One morning at the forest, Ylva was searching for a small animal to help, since that was her duty now that she was an honorary member of the Rescue Riders. However, Ylva didn’t bring her mechanical wings with her. She thought she didn’t need them yet, and didn’t want to risk them being damaged. Soon, she spotted a couple of squirrels that dropped two acorns from a tree and went down to eat them. What they didn’t know is that from a nearby burrow, a badger was stalking them! It came out of its burrow, ready to pounce on the unaware squirrels!
“Hey! Don’t hurt them!” Ylva yelled.
The badger jumped toward the squirrels, and upon noticing the badger, the squirrels shrieked and cowered. But Ylva tackled the badger and knocked him aside. The badger stood up, but Ylva growled fiercely at it. Frightened, the badger ran away.
“That’s it! Pick on someone of your own size!”
Ylva turned to look at the squirrels and said:
“Now, now, little squirrels. Everything’s ok. The badger’s gone. You are safe now.”
The squirrels stopped cowering, grabbed their acorns, and prepared to leave, not without before looking back at Ylva and smiling as a sign of gratitude.
“Well, I’m finished here.”
Suddenly, she remembered something and gasped.
“I almost forgot! I must go have breakfast and training with the Rescue Riders!”
Ylva hurried to the Roost, where Dak, Leyla, Winger, Summer, Cutter, Aggro and Burple were waiting for her.
“Morning, Ylva!” Leyla greeted her.
“I thought you would never come!” Burple said. “I feared I was gonna have to eat your breakfast.”
“You feared it?” Cutter said. “I’m pretty sure you would have been happy about it.”
“What did you do this morning, Ylva?” Summer asked.
“I saved a pair of helpless squirrels from a ferocious badger!”
“Nice work, Ylva!” Winger said. “You could be a great defender of the forest.”
“You mean it?”
“Yeah!”
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s dig in already!” Aggro said.
Dak served each one of the five dragons and the wolf pup a bucket of fish.
“Bon appetite!” Dak said.
While they were eating, Ylva said:
“I can’t believe it! I’m having breakfast with my greatest heroes!”
“Hey, Ylva.” Cutter asked. “How did you get to love dragons so much?”
“Cutter’s right. You haven’t told us yet!” Aggro said.
“Um… I don’t know if you’d like to hear it.” Ylva said.
“Aw, come on! We wanna hear it!” Winger said.
“As an honorary member of our team, you shouldn’t be ashamed to tell us.” Summer said.
“You’re right. Okay…”
Ylva began to tell them her story. She was born in a cave at a seaside cliff. There, she lived a happy life with her parents. They would often go fishing, play tag at the beach, swim, race home and howl at the moon. One day, she said to her parents that she wanted to be like them when she grew up.
“Oh, sweetie.” her mother said. “You WILL become like us, and more!”
“You are one special wolf, Ylva.” Her father said. “Your mother and I knew it ever since you came to this world. If you strive and work hard for what you wish, you can become whatever you want.”
Ylva stopped telling the story when she saw Burple shedding a tear.
“Burple, are you ok?” Ylva asked him.
“Yes…” Burple said. “It’s just… that story is just too touching…”
“Burple always cries with this kind of stories.” Aggro said.
“Well, maybe I should save the rest of the story for later. Time for training!”
“Wait, Ylva! We wanna hear more!” Leyla said.
“Let her train, Ley.” Dak said. “Burple’s right. Perhaps if we hear the rest of the story now, we would get all teary eyed, and we can’t train like that, right?”
Dak prepared the training targets for Ylva. She put on her mechanical dragon wings.
“Wings of mine, don’t fail to me!” she said.
Ylva started flying and used the triple cannon she had on the back of her wings to knock the targets down. First water, then rocks, then fire, and lastly, her feather-like blades. She even rolled on the floor and did acrobatic jumps to shoot consecutive targets swiftly!
“Wow, Ylva!” Winger said. “It seems you have greatly improved your skills!”
“Hey, Winger, why don’t we try something harder for Ylva? It seems like she’s ready.” Dak said.
Dak and Winger decided to use the Elbone training dummy with Ylva.
“Okay, Ylva! Prepare to catch Elbone!” Dak said.
“You got it, Ylva!” Cutter said.
“We have faith in you!” Leyla said.
“You’ll do it great!” Summer said.
“Thanks for cheering me, friends!” Ylva said.
Then, she turned to look at the dummy and said:
“Don’t worry, Elbone! I saved you once, and I’ll save you again!”
“That’s the spirit, Ylva!” Dak said. “Now here it comes!”
