Outline
Dragon Defenders group finds caged up dragonkin in a small cave in the Forgotten Forest. One has amputated wings
The group frees the few dragons, but takes the amputee with them back to Rayhaven
Azier's mother, Zella, is called out and she sees the amputee dragon
Dragon Defenders explain what they found, and ask if she is able to help the dragon out
Zella agrees to try and help
After some time passage (short montage?) the wing and tail fin prosthetics are complete
Vexx sees his caged dragons are missing
Vexx knowns exactly who did it, and decides to visit Rayhaven
Zella and Sabretail at the courtyard tinkering with wing prosthetics
Vexx lands at the courtyard
Sabretail turns around and recognizes Vexx. He goes into defensive position and growls
Zella holds him back
Zella and Vexx have conversation
Vexx leaves saying he will be back for Sabretail
At some point, Zella notices dragons sometimes use their tails to attack with
She gets the idea to add a sharp blade edge to Sabretail's tail fins, so it can be used as a deadly weapon
She has noticed that the dragon has grown fond of her for helping him out
Zella agrees to have Sabretail as a companion, as she didn't have one before. Besides, Sabretail could use Zella's help with flying anyway. She decides to name the dragon "Sabretail" because of the tail fins
Excerpt
The Dragon Defenders enter the cave (or something idk) and find various dragonkin locked in cages. One of the dragons has amputated wings, and tail fins.
"This one looks like a <species>, but has no wings..." Says one of the Defenders. Azier comes over and takes a look.
"Oh my god, they clipped his wings." Azier takes a step back in horror.
" I think they did a bit more than clip his wings. They just whole ass amputated them." Said Ivis.
"Who would do such a horrific thing?" Said Azier, holding back tears.
< Certified sad moment >
The Defenders decide to try and help the dragonkin, so they freed them from their cages. They then take the amputee dragon back to Rayhaven to see if someone could help.
"Don't worry little guy, we've got the best engineer in town." Azier said to the dragon.
Azier's mother, Zella, with her bronze leg and arm prosthetics, came outside to greet the Defenders. The Defenders told her what they found and showed her the amputee dragon. She agrees to try and find away to allow the dragon to fly again. She spends a good amount of time inventing prosthetic wings and tail fins for the dragon.
Vexx returns to the cave to find that all the dragons have been let out of their cages, but most importantly the amputee dragon is missing as well.
"Who would steal that dragon?" Asks one of Vexx's henchmen.
"Oh I know exactly who." Responded Vexx.
He left the cave and flew over to Rayhaven and landed at the courtyard, where Zella and the amputee dragon were outside tinkering with the prosthetic wings.
"I see you've found my dragon." Said Vexx. They both turn around, and the amputee dragon immediately recognized Vexx. He got into a defensive stance and started growling.
"Oh he's got beef with you, doesn't he." Said Zella, putting her hand on the dragon's head and holding him back.
"Yeah I clipping his wings. Well clipped is an understatement, I ripped them off." Vexx responded.
"How- How could you do that? What is wrong with you?" Exclaimed Zella.
"He was problematic, a thorn in my side. So I had to take care of him." Explained Vexx.
"But why tear his wings off? Why not just kill him off at that point? This is just incredibly cruel." Zella said while gently stroking the dragon's head to calm him down.
"I needed him for something, and he was very difficult to work with. He's very... capable." Vexx explained while he buffed his fingernails on his shirt.
"Do you believe this will actually work?" Asked Vexx as he stood there studying the prosthetic wings. Zella stayed silent and did not answer, just giving Vexx a discerning stare.
"Well let's hope for both our sake that it doesn't." Vex said as he mounted his dragon. "I will be back for him." Vexx then took off on his wyvern and flew off into the distance. Zella went back to tinkering with the prosthetic while the dragon kept his eye fixated on Vexx as he disappeared from view.
After many tests with the prosthetics, Zella noticed dragons sometimes uses their tails to attack with, whipping and stunning or knocking down their opponent. She then got the idea to add a sharp blade edge to the tail fins, so it could be even more of a deadly weapon. When she added it to the dragon's tail fin prosthetics, the dragon seemed to really enjoy having this new capability. He quickly learned how to use it for slicing, but also learned how to still stun or knock over opponents with out cutting them. Instead of a traditional swipe or whipping of the tail, the dragon pummels the target with the broad side of the tail fins.
During this whole time, the two got along with each other fairly well. Zella noticed that the dragon has grown fond of her, and seemed to want to be companions. After all, the dragon could still use Zella's help with flying anyway, and she didn't already have a dragon companion for herself either. After this, she decided to name the dragon "Sabretail", based on the prosthetic tail fins.
Author's Note
This came to me while trying to fall asleep one night. Originally thought of just amputee dragon, showing what Vexx is capable of and how fucked up he is. Thought of in a HTTYD setting; they would try to find a way to help the dragon fly again. So I did this, and the character that turned into Azier's mother came into my head. She was an amputee herself (Right leg, left arm), and was a mechanical engineer. Thought it would be a super cool idea for the dragon to have "steampunk" like looking prosthetics, similar to Zellas'. Quite a unique character, I think it's becoming one of my favorite duos! Thought that Zella and Sabretail both being amputees would be a nice common shared thing between them to bond over or whatever. This is also a reference to the Hiccup and Toothless duo from HTTYD.
Shortly after this encounter was dreamed up, the next encounter was the Battle of Rayhaven, in which Sabretail is the cause of Ignistra's death. The use of the metal prosthetic wings reminded me of the Razorwhips from HTTYD, and so I thought that a wing or tail would be used like a blade, since they're both made of metal on this dragon.
The name Sabretail didn't come until I was creating characters here on World Anvil. I spent a while trying to figure out how exactly the wings and tail fins where going to be like, and what they were made of. I thought if I at least did that, it might help with a name. Eventually I decided that they would be made of bronze, as I was going for that kind of color / style, and bronze is slightly stronger than brass, but still being somewhat light. However, neither brass nor bronze are good for blades, so the blade edge on the tail fins are made of steel.
After deciding on what the tail fins were like, I thought it would kind of be like a single edged sword, with some curve to it to mimic the original tail fin design. This type of sword is known as a Sabre, and pretty much immediately came up with the name "Sabretail" after that.— 03/26/2024
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