Ore Struck [Kenna, Pickle, Stormy, OPEN?]

[Kenna & Fenrir]

Kenna was woken by a shout. She only just stopped herself from laughing at the content of it. Mr Pickles is awake it seems. She heard him get up and leave the other room to the outside. She was very quick at changing into her clothes for that day and then, taking the food that was to be their breakfast, moved into the other room that looked the same to how she left it minus one irate bearded man, and got the fire up and running again.

As she started to cook the food, Kenna started to think back to last night and their conversation. Her mind thought about her companion, who she’d been friends with since childhood. Even back before he’d grown that beard of his and gone for this overly macho persona, the two of them had always looked out for each other. There had been countless times when he’d saved her from trouble and not an insignificant amount of times where she stopped him from getting into it.

But despite all this, he still didn’t like her calling him ‘Mr Pickles’. You’d think he’d be used to it by now, she thought to herself, smiling, as the man himself walked back into the alcove. They eat quickly and were soon heading down the cave with tools and other equipment to start work. They worked in shift periods, making sure that they didn’t kill themselves from over working while still getting a lot of work done.

Not much happened out of the ordinary, until that is until about half way through the third day of mining...(OOC: Might as well timelapse to the good stuff)

[PMG3E]

"Fire!" Pickle called from the entrance of the cave. The duo had exhausted the visible veins of ores in the cave - it was time to bring in Trolley. Covering his ears, Pickle waited for the sign.

Boom.

The earth around them shook as Trolley used one of his explosive blasts to break away the cave to find more ores. Trolley would continue breathing explosive fire balls until he ran out - five shots later. Each time the earth shook around them, shards of rock falling inside the cave. Trolley knew what he was doing - he'd been doing this for years before he was given to Pickle. A roar could be heard from inside the cave. It was done. Pickle used his dirty beard to cover his nose as Trolley used his hummingbird-like wings to waft all the dust out of the cave.

All clear, Pickle gave a discreet nod at the dragon, who grunted in return. He then turned to Kenna, opening an arm towards the cave's mouth. "Ladies firs'." He said, picking up his pickaxe and hoisting it over his shoulder.

[Kenna & Fenrir]

Kenna removed her hands from her ears. She smiled at the ringing in her ears, At this rate, she thought, I’ll end up like Asther. She knew about it because…well, her dad had known about it in Asther’s dad, so Kenna had been able to see it in Asther.

She covered her mouth with the clothe she’d brought for that reason as the dust came in. She smiled as the dust cleared and the dragon came back from the innards of the cave, and they progressed back in with their equipment ready to take out the newly visible veins.

“Just remember,” Kenna said, “things get more fun now. Up until now, we’d only had the previous tenants to worry about. Now, dragons are going to come to see what all that noise was about.” She smiled the moment she said that, he would like that fact.

They got to the newly visible veins and Kenna inspected the rubble, “with the amount that’s already down, I’d say we’ll get all I need by this time tomorrow.”

They were about to start, when they heard a noise from outside, she smiled at her partner, “Speak of the devils. I’ll get started, you go make sure nothing bad’s happening to Trolley.”

Kenna started work on the one of the veins as Mr Pickles left to see what happened.

[storm]

Storm awoke from her calm, soothing sleep. Hissing in rage as the ground rumbled beneath her, she got up from her resting place from inside a hollowed out oak tree to go find out what had just happened on the mountain. As she squeezed out of the tree, she got herself stuck. Her rump got her hind legs stuck inside the tree, making her hang helplessly over the edge of an overhang. She cursed viciously as she dangled. "Maybe it wasn't a good idea to have a nap inside a tree that hangs off of a small ledge. Not one of my brightest idea's yet." She muttered inside her head.

As she squirmed around, her tail smacking against the insides of the tree, Storm heard a loud cracking noise. SNAP! She froze as the tree snapped in half and she plummeted. Out of her daze she shook her head and her wings blasted open. Abruptly slowing down and softly gliding down, she pumped her wings to carry herself upwards.

As she approached the cave entrance where she heard the explosion come from, she stopped along a ledge and pushed herself against the wall. A gronkle sat there, guarding the entrance. Cussing to herself, she knew she had to get past it. Squeezing her wings close to her body she started to crawl along the side of the mountain. She was right above the gronkle, heading towards the cave mouth. She was almost in when her tail tapped the dragons back. She froze for a second, and quickly crawled into the darkness of the cave.

