Cuddles & Dragons: Nightshade Edition

"I mean... I never really tried this thing before" Nightshade replied, moving over to sit between Suzume and Aya. He munched down on his own food, enjoying the taste.

"That would be pretty cool though. To have a dragon pet that can fight with me." He nodded, leaning slightly to check on Drago. The guy had been stranagely quiet. He wasn't really worried about it, seeing as the other navi was just enjoying his own food as well.

"I don't even know where to look for an Sp core mission. I guess I need to find a BBS or something."

Having finished his meal, the little navi wiggled closer to the two dragon sisters and tucked his feet under him. He spread his paws wide in front of him, observing how the armored gauntlets wrapped around his fingers.

"You know...wearing this armor feels nice." He whispered, opening and closing his hands. "I can still feel some residue of Drago's energy permeating it. It's...warm. like being hugged from all sides."

He let his hand drop to the sides and looked down at his chest plate.

"I don't understand how no one would never even say hi. You guys aren't bad, and I'd die to be part of your team. I mean. Who wouldn't want to be friends with dragons? Plus you give me all this and you're helping me with the SP deal."
DragonierMan was quiet because he was eating a lot. Just shoveling food into his mouth. Besides, the others were basically saying everything that needed to be said. Drago wouldn't have much more to add. Except for at the end when Nightshade went on about his SP stuff.

He placed his now empty plate down and wiped his chin with his hand. "It should be easy to get an SP core. We belong to the Neo-Shogunate faction and they have the resources to provide SP cores. I got most of my SP cores from them after all. Take a mission from them and we'll help you through it. We help out the faction, you get your dragon ally, everyone wins."

Nightshade nodded. He eanst too big on the faction gae, but he didn't really need to think about that at all right now. Drago told him where he could find a SP program and he would get his own partner.

"S-suzume..." he called out, looking at the dragonier with so much hope in his eyes he could have exploded. "You're a dragon no? A pet dragon sounds like a great responsibility so uuh...can you...teach me how to properly ride on a dragon's back?" He timidly asked. He didn't know how she looked as a dragon but if his partner was going to be based off her he would need to grow accustomed to that.

"M-maybe you could teach me how to be a dragon too." He added looking at his armor. He had been absorbing Drago's residual energy. Maybe it wouldn't be long before the first changes would happened. He just wished they werent going to be so bad.
Suzume also put down her plate. "Of course I can teach you," she said, giving Nightshade a soft smile. Clearly trying to put him at ease from all his nervousness. "Though we should wait until you actually have your dragon companion, before we can figure out the proper way to ride it. All dragons are different you see," she explained.

"And depending on how you design it, you could make it too small to ride," Magistrate added. "A smaller size, similar to your own, would allow it to accompany you through doorways and into buildings where a car or jet-sized dragon would not be able to fit," she further expanded. "You should make sure you think about things like that when designing your companion."

Aya also jumped into the conversation. "If you start it out man-sized, you could also do what we do and use .GMOs to give it a larger, ridable size. That way you have the best of both worlds." Magistrate nodded, as that was a helpful suggestion on combining the two in a way that would deal with both problems.

Drago got up and headed back to the stand, handing over the dirty plate and empty skewers. He turned back around and called the party to clean up. "Now that our bellies are full, let's head over to the BBS building and get the kid signed up for a mission!" he said with a little fist pump, before pointing toward the tall mission administration building in the distance. "What types of missions do you like doing anyways?" he asked as they started to clean up and get ready to head out.

Nightshade helped his new "family" clean up their waste and then quickly grab both Suzume's and Aya's hands with his paws. He quietly listened to all their suggestions. They were obviously speaking with experience, so he would have to agree with everything they said.

"Right. Well. Maybe I could make him uuh...like...8ft big and 16feet long. He could still fit through most doors and he would be actually a pretty decent size for me to ride on him. I'm not that big, all things considered."

Walking side by side with the two dragoniers, he looked over to Dragonierman once again as he asked about what mission type he usually did or liked. "W-well...about that..." He mumbled with a sheepish look. "I...I never did any sort of mission. I don't really know what kind of mission I would like. Plus, I know next to nothing about your faction, so I really have no idea what they would ask me in exchange for a Sp core."

The little honorary dragonier fell quiet, hoping the much more experienced navi would once again nudge him in the right direction and pick a mission for him.
DragonierMan smiled a toothy grin. "Great! We'll go with whatever they decided they need help with then," he said. "It's good to be open and flexible to new experiences and challenges." He lead the way with Magistrate, Suzume and Aya taking up the rear with Nightshade between them.

"So the Neo-Shogunate are Net Imperialists hoping to gather the entire Net under one unified banner. Hopefully when we are done, the world will be much more orderly, and the amount of conflicts we have on a daily basis will go down significantly. They started out trying to do that unification by the sword, and rubbed a lot of people wrong by doing it. So they switched gears and have been trying to recruit and expand, make contacts and the like, through diplomacy instead of violence," Drago explained.

