[Art by me]

  Light trickled into the open window of the hut, gentle warm rays reaching the talons of a young RainWing NightWing hybrid who was curled up on his sleeping mat.

Songbirds and macaws' chattering filled the humid morning air, the rainforest dragons' make shift alarm clocks sounding all around them.

A shining black eye opened, his vision blurry from sleep. He rose his head, giving it a small shake before rubbing his eyes. His dark scales holding a dark emerald-forest green coloring to them.

He looked around, dazed and confused. What had woke him up? It was the break of dawn, he should have slept until a bit later. His mind felt fuzzy, like he had forgotten something. He laid his talon on his head, trying to focus.

What happened? Why did something feel so... off? He tried to concentrate, trying to remember if he possibly dreamed an unwanted or uncomfortable dream; surprised to find he couldn't even remember it.

"Oro! Oro, Crusade is here!" He turned his head at the noise, ears perked up. Oro stood up from his bed, looking at the scroll he had been reading the night prior. He must have fallen asleep without realizing it, his candle on the floor next to him almost completely melted down to the metal.

"Coming, I'll be down in just a second!" he called. Crusade said he would be over early, but this was way too early!

The young hybrid reached over to the other side of his woven leaf mat, grabbing his small bag off the ground.

He came down the small set of stairs that separated his upstairs room from the rest of the house. At the doorway stood his RainWing mother, Razzberry.

Her scales were a reddish pink color, darkening at her talons and ends, ruff a warm yellow and orange. Tall and lean, like a rainbow's bow. It was a bid obvious why her nickname was Redbow to the rest of the village.

Right outside the door was a small, runty creature, scrawny and lanky, awkward on his legs. His eyes were a shining brown, matching his dark, nearly black, brown scales, silver drops on his neck and wings.

"Oro, morning!" Crusade greeted, his small tail thumping slightly in the ground.

"I see you're up and early," Oro said, giving a small smile to his friend.

Crusade had been there since the moment he could first remember, the two wrestling and playing in the RainWing and NightWing shared hatchery.

He was excitable, happily bouncing up and and down and seemingly never able to sit down or focus on a certain task after a moment or two, or at all, really.

He lived across the bridge, in a hut with his father and brothers. Him and Oro would play all day, chasing birds and playing hide and seek with the RainWing dragonets. Now here they were, three years old, ready for their first flying lessons.

"How could I not be? Swiftflier is going to be teaching us how to fly today, don't you want to be the first ones there?" he asked.

Razzberry gave a small sigh, shaking her head. "I'm sure even Swiftflier isn't up this early, the sun is barely coming up in the sky. The old hag will be sleeping until midday like usual," she grumbled.

"H-hey, Swiftflier doesn't sleep all day, granny just likes to have her naps... often," Crusade said, trailing off as he went on.

"Lazier then us," Razzberry muttered, before shaking her head, "well good luck, you two. Try not to get too banged up, will you?"

Oro smiled at her, as she gently bumped her snout to the top of his head, before sending the two off. Once the hybrid walked out, the door closed, leaving the two best friends to themselves.

"What's wrong with her? Her and Solaris get into a fight or something?" Crusade asked.

"Solaris and her doesn't see each other anymore, remember?" Oro mumbled, looking back to the shut door as the two trotted along the flowery bridges that lead down to the even more flowery plaza.

Solaris was Razzberry's old boyfriend, and his father. He was an astronomer for the queen, mapping the stars and such. From what Oro could make out, Razzberry and Solaris split ways after his father became so obsessed with his work.

It had been him and his mom for a while after that, but she did let Solaris come and visit, even though it made family dinners awkward.

Oro shook the thoughts off, looking back in front of him. A gazebo sat in the middle of a small flower filled clearing, vines trailing down from the, looping down over the openenings. It was where they would met up with the flying instructor, and all the other dragonets that were learning along side them.

The small budding flowers were slightly pressed underfoot as they wanted to it, Crusade leading the way with a bounce in his step.

"I wonder what we're going to be doing, do you think granny will let us in the trees?" he asked. Oro shook his head no, doubting the old dragoness would even think about letting her hyperactive grandson on a branch.

"Hmm, hmm hmmmm~"

A soft voice made the two look up, spotting a figure on top of the gazebo's roof, a gently, soft singing voice attracting small song birds. It was like a fairytale scene Oro had read, of a fair maiden singing to the animals with her magical voice.

The dragonet's figure was blacked out by the rising morning sun, but the large ruff and small wings told them who it was.

"Lyre! How did you even get up there?" Crusade shouted. The figure turned, coming to the edge, looking over. A soft gray-ish purple dragonet showed, her eyes a gentle amber coloring. Her face was soft and youthful, even though she was only a year older then them.

