Val grinned at Seraph. But that smile disappeared once she read the scroll. She frowned as she stared at the paper as if answers would suddenly pop out of nowhere. She didn't even notice Riven budging closer to her. "No, there's a chance to stop this terrible danger. Look, Riven, it keeps saying something about four riders. If we find out who they are...they can help stop this!" Val jumped up, eyes sparkling with a newfound determination. It shouldn't be too hard. Just look for clues, find the riders, Doomsday crisis averted! Simple as that....

Val couldn't help but see the amused look on Thorn's face. "What?" she asked with a frown. The older student cleared his throat and shook his head. "It's nothing. Nevermind." She also saw him glance at Riven with the same look. Val almost rolled her eyes. Boys were so weird. Especially these two.

Val joined Seraph at the window. She could see the smoke too. Panic started to set in but Val shook herself mentally. In a second, Val turned on her heel and rushed to the door. Thorn stared after her in surprise.

"Come on, we have to help!" Val looked back at Thorn, Riven and Seraph, her amber eyes pleading with them. No way she could do anything on her own. All four of them though? They might be able to help somehow. As she stood there, she thought about the eggs in there, unhatched and in danger. They hadn't even met their riders yet!

A million years seemed to pass before Thorn got up from his seat now a serious look on his face. "I'll come," he said simply, dashing past Val and down the stairs with a sudden burst of energy. Val nodded and went after him. "Join us if you want!" She called out loud enough for the other two to hear.

~~~~~

Obsidian nodded in agreement with Whiplash. 'Me too. My rider is very... introverted, to say the least.'

The jet-black dragon narrowed his eyes as Whiplash got up. Suddenly his nose caught a whiff of smoke, bitter and harsh. And it wasn't Pheonix this time.

His discomfort rised when he noticed the smoke billowing out into the sky, right above the Hatchery. Obsidian turned his head when he noticed the presence of his rider. He lowered himself to let Thorn clamber on before taking off towards the fire. Only moments later, Pheonix was at his tail, her rider urging her on.

Obsidian landed down on the ground near the Hatchery, waiting for his rider's next instruction. Pheonix, however, let Valentina slip down from the saddle and dashed off into the fire. The pros of being fireproof I suppose. Then he looked at Thorn. What do we do?

-

Seraph and Riven exchanged a glance to each other when the other students darted off, Riven immediately scrambling to his feet and hurrying down the stairs. Seraph took one last look back out the window, seemingly like her feet were stuck in place. Who would set a hatchery on fire? With a sudden jolt, as if the willow itself was trying to toss her out, Seraph sucked in a breath as she bolted off. By the time she got outside, a flash of pale icy scales whipped past, a slight zap ringing in the air. Aetherion spiraled into the sky, storm clouds seemingly clustering near his presence, like they were drawn to him. "When storm and poison clash in the skies..." The word barely audible as they left her mouth, her jade green eyes glossed over like she was in a trance. Whiplash lowered herself near her, Seraph shook her head and climbed into the saddle strapped onto the bright red dragon. With a whip of her tail, the serpentine dragon launched herself into the sky. Flying just above the ground with virtually silent wing flaps.

She arrived just as a few of the professors and staff were, some on their dragons, others on foot if they didn't have a dragon. Bronn was there on foot, shouting about needing troughs and buckets. Someone needed to get those eggs out! Her green eyes spotted Thorn with his dragon, and Valentina, Aetherion had landed with Riven who jumped from the pale dragon and ran to other two.

Whiplash slithered over, "I have an idea. They have really big troughs for water at the stables. If we can get enough water over here, we might be able to put out the fire." Seraph suggested. She'd often spend a lot of time at the stables and she remembered seeing the large wooden troughs. And luckily enough, the hatchery was closer to the edge of the island where the ocean was.

---------------------------------------

Riven nodded slightly in agreement, "Right, someone needs to get those dragon eggs out though. We can extinguish the fire all we want, but if those eggs cook, that's entire generations worth of eggs, some of which are extremely rare species." He looked back at the building, "Me and Aetherion are going to work on getting a hole into the building to maybe find a path that's not engulfed in flames. The rest of you try to gather as much water and as much help as possible." Aetherion lowered his head to about chest height on Riven, as if they had a mutual agreement without exchanging any words, and they started towards the building. Riven checking with a few of the people he passed to make sure they were okay. Aetherion was shaking his head and neck, rattling the spines along his back that began sparking with electricity, as if inquiring to the dragon's anticipation and power building up. Overhead, the storm clouds brewed even heavier, threatening to spill the relief of rain.

---------------

Seraph shot a slightly worried look at the sky, rain would help with the fire, but for some reason, she had a bad feeling about it. The storm looked awful menacing and almost seemed to be following them. Was this a bad omen or was she just paranoid? Shaking her head as Whiplash rising up jostled her from her thoughts, the dragon let out a whistling roar. Poison dragons were often known for having unique calls, more whistley than a guttural roar. As Whiplash called for attention, Seraph called out, "Anyone who has a dragon and can help, follow to the stables!" She yelled out, without waiting for any responses from anyone, the bristling red dragon leapt into the sky and spiraled off for the stables. They already knew which one to grab. There was lot of troughs of water near where they housed the water dragons. Hey! That was it! They needed some water dragons! Some dragons and their riders had slight control over the waters! As if sensing her plan, Whiplash pivoted directions slightly. There had to be water dragons near the water.

Val yelled out for Pheonix to come back but her dragon, stubborn as her rider, pretended not to hear. Val let out a breath of relief when she saw Riven and Seraph with their dragons. The dark sky rumbled, promising rain. Hopefully enough to help with this fire. She perked up at Seraph's idea with the water troughs only to realise that her dragon was still inside.

'I'm here,' said a voice. Val whipped her head around to a feathery red dragon. Pheonix was backing out of the Hatchery, facing away from Val as she dragged a nest of eggs outside. Grinning, Val made sure the eggs were okay and safe with a teacher before climbing up into the saddle. "Let's go help the others." She patted Pheonix's neck as they launched up into the sky, heading to the stables. As they got closer, following Whiplash, Pheonix let out a low growl.

"What's wrong?"

'Water dragons.' Val almost smacked her forehead. She had completely forgot that fire and water dragons couldn't stand each other! "It's fine, just grab a trough and leave." The redhead prayed that Pheonix would behave and it seemed like her wish had been granted as Pheonix swooped in, grabbing the closest trough, and turned to the ocean. Once it was filled, Pheonix flapped her wings as hard as she could to get back quickly. Pheonix let one -foot? Hand?- go of the trough, water spilling over the fire.

