Elizabeth looked around, her little shuttle was really cramped.

She had been flying from planet to planet nearly non-stop because this one guy kept following her. 

God damnit, I told them it was a mistake! Why did they have to go and put a bloody bounty on my head!?!?


Elizabeth recalled her last mission, which had ended up with the cargo she was supposed to be protecting blowing up from her own lightning. 

BOOM!!!!...


"Ahhh, SHIT!" Her engine just blew, an engine that she had, just moments prior, been forced to hit with a wrench until it started working again. Aiming the nose of her vehicle, she descended towards the uninhabited planet that she had been aiming for.

"Oh God...This is going to hurt..." Elizabeth groaned as she was hit by the force of impact with the planet's atmosphere.

Revereth had been following the girl through all sorts of systems, making no effort to hide himself. She had jumped all over the sector trying to shake him, but luckily his ship's tracking kept her locked.

As they flew over the sands of a backwater desert planet, something g different happened. As her engines got ready for another escape attempt, something went wrong, and as they were destroyed in a fiery ball, and her shipplemmeted towards the sand.

Miraculously, nothing blew up when the ship trashed on the dunes, and he slowly followed, setting g his ship down gently. He grabbed his arc pistols, set them to stun, and stepped out of his ship.

He could feel the heat beating down on him, sweat already forming on his brow as the sands shifted under his feet, disturbed by his walking. Fortunately he was a dragon, and heat never bothered him much. He walked slowly towards the wrecked ship, watching for any signs of movement or escape. Or hell, even life. She owed a group of merchants money and they wanted her to pay them back. Something about exploding cargo, but he didn't care.

"Ma'am, if you're alive in there, I would recommend that you come on out. Crashed ships have a tendency to explode y'know. Im not here for your head."

"God! Bloody! Damnit!" Elizabeth shouted, arcs of electricity flowing along her scales. Immediately, the cockpit door to her ship blew open, flying for several meters before stopping, half-buried, in the sand. She pulled herself out of the twisted carcass of her ship, her coat snagging on something. Furiously she ripped her coat away, throwing the now wrecked piece of clothing on the ground.

Thankfully, her sword was still on her hip.

Stretching as she got out of the ship, her wings and tail unfurled, showing black scales for the world to see.

She saw the man, he had been standing a little ways away from her crashed piece of crap. She suddenly felt very exposed. She draw her sword, the tip pointing at the ground. With a snarl she asked,

"Then why are you here, and why the hell have you been tracking me!?!?"

[size=33]Revereth lifted his handguns, aiming at the ship as he spotted movement. As the girl rose from the wreck, his fingers tensed around the triggers, before going slack as he saw wings unfurl behind her. He squinted- the wings were draconian. His brow arched as she drew her sword, and his nerves steeled. He could see scales, too. Was she a dragon? He felt hope for the first time since meeting Vinsue, taking a step forward.[/size]

[size=33]“Why would I kill you? The bounty is for a live capture, and they just want you to pay your debts- something that you can't do if you're dead.”.[/size]

[size=33]He stepped closer, examining the woman. She looked no worse for wear, considering her recent activity, but she may have just been hiding her injuries.[/size]

[size=33]“So,” he began, stepping closer again. “What are you exactly?” he asked, his guns not wavering.[/size]

The man gave her a strange look. It irked Elizabeth greatly. Gritting her teeth, she muttered,

"If you want to take another step forward, then I suggest you sheath your weapon." Elizabeth nearly spitted this statement out. "And if you happen to be telling the truth about not wanting my head, then excuse me." She said, turning back around to her wrecked ship. Soon, she began to rummage about the things in the tiny cargo hold. Elizabeth pulled out an old, ratty black shoulder bag, slung it around onto her left shoulder, and began to fill it with all sorts of items. Her sword was now leaning against her ship's smoking hull.

She pulled out five fist-sized cylindrical objects, they were her batteries, and smoothly shoved them into her bag. Reaching back into the twisted metal, she pulled out a small, slightly broken humanoid machine. It stood at about 6 inches high and was currently immobile, its power source having been destroyed. Elizabeth wrapped the small piece of technology in a clean fold of cloth and placed it gently in the front pocket of her bag. Rummaging in her ship once more, Elizabeth soon revealed what looked to be an entire set of mechanic's tools.

