Perhaps it was simply only a matter of time before the Yi-rawh moved beyond the thought of mere cloning. The announcement that a new sentient species had joined the fold shocked nearly every non-Yi-rawh on the planet. They had mastered cloning, everyone knew, but not one soul ever entertained the thought that they would create something. It all seemed excusable, though, since the Yi-rawh simply argued they had given a species that was already there a chance to be something more. The fact that everyone benefitted from their research and genetic prowess made that easier to swallow.

The world accepted that warily, though it was obvious to the Yi-rawh that if they were to actually 'play god' and create life, that there would be hell to pay. The Yi-rawh did not test the collective patience of the planet by bringing any other species to sentience, and as their first achievement, the now sentient race of dolphin 'morphs gained wide-spread acceptance for their wit, cheerfulness, and inherent understanding of space flight.

Dra'an'tier's Victory

* * * 5 th edit and counting ^-^ heh.. Oh! And yiffy, yes... there's yiff... *nods solemnly* so... beware of dragon smut... *giggles* * * *

Dra'an'tier and Kah'ce'see had both sat in that embrace, their minds tenderly caressing the other's. the two pairs of eyes sparkling a brilliant green in the semi-darkness of the large vaulted cavern, casting an interesting glow on each other and the stone around them. On this occasion, during the night at least, they had actually remained unmolested and undisturbed by any other, although their minds quickly parted as the first person walked into the cavern. They remained in the embrace however, until the second and third came in, talking rather animatedly to each other. Neither Dra nor Kah received any looks as they just sat there, leaning on one another and watching the cavern fill up; the general assumption by all that had been made about them being for one another simply reinforced.

Rra was the 'first' to find them, and he strolled leisurely up to them. He had grinned as he spotted them together, and still had that grin plastered to his snout when he came up to them.

"Good morning to you both" he said, amusement coloring what would have been an official tone of voice "And when can we be expecting See'xan'tier?" He promptly received a sharp tail slap to his calf, and despite this, began to chuckle. Dra grinned up at his friend "Who said anything about See'xan'tier? We were thinking of See'-" He wasn't able to finish that sentence, since he was too busy wincing from being smacked upside the head half-heartedly by Kah, who happened to be doing her best to look indignant.

Once he had fended off her assault, much to the amusement of Rra, Dra looked back up at him "To tell you the truth..." Dra grinned at the sarcastic *hmmph* from Kah "Our night was quite restful, as nothing transpired during the night, thank you." Rra nodded, seemingly disappointed that he couldn't rib his friend any more, but remembered his original intent

"So yes, Dra.. would you like to spar a little later on?" Rra asked, full of his usual confidence that he would win. He usually did, as Dra did not have the expertise with the Gythka, not one of the easiest weapons to master. Dra did smile, and nodded.

"Sure.. I could always use the practice, as you know."

"Come on guy, your already quite proficient at getting your wings torn"

Dra chuckled, Rra on the receiving end of another tail slap.

***

The two regarded each other carefully, Dra grasping the weapon he had selected, as usual: a Gythka. It was essentially a Bo with two triblades of Thri-kreen manufacture attached to either end of it. It was quite a fearsome weapon in the hands of a master. Despite the fact that Dra had been one of those Mantis-Warriors in a past life, he still couldn't recover the skills he had developed back then to handle the Gythka as well as he wanted to, or knew he could now.

Rra had a small smile playing about his face, wielding two Ssraikrii, which was a sword with a slightly smaller blade coming out of the bottom of the grip. The weapon was a T'rrakrrasen one, normally having been created using one's psionic talent. A true testament to one's psi strength and stamina was the ability to form and maintain one out of pure energy. It was a tremendous strain on the creator, as any use of the talent is, if only to a lesser extent. Most saw it as a waste of energy, despite it's advantages. Rra's , however, were simple metal blades.

Rra quickly flipped the one in his left claw so that the smaller blade was pointing upwards, and launched himself forwards, his hind claws leaving small marks as they dug into the ground, providing the grip so that he could actually do just that. He brought his right arm up and over his shoulder to slash as he covered the distance between them quickly, changing tactics and bringing his left arm upwards to deliver a jab at Dra's chest with the smaller blade.

Dra had begun to jab his gythka's right blade towards Rra's right weapon in a parry, but saw the other jab, jerking the right side of it upwards, sending Rra's attack sliding to one side with the wooden part, and transferred that momentum to whirl it around, keeping Rra's left hand caught with it.

Rra pulled his hand free, finally slashing with his right blade. Dra was ready for it though, stopping his weapon's spin, and 'caught' his friend and opponent's sword with his own blades, jarring both their hands. They both held firm though, and Dra pushed his opponent's blade away and upwards, grabbing hold of his Gythka with both claws as he sought to impale Rra onto it's other end.

Rra had been pushed back by Dra's actions, his claws digging into the ground as he tensed up for his next assault, only to find that Dra had begun an attack of his own. Twisting his left arm, he used the larger blade to turn aside the incoming thrust.