Dak dropped the Elbone dummy, and Ylva rushed to fly and catch it. She made it! Then, she carefully placed it on the ground.
“Nice work, Ylva!” Burple said.
“Guys, I had an idea of how I can make my rescues even better.” she said. “Let’s go see Magnus!”
“Why would she want to go see Magnus?” Dak asked
“Perhaps she wants an upgrade to her wings. And remember, ever since we thanked him for giving Ylva her wings, he ain’t as mean as he used to be.”
Dak and Leyla arrived to Magnus’s workshop, closely followed by Ylva. Upon seeing them, Magnus said:
“Morning, Dak. Morning, Leyla.”
“Wow. I’m amazed he didn’t call us by an insulting version of our team’s name.” Dak said.
Leyla shushed him, then said:
“Morning, Magnus! We would like to ask you for an upgrade to Ylva’s wings.”
“The little wolf pup?” Magnus said. “She wants another creation of mine?”
“Yep. What do you want, Ylva?”
Ylva jumped into Leyla’s arms and apparently whispered into her ear.
“First, they talk to dragons, and now to wolves? Now this is strange.” Magnus said.
“A grappling hook. Ylva would like you to add a grappling hook to her wings.” Leyla said to him.
“A grappling hook? Piece of cake. Please lend me those wings.”
Ylva took the wings off her and gave them to Magnus.
“Axel, hand me a grappling hook!”
Magnus’s nephew, Axel Finke, showed up and gave his uncle the grappling hook.
“Thank you.”
Then, Magnus stuck it to Ylva’s wings.
“Wow, thank you, Mr. Magnus!” Ylva said to him.
However, he only heard growls, obviously.
“She said thank you.” Leyla said.
“Well, it was a pleasure. Now, if you excuse me, could you please let me work? I must keep working on my Mechano-Dragons Junior.”
The Rescue Riders left Magnus’s workshop.
“Great! Now my rescues will be much easier!” Ylva said.
They returned to the Roost for Ylva to resume her training.
“Ok, Ylva.” Dak said. “Ready to use your new gadget for the first time?”
“I’m ready as I’ll ever be!”
“Well, then we’ll use a new training dummy, Chief Duggard! He’s bulky and heavy, so he falls fast. So fast, that you wouldn’t be able to catch him yourself. What do you do in that case?”
“Use my grappling hook!”
“Exactly! Now, prepare to catch him.”
Winger took Dak and the Duggard training dummy above the cliff.
“Are you ready, Ylva?” Winger asked her. “3… 2… 1… GO!”
Dak dropped the heavy dummy to the cliff. Ylva spread her wings, jumped off the cliff and hurried to catch it. Then, she fired her grappling hook, which managed to reach the dummy right before it fell into the water.
“Nicely done, Ylva!” Summer said.
However, the dummy was too heavy, even for Ylva. So it began to pull her down! But she didn’t give up. She fluttered as hard as she could while the grappling hook pulled the dummy towards her.
“I… can’t… hold it!” Ylva said.
“That’s why we’re a team!” Summer said.
Summer, Winger, Burple, Cutter and Aggro came to help her get the dummy back to safety.
“Thanks, guys!” Ylva said. “We make a pretty good team.”
“Yeah, we know.” Cutter said.
“Too bad I couldn’t save him on my own.”
“Don’t worry, Ylva.” Summer said. “One day, you will become a big, strong she wolf.”
“Thank you, Leyla.”
“Hey, Ylva. Wanna train a little more?” Dak asked her.
“Yeah, why not?”
“Ok. Now, fly toward that rock emerging from the sea and land on top of it.”
Ylva did so. Once she was there, Dak instructed her from the edge of the cliff:
“Now, let’s see you use your grappling hook to save yourself! Imagine you hurt your wings, and thus, you can’t use them. Luckily, you got a grappling hook to get you out of this situation!”
“Ha! No problem!” Ylva said.
“I knew you would say it. Now, show us what you can do!”
Ylva aimed carefully at the edge of the cliff and fired her grappling hook. It grappled onto it, allowing Ylva to be pulled quickly back to where her friends where.
“Good work, Ylva!” Winger said. “I knew you could do it.”
Next, Ylva and the Rescue Riders took a break. After a while, Aggro asked her:
“Hey, Ylva, why don’t you tell us the rest of your story?”
“Well, I don’t know…”
“Wait, everyone! First, Burple must promise not to cry.” Cutter said.
“Hmmm… Fine, I’ll try not to.” Burple said.
“Okay, but first, let’s go to the woods.” Ylva said.
