Who would've thought that the jungle was so dangerous? There are Venus Dragon-Traps everywhere, snapping their mouths around viciously as soon as something barely touches it (they also have a sweet smell that attracts dragons!); pitcher plants that swallow dragons up with their enormous mouths that contain a sticky sap that makes it impossible to get out; and sundews that trap you with their tentacles and keep you there, slowly eating you!
[[keep going]]The towering trees have their thick, long trunks which you have to dig your talons in their branches if you don’t want to fall into a Venus Dragon-trap, or maybe get tangled in the long vines. The damp mud (similar to quicksand) is always trying to gulp you down in an uncomfortable shade of dark brown.
[[continue]]No dragon has ever ventured there and came back alive.
[[what's next?]]Yet after the Tree Wars, Sundew’s parents and all the other Leafwings decided that it was the only choice any leafwing had if all of the remaining Leafwings wanted to survive on the giant, dragon-shaped continent Pantala. Of course, all of the Leafwings could have gone to the Distant Kingdoms, but it is a very long flight and there is a small chance that you would survive. Not many Pantalan dragons even believe that the distant kingdoms exist, and very few Pyrrhian dragons believe that the Lost Continent exists, either.
[[explore Poison Jungle]]
[[stay for battle plans]]Sundew decided she wanted to explore more of the Jungle even though Sundew’s mother, Commander Belladonna, did not grant Sundew permission to leave the Village because of plans to set Tsetse Hive on fire. Sundew saw a still, reflective little pond. Sundew looks at her reflection: a dragon with webbed frills on her back, amazing lime and mint wings shaped like leaves, and an emerald and jade body with gold scales scattered all over and stuff.
Then a leafwing awkwardly leaped out of a bush, stumbled, and fell. She got up so quickly that she fell again. Sundew helped her up.
[[some talking]]
[[run away]]Sundew decided that she should stay in the village for battle plans. It was pretty boring, with Sundew’s mother, Commander Belladonna, barking orders at leafwings and starting arguments on what to do and how to do it.
“No, that’ll be obvious! We need to attack from here!” Belladonna yelled, jabbing her talon at the map.
“Oh, come on, they’ll see us coming from there!” Sundew complained. It was never a good sign when her mother was like this.
“There are less guards stationed here! That area is swarming with them! That area also has a million silkwings! They are not going to let us go! They are just going to the nearest ‘hivewing authority’ and we’ll get caught!”
“Well… what if we did not attack Tsetse hive?” Sundew’s father, Hemlock, asked.
“Why wouldn't we?” Belladonna asked.
“We could take a direct attack on Wasp Hive,” he suggested. “I mean, Queen Wasp is our main problem. Remember the time she sent hivewings to destroy the forest, and all of them died? She started the Tree Wars and thought she killed all of us 50 years ago, so why don’t we do that? It will eliminate our biggest enemy,”
“He has a point,” Sundew said.
“Okay, ” Belladonna finished. “Let’s do that.”
Their plan had to happen at the right time. They could not decide when, so they brainstormed a lot. They came up with a bunch of ideas, but none of them were good.
“All we know is that we need to attack before they attack us.” Hemlock said.
Belladonna dismissed the meeting. Sundew just layed down. She was tired. Suddenly, she saw an ant crawling around her room. It was tiny, and she looked as close as she could at it. It crawled on her and bit her (for some random reason.) then she recognized the ant. She had been bitten by one of these before. This was the myrmica rubra ant, or the common fire ant. It hurt more than usual. Little did she know that she would be almost exactly like them soon. She fell asleep. She woke up some time later, not noticing what had happened to her. She was small. So small, that every time she saw a dragon, it looked like a giant. Every time she tried to find an ant colony, they did not let her join. She never joined a colony, and she never found anywhere to live. She eventually died a sad, slow death. she never even found out if the hive was destroyed.
“Who are you? Why have I never seen you in the village?” Sundew asks automatically.
“Hi,” the leafwing answers cheerfully. “I’m Willow. Are you a Poisonwing?”
“What? What’s a Poisonwing? and where are you from?” She answered as Sundew knew where.
“Obviously. The leafwing village,”
When it was time to leave, Sundew asked willow in the same spot the next day. She asked her mother what a Poisonwing is, and her mother told her, “WE are the real Leafwings! Those Sapwings are just real cowards that can’t fight when they need to!”