"Now that is not to say that there isn't still violence. There are still plenty of battles to be fought, and that suits me just fine. I was created to be a warrior Navi after all, not one used for business or as a personal assistant," he said with a flex of his arm. "So I prefer the more militant expeditions." He sighed. "However, I keep being thrust into non-combat roles more often than not. So every now and then I have to go bust some viral heads out there in the wilds. You caught us after such an expedition. Which is why I have been more relaxed than I probably would be if you caught me on a bad day," he concluded. His eyes narrowed slightly for a moment as he thought about it, betraying a hint of the dangerous bestial darkness buried deep inside him, screaming to be unleashed to freely cut a swath of destruction through everything nearby.

"But enough about me, tell me about yourself?" he asked Nightshade.

Nightshade kept squeezing Aya and Suzume's hands with his paws as he spoke.

"Well...I don't have much to say. I am still a very newly coded navi...technically neither I or shane know much about me. I'm supposed to be some sort of older model. My netop adopted me because he didn't know how to customize a navi. Hell he didn't even know how I would look until he installed me into a navi shell."

He looked down at himself and then back at drago. "I just...have thing thing inside me...I can like...feel other navi's energies. That's the reason strong people like you kinda...uuh attract me. I don't know why buy I feel better if I'm closer to other strong navi's or strong sp's energies. Wearing your armor feels so nice and warm...I seriously feel stronger. I dunno. Maybe I'm crazy"

He quieted down and simply stared at the ground for a while,listening to the the metallic tinkering of the dragoniers' armors as they walked.

"All I know is that I want to be a dragonier too. I wanna be as strong and cool as you guys are...and well...maybe like...uuh...have someone I can look up to."
The four dragoniers listened to Nightshade's story as they entered the building with him. It didn't take them long to find the floor/area where they normally took Neo-Shoguns missions from and made their request.

"So how new are we talking about here? How much experience do you have out there interacting with people? Both other navis and operators? With fighting monsters? How many Nets have you traveled?" Aya asked.

"Aya," Suzume said with an edge in her voice that said to drop it. Clearly Suzume thought that Aya was being rude and looking to pick the fight back up with those questions. Aya turned to address Suzume with a defensive look. "What? These are pertinent questions. I'm trying to have a calm, rational discussion about the kid's status."

Nightshade looked up at Aya, squeezing her hand. He chuckled.

"I will tell you after you let me see how you look as a dragon." He mischievously stated. She could guess the reason for thay would be cuddles. Dragon cuddles. Since he was told both Aya and Suzume wherre dragons the little cat navi was trying to get them to show him their most feral form. "If you show me your Dragon form I will tell you everything you want to know."
Aya gave Nighshade a look.

"I would advise against assuming your dragon form inside a building," Magistrate commented. Aya rolled her eyes and threw up her hands. "Gah. Fine." She pushed past them toward the exit, muttering in expletives as she went.

When she was outside, and found a suitable open area for the transformation, she began to react similarly to DragonierMan when he had his transformation. As she changed and grew into her dragon form, her armor and clothing was subsumed into her, giving her scales a dark obsidian sheen. She sprouted large leathery wings, fanned ears, a set of curly, ram-like horns, and a long tapered tail. Unlike Drago, the Aya dragon didn't have a lavish mane of course hair. Instead she had two parallel rows of fins going down her back, starting from her head. She was all black and purple.

Reference



Nightshade's eyes grew big as Aya finally showed him how she looked like. The little armored feline couldn't simply stand stil, zipping left and right up and down, taking in every single detail of Aya's form. He seemed to be particularly intrigued by the texture of her huge wings.

Stopping over right in front of the dragon's snout, he walked closer and pressed one of his fuzzy paw hands lightly on her chest. He was dying to hug her, but perhaps it was best not bother the dragoness too much.

"Alright. Well..." He started, gently rubbing Aya's chest, feeling her scales. "I have been in Yoka, ACDC and well, Electown nets. As per battle stuff, I have already encountered and dealth with MetaViruses...even if I did need a little help."

Then, the little feline jumped up and settled down onto Aya's back. "I already have one Cross registered under my name too...man, your scales feels so much softer than Drago's. It's...it's like silk or something."

Nightshade was trying to be incredibly gentle with his movements, but one could tell he was way more excited to be mounting Aya than Drago himself. Turning his head over to Suzume, his ears flicked with curiosity once more. "And how do you look like, Big Sis?" He asked, really hopeful to see Suzume's dragon form as well.
"Similar to Aya," Suzume replied from the ground. She had pulled down a lock of her golden hair in her hands and was stroking it absentmindedly. "We are identical twins after all. The only differences are that my coloring is silver and blue instead of black and purple. And instead of ram's horns, I have one straight horn, like a rhino or unicorn."

One thing that Nightshade would've pick up by now was that Suzume and Aya were somewhat shorter than DragonierMan, by about 2/3rds of a foot in estimation. Their dragon forms also were smaller and sleeker. Instead of being a broad bus size, they were sized more like a minivan. Still, they were big enough for at least one to two people to ride on. An idea dawned in Magistrate's eyes.

