AN: Hello. Long-time reader, first-time poster here. I've been writing snippets of stories of Worm crossing over with my own stories for a while now, and decided at least one of them should see the light of day, so here I am posting it. The other half of this Crossover is Dragon Rain, a story that was once on the internet but got deleted due to personal stuff with the original author, whom I got in contact with recently and adopted from him. My version will show up on the net some day. Until then, enjoy this, and constructive criticism is appreciated!
Crossposted from SB
1.1: Tyler
About a week ago, Mikel came to the group with a message. Apparently this message was from Gaia, who I'm still not entirely convinced is real. This message was brief, only a few words long: "Prepare. Excise the parasite." Mikel got some sort of subtext with the message he couldn't quite put into spoken words for us, but explained that in four days we would all be transported to another world, another version of Earth.
Well, just as promised, four days later we all suddenly found ourselves somewhere else. We were now on a beach, with tons of ships washed up on it. When we arrived, Zack summed it up pretty well.
"Well s***. I guess this means the whole Gaia thing is real."
"Language!" Both me and Mikel said.
"What? Don't you guys think this warrants it? I mean, we're a bunch of kids, who can transform into dragons, and we've just been sent on a mission by our planet, who's also a giant dragon, to 'excise a parasite'."
"Oh hey…" Ethan spoke up. "Do we know what this 'Parasite' is?"
We all looked at Mikel.
"Gaia didn't say, but she implied we'd be able to tell easily."
"I guess we should split up and look?" I suggested. "Everyone transform and search your biosphere. How's that sound?"
Everyone looked at each other for a few moments, nodding back and forth.
"Sounds good!" Ethan said, giving a thumbs-up.
"Mikel, you find somewhere to set up a base, and connect us."
"Got it."
As I went down to the edge of the water, Alex pulled out his box of matches and lit one, Zack took a deep breath, and Sam bent down to scoop up some sand. I stuck my hands into the water and the transformation began. It was as quick and painless as it had been for a while, but during it there was a tingle at the back of my brain that was new. It was most likely from being in an entirely new place.
Once I was fully transformed, I looked behind me, turning my head all the way around on my long scaly neck (still love how I can do that) to check on the others, before diving into the water. Ethan climbed onto Zack's back, probably to get dropped off at a power plant or something, I could see a slight shimmer of Mikel walking away invisibly, and there was a rapidly-filling hole where Sam had tunneled.
I slipped into the water and launched away like a torpedo. In my search around what I found out was a large bay, I didn't find much about a parasite, but did find a lot of, um… muck on the seafloor. I swam a few laps around the bay until my water-purifying scales cleaned it all up. Rory or Sam probably could have done a more efficient job here, but they can't breathe underwater.
It was actually on one of these laps that I discovered the Rig. A huge oil rig that looked like it had been moved directly into the bay from wherever it was before. I tried to surface and take flight to get a better look at it, but ended up slamming into some sort of forcefield! Really bruised my poor snoot too. I fell back into the water and switched on my Dragon Senses. Through them I could see the faint outline of a bubble all around the Rig, and began racking my brain for a Dragon breed that could do something like this.
Maybe a Light Dragon could, but he couldn't hold it for long in this climate. They absorb light from Sol, and in a colder climate like this they can't absorb enough fast enough to keep it up 24/7.
Anyway, I decided this warranted further investigation, so I found a nice hidden spot on the seafloor under the Rig to settle down at, and opened my mind to Mikel's telepathy. I won't go into too much detail, but Psychic Dragon abilities are absolutely busted, but Mikel let us all in on some of their "blind spots". With my defenses down, my draconic mind shines like a beacon in the mindplane, and Mikel will know I either want to talk to him, or I've been knocked out.
"Tyler? Are you ok?" Mikel's voice radiates out from the center of my brain.
"Yeah," I think back at him. "Snoot's a little flatter than before but I'm fine. Have you found out anything about the city we're in yet?"
"Well that should be fine. And, no, nothing yet. Though I have found a good spot for a home base; an old abandoned warehouse on the docks. Psychometry says no one's been here for several years at least."
As his words flowed into my mind, so did a rough map of the path he took from our starting point to the warehouse. It was close enough to the water I could probably get into it without being seen.
"Got it. Uh, when you talk to the others, ask if anyone knows about the oil rig in the bay."
"Oil rig? Who in their right mind would build one in the middle of a bay?"
"Well I don't think they built it right there."
"Hold on, I've got someone else trying to get my attention. Be right back."
I knew full well that with his level of insane multitasking, Mikel could easily talk to both of us simultaneously, but he probably wanted to hear whatever they wanted to say and relay it to me. It took about a minute before he got back to me.
"Just talked to Zack and Ethan. The former helped the latter transform- you know how finicky Lightning Dragons are- and as they were flying around they found out that this world doesn't have Dragons."
"No Dragons? Wait- world?"
"Yeah." Mikel sounded exhausted with that one word. "I think Gaia sent us to another world… because our world doesn't exactly have superheroes."