[[battle plans]]The next few days Sundew had to stay in the village. The Leafwings were planning to set Tsetse Hive on fire. After four days, they finished their plan but they had to wait for the right time for their plan to commence. That night Sundew snuck out to try and run into Willow. She walked through the obstacles easily because of how much she had explored without permission. She walked over to the river.
[[stare at it creepily]]
[[jump in]]
[[go back to the village]] She could see a Bladderwort and a Waterwheel. She put her talons to the ground and found the tendrils of plant roots twisted into the soil. She found the right roots and told the plants, don’t eat me, she thought.
“Wwhhhhyyy…?” The waterwheel answered.
“Deeeliisssioousssss…” The bladderwort hissed.
I’m bitter and gross. She answered to the plants. Here, she thought. Have this instead. She stood up and found two big, muddy rocks. She hurled the rocks, one at a time, into the still pond, and the collision between the two things made giant splashes. The bladderwort and the waterwheels launched themselves at the rocks, gobbling them up.
Mmmmm…..... The bladderwort thought.
There, Sundew told them. Satisfied?
"Thanks", thought the waterwheel. Apparently, it liked rocks.
Now Sundew turned and saw Willow. How had she come so silently? She was always so loud when she arrived. Sundew had not heard a sound from over there. Anyway, it did not matter. Willow had come and that was all that mattered.
“Hello,” Willow said. “I haven’t seen you in days,”
“My mother wouldn’t let me go out,”
“She let you the first time?”
“No.”
“Then how did you get out?”
“I was a lot sneakier,”
“Come on. I want to show you something,”
[[follow her]]
[[go back to the village]]Sundew is gobbled up by plants and she dies Sundew retreated to the village and a couple days later they destroyed the hive and leafwings became the dominant spiecies on pantalaSundew retreated to the village and a couple days later they destroyed the hive and leafwings became the dominant spiecies on pantalaWillow raced through the forest, hopped over some boulders, flew over a patch of Venus Dragon-Traps, and dodged the field of sundews.
It must be important if she’s going this fast, Sundew thought. She followed Willow, trying to stay away from the big, towering trees that decided to grow very close together until they arrived into a dry patch of ground. It had to be at least 4,500 feet from one side to the other side. It was strangely shaped like a circle. First, she looked from side to side, but as soon as she looked up, a giant net was thrown on top of her.
Willow cackled. Suddenly she took out a piece of paper, scribbled on it, and morphed into the exact copy of Sundew. “Hello, me!” it laughed. “I bet you didn’t notice a thing!” two strong-looking Hivewings flew over there, one with orange-tinted wings, and deep orange scales and black scales scattered all over his body. The other one had yellow scales and pale yellow wings.
“You monster!” Sundew screamed.
“Oh, you’re a monster?”
“I never said that!”
“Oh, but I’m you!”
“You are not me! You are a monster!”
It just ignored her and turned to the guards.“Take her to Queen Wasp. We need to find out all the information we can.”
[[go sleep]]Sundew woke up later. She never remembered falling asleep, but she remembered the whole incident. She looked around the small room. It was stuffy and dry, it had a small window that not even a dragonet could escape. She was chained to the tree stuff wall.
“Hello.” said the Shapeshifter.
“Go away!” Sundew snarled.
“Why can’t I be in the presence of my twin?” it asked innocently.
“You are Not my Twin!”
“I guess you might be right,”
“Oh, I am right now?”
Suddenly it took out a piece of parchment and scribbled something on it. It ripped off the part that it had written on and put it in a black pouch on it. Suddenly it morphed into a new dragon. He was all the shades of green and was a type of dragon that she had never seen. “Hello,” he said. “I’m Chameleon. This is my real form,”
“Who are you and where are you from?”
“I already told you. My name is Chameleon. I am from Pyrrhia .”
“Where is that at?”
“Have you ever heard of the distant kingdoms?”
“No.”
“Well, that’s where I’m from,”
“Well go back then!”
“I don’t think I want to,”
“Why not?”
“Almost everyone there is after me, and anyway, Queen Wasp is paying me a lot to destroy you leafwings from the inside,” Chameleon strode away after that sentence. He took out the parchment again and transformed into a Hivewing.