Hoping the gronkle didn't notice her, she jumped from the ceiling. Climbing upside-down was not without consequences. Her arms felt like they were about to fall off, and she was somewhat dizzy. As Storm landed on the cave floor, she landed in a puddle. It made a loud sploosh noise that echoed down the cave.

Lifting her nose to the cave's upwards wind flow, she caught the scent of two humans within the cave, along with the scent of sulfur and smoke. Her nose wrinkled at the putrid scent, but she slowly crawled forwards towards the human scent.

[PMG3E]

"Aha! I cannae wait to get me hands on one of those dragons, Kenna. I'm startin' ter get outta shape!"

Trolley was busy snoozing in the sun. Frankly, he wasn't bothered at all if any dragons turned up. For the most part, Pickle would probably come anyway and beat up the dragon himself. But his loyalties laid with him and Kenna, so half asleep, he kept half an eye and ear open, just in case.

Just then, a dragon with huge wings was stealthily trying to enter the cave. Trolley paid no mind - the loosened rocks from the explosions would probably make it fall to the ground anyway and alert it's presence. But that didn't come. Instead, he only felt a light brushing of her tail through his immensely thick hide. Rolling his eyes, he turned himself around. Obviously in no fit state to send off some fireballs, he made a gruff call to warn the humans inside of the intruder.

Down the cave, Pickle heard the Gronckle's call, proceeded by a splashing sound, which could only mean a dragon had entered the cave. Pickle ceased cracking the masses of small boulders strewn over the cave floor, throwing his pick axe to one side.

"I'll be righ' back, Kenna." He said gleefully, rubbing two dusty hands together. He then took off at a small jog up the cave. Upon sighting the dark fuzzy outline of a dragon, he gave a loud, scary war cry that seemed to almost rattle the cave itself. Using the obscurity to an advantage, he rushed her, punching the dragon in the face. He quickly ducked under one of those huge wings and coming out the other side behind the dragon.

The vague sunlight reaching the furthest parts of the cave dictated that the dragon was black in colour - brilliant. Now it was his huge muscle-ridden figure that was silhouetted in the cave. He gave a stout laugh.

"Come at me! If yer think yer good enough!" He taunted. He gave a quick glance back to Trolley at the entrance, with an expression that meant 'you better recharge soon or else'. At this, Trolley grew more alarmed, and scurried to one side of the cave mouth and gobbled up several large rocks. As soon as these were melted inside him, he would be ready. The Gronckle cursed himself for not doing this sooner.

[storm]

Storm got a nip of the humans arm as he smashed her in the face. The salty taste of human blood and sweat tasted familiar, because she has eaten a human before. It was when she was younger and was struggling to catch prey. Tilting her head back slightly she moved her tail to wrap around the humans legs and pull them from under him.

"Your one feisty little man." She hissed in Dragonese, dragging Pickle from behind her to in front of her. In her mind she debated some things. Should she focus on the Gronkle or on the man, and she couldn't decide. It started to make her confuse and loosing her grip on the mans leg.

Dropping Pickle, Storm quickly ran down the cave tunnels, into dark spots along the wall that were neglected to be lighten up. She pressed her body along it, curving into a position that somewhat looked like rock. Her sharp, dull-spiked stomach plates resembled rock a lot better than the rest of her.

Storm quickly dropped the idea of acting like the earth and dropped down onto the ground. She was squished in this part of the cave, her huge, long body squeezing into the tunnel behind her. She unknowingly had blocked another human behind her, leaving her back open and a pretty big target. Her wings were splayed in a aggressive posture and she bared her teeth in defiance at her foe. "[/b]I have no quarrel with the gronkle. I will refuse to hurt one of my own kind. It has not bothered me or provoked any sort of argument that must be settled.[/b]" She hissed at Pickle and Trolley. Her deep purple eyes, now burning with the hunger within her, focused onto Pickle. "Unlucky human. Disturbed me from peace on the mountain to wreak this natural wonder." She snarled. In her mind, she thought about what she had eaten today. Nothing yet. Bad day for the human to pick a fight. She muttered in her head. She never liked humans as food, but when food is scarce, anything was food.

