A month has passed since the three Dragons reunited.
Since then, they have acclimated to living with each other in this shared expanse.
Due to each of them possessing their own unique habitats, territorial conflict was virtually nonexistent.
The savannah was a playground for NINE, and he made countless burrows through the sandy earth. This land was exceptionally easy to excavate for him and that was perhaps done on purpose by the humans.
SEVEN took to the skies, taking roost upon the tall spires erected from stone and rock that adorned the savannah. The dry trees and bushes made for excellent materials to make a nest, and he did so on the tallest spire for comfortable housing.
As for the rivers and lake, they naturally belonged to ELEVEN. His dorsals could often be seen on the surface of the water, and he found comfort even with the higher temperatures of the water.
Now he was laid out on the river bank, gaping with his mouth wide open as he took in the cool air, a behaviour inherited from the crocodile.
As a warm-blooded creature, ELEVEN had no need to cool himself in this way. But he still did it, mainly out of recreation.
It was relaxing.
For this past month, his diet has not changed. That cow from back then turned out to be a special case, unfortunately. It was probably to lure them together into the same general area.
The humans periodiocally released Skullcrawlers to the new enclosure, leaving the hunt to ELEVEN and his brothers.
Although... they seemed to be getting bigger.
Rather than increasing the amount of Skullcrawlers outright, the humans had chosen to release older ones, who were still juveniles, but significantly larger.
This made them tougher to take down, and they were even more intelligent, able to evade certain death countless times.
But against three powerful Dragons, each possessing human-level intellect and their own specializations?
It was a given that they'd be cooked.
Or boiled in this case since ELEVEN now made use of his boiling breath more often to kill them as quickly as possible.
SEVEN gawked at the spectacle when the Sea Dragon first showed it off. Why couldn't he have such a convenient ability?
In comparison, his own sonic scream had less time in the spotlight since it couldn't be isolated to target a single opponent.
Fundamentally, as an 'area-of-effect' ability, it was quite prone to friendly fire, which made ELEVEN want to bat him out of the air whenever his eardrums had to deal with that nonsense.
As for NINE, he took the brunt of the attacks, acting as a tank that greedily absorbed damage as he tore through their numbers. That being said, he didn't really receive much damage considering his overall durability and speed.
When NINE began devouring his prey after the first hunt since they reunited, the other two were shaken by his enthusiasm.
"How can you stomach that thing so eagerly?" SEVEN had asked at the time with an expression of pure disbelief.
To that, NINE didn't even take his eyes off of the rapidly dwindling corpse, only bothering to respond between his chewing. "Are you kidding me? These are the best prey I've ever tasted!"
SEVEN and ELEVEN could only glance at each other as they shared a speech less thought.
What the hell was wrong with him?
At least, the other brother shared the sentiment as both left much of the Skullcrawlers uneaten, only munching on what they needed to keep themselves from losing weight.
Which left a rather satisfied NINE as he engorged himself on the skull-headed serpents.
Though he didn't eat their bones, as he was no hyena, leaving many parts of the savannah littered with the skulls of Skullcrawlers, making it appear like a giant graveyard.
ELEVEN opened his eyes and lifted his gaze as a shadow fell over his features.
The Sky Dragon had landed before him and used his clawed wings to waddle closer.
"I've heard something that you might be interested in." SEVEN explained briefly as he schooled his features.
ELEVEN was slightly taken aback at this, but he simply nodded, curious as to what his brother had to say. "Go on..."
He opened his mouth, then paused, perhaps in deep consideration as to how he should explain it. SEVEN shook his head and decided on just going with the blunt approach.
"You will be sent out soon."
ELEVEN blinked at this revelation.
"Sent out? What are you talking about?" He quickly got on his feet, demanding an explanation.
"The humans..." SEVEN began answering. "They're planning on 'deploying' you in a couple days' time. With my understanding, that means they are taking you out to the outside world."
It should be noted that with SEVEN's ability to mimic any and all noises, he could also mimic human speech.
Because of this, they had trained him in his earlier years specifically to better do so.
Through that experience, SEVEN had gained a decent understanding of the English language.
Though a bit bare bones, it was more than enough to understand what they were talking about when he overheard them whilst flying.
The humans never entered the enclosure directly, but there were spaces that connected their facility to the enclosure. After all, they had to release the Skullcrawlers from somewhere, right?
With his exceptional hearing due to his bat and barn owl DNA, SEVEN occasionally overheard them speaking.
And of course, he had always relayed what he could to his siblings. There was no reason to keep these pieces of information for himself, especially when it could benefit the other two.
"The outside world?" ELEVEN repeated in scrutiny. "Do you seriously still believe in that crap?"
The outside world was a concept that ELEVEN could hardly imagine.
After all, he had seen nothing but the underground his entire life, and he reasoned that there couldn't possibly be any more of the world than what he had already witnessed.
As for where the Skullcrawlers came from? Of course, there were surely other expanses similar to where ELEVEN currently resided with his brothers. He imagined that it must be an even more desolate place considering how voracious and ravenous every Skullcrawler acted, as though they were starving.