How do I escape? Sundew thought. I need a plan! Suddenly she came up with an idea. She reached her arms to the ground and called to the plants. Suddenly a giant spike poked the wall. More kept coming and coming, and then a huge chunk of the treestuff fell out. She had communicated with a Dragonflame Cactus. How convenient, both Dragonflame cactus and treestuff She leaped out of the window with her wings spread out, and flew as fast as she could, heading for Dragonfly Bay. She assumed that everyone would think she was heading to the poison jungle, but she was not. She flew as fast as she could, heading south. She looked back at Wasp Hive. She saw tiny specks emerging from the hole in the wall. They’re looking for me, she thought. I need to fly faster, or they will certainly catch me. Luckily, not all of them were heading for her. They flew in all directions, with about two or three dragons heading towards her. Oh no, she thought. She’s mind-controlling them.
Queen Wasp had a power that she uses to mind-control Hivewings, and she can control just one, or a whole Hive, and even all of the Hivewings on Pantala at one time! She is definitely controlling all of Wasp Hive right now, Sundew realized. She flew even faster. After at least four hours of flying, she finally arrived at Dragonfly bay. The rocky terrain was filled with holes of all sizes but not one that was big enough for a dragon. She searched and searched and searched around until she found a giant slab of stone. She lifted it up and out of the way, revealing a very large cave big enough to stay in for the night. She fell asleep. A while later she woke up to voices.
[[voices]]She crawled out of the cave, with her talons almost touching the ground. She was ready to attack with her leafspeak. She looked out, trying not to get seen.
Two dragons were looking at her. One was a Silkwing. He had deep blue and purple scales, and he had no wings. His wing buds were like tiny little purple bumps, and his antennae were sticking out, trying to sense danger.
The second one was a hivewing. She had tiny glasses and veins on her bee-like wings and an orange-yellow (more yellow though) body with ink-blotches of black scales.
Quickly she set her talons on the stone ground. Algae lurched out of the water and wrapped around them, especially around the hivewing.
“Who are you?” Sundew was ready to summon a whole load more plants.
“I’m C- Cricket” the hivewing barely managed to say.
“I- I’m Blue” the silkwing hardly whispered.
“What are you doing here?”
She let the one named Blue go so he could explain.
“M- m- my sister L- Luna is missing,” he said. “She’s a flamesilk. We escaped, but just barely. They caught us, and she got washed to the sea. My friend Swordtail is looking for her.”
“She could have washed away to the Distant Kingdoms,” Sundew suggested.
The one named Cricket started to try to speak. Sundew let her go.
“T- That’s highly p- possible” she managed to say.
“Where is that?” Blue asked.
Sundew pointed to the water. “Across the ocean.”
“Are you saying my sister is hundreds of miles across the ocean?”
“Most likely, yes.”
Suddenly a dark sky blue dragon with Yellow patches all over popped out of nowhere. When he saw Sundew, he positioned his wrists, ready to shoot silk out of his wrists as an attack.
“Stop! She may be able to help us!” Blue yelled.
He suddenly he stopped in midair, toppling down until he stopped. He stood up cautiously, ready for if she attacked.
“This is Swordtail,” Blue explained. “He is me and Luna’s best friend and he tries his hardest to make sure we are safe,”
Sundew looked at Swordtail suspiciously. He did not look like he was planning something against her, but he sure did look sad.
“I can’t find Luna anywhere!” Swordtail told Blue and Cricket. “She’s missing!”
“Actually, she’s not.” Cricket told him. “Luna got washed away to the Distant Kingdoms,”
“How do you know?” Swordtail asked.
“Just think about it,” that was all Cricket said after.
[[go to Poison Jungle]]
In the morning Sundew, Cricket, Blue, and Swordtail headed to the Poison Jungle, going to warn the Leafwings about the Hivewing’s plans. They flew towards the direction of north, with Swordtail carrying Blue. They flew and flew and flew until they could not fly anymore. They stayed the night about halfway from there, planning to continue flying in the morning. She had a long, dreamless sleep, where it was just still nothingness. She woke up, still very sleepy. She got up nonetheless, and went hunting for food. She found 3 squirrels, a pigeon, and a rabbit. She went back and devoured the rabbit and a squirrel. Cricket was already awake. She walked out of the cave that they stayed in. Ugh.