[Kenna & Fenrir]

Kenna paused from her mining for a moment, she should help them really, if they got beaten she would be in a lot of trouble. She didn’t exactly know what had come in. She turned round and quick walked outwards until she was within hearing distance. She could hear the dragon talking, and soon saw it as well. While her translating ability was still sketchy, she still got the just of the dragons statements. It didn’t want to attack Trolley, and it was annoyed with us wrecking this ‘wondrous nature’? whatever the last bit, it didn’t like us doing what we were doing. The words ‘unlucky human’ also made her shiver, that sounded like she was thinking about our views on being lunch.

She hadn’t notice Kenna yet (to Kenna’s relief), but she realised that she should use this to her advantage. She had the means to attack the dragon after all, and there was a perfect target. But Kenna couldn’t do it, she didn’t like hurting dragons almost as much as Luna. Then an idea clicked in her head.

“Dragon,” She shouted in dragonesse, as always, she had no clue how accurate she was about to be, it could be word perfect, it could be gibberish, “this is something we need to do in order to survive in modern day, it’s something we have done for generations. We only take as much as we need and we mean you no harm.”

She’d shouted this, not to try and be diplomatic, but because it would distract her and might, just might, get her to turn to look at Kenna, hence showing the weak point to the other two, giving the fun back to Pickles. She didn’t have the same qualms about him doing it.

[storm]

Storm's attention averted to the human that she has trapped behind her. She growled slightly, only turning her head so one eye can look back at Kenna. She was trying to keep attention to both, but it started to become hard to. "Wait, what?." She said in a questioning tone. It sounded like she said something about something about mining and needing something to survive the modern day. The rest was gibberish to her.

With one claw she gripped her stomach, that made a low, growling noise. That gave away what she wanted to do to these humans. She put her claw back down and made her move. She bolted from her spot and deeper into the cave, the unexplored part of it. She could easily see in the dark shadows, better than the others that were behind her.

She positioned herself on the side of the wall, ready to ambush them if they follow her down the tunnel. Storm sucked in her stomach, hoping to silence its now constant growling. Slowly she opened her wings, covering the walls with their dark purple membranes. Her eyes closed, their dark purple irises turning to black as her eyelids closed.

(OOC: Sorry its kinda short. Not much to post here.)

[PMG3E]

Pickle was swept off his feet like a rag doll. This sign of weakness didn't faze the Viking however, struggling to his feet. The snaky dragon then snarled something in it's tongue, which Pickle did not even comprehend as a language. Trolley was behind him, eating up a whole load of rocks. Thankfully, Gronckles are said to have the fastest regeneration of fire. The Dragon seemed to know this too, as it hesitated and fled into the shadows.

"HAH!" Pickle spat at the dragon. But then it clicked in the mind of the warrior. Kenna was down there, and she lacked the necessary skills to take on a dragon like this one. Running down a little, the beast detached itself from the wall, as if it failed to try and blend in with it's surroundings. Storm was facing Pickle though, so he assumed that he hadn't noticed Kenna's presence yet. The Dragon hissed some more strange speakings to the Viking, unaware of his lack of comprehension.

Suddenly a more feminine, human sounding voice called out from behind them, making funny noises. Pickle, averting his gaze for a fleeting moment, raised his eyebrow. Kenna had appeared behind the dragon, as if she wanted to try and converse with it. "What are yer...." He murmured, as the dragon was distracted by the human it had not yet noticed.

A grumbling of the dragon's stomach made Pickle frown. So the dragon had an objective to have us for lunch did it? Just then, the grumbling stomach grew louder and louder, until a sound that sounded like a motorcycle was ecoing through the cave. Knowing this wasn't normal, he spun around to see Trolley bumbling down the tunnel, little wings creating all the noise. Pickle beamed. But when he turned back around to face the dragon, it had gone! It obviously hadn't past them, so it must have gone deeper into the cave system.

Trolley flew past, growling menacingly to protect his master. He gave one look at Pickle, knowing exactly what he was going to do. Pickle saw this, and understood. "Kenna!" He called, rushing forwards to grab her wrist a little too tightly, and dragged her out the cave as fast as they could.

