Loud chatter filled the silent corridors as five boys and their dragons made their way to the supply rooms. It had been seven months since the younger two graduated from trainee to dragonrider. Today was going to be their first mission outside of the kingdom. A gang of rogues had been stirring up trouble for a village and the people had have enough of the dragons stealing their cattle and burning their houses. The Dragon Guard had been quick to send for Yongguk to brief him on the mission. Himchan had pouted about not being called for as well, which was met by Yongguk sticking his tongue out at him and the younger members laughing at their childish bickering. They had finally packed all their necessities and were now flying towards the mission location.

“How long until we get there?” Junhong asked for the fifth time. He was feeling a little nervous, but Totomato had reassured him nothing would go wrong.

“About an hour.” Himchan sighed, answering the youngest question again.  

“I’m going to take a nap.” Yongguk yawned and laid back to get in the usual ‘I’m riding my dragon, but I would rather sleep’ position he had mastered in his early years of training.

“Really? I don’t think now is the time for that.” Himchan moved his head to look at their so called leader. “Aaand he’s already sleeping. Great.”

“I have to say, it is pretty impressive.” Jongup was scared for their leader the first time he did this but calmed down when Daehyun told him it was normal.

“I wish I could nap while flying 100 feet above the ground.” Daehyun whined, scrunching up his nose with envy. The one time Daehyun tried to nap while flying, he had rolled off Kekemato’s back, landing straight into a muddy puddle. Himchan and Yongguk never let him live it down.

After Junhong asked the golden question of “are we there yet” about 20 times, they were finally at the forest’s edge. The scouts said the rogue gang were living in a cave, near a pond, 60 meters northeast into the forest. Slowly flying over the treetops, they looked for said place. The location was easy to find, being in a small open area. Yongguk wakes up and leads the others to land just west of the rogue base. They use the surrounding brush for cover as they scout around the area, looking for any sign of the rogues.

“It would seem they aren’t home.” Himchan stated when they grouped back together. The others nodded in agreement.

“What should we do?” Junhong asked nervously biting his bottom lip.

“We stay low and wait for them to come back. We don’t know where they went so going on a wild goose chase would be pointless.” Yongguk looked around the group for any disagreements. He was met with nods and a displeased snort form Shishimato but it was the best course of action no matter how much the dragon hated sitting around doing nothing.

They spread out along the west side of the base and cover themselves with leaves and other fallen foliage. Luckily for them, fate was on their side. The rogue dragons returned home after 30 minutes. Unluckily for them, fate also decided it didn’t like them.

One of the rogues had spotted Totomato and snuck up behind the duo for a surprise attack. Totomato let out a yelp, getting everyone’s attention. Tatsmato was quick to tackle the rogue off the blue matoki but the other rogues were already engaging the others in battle. There were seven rogues in total, so based on numbers the matoki herd should of won easily, but once again fate hated them.

When Tatsmato left Himchan’s side to help Totomato, Himchan was going to follow after but another rogue pinned him to ground. Jongup was able to get the rogue off of Himchan by stabbing it in the side and shoving it onto its side, but soon after he was met with the rogue’s powerful tail smashing into his side, sending him a few feet away. Jongup was a strong kid so a hit like this was easy to recover from. Landing on his arm weirdly? Not so much. There wasn’t a cracking sound but the pain he felt had him clutching his arm tightly, curling in on himself and holding back his scream of pain.

Dadamato was at Jongup’s side in an instant, protecting him from the other rogues as Himchan hurried to the injured kid to check his damaged arm. The others were able to fend off the other rogues, who retreated after noticing the other two downed rogues. Instead of chasing after the remaining rogues, Yongguk thought it was best to move everyone to a safer location up north and reassess the situation.

When they settled into their temporary camp, Yongguk whistled for a messenger bird and attached a note to the bird’s foot. He was requesting back up just to be safe and for some dragonriders to find the smoke trail to pick up the two tied up rogues they managed to take out. The bird quickly took off, flying towards the outpost. Yongguk looked over each of s.

