Agatha tied their tails-what did that have to do with Chaos?

"Roya Andrea April!"

After roaring her true name, Loya pushed off with her hind legs, hooked her still-healing fractured foreclaws over the eggshell, and squeezed her head through the broken opening at the top.

The moment she poked her head out, a round, dark green dragon head appeared right in front of her.

Their eyes met. Clinging to the shell, Chaos looked at the little green dragon who had just hatched.

His jaws parted in a friendly grin.

All right, greetings were over. Time to chow down.

He reached out with his right claw and grabbed the little girl of a green hatchling, who still seemed dazed from hatching, by the scruff of her neck.

The instant Luoya felt a claw close around her neck, her body stiffened. Then came the anger.

Struggling, she glared at the green hatchling holding her up.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Chaos glanced at the furious little green dragon and met her eyes.

He lifted the claw holding the little hatchling.

Toss!

Talking was a waste of time. Eating was what mattered.

With the troublesome hatchling out of the way, Chaos smelled the faint, fresh scent of trees wafting from the shell and immediately felt his mouth watering.

He stretched his neck and poked his head into the shell.

A small puddle of clear egg fluid stood out at the bottom.

Oh, would you look at that. Egg fluid.

The sight cheered Chaos up at once, and his jaws spread wide.

What an unexpected bonus. He was thirsty, too.

There hadn't been a single drop left in his own shell. With no egg fluid to soothe his throat, all that shell-chewing had left it feeling ready to go up in smoke.

The fluid was at the bottom, so he would have to chew his way down to reach it.

"Chomp~"

He opened his jaws and bit into the shell.

Crunch, crunch!

The crisp sound of eggshell being chewed rang out.

After landing, the plump little green hatchling rolled several more times before coming to a stop.

Sitting slumped on the ground, Loya shook her dizzy head.

Suddenly, chewing noises reached her ears. The moment she turned to look, she sprang up.

That awful green hatchling who had thrown her was already eating her eggshell! How could she not panic?

Without bothering to get down on all fours, she hurried forward upright on her hind legs.

Hearing the noise behind him, Chaos stopped eating and glanced back from the corner of his eye.

It was Loya, the little hatchling he had just tossed aside, charging at him.

Interestingly, the little hatchling had copied him and figured out how to run upright all on her own.

As Loya lunged at him, Chaos moved.

He stepped left, planted his claw on the scruff she had left wide open, and pressed down. Meeting almost no resistance, he easily pinned the green hatchling flat to the ground.

Done. He planted a thick hind foot directly on the Green Hatchling's back!

Interrupting a dragon's meal was rude.

Ignoring her murderous glare, he opened his mouth with her still serving as his footrest.

Chomp~!

Loya tried to get up, bracing all four claws against the ground, but the foot on her back was far stronger than she was.

She raised her head to look at the awful green hatchling still chewing on her shell.

"Stop chewing! Stop eating my eggshell! I said stop! Did you hear me, you horrible jerk?!"

"Stop it!"

Her little girl's voice was babyish and frantic, as though she might burst into tears at any moment.

Ignore her. Ignore her.

As if I'd actually listen.

He ignored her completely and chewed a gap all the way down the shell until he could finally reach the fluid.

Looking at the glistening egg fluid, he slowly lowered his head.

Come to think of it, wouldn't this count as Loya's bathwater?

The instant that thought surfaced, Chaos's head froze.

Why does it feel like I'm doing something seriously perverted?

Just then, the familiar faint sting returned to his throat. Having eaten another portion of shell, he was even thirstier now.

His throat practically felt ready to smoke.

Fine. Chromatic dragons don't need morals, and I happen to be a green dragon.

Having convinced himself at lightning speed, he turned his attention back to the fluid.

It looked clear and glistening, much like an ordinary chicken egg's white.

Better taste it first, just to be safe.

His jaws parted, and he extended a little pink tongue to take a lick.

A floral fragrance instantly filled his mouth, cool and faintly sweet. At last, the dryness in his throat eased.

That's the stuff~

His emerald slit pupils widened with pleasure.

It felt like finding water in a desert. There was nothing for it but to drink his fill!

He lowered his muzzle halfway into the fluid, his throat working as he greedily gulped it down.

"Don't drink that! It's mine! Mine~!"

He ignored the irrelevant racket beside him.

Only after drinking until his throat no longer felt dry did Chaos slowly stop.