Trolley could see better in the dark than the humans. Even if the target was as black as the rocks around her. Trolley didn't need to be stealthy. He was guarding the only exit. He landed anyway, with a great thud that dislodged the shingles around them. Through a deep growl, he said: "Leave these humans be, or you won't leave this cave alive." He stated simply. Despite this choice he gave her, he took aim and opened his mouth wide. Light seemed to emanate from the depths of this throat as an explosive fireball was being formulated. The light betrayed Storm's presence, and the Gronckle tweaked the corner of his mouth as he noticed her eyes were closed...

BOOM.

The cave shook. Rocks fell everywhere around them, not that it bothered the Gronckle with his thick hide. For the Galewing, however, it would be another story. It was a warning shot, only just missing Storm's wing, one of the most valued parts of the body for any dragon. Next time he wouldn't miss. "Leave." He said, preparing to fire another shot. He took to the air again, mainly to waft away the dust so Storm could not easily escape through the obscurity. With his anatomy, he had every advantage in this cave. If the Galewing was clever, she would back down.

Meanwhile outside, the explosion was heard, and clouds of dust began to rise out the cave like a sort of discoloured smoke. Pickle gave whoops and cries over the braveness of his dragon. "Beat it's socks off, yer great fat lump of fat!" He said, raising a fist in the air.

[storm]

Storms eyes flung open right as the Gronkle shot at her. She dislodged from the wall, rocks tumbling down onto her back. She cried out, half trapped under the rocks, but soon got free. Blood trickled from right above her left eye. She breathed heavily. "I have no quarrel with you, Gronkle." She hissed between breaths.

Like a lightning bolt she slammed into the gronkle, wings flared open. She crawled onto his back and held onto the dragon like a fly on a web. She started to beat her wings, stirring up the dust and spinning them around. The whirlwind of dust and debris became stronger, but it didn't faze her. She controlled wind with her massive wings.

She suddenly got a dirty trick in her mind. If the gronkle tossed her off, she could play dead. Hopefully, that one human that couldnt even attack her would come a bit to close. Then she could strike. But in the meanwhile, she wrapped her long tail around Trolleys waist and held on with all her might.

[Kenna & Fenrir]

As Kenna felt her feet leave the ground slightly when Mr Pickles started to pull her away (which reminded her how strong he really was, she might not be the same size as him, but she wasn’t exactly Luna in size either) she was able to watch as Trolley shot towards the dragon. She should tell that her shouts hadn’t worked at all, she needed a few more lessons with Sven it would seem.

As the two of them ran out, she heard the explosions of Trolleys shots and her mind once again wished she’d brought some of her contraptions, it would be so good to see if they actually worked on dragons, but not today, she would have to wait until the next time they left. She was glad she had come out now, this way she wouldn’t be trapped inside with nothing actually defending her. She wondered whether the dragon would back down or if Trolley would have to take it out.

She heard her companion shout encoregment towards his partner, and Kenna couldn’t help but smile to herself. The village needed people like Mr Pickles, mad Vikings that have helped with uot stability, Keeping our homes safe and without fear…

…That’s what her Uncle thinks anyway…

[PMG3E]

Trolley didn't react in time as the Galewing created a mini-dust storm that outmatched his. Despite the confined space, Storm seemed to have no difficulty in controling the wind around her. Before he could do anything else, The Galewing knocked him out the air, landing on the floor with a sickening thud. As soon as Trolley stood up on his stubby little feet, the sky dragon clung to his back, long tail wrapped tightly around his wide belly. Although the grip was tight, Trolley didn't feel much.

Though weighed down, he still had use of his legs, and slowly turned around to make for the cave's exit. Sure, it was a risky thing to do, but Trolley guessed that if this dragon didn't want to fight him, they could maybe come to some sort of agreement. As he slowly trudged back through the tunnel, he grunted with the effort.

"Don't hurt these humans." He said gruffly, through the strain of dragging extra weight. Sure, he had pulled a cart up the other day, but a dragon is heavier than a cart in his opinion, especially a ravenous one with it's tail tightly wrapped around his stomach. "The man has a fierce reputation among dragonkin. I would not be suprised if that punch of his is still hurting you. If you continue to be a threat, I think he will kill you quicker than I could."