But SEVEN could never share that contentedness with their so-called world. As a flying beast, he had always felt trapped and constricted in this underground environment.
The thought that there was nothing else aside from that would indeed be a truly hopeless scenario for the Sky Dragon.
"That crap?" SEVEN mimicked his words as he repeated them back to him before returning to his true voice. "It's not crap at all, you musclehead!"
He cawed and flapped his wings in outrage as ELEVEN merely blinked.
As always, this birdy refused to back down.
SEVEN had heard of vague conversations of the outside world, and he was desperate to never let it go.
He hated the damn ceiling and what it represented.
Because even if it was real, what would they even do with this information?
It's not like they could dig out.
NINE had tried countless times since they had been juveniles, and he never succeeded.
The outer layer of each enclosure was wrapped in thick, reinforced bedrock that presumably went on for who knows how long.
ELEVEN seriously doubted he could puke out enough acid from his stomach to melt the bedrock down for NINE to dig through.
He'd absolutely get the shittiest diarrhea from trying to do that.
The two paused as the third brother soon entered the conversations, sliding down on the nearby hillside as he interjected. "What are you guys talking about?"
SEVEN quickly filled him in on the matter as NINE widened his eyes.
"For real? You're being sent out!?" He asked as he stared at ELEVEN. He appeared utterly amazed at the possibility. "You're gonna have to tell us what the outside looks like when you return!"
Just imagining it was enough to make NINE wag his clubbed tail in excitement.
Although he was a bit envious that he wasn't him who was chosen, he understood in the end that the humans had to have their own reasons for doing so.
And indeed, it was because ELEVEN was the safest out of the three to deploy for the first time as a flying giant pterosaur was extremely easy to spot and a giant porcupine lizard was too unpredictable, even if he could change his colours.
In contrast, ELEVEN who was well-hidden beneath the murky water quickly became the chosen one.
"Of course," ELEVEN promised sincerely. "I'll try..."
"That's assuming you even return." SEVEN spoke his thoughts about the situation, which drew out a loud gasp from the Earth Dragon.
NINE's tail stopped dead in its tracks as he lowered his neck in concern. "What do you mean...?"
"Is he not going to return?"
Now that was a sobering thought that ELEVEN hated having.
Yet he knew the possibility was definitely not something that could be disregarded that easily.
"Oh, come on." SEVEN began with a scoff. "We've experienced this already. They're taking him away, and next, they'll take another one, and then... we'll be separated all over again!"
"It doesn't matter that we have been reunited. They only wanted to make sure we hadn't forgotten each other, and that has clearly been proven to be the case already!"
SEVEN's neck sails bristled as he said these words, conveying the current dilemma within his mind.
On one hand, he'd sacrifice a leg and an eye just to see what the outside world looked like and maybe even try flying up there, but...
N-No, he couldn't do it.
He couldn't abandon his family again after not seeing them for so long. Even though he'd never admit it, SEVEN had been the one to cry the loudest when they were separated as children.
There had to be another way, there had to be!
...Right?
He was desperately hoping the others would have an answer to that question.
Yet after his words had solidified in their minds, the only answer that was given was a steely silence, one maintained by the uncertain future.
NINE was distraught with this possibility, and it showed.
His firm shoulders had sagged, and his tail rested on the floor. The Earth Dragon's eyes kept alternating between his two brothers as he gritted his teeth.
"I'm not letting them do that," NINE growled as his deep set eyes narrowed. "I'm not letting them take you two away from me again!"
But that bravado was as a brief as a flickering flame as NINE slumped on the floor. "But what we even do? What can I even do?"
The humans would definitely have a clever scheme on how they would go about this. There was no way they already didn't have countermeasures in case NINE attacked them when they transported his brother.
In the end, it was unexpectedly ELEVEN himself who proposed a solution.
"Perhaps," He spoke up, tasting the idea on his tongue he revealed it to them. "We can just break ourselves out."
It was a bold idea, a reckless idea, but the only one that made all three straighten.
"Break... out...?" NINE repeated with eyes that were crossed with a mixture of grim determination and sheer hopelessness.
Breaking out was a gamble through and through. They didn't have any idea what the outside world would look like.
After all, there was also the very plausible fact that it might just be even worse out there than it was in here.
But if it meant staying together until the very end, NINE would not hesitate to follow through with it.
Unfortunately, SEVEN remained doubtful of that solution. "Surely not...? What are we even supposed to do?"
ELEVEN briefly closed his eyes at that question as he breathed softly.
"I have a plan."
The statement was resolute as he opened his eyes and gazed at the other two.
"You both just need to play your parts right. I can't guarantee this'll work, but... at least, we would have tried instead of just letting it happen."
With that, ELEVEN slowly began to explain his elaborate scheme, one that would surely rival any average human in cunning.
***
And... publish! Any thoughts?
If you like my work, please comment and review! I thrive off of these interactions.
Power Stones too, don't forget.