Everyone had a few scrapes and bruises here and there. The only one who seemed worse for wear was Jongup. Himchan was wrapping his arm in a splint, while Daehyun crafted a sling out of cloth. Yongguk sat down next to Junhong, patting the kid on his shoulder. Junhong in return rested his head against Yongguk’s shoulder as he watched the other two members take care of Jongup.

“Are we going to be okay?” Junhong asked in such a low whisper, Yongguk had almost missed it.

“Yeah. Jongup is a strong kid, and we can take care of the rest when backup arrives.” Junhong relaxed after hearing his leader’s confident answer. Yongguk smiled when the others joined them to go over the new plan. The plan was to wait for backup, than try to find the remaining rogues, while they send Jongup back to the outpost with someone. Everyone settled down to recover some much needed energy. Daehyun took this opportunity to open his pack and started to pull out a questionable amount of snacks, like a magician pulling rabbits out his hat; Daehyun pulled snack after snack out of his tiny pack.

“How is that even possible?” Himchan watched the other boy with wide eyes. “That has to be half the snacks that were in the food supply room.”

“I don’t know why you’re so surprised. This is normal for Daehyun.” Yongguk remembered back during their training days, Daehyun would always have food, pulling it out of thin air. The younger boys started going through the growing pile and picked out a few to start munching on.

“Ah ha! I found it!” Daehyun pulled out a box covered in slightly melted ice packs. Everyone watched in curiosity as he opened the box, revealing a slice of raspberry cheesecake.

“I want some!” Daehyun smiled at his dragon as he split the cake in half and gave the bigger half to Kekemato. They both ate the treat, humming soft happy tunes.

“It has been a while. When is backup arriving?” Shishimato was getting bored with all the waiting around. Yongguk was about to reply when the brush around them started to move. Everyone’s guard was up, Dadamato standing in front of Jongup ready to attack.

“You guys can calm down, it’s just Holly and I.” Hana said as she stood in front of the group, hands up in surrender.

“Are you the only ones?” Tatsmato was surprised that the Guard would only send a pair. Hana and Holly were an amazing team but usually the Guard would send at least two pairs for smaller missions like this.

“No, we came with our underling.” Holly informed them proudly. Even if Youngjae and Jokomato weren’t really their underling, Holly still liked to brag about them to others.

“Underling? You don’t have an underling. Who would leave you two in charge of someone?” Tatsmato could have sworn none of Princess Sunhwa’s personal guard had any underlings. Himchan shared a look with Tatsmato. They would definitely question the duo later.

“Hmph, I’ll have you know that I am a great teacher, and my underling is better than you.” Hana pouted at the pink masked matoki. She did a great job when helping Youngjae and Jokomato study for the dragonrider exam.

“It’s nice chatting, but we have rogues to catch.” Shishimato had enough chit chat for the time being. They had a job to finish and it was boring waiting around, listening to small talk. Shishimato wasted no time, charging in the direction of their previous battle.

“Hey! Don’t run off!” Yongguk yelled after Shishimato, sighing when the dragon didn't stop. “We should go after Shishimato, before he gets into trouble.” The group nodded and began to chase after the dragon.

Shishimato sniffed the air around the rogue base and picked up their faint scent. The scent got stronger the closer Shishimato got. The matoki could hear sounds of a struggle, remembering Holly’s underling was also in the forest, Shishimato ran faster towards the battle. The dragon spotted the small clearing the battle was taking place in and jumped through the parted trees, ready to attack. To Shishimato’s surprise all five rogues were downed.

“Did you really have to take them out all on your own?” Shishimato was bummed out about the fight being over. It ran all this way for nothing!

“Sorry you missed the party. Maybe next time you’ll be on time.” Shishimato looked over to the dragon, ready to teach Holly’s underling a lesson in respect. Once again surprised by what it saw.