"Ouroboros, Crusade, good morning. You're up early, has flying practice always been at the crack of dawn?"

"No, Crusade just wanted to be here before any other reasonable dragon wanted to wake up," Oro stated, earning a small gasp from the full blood NightWing next to him.

"Are you calling me unreasonable? Oro, I thought we were friends!" Crusade put his talon to his head, turning away from him. "But is seems we are not."

Oro rolled his black eyes, chuckling at the other. "Drama queen," he teased. Crusade gave a small glare, before looking back up to the RainWing dragonet.

Lyre fluttered down, her silver wings batting at the air quietly, barely stirring the grass under her. She settled down, looking at Oro.

"I'm guessing you're calling me unreasonable too?" she asked. The RainWing rose a brow, stepping over to him. Oro backed up, shuffling his dark green wings.

"No, you're smart and have good reasons. Crusade just wanted to be first," he answered. Crusade grumbled, before looking back to Lyre.

"Since we have a few hours before practice begins, Lyre, could to teach us the basics?"

Lyre gave a small giggle at him. "That excited?"

"Yeah!" Crusade cheered. "Please? I want to start flying as soon as possible, so I can rub it in Mightyfangs' face that I can do something before her!"

Oro watched his friend dig his black claws into the ground under him, seeing the spines on his back raise slightly with a bit of hostility at the mention of the NightWing classmate.

Mightyfangs and Crusade had a strange sort of one side rivalry, Crusade swore up and down that the fully jet black dragonet was always mocking him. Oro doubted it though, Mightyfangs was a good sport, and she wasn't one to brag all the time.

"Fine, I suppose I could. Come on, let's go to a better place," she said, beginning to make her way to the jungle. The two followed after, starting to chat with one another on the way.

***

"Okay, just open your wings, annnnnd, jump!" Lyre leaped off of the large tree branch the three had come too, beginning to glide down to the mushy ground below.

Oro and Crusade sat on the tree branch, their claws dug into the bark so they couldn't fall off. Oro calm expressed opposed Crusade's eager look, the fully blooded NightWing practically bouncing and shaking the tree.

Lyre looked back, her gray-ish purple scales melting to a rosy gold of amusement. "Ouroboros, you first!"

The RainWing and NightWing hybrid shook off the other's small jealous look, before raising to his feet. He loosened his grip on the bark, opening his wings.

White specks were peppered across the dark neon of his wing's webbing. That was what set him apart the most: his coloring. He took nothing from his mother, only possessing the RainWing's base color: a dull green. Besides all of it, he looked totally normal for a NightWing.

He took a small breath, closing his black eyes, before jumping off. The wind caught him as he went down, his natural instinct to tilt his wings downwards sending him gliding forward.

The humid wind blew against his face, a soft whistling in his ears as he slowly settled to the bottom. Carefully, and rather ungratefully, he landed a few feet away from Lyre.

"Not bad for a hybrid," she teased. Oro smiled, before straightening up, shuffling his wings and puffing his chest out.

"You know, gotta look good for both tribes," he joked. Lyre gave a small bout of laughter, before shaking her head.

"Okay, you're turn glitter wings!" she called up, watching as Crusade puff out slightly.

"Glitter wings? That's a stupid one, come up with something better!" he said, before a barely noticeable smirk came to his face. "Watch this!"

Crusade jumped forward, opening his dark burnt orange wings, his shiny silver scales dusted under them. The wind took him up, but instead of gliding, Lyre and Oro watched with a nervousness as the other flapped his wings.

He went higher and higher, laughing along the way. "This is way cooler then I- W-whoa!"

The air current shifted suddenly, dropping the dragonet from its grasp, leaving him a falling mess. Crusade let out a small scream of fear as he began to plunge down at a fast pass.

"Open your wings!" Lyre shouted. Oro watched with wide eyes as Crusade began to crash into branches, twigs breaking and snapping off after he fell through them. Vines wrapped around his body as he fell, untangling his talons and legs, his right wing being held in an awkward angle, only being supported by two vines that went under him.

"Lyre! Oro!" Crusade cried, gripping onto the thick stems on the vines, digging his claws into them as he stared down at the forest floor far, far, far below him.

The RainWing flew up as quickly as she could, Oro watching them from the ground, helpless. The dully colored dragonet carefully unwrapped the other from his confines.

"Careful, careful- wait, don't move!" Oro began to kneed the ground under him, watching as Lyre tried to both hold the dragonet up and unravel the vines around his talons.

One wrong move and Crusade would come falling down, straight to his death if he couldn't hold himself up for Lyre. The anxiety in his belly spread throughout him, chilling his blood and making his jaws clinch.

This was a bad idea. This was a bad idea, they should have just stayed at the plaza, and waited for-

Oro opened his eyes, didn't knowing he'd had closed them, and looking back up to the others above. Lyre flapped her wings, carrying the slightly younger dragonet down, noticeably struggling at keeping her balance.