There wasn't much fluid left in the shell now. It was nearly empty.

Savoring the taste, he stuck out his tongue and licked around his jaws.

Not baaad~

His emerald slit pupils widened in delight.

From the corner of his eye, he glanced at the green hatchling glaring up at him from the ground.

Oh, fine. I'll leave her some.

After all, eating nothing but shell really was unpleasant, and he wasn't thirsty anymore.

He shook his head, then reluctantly tore his gaze away from the fluid.

Taking stock of his stomach, he found himself about eighty percent full.

He lifted his foot from Loya's back and stepped away.

Whoosh~

Almost the moment he released her, the green hatchling sprang up and threw herself onto her shell, fixing him with a hostile stare.

Looking at the green hatchling before her, Loya swore that one day she would get brutal revenge on this awful dragon who had stolen her shell!

Chaos didn't care in the slightest about her hostility.

That was how chromatic dragons were. The strong preyed on the weak.

But watching the green hatchling bare her teeth at him furiously, Chaos suddenly had a wonderful idea. His jaws parted slightly.

"Can't stand losing, can you?"

"Hmph! Don't get cocky! I'll get revenge!"

That's exactly what I was waiting for.

"Remember my name: Agatha Tiamat Thor."

"If you can't accept it, you're welcome to challenge me anytime!"

After announcing that name, Chaos turned and sauntered away.

Roya watched the awful green hatchling's back recede into the distance.

Agatha, huh! I'll remember that! Once I've finished my first sleep, I'm definitely going to challenge you!

She withdrew her gaze, lowered her head, and quietly began chewing her shell.

Step, step, step~hop. Step, step, step~hop.

On all fours, Chaos walked along with light steps, giving a little hop every three paces.

Chaos felt fantastic. At this rate, robbing just one more hatchling would let him fulfill the full-belly requirement for sleep.

Sure enough, the early bird got the worm, and the early dragon got eggshells to chew.

Mid-hop, Chaos stopped, hearing hatchlings talking up ahead.

"That's not how you untie it. That way."

"Do you not understand Draconic?"

"Yell, yell, yell. That's all you do! If you're so great, untie your own side first!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"What do you mean?!"

Blue, blue, black, and green-four round dragon heads faced one another, fury visible in their narrowed slit pupils. Chromatic dragons weren't exactly known for their good tempers.

When they woke up, they discovered that Agatha hadn't merely beaten them all up. She had even tied their tails together while they were unconscious.

Worse still, the tangled tails were terribly difficult to untie.

They couldn't get them undone.

They had no idea where Agatha had found such strange knotting methods in her inherited knowledge.

An emerald dragon head stealthily peeked out from behind a white dragon egg. Watching the four hatchlings locked in that tense atmosphere, Chaos felt his dragon heart thump wildly.

He understood. This was the thrill of attraction!

Fight! Hurry up and fight!

He shouted inwardly.

Just then, the green hatchling among the four suddenly turned her head, even though her back had been facing him.

Their eyes met.

"There's another dragon."

Hearing the green hatchling, the other three immediately turned their heads as well, following her gaze.

In an instant, four pairs of slit pupils locked onto him.

Hiding was clearly no longer an option.

Wait, why should I hide?

He walked openly out from behind the white dragon egg. Even without looking, he could feel the four hatchlings' gazes fixed firmly on him.

Yet Chaos wasn't remotely nervous under their scrutiny.

They had just said it themselves: Agatha had tied their tails. What did that have to do with him, Chaos?

Besides...

He looked at the four hatchlings with their tails tied together.

They really did look like four little doggies on leashes. A wooden sign would make the picture perfect.

Four vicious dogs. Keep away.

Grinning, he raised a foreclaw and waved at the four dragons.

"Carry on. Don't mind me. I'm just passing through."

With his greeting delivered, Chaos continued past the four hatchlings under their watchful eyes, walking openly with outrageously swaggering steps and a little hop every three paces.

Watching the green hatchling's back disappear into the distance, the four exchanged looks.

"I don't know why, but I want to beat that guy up."

It was the black hatchling who spoke.

The other three nodded in unison.

"I feel the same way."

"Me too."

"Then how about we all beat him up once we get untangled?"

"Yes!" ×3

With that simple agreement reached, the four hatchlings lowered their heads in unison again and used their plump foreclaws to work at their knotted tails.