"You three should have some fun for a while, while I wait for the mission with Drago," Magistrate suggested while giving Suzume a push. Clearly she just wanted a babysitter while the 'adults' discussed business. Suzume turned around to protest for a moment, but was stopped cold by an icy glare from Magistrate. Suzume slinked over and climbed up behind Nightshade on Aya's back. Magistrate waved at them as Aya began to beat her wings and rose into the air like a VTOL. It wasn't long before they soared into the air again. And Magistrate went back inside.

Nightshade grabbed onto Aya's neck as he found himself flying around once again. This time though, he had his new big sister with him. Wiggling his back into Suzume's chest, Nightshade was experiencing the definition of awesome and comfy.

"...Aya..." he mumbled. "Do you think I get to turn into a dragon too now that I have Drago's armor? Every time you guys transform, the armor you wear merges into your bodies..."

He wouldn't mind being a dragon. It would be a cool experience for sure. He would need just a little more of Drago's energy...but it could be doable.
"It merges with us, because armor sized for humanoids wouldn't fit our larger dragon bodies," Suzume explained, leaning in so she could be heard. She being the only one who could hear Nightshade's mumbling over the roar of the wind. The dragon wasn't doing any special tricks or anything, just making a scenic tour of the city. The skyscrapers, office buildings, residencies, etc. passed below them as they flew high enough to get above the skyline. If the group wanted to check something out closer in, Nightshade should probably ask them in a voice that could be heard over the noise.

Beep.

Suzume put her hand to her ear as she received a call. "Looks like we got a mission in Netfrica hunting things. Drago is calling you for your approval. After you accept, and we get the coordinates, we'll take you straight there through one of the Netfrica portals. Though if you want, we can head back to the BBS Building so you can talk to Drago and the mission provider yourself," she relayed to Nightshade.

The little navi thought for a moment. Well, for whatever reason, they were going to Netfrica to bust some viruses for the Neo-Shogunate. Drago seemed to be some kind of big rank in them, and they seemed cool in the end. Swiping his paw to open up a holo screen with the mission's details, he tilted his head. So they wanted Zoanoroids to participate in some kind of chinese thing in...netfrica. He guessed he could fit the Tiger role in the zodiac, while the dragoniers obviously would be well...actual dragons.

Turning over to Suzume, while still keeping himself cuddled to Aya, he nodded. "Tell Big Bro I accept the mission as well. Oh Oh, and tell the Shogun guy I want a New Shogunate outfit." He squealed over the wind.

Now turning to Aya under him. "Aya, you're so awesome. Thanks for letting me ride on your back." He thanked the dragon. Better late than never. "Can I stay here a little more?"
"Oh?" Suzume asked coyly while tapping Nightshade's draconic helmet with one hand. "Already tired of the armor we gifted you?" The dragon laughed. Suzume placed the hand on her ear and sent the confirmation. "Confirmation sent," she said.

The dragon continued to soar through the sky. "Yes, you can stay where you are," Aya called back over her shoulder. "We'll be transitioning like this once we receive the coordinates. Until then just enjoy the ride." The dragon banked to one side and headed towards the entertainment district. Many flashing neon signs and advertisement billboards soon dominated the landscape below.
"Oh no, no, not at all!" Nightshade quickly replied, squeezing his body closer to Aya . "This new armor I have it's amazing. I can feel Drago's powers all over it...and Yours and Aya's too!"

He seemed genuinely scared of losing it. "Wearing it makes me feel...so much more powerful than usual. Plus it's only connection I have with all of you. I...kinda want to stay with you all. I wouldn't mind having...well...a family like this."

The little feline looked down at his chest, where Drago's symbol was embossed in the metallic plate. "I'm a dragonier too." He mumbled, loud enough for both Aya and Suzume to hear. "I'm a dragonier too now. And I want to stay here. Maybe if I keep wearing this armor and stay in contact with Drago's energy I'll get my dragon form too."

He relaxed his muscles a bit when Aya allowed him to stay with her further. He was getting rather used to riding on dragon's backs now. He would even properly shift his weight to help Aya turn. His eyes shined with glee as he began seeing all the pretty colored lights below.

"This...this is the best day of my life." He stated, hugging himself to Aya's neck.
Beep.

Another chime went through everyones' commlink as they were fed the coordinates to the mission location. Suzume gripped Nightshade as Aya steered for a Netfrica portal. "Hang on," she called out as the dragon dived toward the portal. Assuming Nightshade didn't jump off or anything, he would be shunted through the portal while on dragon-back. DragonierMan and Magistrate followed through by a similar route.
Nightshade simply let out happy giggles, enjoying his secon trip on dragon's back. He was going to Netfrica it seemed. But most fun of all he was going there as a member of the dragoniers and was going to do some actual stuff with Drago. He was so excited. He wondered if he would get some cool experience out of this.

He wondered if Shane was fine with this, but he did say he knew he would be in good company. So it was probably okay.