This all seemed rather predictable to them both, and once again Dra parried by swinging his gythka around and upwards; the Rra's deflected counter-blow flashing above his shoulder and to the one side of his head, missing by a few inches either way.

This carried on for awhile, but Dra had again and again found himself on the defensive, Rra finally feigning a left strike before moving in with a right thrust. Dra, unfortunately, was already overbalanced, and tried to slide back, away from the incoming blade.

It didn't work. Rra's attack hit Dra squarely in the center of his chest, just below where it met his neck, driving the small edge into him. He didn't even hear the sickening crunch that would've sounded in their ears, with death following shortly thereafter (that spot was a weakness on the T'rrakrrasen)

Instead, his eyes burst open and he found himself sitting opposite Rra, just like before they had started, his claws clutching at his knees. Rra slowly opened his eyes, returning from their psionic 'battle field', a triumphant grin spreading on his face. Dra shook his head slowly "Next time... next time..."

He glanced over, feeling someone there, and saw Kah'ce'see and Thr'es'sah sitting side by side, a disappointed look on the former's face, while a smug one on the latter's. Kah turned to Thr, saying "We should wait and see how it goes when Dra finds his gythka skills... he was doing well for a little while there..."

Thr nodded, getting up, and beginning to walk slowly towards Rra "Perhaps.... but my Rrrrra still won...". She had nearly purred 'my Rra' and Dra blinked and looked at Rra, wondering what exactly he had missed. The scales around Rra's snout turned a deep crimson as he winked at Dra, before turning and smiling up at Thr.

Dra chuckled and got up, guessing that they might want a little privacy, from the look of things. Kah did as well, apparently, as she stood up too. He walked to the entrance of Rra's cave, already able to smell him and Thr. He glanced back, Kah right behind him. Rra's and Thr's snouts were already open and locked together in a passionate kiss. Dra chuckled again, going out into the side tunnel hearing Kah's suppressed giggle, signaling that she had looked back as well.

"I just wish I could relearn though skills more quickly" Dra sighed. His pace seemed to be agonizingly slow to him, even though he could've been considered above an amateur when he was wielding a blade. Just the fact that Rra was better than he was with the weapon rankled him, though in more of a friendly way. He paused, his thoughts turning to what had just happened.

"And... when, exactly, did 'they' happen?" Dra had begun walking down the tunnel, Kah sliding up to his side, looking at him as he finished his question.

"Apparently last night, when we did..." Dra grinned down at Kah's wording, enjoying it even if it wasn't exactly what he was used to..

"Thr told me..." she giggled again "Quite a bit, I might add..."

Dra chuckled as they came into the main tunnel. "So... where are we going again?"

Kah blinked, looking down either way open to them "Well... we could... go outside... I imagine the sun would be going down soon, and I think it would be very nice to watch it with you, though I have no idea why" She paused, considering other alternatives. It was obvious to Dra from how much she said which she would prefer. " We could also go to the pools... the main cavern..."

Dra thought a moment. Seeing the sun set actually appealed to him, since he would be with his mate, and away from the others... Privacy, he grinned inwardly. "Why not outside, then?" Kah nodded and they both turned and made their way outside.

***

They had found a perch atop the small cliff face that their main cavern was accessible from. The entrance far below them, they both sat, their tails twitching every now and then as they looked about, their eyes only now beginning to glow that already familiar and comforting green. One could see the beginning of the forest quite easily, sweeping both ways as far as the eye could see. It begun where the mountain's beginnings, a stretch of gently rolling hills, tapered off. The forest itself stretching out almost as far as the eye could see. They both knew that there was a human town a but beyond the ends of the forest.

Dra inhaled, enjoying the slightly crisp air as he looked over to Kah, who was peering intently at the forest. His tail lashed to one side as his mind reached out to hers, touching it gently. She seemed to inhale, being somewhat surprised with the contact, but opened up to him none the less. She turned to him, her eyes whirling a brilliant green, sparkling partially of their own accord, and partly because of the sun setting behind them. Her love was plainly evident in her mind, as was his for her as they both regarded each other before she spoke "You put on quite a good show there you know.... even though Thr was on Rra's side, she did have to admit you were doing rather well"

Dra smiled softly"well... I suppose that at least I am improving... too bad I still didn't win...."

She smiled knowingly back at him, sliding a bit closer, her voice just a bit lower than normal "You still would've won against anybody else here you know.... we could.... look at it that way..."

She flashed a toothy grin at him, he just noticing that he could smell her excitement for the first time today. She stopped a few inches away from him, nearly whispering "Congratulations on you victory.. Drrra", drawing out his name lustily.

She sidled right up to him, stroking his tail as she pressed her snout up against his. Their jaws parted as their muzzles slid past each other, the tips of their snouts soon pressing against the other's part between the upper and lower jaws. Their supple, fleshy tongues sought out, slipped up against, and wrapped themselves up with the other's.

Kah had given the base of his tail a little squeeze, her slight amusement registering in her mind as he inhaled sharply, his tongue twitching, along with her feeling somewhat pleased that she could have that effect on him.