~~~~~

Thorn decided to do what Pheonix had first done and so did a few other people.

Obsidian, among others, went into the Hatchery and dragged nests of eggs back while Thorn checked on them to make sure they weren't damaged too badly. Despite all the commotion around him, one thing played over and over in his mind: Who would try to get rid of a whole generation of dragons?

There were only a few more nests to save. As he finished checking on a clutch of eggs, Thorn heard a heart stopping sound. He turned around. The wooden support beams of the Hatchery, burnt and weak, were cracking, threatening to collapse. Thorn held his breath as the beams just kept together.

Until a rush of water came crashing down.

He looked up to see a bright red figure in the sky. Then he turned his attention back to the Hatchery as it came crashing down, drowning in scarlet flames, but not before he heard the cries of his dragon. But the first thing that came to mind? And flame consumes the darkest cries...

It only took a moment for reality to kick in. Thorn's eyes widened as he rushed forward, yelling, as he tried to escape from the grip of his fellow classmates who were trying to keep him back.

"He'll be fine! He'll be fine! Obsidian is strong." The girl next to him said. He's strong...

Slightly disappointed, Pheonix had been hoping for the water to extinguish more of the flames. Instead it only killed a small part of the fire. That's when she heard it. The crashing sound as the support beams gave way to the fire. She also heard a rather strange sound. A choked, slightly muffled, scream.

Pheonix stared down at a tiny little dot struggling against other tiny dots and realised what had happened. Her eyes widened and she spoke to her rider.

'V-val. I think that our trough of water, it made the Hatchery collapse and... Obsidian was inside."

(I love being so evil lol)