"What." I said both out loud and mentally, it was so deadpan.
"My thought exactly, until I looked through Ethan's memories to see it myself. Tall blonde girl in white and gold, flying without any wings. Chased Zack until it was clear she couldn't break the sound barrier, then switched to Ethan… who dove into some power lines to escape. Rode the lines about a mile away then "called" me."
"Do you think… think that these superheroes are the 'parasite'?"
"Maybe? It could be that this version of Gaia just decided to represent her chosen with superpowers instead of making them Dragons. And- uh oh."
"What's going on?"
"Someone's approaching the warehouse. Don't know if it's one of us, my consciousness is spread too thin at the moment. I'll get back to you once I verify the warehouse's safety."
There was a light pop as Mikel receded his consciousness from mine, and I closed my mental defenses. I let go of the seafloor and made myself buoyant enough to float to the surface. I looked up at the Rig and the shield surrounding it.
"Superheroes, huh."
I ducked back under for a second to build up speed, then leapt out of the water and flapped my wings, flying out from under the Rig. I turned and flew over the city. As a Water Dragon my flight is probably the worst of the bunch, but with the lessons Zack gave me back home, I felt confident enough to outfly anything that came my way. As I flew over the city I noticed a few things. What could be called the docks actually stretched a ways inland, there was a large hill with only a single building that looked like a restaurant on it, and in the "downtown" area there were a pair of dragons sitting on the tallest building. Red and pale blue, so Alex and Dominic. I landed on the roof behind them.
"Hey Alex, Dom!"
They turned around, almost in sync, to look at me.
"Hey Tyler! How's the water?" Dom asked.
"Not bad," I said, shrugging my wings. "A bit polluted, but that won't be for long. Have you two noticed the superheroes?"
"Yeah, actually." Alex said. "I think that building is their HQ down there."
He pointed a claw down at the rest of the city and I walked to the edge to take a look. It was a shorter, 3 - 4 story building made almost entirely of windows, and on the side was a large emblem of a shield with the letters "P.R.T".
"Huh. Well, what about the oil rig in a forcefield out in the bay?"
The front of his muzzle formed into an 'o' as he stared blankly at me.
"Well, we did see some costumed humans going in and out of this place, so maybe they're both bases but for different groups?" Dominic suggested.
"That's plausible. Hey, if there's superheroes, do you think there's supervillains?"
"Probably, but I haven't found anything resembling a villain's lair yet, so they're either smart or the heroic presence keeps them out of town. If I were a villain I'd probably roost in the tallest building I could find- which is this one, but it's just some pharmaceutical company."
"Well, you never know, it still could be," Dominic said. "I mean, we all know… Hey, does anyone else hear that?"
We all looked towards the roof-access door. For a few ominous moments the sound of someone walking up stairs within echoed out to us, until it stopped, and then the door opened.
"Oh. A knight in shining armor, how original." I said, rolling my eyes.
Despite what I said, the man's armor was much less medieval plate mail and more sci-fi power armor. His entire suit was dark blue with silver trim, and his helmet sported a black visor that covered his eyes and top of nose, but left his bottom of nose, mouth, and chin exposed to show off his short, immaculately groomed beard. Held in his right hand was some kind of polearm.
"You can speak." He said, though if he was surprised by his revelation, he didn't show it.
"Of course we can speak." Alex scoffed. "You sound like you've never seen a dragon before."
"I have not." He admitted. "But you being sapient certainly makes this easier. You three are trespassing on private company property. Please vacate the premises immediately; If you do not, I have been authorized to use force." To emphasize his point he taps the butt of his halberd on the ground. To be honest, he sounded like he was reading off a cue card.
"Yeesh," Alex said. "Fine, we'll find somewhere else to roost."
Dom's cheeks puffed up and he blew some frigid breath over Alex, causing his scales to bristle and him whirl around to glare at the ice dragon.
"Oi!"
"He is obviously some sort of authority here. We should take his orders calmly and with respect." Dom chided. Alex grumbled but didn't say anything more.
"Sorry about him, we'll leave now." I told the "knight".
"Before you do," He raised a hand, and with a twitch of his fingers a compartment on his gauntlet opened. The compartment ejected a card, which he caught between his index and middle fingers, and offered it to me. "Take this."
"Uh, thanks." I plucked it from his fingers, carefully so as not to pierce it with my claws, and looked at it. It had the same logo that was on the building we saw, underneath which was an address and phone number.
I opened my mouth and put the card into my cheek-pouch, to which the "knight" looked disgusted for a split second before resuming his stoic expression. I then walked to the edge of the roof and leapt off. A pair of wing *floomphs* told me Alex and Dom had done the same after me.
The three of us flew around for a bit, before I noticed a purple light flashing at me from down in the docks. I signaled Alex and Dom to land, then dove for the roof of the warehouse the light was coming from.
"Tyler, over here."
I looked around, until I noticed the shimmer of light as Mikel uncloaked.