That said, harsh encouragements and nasty words that shouldn't be repeated could be heard echoing down the cave system. Trolley found it quite funny, but didn't want to laugh in case he got a bad reaction from the Galewing on his back. After a while, he became tired of the burden, he slumped to the ground halfway, the daylight reflecting off moist rocks in the distance. He didn't care much that the galewing's tail was trapped underneath his gargantuan body. It would serve her right in a way.

"Do not harm the humans. They have no quarrel with you." He stated finally, using Storm's own words against her. He hoped dearly that the Galewing would comply and leave him alone so he could get back to his nap. Trolley was obviously fed up and his face clearly showed that he no longer wanted to continue this meaningless conflict. He would let go of the Galewing's tail when she agreed. Otherwise, Storm's tail would slowly get crushed underneath his weight.

[storm]

Storm felt the weight of the gronkle pressing down on her tail. She winced, feeling it crack painfully. She thought quickly, rocking from side to side, left to right. This would unbalance the gronkles stance, its stubby legs useless against her weight being shifted to one side. Storm continued to do this, her tail loosening.

One more time, and her tail slid off and she leaped off, leaving the gronkle unbalanced. She bounded towards the entrance, her long legs making the distance short. Storm spotted the humans ahead, and she leaped.

She shot upwards, creating a huge gust as she exited the cave and into the sky, she circled above, looking towards the ground and screeching at the top of her lungs. She wasn't done, not even close. She curved, turning around and aligning herself with Kenna. She dived, her wings folding as she sped towards the human. Her claws were fully extended, ready to strike. She went for the least prepared human, one who probably wont punch her in the face.

(OOC: Sorry its short.)

[Kenna & Fenrir]

The dragon was correct in it’s assumptions, Kenna wasn’t as prepared for the attack as Mr Pickles…It wasn’t that she wasn’t unarmed (although a pickaxe isn’t an effective weapon to be honest) neither was she unaware of what was happening or that the dragon was going towards her. It’s more the fact that Mr Pickles will always be more prepared for an attack from a dragon than Kenna, no matter what.

In most things Mr Pickles beat her, but there was one thing where she was better than him, a thing that looking at her you wouldn’t realise. It wasn’t that she wasn’t strong, or that she couldn’t fight, both were apparent when looking at her. It came from the fact that she owned a temermental dragon that lived in the house with her.

She had a very quick reacting time.

Kenna jumped backwards into the cave and moved into a roll as she felt the force of the dragon land where she had been. As she got back up, she saw Mr Pickles and Trolley come her aid. She looked down at her hands to see her pickaxe was no longer in her hand, she looked back and saw it was in the area that she had been in and where the dragon was now. (OOC: take that last part as you will storm )

[PMG3E]

Trolley grumbled as he was rocked side to side, attempting to stay put. But the frustration of the Galewing rendered the effort useless, and the beast was free, hurtling towards the cave's exit. Bumbling after it, he dearly hoped it would leave and not bother it, but before he could even exit the cave, Kenna had rolled into the cave, almost crashing into him! Giving a deep rumble in his throat, he helped Kenna back up onto her feet.

Looking up, he saw that deep purple Galewing almost smash into the ground. As most Gronckles are, Trolley was dim. But it was still obvious what that dragon's intentions were. It made Trolley mad.

Meanwhile, Pickle wasn't as quick as Kenna, though the dragon wasn't after him this time. He managed to sidestep out of the dragon's impact. Pickle beamed, not because Kenna was safe, but because the Dragon had stupidly got itself into punching distance.

Pickle took advantage of the mere seconds of the dragon cushioning it's contact with the ground, and realising it's prey was gone to throw a powerful punch square into the dragon's cheekbone.

"She 'ent in our fight, beast." He growled with pleasure. In the corner of his eye, he could see Trolley framed by the cave entrance, looking pretty angry. He stared Storm right in the eye, beard twitching with a smirk.

BOOM. Trolley made no hesitation to hit the Galewing this time, firing an explosive blast right into the Galewing's side. Not noticing Pickle behind the looming creature, he didn't realise that Pickle was also participating in the fight.

This dragon needed to go, one way or another. If the dragon tried anything new, Trolley would aim for the wings. If the dragon was clever, it would leave.