456 Double Dragon (1/2)
United Nations, Sawtooth Mountain Airbase
Blue Thunder came to a running halt as he glided down the runway. He gave his usual wave to the Air Traffic Control tower before lumbering off towards his hangar. He squeezed into his den and poked the quick release on his chest harness, dropping the crates and barrels of food he bought for the day. ”I'm home!”
Silence greeted him, making him frown as usually Rastraz would be up and watching those cringy Korean dramas of hers. Yet this time, there was barely any sound, not even from the audio speakers. ”Ras? Are you there?”
He crawled deeper into the hangar and soon found Rastraz asleep, curled up into a ball, hugging two barrels. Soft snores rose from her body and Blue Thunder shook his head and sighed. ”I really wonder what I shall do with you!”
But just as he turned away, he paused and did a double check, for he spotted something not quite right. Under the dim light, his eye pupils enlarged and his eyes went wide as he froze in shock. For at the first glance, he had mistaken the two barrels Rastraz was hugging were the remains of her favourite pickled fish in oil. But on closer inspection, it turned out to be two large eggs!
”OH, MY GODS!!!”
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The airbase was suddenly in a hive of activity as a large group of visitors descended down. The base commander gave salutes till his hand went numb as nearly the entire entourage were all senior officers or holding posts as ministers. They all gathered at the dragon hangars which had another large group of curious dragons crowding over them.
Dr. Sharon, Magister Thorn, and the airbase's dragon veterinarians fussed over the clutch of eggs. Dr. Sharon used a measuring tape to measure the eggs while Magister Thorn held the other end. ”The egg with the bluish speckles has a height of roughly a metre...”
”The other egg with the reddish speckles is almost the same at ninety seven centimetres,” She declared as she scribbled down her notepad excitedly. ”The eggs are around forty five centimetres in diameter...”
Magister Thorn held a flashlight and shone it against the leathery shell, and on the other hand, he held a magnifying glass. ”Hmmm... interesting... mmm... I see... Hmmm...”
Rastraz laid curled up around her eggs and she gave a sleepy yawn, ”Are you all done yet? I wanna watch my shows!”
Blue Thunder anxiously hovered over Dr. Sharon, Magister Thorn and the vets and asked in a worried voice, ”Are the eggs alright? There are no issues with them, right? And is Rastraz ok?”
Magister Thorn threw a glance at the yawning red dragon and shook his head, ”Rastraz is well... And your eggs seemed to be fine too.”
”Hmm... but looks it is interesting that the eggs have different colours...” Magister Thorn stared at Blue Thunder's red bluish scales and then at Rastraz's red scales. ”Should not be an issue... Just, I am not sure what kind of crossbreed whelps will come out from the eggs...”
”As long as they are fine... then it doesn't really matter!” Blue Thunder replied happily. ”Oh oh! If both are boys... We should name them Billy and Jimmy! Or Ryu and Ken! Right, dear?”
Rastraz yawned again and used her tail to curl her eggs closer to her body. She suddenly narrowed her eyes and glared at Blue Thunder, ”Wait... Did what did you call me?”
”Erm... dear?” Blue Thunder scratched his chin. ”What's wrong?”
”What's wrong?!” Rastraz growled. ”We... We haven't even gotten married!”
”OH!” Blue Thunder's eyes blinked rapidly in enlightenment. ”OH NOES!”
”You can't call me dear till we are married!” Rastraz growled. Her yellow eyes narrowed angrily. ”Y- You didn't even propose to me! And... this happened! You... you... monster!”
Dr. Sharon and the rest felt the situation had turned awkward and funny at the sudden turn of events. She suddenly broke out in giggles and said, ”What are you still waiting for? You big dummy!”
”Ah?” Blue Thunder seemed confused before he smacked his head. ”Y- yes!”
”R- Ras...” He stammered nervously as he crouched down before Rastraz. ”W- Will you marry me?”
”NO!” Rastraz humphed and turned her head away. ”You are not romantic at all! No sincerity! I don't want you!”
”W- Whaaat?!” Blue Thunder was stunned. He looked around at Dr. Sharon and the rest helplessly and whispered as soft as he can.
”Help!!!”
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United Nations, Research and Development Site, Hangar 4
The water inside the tank boiled vigorously and clouds of steam rose up, turning the blades of the turbines. Dozens of yellow and orange coated human, elvish and goblin engineers fussed over the large silver tank covered in pipes and valves.
Others checked the readouts and scribbled down their notepads as the efficiency of the boiler was measured and tested. Once the engineers were satisfied with the tests of the new boiler, they shut the whole system down and at the top of the tank, a crane arm slowly withdrew a glowing red nugget, the size of a football out.
The object pulsed unnaturally as if it was still alive and the water that clung on it turned to steam as it was lifted out of the water tank. The robotic arm gently set it inside a case which was covered entirely in runes and as the case was shut, the temperature inside the hangar dropped back to normal levels as the heat given off by the object was cut off.
”Alright! Pack it up! The reactor is good to go! Prepare to ship everything over to Hope for them to install into the supercarrier!”
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United Nations, Fortress Singapore, Naval Intelligence Department