Ignoring her new companion, Elizabeth resheathed her blade, took out some wrenches, and began to dismantle the hull of her ship. Her goal was the ship's core, which she could hopefully get to before it blew up. Her electricity started arcing as she worked within the metal, jumping out, dismantling and welding the plates of steel around her, searching for some kind of circuit.

Realization dawned on Elizabeth, she had completely forgotten about the man. Stopping for a moment, she turned around.

"Ummm, Well, I can't pay back the bounty. I'm broke. Also, if you're going to ask somebody about what they happen to be, then you should probably state what you are first." She turned back around, once again focusing on her previous objective, "But for your information, I happen to be a Half-Dragon on my bastard of a Father's side."

Luckily, he heard her frustrated comment, and he nodded, holstering his handguns, watching with interest as she dug through her ship for what looked like batteries, and a little robotic person.

Since see had seemingly forgotten him for the moment, her sword leaning against the burnt wreckage. At this distance, he could hear the crackling of the fire within the ship's engines, as well as the acrid smoke from fuel and hull plating melting. At this distance he could also see that the scales seemed to not just cover parts of her skin, but were, in fact, a part of her skin.

As she reached for her blade, his hand snapped towards his gun before sighing as she sheathed it. The strangeness of this encounter was beginning to dean on him as he realized how skittish he was being. Usually, the bounties fought back, even when he wasnt there to kill them, like the pair on the Flower Thief. He cleared his throat, trying to get her attention, but she noticed him again anyways.

As she turned back around, she answered his question, and confirmed his suspicions.

"Well, I still gotta take you in. They'll probably just make you work for them until you've worked off your debt. As for the species, it varies. Ninety nine percent of the time I just tell people that I'm a human. Freaks them out less. On the off chance I meet someone like you, a dragon, I smile politely and do this."

His body began to disappear slowly, evaporating into a black smoke that seemed to expand to several dozen times his size, before reforming in the shape of a dragon. He unfurled his own wings, stretching, looking down at the girl.

"I'm a dragon, ma'am. And from what you just told me, so are you."

"uh-huh, is that what you tell all the ladies?" Elizabeth mumbled back, setting back to her previous work she failed to notice the Dragon behind her. She worked quickly, fearing that her ship would explode long before she managed to get what she wanted. She started to rip away at the ship's hull, reaching for its core. She finally managed to get to it, pulling it out she also dragged along the ship's gravity manipulator. She the opened up a large side panel on the ship, revealing a Solar Celled canvas. Quickly dismantling it, she carried the canvas, core, and gravity manipulator away from her old ship. She passed right underneath the Dragon's outstretched neck, failing to notice the shade.

Elizabeth ran back to the ship, grabbing sheets of hull and coils of copper wire. She also dismantle two small turrets on the front side of the ship. Then, she carried all of these back to her new workplace, which was a few hundred feet from the ruined craft.

Taking a look at what she had, Elizabeth welded several pieces of hull together, creating a large, curved 6 foot long sheet. She then set about laying a matrix of copper wire within the shell, using her electricity to forcibly fuse the two materials together. Then, placing the old core in the middle-back end of her creation, she turned around. 

Expecting to see a man standing there, she tried to hand over some pieces of hull for him to hold. However, she was easily surprised by the sight before her.

"Oh....and who the hell are you? And what happened to the guy that was just standing there? Oh....please tell me you didn't eat him..." Elizabeth dropped the pieces of hull, running up to the man's ship, "Hey, Bounty Hunter! Where the hell are you? I need you to hold something!"

She quickly ran about, but couldn't find the man in his ship. Though, her fingers did not fail to snatch some small pieces of technology from inside the ship. Running back out she glared at the dragon. "You ate him, didn't you? Well, sadly for your lunch I need him. He has an extra pair of hands that I need to hold some shit up! Ok! Now barf the bounty hunter up!" She ordered, arcs of electricity lancing out from her skin and scales, lighting her eyes up as though they were small lightning storms.

