The Pass

Optimus knew that he must pass the wind dragons if he was to reach the mythical cave where his goal lay hidden. They guarded the only pass across the Copper Mountains where he could fly through; the rest of the mountain range was far too high to pass easily, even flying. He knew little of their kind, only what the fire dragon tribe heard from the lava dragons who occasionally had contact with them; usually in the form of a fight. Those tales said that they were the fastest fliers among all the dragonkind, because they controlled the winds themselves that helped them to move and maneuver. He was fast too among his own kind and Optimus was curious to see whether the tales were true or just exaggerating. As he knew that they would not let him pass without a confrontation he would see it soon.

Nearing the pass, he saw two dragons making slow, lazy rounds over it; probably the guards. One of them was blue while the other a strange dark purple and black; unusual colours among all dragons, not only their kind. He didn't hide his approach and they noticed him as soon as he got in visual range; the high pass had a few clouds surrounding it, beside the erratic winds that would surely help them and hinder his flight. Moreover, the guards' shrill cries called a third dragon up to the sky; Optimus was surprised as he was similar in colours than himself, silvery white, reds and blues decorated his frame and the wings that had even wider span than his. They awaited him over the pass, the tricoloured dragon screeching out a warning to turn back and leave – which he answered with his own trills of his intent to pass in a quest. It was hopeless to expect them to let through but formalities must be observed.

The blue and black dragons came at him from two sides, helped by the winds blowing from the mountain gap and he was rocked in flight by the strong gusts of air as he rolled to avoid the guards. Working his wings hard he overcame the gusts and avoided the blue dragon's claws, while scoring his own on the black hide that he couldn't avoid and collided with. The black dragon screeched in pain and surprisingly, disappeared from beside, leaving the blue one coming after him again. With his speed, Optimus easily left the blue dragon behind, but again he felt a blast of wind that threw him off course, into the awaiting claws of the tricoloured dragon. The blue claws scored deep in his hide and drew the first whimpers of pain from Optimus. Their wings entangled and claws raking into the other's hide they fell fast in the cold mountain air.

Optimus struck his opponent with a lightning bolt, drawing a surprised yelp from the dragon who let him go and they both tried to catch air with their wings to avoid a crash. Working their way upwards and away from each other, Optimus saw all three wind-dragons circling around him, a bit more wary than at first because of his ferocity and mainly his lightning bolts that they were unfamiliar with. They occasionally let a gust of wind blew towards him and the black one once teleported beside him for a quick gash of his wing before appearing away from him again; but it didn't save him from a quick bolt of electricity that made the dark form flounder in mid-air and with enraged screams lose altitude.

It provided Optimus a small gap in the pattern that they were trying to box him in and he took the chance; flying as fast as he could he let another bolt lose towards the blue dragon and rolled over the tricoloured one who noticed his intent and tried to stop him. In a few kliks he was almost over the pass itself and started to feel victorious – too early, he thought, when the strong wind coming from the other side of the mountains caught him in the face and all but stopped his flight. Wind dragons. Of course. They were upon him again and Optimus felt claws raking his hind legs, his wings and his strength ebbing away in the strong headwind; with a desperate attempt he flung his barbed tail towards the one hurting his wings and tore a great gash in a dark blue wing, taking its owner out of the fight for good. Twisting his agile body to the other side, he caught the black one and clawed his muzzle for good measure, drawing energon and loosening him too.

That left the tricoloured dragon who flew around him, twisting and looping to avoid his lightning bolts and flashing closer only to score a gash or two and danced away again. Optimus tried to follow the wind dragon's smooth maneuvers but he was apparently faster, more experienced and helped by the flurry of winds that seemed to carry him away every time Optimus got close enough to attack. They danced in the air for what seemed joors, even though the whole battle hasn't taken more than a breem so far; but Optimus kept his goal in mind and tried to direct their dance towards the pass. Unfortunately the other dragon kept it in his mind too, and tried to herd him away from it; neither of them made a lot of headway in the last breem. But then, Optimus saw the other getting marginally slower in his turns, the gusts of wind getting less and less strong; he was tiring.

Of course Optimus felt the strain too, but he flew enough with Megatron to train his wings not only for speed but for endurance as well – and it paid out this time as he slowly but surely gained the upper servo in the fight, until they were almost over the mountain pass. He found it strange that at the nanoklik they passed the invisible line, the other dragon screeched loud in disappointment and eased off with the attack, allowing him to fly forward unimpeded. Apparently their code dictated to defend the pass only until the attacker didn't go through. As Optimus flew over the rocky pass, he heard the echoing message coming after him from the tricoloured dragon – he would have to come back this way if he was successful in his quest.