Now I’m all alone with no one to talk to, she thought. Swordtail woke up next, yawning and stretching. She passed him a squirrel. He took it and ate it up really quick. Cricket entered again, with dead fish in her talons. She quickly made a fire and cooked the fish. Swordtail snached the pigeon from the two animals left.
[[arguments]]
“Hey! Not all of that’s for you!” she scorned Swordtail.
“I’m hungry!”
“That doesn't mean it’s all for you!”
The sudden argument woke Blue up. “Wh- what’s going on?” he mumbled.
“Swordtail stole your food,” said Cricket. “But I can get you more,”
“No, it’s okay,” Blue said as Cricket slipped off outside to catch a pigeon.
[[get attacked]]We need to leave as soon as possible! Sundew thought. We could get caught if we don’t leave soon! Queen Wasp is searching everywhere for me! She walked outside and looked in the direction of Wasp Hive. She saw tiny little dots all around it. She’s still sending them out to look for us! The’re heading this direction! She ran back inside.
“We all need to leave right now! Queen Wasp is sending more hivewings out to catch us and they are coming this way!”
Blue stumbled to his feet, running towards Sundew. Swordtail started running to her.
“Wait! We need to get Cricket!”
But there was no time. A hivewing suddenly leapt out onto Blue’s back and stabbed him. Blue let out a howl of pain.
Wait, Sundew realized. Their eyes… they’re white! What is happening? Are they mind controlled? She put her talons on the mossy ground. Suddenly the moss started growing and growing and growing! It grew until it was completely covering the hivewing. She would be stuck in there for a long time.
“There are more coming! We have to hurry!”
Then they found Cricket. She was struggling to catch a pigeon.
“Cricket! We need to get to the Poison Jungle now!”
Then they all went as fast as they could, Swordtail carrying Blue, Cricket asking Swordtail, and Sundew, who had some time to worry about what her mother would do if she brought in a hivewing and two silkwings to the Poison Jungle.
“Hey, Cricket,” Sundew asked. “Were those hivewings mind controlled?”
“Yes. for some reason, Queen Wasp can mind control hivewings. I am not mind controllable,”
“She can’t control you?” Sundew asked, amazed.
“No. It’s just me that I know of. There may be more though. Queen Wasp doesn't mind control important dragons like the ones who own the hives.”
“So it’s just you?!”
“That is extremely possible,” Cricket said.
[[get to poison jungle]]
It was starting to get foggy. Sundew could barely see anything. She looked behind her and saw nothing. After about 30 minutes, she finally saw a it. The Poison Jungle’s shape was hard to see, but if you concentrate, you could see it.
“Step where I step and do what I do,” she told them. “Avoid that. That’s okay to touch. Stay away from that.”
She kept going on about it until they got to the village. As she guessed, her mother got furious. It took her a long time to convince her mother that they were on her side.
“We have visitors,” Belladonna told them. She led them to a place with the visitors. One was a silkwing. Two of them were from a tribe that she did not know.
“Lo!” Swordtail exclaimed. “I was so worried about you!”
“Swordtail!” they gave each other a giant hug.
“They are siblings. Io saved me from the Hivewings and I got away. Then we did not see Io for a long time.”
“Who are you?” she asked the two other dragons.
[[get an answer]]"I'm Tsunami, and this is Turtle," one of them said fiercely. She had webbed talons, and was many shades of blue. she had gills and glowing bioluminescent patches all over. the other one had aquagreen scales and gills and webbed talons, and he had a little gold armband with tiny rocks in it.
[[explinations]]"we came from Pyrrhia, and we never knew that this place existed until someone showed up. she says her name is Luna, and she needed our help to get back to Pantala." Turtle said.
"Okay, well they are looking for Luna," Sundew gestured at Cricket, Blue, and Swordtail. "but we need to fight back against the hivewing,s, and we are planning to attack. we need to do that really soon, or else they will attack."
[[get ready to destroy the hives]]Sundew and all of the other leafwings get ready to destroy the hives.
[[give up and surrender]]
[[follow all of the leafwings to destroy the hives]]surrender or die! Sundew surrenders and dies anywaySundew follows the leafwings to destroy the hives and they do and then they just go to Pyrrhia anyway and find Luna.