As she simply dismissed his claim, not even glancing at him, he chuckled softly. He could wait for as long as he needed to, standing silently over her. What really surprised him is when she walked right under him without so much as noticing the extra shade. When she did eventually turn around, it was with the surprise he had expected to start with.

She started shouting rather angrily at him as he stood there, something about eating the man who was here before. Then he realized that she thought he was a different dragon that just ate a guy. He laughed loudly, the air around him vibrating with the sound.

"Actually, I didn't eat him. I want just trying to impress you." he said snorting loudly at her, grining cockily.  "I really am a dragon." he said flapping his wings once to stop them from cramping up, senfi g sand flying off into the air. Slowly, he turned back into a human in front of her, walking forward. " Its a helpful disguise, since most of the galaxy is distrusting of full blooded dragons as of late. Three powerful dragons decided to start a fight that threatened the universe a few years back, and basically screwed shit up for the rest of us. Now we're scattered, most of us in hiding. You're only the second I've met since that happened."

"Oh, yea I guess that happened," Elizabeth replied, not noticing that her cheeks had reddened ever so slightly from the Dragon's smile. She returned to her workspace, picked up the extra pieces of hull and shoved them into the man's hands.

"Come to think of it, what's your name again?" She asked, pretty certain that the man had denied to introduce himself properly. She turned back around from him, accidently slapping his left leg with her tail. She then went about securing the ship's former core in place. Then, hooking up the gravity manipulator just behind the core, she flipped it on. She board floated, but only for a moment, expanding all of the stored energy within the Core.

"Ah, good it works," She said, wiping a steady bead of sweat of her face.

BOOM!!!!...


The ship finally exploded, the flames reaching its fuel canisters. Elizabeth looked over, the great flames casting shadows on her face. Then, in a shocked expression, she exclaimed, "Damnit!! My coat was over there!!" Her coat had promptly been consumed by the roaring flames.

"God damnit..." she mumbled returning to her work. She quickly finished covering up the core and Grav. Manipulator adding in some compartments in the front of the hoverboard. Then, taking the longest piece of hull out of the man's hands, she forced it to become a 7 foot tall, hollow pole. She created another matrix of copper wire within the pole, allowing it to conduct electricity all the better. Elizabeth immediately set the pole up right above the ship's core. She took the canvas of Solar cells and attached them to the top and bottom of the pole as well as the far tip of the board.

She then went to the new front of the board, which was the side that the pole was closest to, and installed the two small turrets there. One on each side.

She took a step back admiring her work, and grinned at the man. Jumping on the hoverboard, she exclaimed,

"And you're taking me where again?" Elizabeth powered on the board, charging it with her own electricity as well as with the energy from the solar cells. Immediately, Elizabeth and the board lurched into the sky, flying away. The woman was laughing at the top of her lungs, enjoying the man'd look of confusion to the fullest.

[size=34]Revereth’s eyebrow shot up as she created a hoverboard out of a few scraps of metal, before laughing. The bounty had mentioned magic, but it had never mentioned what kind. That would have been useful to know, but now she was in the air. As she flew into the air taunting him, he laughed loudly.[/size]

[size=34]“So, there are 3 ways we can do this. I can shoot you down is the first. The second is I can follow you until your hoverboard stops working, and then shoot you so you can’t do that again. Third, I can just do this.” he said as he transformed once again, giving his wings a few experimental flaps as he leaped into the air, taking flight, letting out a mighty roar.[/size]

[size=34]As he chased after her, the wreckage of her ship disappeared in the background, her coat and ship gone with it. Luckily his ship had a tracker on board, so when he inevitably caught her, he would be able to find it again. Regardless, she wouldn’t get away. Of that much, he was certain.[/size]

Elizabeth looked back, her long red hair flowing behind her. The man had indeed shifted back into a dragon and had given chase to her. Smiling, she immediately slowed her makeshift board down, letting the great behemoth fly past her. Then, speeding up, she gave chase to the scaly being. 

Shifting her footing, Elizabeth extended the sail as far as it would go, making sure not to rip any of the precious canvas. Catching not only the sun, but the wind as well, Elizabeth was soon above the Dragon's back. Looking down, she yelled,

"Well, isn't that one way to chase someone down!" Elizabeth hadn't had this much fun in a long time. What a surprise it had been to find out that this bounty hunter not only didn't want her head, but was also a Dragon, himself.