“Wait… You’re a Matoki!” Shishimato knew for a fact there weren’t any other matoki dragons at Headquarters. Maybe Hana and Holly were keeping them a secret from everyone but even if they did, some sort of registration would have been required and Himchan would have been informed because he was the head of the matoki intell. Each dragon breed had a person or small group who would keep track of members who were the same breed.

“And you’re not blind. What a relief.” This new matoki was starting to get on Shishimato’s nerves.

They continued to bicker back and forth until the dragon’s partner interrupted them. Shishimato was impressed the kid did all the work by himself. Just as sudden as Shishimato’s appearance, the others finally joined them in the clearing. Shishimato was pulled into a headlock by his partner and everything around them turned to chaos, so much was happening at the same time.  

“Honestly! All of you are childish!” Everything came to a stop, and fear slowly filled everyone’s body. Hana was terrifying when angry. The herd thought they were safe when the dragonriders showed up to pick up the rogues, distracting Hana for the time being, but when they started to prepare the rogues for extraction, Hana turned her attention to the matoki herd.

“All of you should be ashamed of yourselves. It is expected for dragonriders to be professional at all time on missions. What would have happened if those riders came earlier and saw all of you acting like children? They could have reported it and your reputation would have gone down the drain.” Hana continued her harsh lecture as the others looked to the ground in guilt. She ended her rant with a huff and her heel, calling for her underling to follower her back to the outpost.

The group stayed behind to assess the damage done to the forest and help the other riders extract the rogues, flying around them acting like a protective barrier. They landed at the outpost near dinnertime. Daehyun’s mouth already watering when the smell of food wafted through the air.

“Lets hit the mess hall. Snacks are nice but I’m starving for a real meal.” Everyone agreed and hurried to the mess hall. The line for food was shorter than the group expected. It was as if fate was on their side, making up for earlier. Daehyun was even able to charm the people giving out the food to give him extra portions.

When everyone had gotten their food, Himchan scanned the room for an open table but was interrupted when Jongup started to walk ahead of them. He lead them to a table already occupied by someone. The others noticed it was Hana’s underling from before. Jongup sat down in front of the kid, while Dadamato greeted the other matoki. The others shifted around the table causing a ruckus again. Jongup quickly cleared his throat and gestured to the guy sitting in front of him. Everyone quieted down, looking at said guy.

“I’m Youngjae. It’s nice to finally meet the rest of you.” Youngjae gave them an awkward smile.

“I’m Jokomato.” The yellow masked matoki popped its head over Youngjae’s shoulder to introduce itself to the other humans.

“I’m Yongguk, the red masked matoki is my partner Shishimato. I’m the leader of the matoki herd.” Yongguk shook Youngjae’s hand. He didn’t think they would have another member join but Jongup seemed to like the new kid so he thought it was fine.

“I’m Himchan, this is my partner, Tatsmato.” Himchan also shook Youngjae’s hand.

“I wasn’t going to interrupt until everyone was done, but is Tatsmato named after the marking on its chest? That’s dumb… No offence.” Everyone bursted out laughing at the comment;it wasn’t the first time someone asked, but it was the first time someone said what they were all thinking when they first met Tatsmato.

“Why is that the one thing people notice about me?” Tatsmato pouted and took its head off Himchan’s lap to join the other dragons.

“I’m Junhong and my dragon is the blue one, its name is Totomato.” Youngjae help the soft “cute” that came out of his mouth, he reached out to pinch Junhong’s cheeks. Said boy was desperately trying to get out of the elder boy’s grasp. Once again everyone at the table started laughing until tears started to form in the corner of their eyes.

