you know." Frog announced. Bubbles rose from the water and followed him to the others.

"Aw, jeez, Frog. Can't you leave us alone for five seconds? We're having a conversation here." Alabaster complained.

"Actually, there's an island ahead of us. I would know, since I spent my time studying maps and I've got night vision." Frog said matter-of-factly. "I'm surprised Silverstreak didn't see it coming."

"I would've concentrated better if you didn't keep bothering us, FROG." Silverstreak scoffed.

Frog and Silverstreak argued for a few minutes, and with the last few moments of sunlight, Bubbles had gone ahead and landed on the island.

It was quite your standardized "stranded island" with a sandy outskirt and the middle was dotted with grass and palm trees. As everyone else landed on the island, Bubbles helped Msitu gather leaves and sticks from around the island to make comfortable sleeping spots for everyone. Bubbles tried to strike up a conversation, but Msitu didn't say a word.

As they finished making spots of moss for the group, Frog had collected squids and salmon and had started cooking a few of them for variety.

"Ooh, that smells good." Cloud drooled over the smell of food. She reached for a squid tentacle and Frog smacked her talon out of the way.

"Thanks, but I could do better with chicken and snakes." Frog said.

"How come it's taking so long? Can't you just breathe fire on it and char it that way?" Spring asked.

"Nah, It's better like this. Trust me."

"Last time I trusted you was when you lost the lemur during hunting class." Silverstream muttered.

"Food's ready!" Frog announced. Within a heartbeat, everyone had gathered to snag a piece of food. Everyone complimented Frog on his cooking. Well, mostly everyone. Silverstream and Sandfur were grumpy of Frog, but still took some food.

After a few moments, the group had assembled together to make a bonfire and talked and shared stories and expressed jokes to one another. It was a lovely time. Bubbles learned about the LGBTQIA+ community from Cloud and how to easily remember different pronouns from Spring. And, same as before, Msitu didn't say a word. He left sometime during storytime from Sunflower and went to bed. Bubbles ignored it, but did feel a bit worried.

After Sandfur finished up a story about his experience as a rich merchant's son, everyone decided that it was a good time to crawl into bed. Silverstream volunteered to take the first watch shift, and volunteered Frog as the next shift. Bubbles snuggled up in his moss patch and let sleep take over his body.