The dark brown dragonet helped her, trying to beat his wings in time with hers as they slowly fluttered down.

"Easy, eeeeassy..." Oro came to where they where going to land, reaching up as he grabbed onto Crusade's talons. Lyre set him down, the three collectively letting out a sigh of relief.

Crusade fell down, panting slightly. Oro went to nudge him and ask if he was alright, but stopped as the NightWing dragonet rolled over and stood up.

"As much as I know how life threatening that was, I never felt so alive!" He cheered, a wide grin on his face. Oro gave a small sigh of relief. He should have known he was fine, Crusade was always fine, even after something like that.

"You should have been more careful," Lyre said, a small flare of red flashing on her silver wings. Crusade looked at her, dropping his smile.

"Well, would you rather me be happy, or curl up and cry like a hatchling?" He asked, his wings twitching a little as he spoke.

Lyre gave a small groan, "Stay happy, please, for the love of the three moons, stay happy."

Crusade gave a small laugh at her. "Can we do it again?"

"No, absolutely not, I don't want to be the one to explain to your dad why you have a bump on your head because you can't listen to instructions."

"But Lyreeee!"

"Moons, you're a hatchling!"

Oro chuckled at the two's banter. The two were always so diffrent. Lyre was like a big sister to Crusade, always looking out for him and trying to keep him out of trouble.

Oro remembered one time were Crusade had ate one of the sticky fruits, and he wasn't able to speak probably for a whole day. Lyre kept trying to open his mouth so she could wash it out, but would up getting her talons and claws all sticky because he wouldn't sit still.

Eventually, Crusade and her were thrown into the river by Crusade's old brothers, Stareyes and Vitality.

It was hard to believe it was only two years ago, when him and Crusade were only barely hatchlings at that point.

"We should head back," Oro suggest, finally breaking the two up from their friendly argument. The two looked at him, before the pale purple RainWing sighing.

"Yeah, Swiftflier and the others should be arrive soon," Lyre answered. The brown NightWing nodded, about to speak in agreement, before quickly turning and beginning to scratch behind his shoulder.

Oro watched him, seeing the way the dragonet began to squirm, softly giggling as he did so.

"You okay?" Oro asked. Crusade let out a small bark of laughter, before shaking his head.

"No! Th-hehe there's something tickling me!" he said, before shaking his head and ruffling his wings, trying to get whatever on his was off.

A small gray, silver, and white ball thumped onto he forest floor, curled up. "Huh?" Oro and Lyre muttered in confusion.

Crusade looked at the small ball, before picking it up. The creature uncurled, revealing a white face and small black ears. Tiny pink paws and tail, large black eyes.

"A possum?" asked Lyre, seeing the small baby. The tiny possum let out a small hiss, trying to act all big and bad as it fluffed out its baby fluff.

"It's so tinnyyyy," Crusade gushed, resting the small possum in his talons. Oro looked over the small creature, noticing how tiny and small it was. Was it a baby then?

"Can we keep it, please, please, please?" Crusade asked. Lyre looked at the small mammal, before looking to the one who held it.

"Don't ask me, I'm not your dad. Besides, isn't he allergic to every fur known to dragon?" Lyre asked.

"But Vitality got a pet parrot last year, maybe he'll let me keep this one, just once," he said back, petting the scared possum.

"She's a little baby, she needs her mother," the RainWing mumbled.

Oro rolled his eyes, before having an uncomfortable feeling of being watched came over him. He turned his head, only met with the same serene rainforest floor. He didn't like it, feeling like something was going to happen if they didn't leave soon.

"Guys..."

"But we can take care of him, he's become the best possum around,"

"Guys.."

"No, no, and no, I'm not a possum person, sloths are way better. I'm not gonna touch her,"

"Guys! Crusade, me and you will take care of it. Can we go now?"

Lyre looked at him confused, but kept her mouth shut. With a nod, she lead the three back to the village.

Ouroboros looked back, a feeling of slight dread settling in his belly that he couldn't shake off.

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Finish - Nov. 17th

There we go! Everyone seemed to agree that Arix fit a NightWing the most, but someone suggested a hybrid, while someone else suggested green to represent venom.

So I decided for a RainWing and NightWing hybrid as it seemed to fit the best.

Time for the next question, this isn't as crucial, but I figured we could have some fun with this. For the little possum, leave a name and gender (since Lyre and Crusade seem to be fighting over it and calling it diffrent pronouns).

Also, this is a Redbow (Rainbow), quick thank you to Amee and Leo for helping me out with names for other characters.

There we go, hope you all enjoyed. Don't forget to leave a comment and vote, and I'll see you all next time.

Take care!