“I’m Daehyun, this is Kekemato.” Daehyun wiped the unshed tears away from his eyes and patted Kekemato on the head. Being introduced to the human, Kekemato also left to join the other dragons, albeit a little more hesitant than Tatsmato. The night continued and they stayed in the mess hall long after everyone else had left. They were even given the keys to lock up. Jongup and Junhong had just resat down with the others after showing off some dance move to Youngjae, when a question entered Youngjae’s brain. The question had been bothering him since he met the others.

“Does the matoki herd have a name like Got7?”

“Nope.” Daehyun has heard about Got7 and other group names. Hell, their herd’s closest group of friends were in a gang called BtoB, but for some reason the thought about naming their group never crossed any of their minds.

“Well, we should. It’s better than being called the Matoki herd all the time. It’s too much of a mouthful.” Youngjae stated. There was a silent agreement among the others. Thus everyone began brainstorming on names. Most were shot down by one or all the members. Daehyun looked around the room for inspiration, his eyes landed on a lone piece of rice. He examined the lonely piece rice in the best lighting offered by the mess hall. Daehyun decided that the piece of rice was absolutely perfect. It was too perfect for this world, so Daehyun flicked the rice off the table and onto Dadamato’s head. Suddenly Daehyun stood up, knocking his seat over, and slamming his hands on the table. Surprising everyone and they looked at him like he was crazy.

“I know what our name is going to be.” Daehyun looked at everyone, all eyes staring at the boy, waiting for him to continue.

“Best, Absolute, Perfect. B.A.P for short.” Daehyun crossed his arms and looked at everyone’s faces. Yongguk looked deep in thought, Himchan just seemed done with everything, Jongup looked amazed, Junhong also looked amazed but also looked half asleep, Youngjae had a face of confusion than grinned, eyes lighting up as if he discovered something.

“All in favor of expecting Daehyun’s herd name so we can finally go to sleep say I.” Yongguk called for a vote, not to his surprise everyone said “I” but Youngjae seemed to be holding in a laugh, Yongguk brushed it off, assuming the other boy was just sleep deprived. Yongguk called their ‘meeting’ to an end and lead everyone out the mess hall to lock up. Junhong was riding on Totomato’s back already asleep, Jongup looked ready to pass out at any moment, Himchan and Yongguk watched over youngest two, making sure they didn't get hurt somehow. Daehyun was a few paces back when Youngjae gently bumped his hip into Daehyun’s, he was grinning widely at him.

“You named us after rice.” Youngjae couldn’t help but giggle. Daehyun looked at him, shock written all over his face. Daehyun thought he covered up the true meaning of their name well but Youngjae had gotten it easily.

“Well, aren’t you a bright one.” Daehyun smirked at the younger, wrapping his arm around a giggling Youngjae’s shoulder. “Who are you rooming with tonight?”

“Hana. Why?” Youngjae asked with a curiosity.

“Well you don't want to wake her up, do you? Why don't you crash with me?” Daehyun was speaking from experience. Hana was probably the scariest person to accidentally wake up.

“Sure! Thanks Daehyun.” They followed after the others to the rooms. This outpost was smaller than most outposts, so everyone had to share a room with another member. Daehyun was able to get his own room because his group was an odd number and there was a spare room. Also he won the rock, paper, scissors match. Daehyun didn't mind sharing a room with Youngjae, it gave them more time to talk. The other members passed out the moment their bodies hit the bed, but Daehyun and Youngjae, stayed up for hours talking about nothing and everything. Today started off great, then went to when Jongup got hurt, then became great again when Youngjae joined them, so it was 

A/N :D

This chapter was rushed near the end because my computer was starting to slow down and freeze every few minutes so if the ending seems more ty then usual that's why. Also I’m trying to see if I like writing a chapter in one day or over a course of a few days. It usually takes me about 10 hours to write a single chapter, with breaks in between typing. But when I take a few days to write I always get paranoid I won’t finish on time. Plus I have to give Michelle at least two days prior so she can edit the chapter.

I hope you’re enjoying the story so far! Thank you for reading my first fanfiction!