Gator awoke to the sound of a train going by, each wheel hitting a joint in the tracks loudly--just one of the sounds many dragons like him had been introduced to over the last couple decades. Just to name a few in the area, there was the 60 Hz hum of the power transformer outside, the rumble of internal combustion engines, the arcing of the pantographs of the train's locomotives making poor contact with the overhead lines, and the sound of the box fan sitting in the apartment window.

A less common sound, but one he and his siblings had heard nonetheless, was the sound of a cutout fuse blowing. When they were all much younger, he and his siblings had gotten curious as to how power lines were so dangerous. InterCons distributed written warnings to all the dragons in the area about the dangers of high voltage wires. Their bigwings, Bog (some InterCons agents were looking for another dragon with that name, for some reason), had not allowed them to touch any themselves, which in hindsight was a very good idea, so they settled on dropping a tree branch on one from the air.

They had no idea where the fuse was, or what a fuse was at that point, but it still made a painfully loud boom. The branch burst into flames before the fuse could open the circuit, making another ear-shattering noise. They all fled the scene, but were still found by a SkyWing searching for the cause of the fault, and some very angry InterCons linemen gave them all a half hour long safety lesson.

Returning his mind to the present, Gator went about waking his siblings up. They had an afternoon shift to work for IPS. He threaded his head and neck through the black sash that was InterCons' version of uniforms for dragons. When he was younger, he had always heard that "scavengers" wearing "coverings" was just another weird, silly, or pointless thing that they did. He, however, thought that some of their clothes, InterCons' various uniforms especially, looked pretty cool. They definitely had practical purposes, too.

He had never seen a human before InterCons' explosive expansion across the continent, but he assumes what he was told about their clothing was just another lie to add to the pile. Just about everything he was told or read about humans as a dragonet was wrong. Learning the truth infuriated him--not the learning itself, the actions of other members of his species. Almost every dragon he knew felt the same way, and with good reason. Most dragons rarely interacted with humans, but those who did couldn't possibly have believed what they told everyone else.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Just one look at a "scavenger den" and more than five seconds of thought would be enough to at least make him doubt that humans were just unintelligent animals, and that doubt would be more than enough to stop him from killing any. Yet that's what so many did, and it's sickening. Now we all know what we should have known about humans thousands of years ago. Dragons' only superiorities over humans are physical, and those superiorities were used against innocent humans. That's on the same level as abusing a hatchling, as far as he's concerned. The imbalance of power makes it even more wrong, in his opinion.

That hatchling will grow up, though, and then she'll be able to fight back.

Humans have done the same, figuratively. They've got much more than their "false claws" now, and he's honestly glad they do. Of course, he's also glad they aren't treating his entire species how a lot of individuals deserve to be.

On that note, he can't stand the pre-scorching history argument, either. All humans don't deserve punishment because of the actions of a few individuals 5000 years ago, and even if they did, our species would deserve much more for all we have done to them since then.

That also lines up with what humans from or associated with InterCons have been telling them. They for some reason find it important that we don't blame ourselves for the past treatment of humans, but instead blame the individuals responsible. Whatever their reasons for caring about that so much, he found himself agreeing. He feels more angry than guilty now. It makes him want to find the-

*bonk*

Gator once again snapped out of his thoughts when his wing hit the safety bar in front of the rail crossing. Apparently he had been following his siblings on "autopilot," another human term he didn't understand the origin of, the entire time he was thinking. He had also been holding his wings higher than normal during that time, which he's been told he does when he's angry. It was yet another reminder of how the humans were evidently more considerate of another species than dragons generally had been. When InterCons builds a railroad crossing, they place an overhead bar to remind dragons to keep their wings low when crossing under the overhead wires. The wires are well above the height a dragon normally walks at, but our wings can definitely extend that far. Humans cared about our safety enough to do something about it.

Anyway, it was time for their breakfast. That has to be one of the greatest things that InterCons has done. He and his siblings didn't have to waste time hunting for food now. Local merchants could sell anything from canned fruit to livestock, regardless of location. A MudWing couldn't be happier!

Well, maybe if InterCons didn't consider being covered in mud an "unprofessional" look, but he could wait until his shift was over.