Investigate
we must determine what's going on
Yes, let's investigate
+1 to investigation
+1 investigation!
+1 investigation!
Investigate.
You release the cow from your hind claws and take to the air. It quickly becomes clear that whatever the source of the two sounds, they're headed at an angle in roughly the direction that you came from with Sophie. Given the human communication cellphones, you suspect that they're yet more human flying machines sent to investigate why the flying machine you destroyed lost contact.
In fact, that could explain the chirping. In the event of an attack, it might not always be practical for these machines or their riders to call for help. A surprise attack might succeed in destroying the machine before it could cry out. But if they're
constantly chirping, the fact of their silence would be as much a call for help as a deathcry. And if the machines can make the noises, surely they can listen for them as well? The cacophony is harsh to your ears, but most of it is well beyond human hearing. They almost definitely have the machines doing the listening for them.
1+ Investigate. With Caution.
Indeed. It seems that humans may have become considerably more clever over the centuries. It would be prudent to not underestimate them.
While you've still no visible sign of your quarry, it's clear that they're flying above the cloud level. You fly low over the water, your hind claws occassionally nipping the waves as you go.
You make a few observations.
First, unlike the majority of noises, the chirping sounds coming from your targets are at the same pitch. And, not only those two, but also from others you occasionally hear in the sky as well. The chirps are roughly the same,and occur at regular intervals. And yet slightly staggered from one another.The chips sung by your two targets flying together are very close. While the chirp of a different flyer you hear in another directions are similar, but noticeably staggered from the chirps of the two. It occurs to you that they might all be singing together in perfect unison, but because of distance their sounds might only seem displaced. Much like the delay between lightning and thunder. But you suspect that this is not the case. The timing...feels wrong, somehow.
Second, to your displeasure, it appears that your targets are
faster than you are. You're still approaching at relative angles, but from their sounds it's clear that they're gaining distance on you. Experimentally, you climb a few body lengths in altitude to avoid catching the water and beat your wings hard. Granted, this is not you at your fastest. You've recently awakened from a very long sleep, and you haven't fully recovered your strength. Even so, the idea that a human machine could outfly you is...very unexpected. In your time, no living creature could possibly hope to best a dragon in flightspeed. Not even the swiftest of falcons in a dive could keep pace with your horizontal flight.
And yet, the sounds of these flying machines you're following are becoming more distant.
...Yeah, with caution.
If they're able to outpace you, there may be implications to that. The faster flyer can compel the slower flyer to combat. The faster flyer, once engaged, can choose to flee if outmatched. The faster flyer can catch a slower opponent who attempts to flee. Of course that doesn't mean that the faster flyer always decide who
wins an engagement. While speed and maneuverability are important, very often a single successful strike can render an otherwise superior flyer unable to escape. And even the nimblest of fighter might find himself at a disadvantage if he lacks the power to penetrate his opponents scales.
But if you are the slower party, as you seem to be, that does mean that certain elements of an engagement, should one occur, would not be decided by you.
The helicopter machine was hopelessly frail. It was clumsy and lacking in maneuverability. But it was also slower than you. It seems
unlikely that these fast-moving human machines would be more powerful than you,
unlikely that their claws would be sharp enough to penetrate your armor,
unlikely that their scales would be hardy enough to endure yours.
But it is clear that these machines are swifter than you. And if they surpass you in this one way, speed, that no living creature has ever surpassed a dragon before, it's not completely out of the question that they might also surpass you in other ways.
As you consider this, your ears catch a change in their flight and you see a pair of creatures descend from the clouds.
It's difficult to judge size at this distance, but their overall build is clearly more sleek than yours. They somewhat remind you of eagles, with sharply pointed beaks, and tails significantly larger than their heads. Their wings, however, while very familiarly located at their sides, are ridiculously small in proportion to the rest of their body. You're uncertain how these creature are able to fly. Their wings are unmoving, and seem to be locked in a perpetual glide. And you're almost certain they would be incapable of maintaining a hover. And yet for all their deficiencies, it's clear that their build is that of a predator. Their arms and legs appear to sprout from their wings, each of which bears a number of strangely shaped and unusually long claws. You suspect that the eagle metaphor may be apt. Swift to strike with beak and claw, a terror to their chosen prey but not very durable. Quick to strike and quick to escape. Not well suited for lengthy up-close fighting. And unlike an eagle, which often hunts by lifting or unbalancing its prey and allowing it to fall to its death, you suspect that these creatures would have great difficulty carrying anything but their own weight. You're unsure how they carry even that. More likely their preferred method of attack would be surprise from above, delivery of a crippling strike and then simply allowing their opponents to bleed out. Assuming that such metaphors even apply, of course. You suspect that like the helicopter, these too will turn out to be human-contrived machines.
After an exchange of hisses, the pair separate, one descending closer to the water near where you defeated the helicopter. The other departs further east in a direction that resembles where you attacked Sophie's ship.
What do you do?
Author
Topic: You are a dragon awakening from slumber, the suggestion game, Update #18 Huzzah! (Read 21907 times)