"Hey Mikel. Uh, whatever you need we should probably wait for-"
Alex dove a little too sharply and ended up crashing into the side of the warehouse, but grabbing onto the edge of the roof.
"...Alex and Dominic to land."
Dom landed a lot more gracefully, then padded over to help Alex onto the roof.
"I think that's good." Mike said. "I need to take the three of you to our new base. Everyone else is there already, and I'd like everyone together in person for this."
"Alright, I'm ready." Alex said, rubbing his face.
"Mind's open." Dom said. I simply nodded.
Mikel closed his eyes and concentrated. I felt one of his mental tethers connect to my mind, space twisted around us like someone was crushing a plastic bottle, then we were suddenly in a cave, and Mikel was on his knees breathing heavily. Like he said, everyone was present. Zack, Ethan, Sam, Rory, myself, Alex, Mikel, Dominic, and to my surprise, a human.
"Hey Zack, who's she?" Alex asked the wind Dragon.
Zack looked to Mikel questioningly.
"You can tell them… I'm gonna need a minute after a warp that big."
"Right," Zack stepped into the middle of the ring we were standing in. "This here is Marissa. Mikel and Sam found her while scoping out a new roost, and she actually showed us to this cave. Aside from letting us have the cave, she has agreed to catch us up on the goings-on in this realm in return for an item from one of our hoards."
"Seeing as we all left our hoards in the dragon realm-" Ethan said.
"In capable claws." I interjected.
"Yes, in trustworthy claws." He rolled his eyes. "We'll have to wait until we amass new ones to pay her off."
"Woah, woah!" Marissa said, speaking for the first time since I got there, holding her hands in front of herself defensively. "Pay me off? I-I'm not going to demand you guys give me something immediately."
"Well too bad. We dragons don't like being indebted to others. Especially to a human." Alex said. Marissa blanched. Methinks she had some sort of a plan. Had.
"Guess that means there's only one way this can be resolved." I said, looking over at Sam. As the others caught on they all did as well.
"What are you all looking at me for?!" She exclaimed indignantly.
"I think you know."
"Ugh, fine." She straightened out her neck, and with a sort of sputtering, hawking gag evacuated a clump of something from her stomach to her mouth. She leaned down and gently spat it onto the floor. "I found these while enlarging the cave. Take your pick."
Marissa walked over, looking a bit green in the gills, and prodded the clump with a shoe. The clump slowly broke down into several large stones coated in saliva. She reached into her backpack and brought out a teal dishcloth, which she used to grab one of the larger rocks.
"What are these?"
"The one you're holding is an Emerald, but it's a bit cloudy." Sam rummaged through the clump with a claw. "The two smaller ones are Carnelians, there are several interesting-looking Quartzes, and a couple of proto-Amethysts."
"These are gemstones." Marissa said in awe. "You just… found these?"
"Course I did! I'm a Stone Dragon, I excavate my own hoard." Sam sat back on her haunches, crossing her forelegs over her chest, looking proud of herself.
"Do you have any Diamonds?"
"I wish. Diamonds taste the best."
Marissa set the Emerald back down in the pile, and instead went for one of the small red gems, wrapping it in the towel and shoving it into her pack.
"Alright, that's payment received, I guess." She stood and turned back towards the group. "So, what do you guys want to know?"
The Council of Dragons™ questioned Marissa for hours, before the sun had started to set, and she had to get home before her family started wondering where she was. We learned all kinds of stuff about the world we're in now. Stuff like the name of the city (Brockton Bay), information about the local power structure and dynamics (The Protectorate as the Big Good, and the three gangs as the bad guys), and the supposed origin of this world's Chosen. They call Chosen, "Parahumans", and we even have an idea of who the Firstborn Chosen is: Scion, the Golden Man. He appeared in the air over the Atlantic Ocean almost 30 years ago, and ever since people have been developing superpowers.
When asked if the Dragon Rain, or I guess "Parahuman Rain" was a thing here, Marissa looked confused and asked if we were talking about something called a "Trigger Event". After Trigger Events were explained to us, Mikel said he "needed to have a long talk with this version of Gaia".
So, while it seems this World Dragon is a bit crueler in how they create Parahumans, their Firstborn Chosen is much kinder. At least we won't have to fight Scion like we did Argash. In other news, we're no closer to figuring out what the Parasite is than we were when we started.
We also learned that this world, which the humans called "Earth Bet" is actually one of many, the closest neighbor of theirs being "Earth Aleph". We were all confused when Marissa told us Earth Aleph has less Parahumans, and generally weaker ones as well. Even I was confused by this. I guess Earth Aleph is just… less polluted than Earth Bet and Gaia? Historically, Gaia started turning Humans into Dragons in order to cleanse herself; Each breed can purify their element just by being near it.
Well, that was all a lot to digest (literally in Mikel's case), so after Marissa left, we all split off to our own rooms of the cave and went to sleep. In my room, Sam had dug out a large basin for me to sleep in, but it didn't have any water in it. I guess she expects me to fill it myself. I decided to put that off till tomorrow, so I guess I'll be waking up Human in the morning.