She immediately closed the board's sail, letting it lie flat against the board's top deck. Elizabeth soon found herself standing on the Dragon's back, desperately trying to keep hold of her 6 foot long Hoverboard.

"So, what now, big guy?" She asked playfully, ready to start another adventure.

As Elizabeth dropped behind him, he realized she was no longer trying to escape. he laughed, letting himself lighten up a bit. He rarely had time to relax in his job. Being a bounty hunter, he had a constant stream of bounties to fulfill, and most didn't pay enough to give himself time off. 

He glanced up as she shouted, snorting. "I figured it would be safer than shooting you down. I take it I was right." he said as she flew steadily above him. As she landed on him, he glanced at her with an interested look. "You may want to hold on. I can go pretty fast." he said, as he flapped his wings again, speeding up, before plummeting towards the ground, his wings folding against his side.

At the last possible second, his wings snapped out, catching the air and leveling him out as he sped just over the sandy wastes. He began to flap again, regaining altitude.

"Woooo-hoooo!" Elizabeth shouted as Rev dropped into a dive. The mere pressure of the wind surrounding the Dragon had forced her own wings to snap open. Elizabeth glided up for a bit, making sure to keep hold of her new board. The sight was amazing, to say the least. The desert expanded as far as the eye could see to the north and east, but to the south there seemed to be some sort of plains or grassland. To the west was a great mountain range. 

There was a glint coming from the south-west. A great tower, no more than a glint to Elizabeth, stood at the edge of the mountains, overlooking both the the plains and the desert. 

What is that...? Elizabeth wondered. 

Then without warning, she folded up her wings and fell into a dive alongside Rev. Falling past him, she laid her feet on her board, welding the steel soles of her boots the the surface of the board. Now, falling vertically, she raised the board's sail, pulled up on its nose, and switched it on. Going immediately to full speed, Elizabeth flew under Rev. 

"Hurry up! I want to check something out!" She yelled as she went past the behemoth. Her board taking her only a few miles from the desert's edge. Only ten miles from the tower itself.

---POV: F'undar---

F'undar looked out among the great desert, its sweltering heat hitting him like a wave. Scowling, the Stone Drake had been about to turn back to his cave when a glint caught his eye. Swinging his head back around, hard, his eyes narrowed, locking onto the object. 

It was a small flying board, with something black and red standing on top of it. Behind it was what looked like a giant, flying Stone Drake. F'undarin's eyes widened, free thought flowing out of the floodgates.

What is that...? With his curiosity permanently peaked, F'undarin completely forgot about the metal that he had been searching for. He had only one goal now, and that was to find out what these things were. Setting out from the mouth of his cave, F'undarin made his way down to the vast plains that layed to the east of his home. He made sure to keep watch of the two flying creatures.

As Rev followed closely , he saw the glint shortly after Elizabeth. He frowned- He hadn't been to this planet before, nor had he ever heard of it, but if there was sentient life here, maybe he could get some booze and kick ass at a round of poker.

Elizabeth dropped below him suddenly, catching him by surprise as he rolled to the side mid-air as to avoid a collision. He let out an annoyed huff before she spoke. He sped up behind her, intent on beating her to the tower in the distance.

They grew closer rather quickly, and as they did so, he saw something moving, something large. he also noticed that while the place was once a city, it was long dead and laid in ruins. He snapped his wings out, slowly gliding to the ground as they neared F'undar. At first glance, he appeared to be another dragon. However, as Revereth examined him, he realized that the giant beast had no wings. He nodded his head respectfully, wary of the intelligence that lied in the beast's eyes.

"Hello. I am Revereth, a dragon who came hear chasing my companion." he said. He didn't mention that he was a bounty hunter chasing Elizabeth for money, because a distrustful beast of this size would be a major issue likely.

---POV: F'undar---

F'undar took a step back as the Dragon landed in front of him. Sound came out of its mouth as it leaned forward. The Stone Drake was unable to understand the creature, as its way of communication was completely foreign to him.