He brought up his left arm from supporting himself, and slid it up her side, pressing his claw up against her chest, trailing them over the bare and flat scaly surface. She began chrring softly, continuing her own caresses as he let his claw slowly slide down her underbelly. His claw slid across her slightly protruding sheath and she inhaled deeply, grinning into the kiss. Getting her claw that was rubbing his tail to knock his right arm out from under him, she followed his gentle decent backwards so as to not break the kiss. She brought her other claw to his side, pushing his from her, 'pathing to him

<<Since you were doing all that fighting, you can take it easy.... you should, too... since.... your.... dead....>> She had emphasized the last three words by tapping her right claw against his chest, right where Rra had 'stabbed' him.

He simply chuckled, relaxing noticeably, Kah letting her claw trace a path down his light bronze underbelly, their mouths working against each other, tongues still wrestling and exploring playfully. His began to slow as his attention shifted to her claw, which continued running downwards, finally sliding across his sheath lightly. He inhaled slowly, deeply, as one of her fingers found the crack in it, and slipped into it. With the gentle sensations running up his spine, he let his head drop back slightly as he let out a small sigh. Their kiss finally broken, Kah followed and begun to pepper his snout and neck with kisses and gentle licks. Her clawed finger ran down the rest of his slit's length, turning back upward, and she began to let it sink further into his sheath as she slid it up the crack's length.

His grayish flesh parted further, his silently throbbing dragonhood poking out of his sheath slightly, glistening in the last rays of sunlight. She ran her forefinger down the slit again, inserting a thumb, both her finger and that slipping up against and circumventing his cock, his sheath opening up even more as they did, allowing it to slip out completely.

She had pulled both finger and thumb from there, grasping his cock gently, grinning inwardly as he seemed to melt in her hands. His jaw had dropped slightly, and his tongue hung motionless in his mouth. He began to chrrr with pleasure as she slid her claw down to its base. His head was still, and he closed his jaws to swallow, all of his attention focused on his throbbing erection. He continued chrrring as she looked down at it almost curiously. Beginning to stroke it, she paused to get a firmer grip on it. She was able to feel his love for her swirling about in his mind in a confused, almost chaotic fashion, tainted by the pleasure he was feeling.

A small shiver ran up his spine, as suddenly through the haze of pleasure he felt, of all things, cold. It wasn't that distracting though, or at least wasn't as much as Kah was. That went doubly so as he suddenly felt her surprisingly warm tongue run up the side of his shaft. His head rolled to one side as he let out a short ''mrrrph'' at the change in sensation, her hand simply holding the base as she leaned in towards it. He could tell she found his taste interesting, but that didn't really matter much to him as her tongue bathed his cock once again. As her hand began to slide back up his cock, he inhaled deeply, his heart pounding in what felt like his throat, his chest tightening.

She continued with her attentions, watching and feeling his reactions as she changed her grip and tempo, finally settling on one that had him groaning through clenched teeth. Kah tore her eyes away from his penis, looking up at the mask of pleasure etched in his face, smiling at him. He couldn't see it, his eyes were tightly shut, but he could feel it just as well. Dra could feel the muscles around his sheath contract, and he let out a lusty moan. She blinked, feeling and seeing most of his body tense up, and could feel his cock twitch. She looked back down at it as she could feel the last warm spurts of his come dripping onto her claw, most of it having landed on his sheath.

She relinquished her grasp of his member and withdrew her claw, sniffing at it curiously. She was still feeling rather aroused, her own sheath still protruding slightly with the flesh beneath it was swollen. Before she realized what she had done, Dra's post-orgasmic daze coming through their link, she had licked her claw clean. She blinked a few times, deciding to ignore the fact that she hadn't even meant to, and instead concentrated on whether or not she actually liked the taste.

Dra exhaled slowly, opening his eyes again, and looking at Kah, noticing that he couldn't smell her, his scent was so overwhelming. She looked back down at him, smiling and licking her snout, giving him a sexy look; which lasted only a few seconds 'till she broke down, giggling. "That is a taste I think I can get used to.... at least I don't HATE it...."

He grinned at the look, feeling his cock, which had slipped back into his sheath, stir again. "Really? Well... I guess that's good..."

Dra looked down at himself, and wiped off the rest of the cum that had dripped onto him, and looked at his claw for a couple moments, as did Kah. However, she was the first to move, taking his claw, and licking it slowly, giving him that look again before grinning, and suckling his fingers gently. He was watching her, beginning to get aroused again. She finished off his claw, licking her snout again before looking down at his sheath, feeling and almost able to see the effect she was having on him. Kah giggled again "Come on love, we had better go back to our caves..." Dra gave a mock pout while she laughed "It's not like we can put off sleep tonight again"

Dra nodded, and sighed "True, true.." He got up as she did, nuzzling each other affectionately before they fell into another kiss.

"Come to mine?" Dra mumbled into it, and she smiled back, nodding slowly

"Need you ask?"

They broke off the kiss, and spread their wings, descending to the main cavern's entrance, and to his cave.