They went to the woods, where no one would see them and it would be more comfortable for Ylva to resume her story.
One day, Ylva was playing with her father at home, while her mother was getting her latest hunt ready for them to eat, when suddenly, the cave began to rumble.
“What’s going on!?” Ylva’s mother asked, startled.
“Could it be… an earthquake?” Ylva’s father said.
Rocks started falling from the roof!
“Quick, let’s leave this place!”
They tried to escape, but the falling rocks slowed Ylva’s parents down.
“Mom! Dad!” Yllva called, running to aid them.
“Go! Go, Ylva!” her father shouted.
“Don’t worry about us! Save yourself!” her mother shouted.
“No, I won’t leave without you!”
“You will be alright. You are strong.”
“Go, my daughter.”
“No... Mom, dad, NO!”
Suddenly, an explosion blew Ylva away from her parents, and the whole place crumbled on them! Ylva was knocked out briefly. When she woke up, the entrance of her cave was blocked by rocks.
“Mom!? Dad!?” Ylva called.
No one answered. Tears began to pour from her eyes. Then, she saw what caused the commotion: a pirate ship! The pirates were firing from their cannons at the cliff. Then, Divewings came out to attack the ship! They lived in some nearby underwater caves, and the pirates were probably trying to steal the Divewings’ eggs. After receiving many water shots and headbutts from the Divewings, the pirate ship retreated. Ylva was thrilled to see these wonderful creatures! Then, she remembered what her parents said to her:
“If you strive and work hard for what you wish, you can become whatever you want.”
Ylva thought that the Divewings were a signal. Perhaps it was her destiny to be like them. So, to honor her parents, she decided to become not just a dragon, but also a heroine.
Thus, she began her research about dragons. But, where to start? One day, she heard about an ancient Foreverhorn called Grumblegard who had great knowledge about dragons. In order to get to the island where he lived, she travelled hidden in a fishing boat that sailed next to it. When she finally disembarked on Grumblegard’s island, she met the old grumpy dragon, who surprisingly understood her language. It seemed like Grumblegard not only spoke dragon language, but also wolf language! At first, he refused to take Ylva as her pupil, but once he heard her story and desire to be like a dragon so she can help innocent animals and fight baddies, he reluctantly agreed.
As months passed, Ylva learned everything about the different species of dragons, their abilities, and she even learned dragon language! Upon finishing her dragon apprenticeship, she thanked Grumblegard for everything and let him take her flying to an island near where she lived. Ylva had a blast flying on Grumblegard’s back! After both said goodbye to each other, and Grumblegard flew back to his island, Ylva resumed her life in the woods of Huttsgalor. She was now alone, but she wasn’t afraid. She remembered what her parents said:
“You WILL become like us, and more!”
“You are one special wolf, Ylva.”
“You will be alright. You are strong.”
Encouraged by her parents’ words, she was determined to train hard and be fierce, brave and strong as a dragon.
When Ylva finished her story, Burple was not the only one crying. All of the Rescue Riders were teary-eyed.
“Sorry, Ylva!” Burple said, mid sobbing. “I broke my promise!”
“I don’t blame you, Burple.” Ylva said.
“We… didn’t know you had to pass through all that, Ylva.” Summer said.
“Sorry about the loss of your parents.” Winger said.
“Hey, it’s okay! I’m fine! Oh, by the way, I haven’t told you the best part yet: how I met you!”
Ylva proceeded to tell them how she came to know about the Rescue Riders.
“One day, I was training to be like a dragon, when I saw you, The Rescue Riders, flying across the sky and going on a rescue mission! I couldn’t believe I was actually seeing dragon heroes on action! After that day, I heard awesome stories about you from many dragons, and maybe I watched one or two of your rescues on this island while hiding nearby.”
“Wait, you spied on us sometimes?” Cutter asked her.
“Um... maybe. What I’m trying to say, is that you guys were my inspiration! Day after day, I trained hard to match your skills. I may not have fire energy blasts, water, blades, rocks, fire or rescue gadgets, but I did have two things: self-confidence, and the faith of my parents in me.”
Everyone smiled.
“When I felt I was ready, I finally introduced myself to you. And now, here I am! An honorary member of the Rescue Riders!”
“Wow, Ylva! You’re such a fighter!” Aggro said.
“Thank you.”
“It’s kind of ironic that a wolf became a member of our team, since we’ve fought wolves for a long time.” Cutter said.
“Well, besides from helping animals and people, I will convince the wolves to stop their hostility toward you, and show them wolves and dragons can work together.”
“Well said, Ylva!” Leyla said.