Beating his tail against the dense ground, F'undar communicated in his own way. 

"What...are...you...?" He said slowly, forcing the thoughts to form cohesively, struggling with instinct.

He became slightly distracted as the second object flew past him. It was heading straight towards the tower. F'undar knew that that was bad. Instinct forced him away from there. It was full of metal, full of food, but it was guarded by things that brought death. There the metal stood and killed, unlike in the mountains where it was safe.

---POV: Elizabeth---

Elizabeth flew past Rev as he landed. It seemed as though the dragon had found a new friend. However, she wasn't much concerned. She was far more interested in the tower. 

Nearing it, she noticed small, man-sized contraptions moving about on the ground. They looked like metal soldiers and workers. There were cleaners and builders, miners and tree cutters. There were also heaps of broken ones lying about. 

Nearing the tip of the tower, Elizabeth decided to land on it. The tower was entirely bronze, with silver and copper innards. The metal pulsed with a life. It pulsed, attracting Elizabeth to it. She reached out, hoping to touch this pulsating in the metal. Reaching out with her power as well, She pushed all the energy she could out of herself and into the tower, seeing it from the inside out.

The tower rumbled and stood. Elizabeth couldn't pull away, the metal sucking more and more energy out of her. Rising higher and higher, the tower revealed itself to be a half-buried colossus. It rose, without stopping until its head touched the clouds. Taking Elizabeth in its hand, the great automaton kneeled.

"Holy crap..." Elizabeth whispered, hoping beyond hope that she didn't fuck anything up.

[size=34]Rev blinked in surprise as Fundar clearly struggled to communicate with him. It dawned on him that the beast may only be semi-sentient, and was clearly not a dragon. He responded to Fundar in kind, telepathically sending his thoughts.[/size]

[size=34]“I am Revereth, a Dragon. What are you?” he asked, tilting his head.[/size]

[size=34]As Elizabeth zipped past him towards the tower, the beast became agitated, turning towards it and following her. Revereth followed suit, if only to make sure she wasn’t trying to escape. As she reached out towards the tower, her glanced uneasily at the workers that populated the area. He wouldn’t like to fight them right now, but he would if needed. As Elizabeth touched the tower, he saw the ground shift, the sands rising from the planet, falling to the sides of a massive metal machine that was apparently buried in the sand. As it stood, he rushed forward, pushing Elizabeth back, letting out a growl and staring up at the colossus. “Get away Elizabeth. And if you steal my ship I will come for you.”[/size]

---POV: Elizabeth---

Rev suddenly slammed into Elizabeth pushing her out of the Colossus's hand. Slightly agitated she opened her board's sail and flew over the dragon.

"I'm not going anywhere, Dumbass!!" She shouted as she flew around the giant's head, catching its attention.

Turning away from her though, the giant stood. It ignored Rev as it walked towards the planes. The giant shouted, a screeching metallic sound leaving it. All the other automatons immediately turned towards it and converged around the Colossus's feet. Then, with its force assembled, the giant turned towards the desert.

Landing next to Rev, Elizabeth said, "we should probably get to your ship now..."

[size=34]Rev was frustrated at the girl. If she was suicidal, she was certainly doing it right. As the colossus let out a scream, he began to back up. He was about to suggest they get out, but Elizabeth beat him to it.[/size]

[size=34]“I agree. Come on!” he shouted, turning from the colossus as he made a running leap into the air, taking off into the air, flapping his massive wings in an effort to put distance between himself and the metal giant that had just woken up. “Get to my ship, Elizabeth, and don’t try to fly her! I saw what happened last time you flew a ship.” he shouted in jest. He was mostly sure that the ship itself was the cause of her crash, but maybe she had just pushed it too hard.[/size]

[size=34]As his ship appeared over the horizon, he glanced back. He could see the glint of the colossus, but it didn’t seem to care about them. He landed, transforming back into a human, laughing his ass off. He hadn’t flown like that in ages.[/size]

---POV: Elizabeth---

Elizabeth did exactly as she was told. She boarded the ship, laughing and sunk down in the vacant copilot seat. 

"Well, wasn't that fun?" Where to now, my captor?" She asked, making a joke out of her bounty.

(End of thread)