“Now, if you excuse me, I have something to do.” Ylva said.
Then, she went running somewhere.
“Ylva, where are you going?” Dak asked her.
“Come on, guys. Let’s follow her.” Winger said.
The Rescue Riders took flight and followed Ylva. They saw her stopping by a field of flowers to pick some. Afterward, Ylva moved on. Finally, she arrived to a familiar seaside cliff… the cliff that was her former home! She walked to the wrecked entrance of the cave she and her parents used to live in, and placed the flowers in front of it. Nearby, the Rescue Riders were watching this. Summer gasped, then began to cry, leaning her head against Winger’s shoulder, who was also crying. Dak, Leyla, Burple Aggro, and Cutter, started crying, too. Meanwhile Ylva said a few words to her parents.
“Hi, mom… Hi, dad… I really miss you. Thank you for having faith in me and giving me the courage to carry on. I might not have become like you, but you told me that if I work hard and strive for what I wish, I could be whatever I want. Thus, I’ll be an ally to the Rescue Riders. They’re my heroes, so I will be a hero, just like them. I’ll show everyone how wolves can befriend dragons, and I will protect the innocent and do lots of good deeds, like you surely wanted me to. I promise I will make you proud… Goodbye… I love you…”
Ylca couldn’t help but cry. When Ylva prepared to leave, her friends quickly flew away.
“Poor Ylva.” Leyla said. “She has gone through a lot of pain and hardships.”
“She deserves so much more…” Dak said. “… Wait! I have an idea! Winger, Summer, let’s make a quick stop at Hannahr’s!”
The Rescue Riders arrived to Hannahr’s blacksmith workshop.
“Good evening, Rescue Riders. What can I do for you?” Hannahr asked them.
Dak approached her and whispered into her ear.
“Oh, I see… Right away!”
Hannahr got to work on what Dak asked her to do. Later, Ylva was walking through the forest, looking for her friends.
“Hello? Burple? Summer?” she called them. “Where did everyone go?”
Suddenly, Cutter landed in front of her.
“Hey, Ylva!” he said.
“Cutter! Where are the others?” Ylva asked him.
“They’re at the Roost. Now, I need you to follow me there. Come on!”
“Well… ok!”
Ylva and Cutter headed to the Roost. When they were crossing the bridge, Cutter spread his wing, covering Ylva’s face.
“Don’t look! We have a surprise for you!”
“Really?”
“Yes! Just keep walking, and follow the sound of my voice.”
Once they got to the Roost, Cutter asked her:
“Are you ready?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Okay. Three… two… one… NOW!”
Cutter uncovered Ylva’s face.
“SURPRISE!” everyone shouted.
Dak, Leyla, Winger, Summer, Aggro and Burple were there, with a metal doghouse between them!
“Wow…” Ylva said. “Is this for me?”
“Yep! It’s your own house!” Leyla said.
“Forged by Hannahr, at my request!” Dak said. “Do you like it?”
Ylva let out an excited squeal, then said:
“I love it, I love it, I LOVE IT! But, why did you make this?”
“We know you don’t have a home.” Summer said.
“So we gave you one! Because you deserve it.” Winger said. “Even though you went through hard times in the past, you didn’t give up, and let the words of wisdom and trust of your parents inspire you to achieve your goal. That makes you such a strong wolf pup.”
“So we thought you deserved a lot more.” Aggro said. “Now you’re going to live with us!”
“But not just that!” Cutter said.
“We now declare you an official member of the Rescue Riders!” Dak said.
Ylva gasped and said:
“Really?”
“Yes!” Leyla said. “You will join us on bigger rescue missions. We’ve seen you are ready for that. But most importantly, you will have a home and a family… with us.”
“I’m so glad you will live with us now, Ylva!” Burple said. “You will tell us stories at nighttime, but I don’t guarantee you I won’t cry if they’re sad stories. And what’s better, we will eat together! Sorry if I’m too noisy when I eat, or if I eat some of your food. Sometimes I can’t control my appetite.”
“Sometimes? More like all the time!” Cutter said.
Everyone laughed.
“Oh, I can’t believe it! You guys are awesome. Thank you! I’m so glad you’re my heroes!”
Ylva jumped onto Leyla’s arms, and she gave Ylva a hug. Dak joined in, then Winger, then Summer, then Burple, then Aggro and finally Cutter! Ylva finally had what she longed for all her life: a home, a family, and a place in the team of her favorite heroes. There was no happier wolf in Huttsgalor than Ylva. The spirits of her parents watched their daughter from the heavens, proud that she had become strong like them, and more.
THE END