Lesser Leaf-tailed Swiftscale

'''NOTE: This is an open dragon species by Hicctoothhugs. If you are planning to create a Swiftscale oc, or want to mention it in a fanfiction, please tell me! I'd really like to check your work out.'''

The Lesser Leaf-tailed Swiftscale, Leaf-tailed Swiftscale or just Swiftscale is one of the fiercest predators of the sky and mountains. While they usually tend to stay away from humans and may look calm and gentle, they are ferocious when threatened or angered.

"Looks can be deceiving! The Swiftscale lures its prey towards it by waving its leaf-tail in front of them. When it has successfully caught its prey, it tends to play with it before picking it apart while it is still alive."

- An excerpt from the Lost Text of the Dragon Manual

This dragon is an Air Dragon which belongs to the Mystery Class. Little is known about it as it lives on clifftops and places unreachable to Vikings. It is one of the Air Dragons who reside in the Murderous Mountains and pick at the human sacrifices made of unwelcome visitors.

Appearance
The Lesser Leaf-tailed Swiftscale has an light aquamarine body with aerodynamically curved spines on its back and its tail. Its tail is blue, in the shape of a leaf. Its wings are candyfloss pink and they have golden claws. Swiftscales have four lobes on their head and a flower-like pattern below their eyes. Their pastel colours help them to camouflage in the sky when they hunt other dragons or flying animals.

Flight
It can fly the best in high altitudes, so they are believed by Vikings to be mythical creatures.

Size and comparison
Unlike its Greater counterpart, the Lesser Leaf-tailed Swiftscale is medium-sized, and thus very maneuverable. It is highly prized among Vikings as a riding-dragon, but nobody has tamed it for long enough without being eaten.

Egg to fledgling
The Swiftscale mates for life and only can lay one egg in their lifetime. The egg is oval-shaped with feathers at the bottom, and the young will claw its way out with fully-developed claws during the third week after the egg is laid.

The parent will look after the fledgling for two more weeks, until their fire-holes have fully grown and it can hunt for itself to survive on its own. Then, the parent will fly to the peak of a mountain and abandon the young dragon there, leaving it to fend for itself.

Teenage years
Juvenile Swiftscales do not have radar or venom, and they trust humans more easily than their adult counterparts. However, they have a single long fang that they use to disable their prey by twisting and breaking the victim's limbs. This fang will shorten as the Swiftscale grows, and will become of the same length as the other teeth of the dragon.

Adult life
Adult male Swiftscales give off a musk-like smell to attract females for mating. They will then fight with each other to mate. Thus, many male Swiftscales die during the mating season.

The gender ratio of females to males is 1:5. Most teenage and adult Swiftscales will stay without a mate for their whole lives.

Titan Wing stage
Titan Wing Swiftscales have a crown of spines around their neck. Their acid comes in explosive bursts rather than streams, and their coat of feathers will shed to reveal sleek scales. Their fangs grow to the size of kitchen knives. Their leaf-tail splits into half and a single vine-like structure curls around it.

Communication
Lesser Leaf-tailed Swiftscales speak a dialect of Dragonese, and they love a battle of the wits. Your only chance to tame an adult Swiftscale is to engage in an argument or a heated debate, ask witty questions or tell it a very clever joke to make it forget about its former aim of eating you.

Weaknesses
Poison Ivy: the Swiftscale's natural habitat has many poisonous plants, but the deadliest of all to them is Poison Ivy. When consumed, the dragon's circulatory system fails completely and it faints on the spot, and it will die at the next moon. The only cure for this disease is for the Swiftscale to drink the blood of a Greater Silver-backed Sailfin, a very rare Sea-Dragon that resides in the Pacific Ocean.

Hollow horns: the dragon has two horns on its head which are hollow and a Swiftscale's pride and joy. The longer, the larger, the sharper the better. If a Swiftscale's horns are broken by a human or another dragon, the Swiftscale submits to them as their forceful leader or Master. Because of this Swiftscales are extremely protective of their horns.

Water: the Swiftscale, being an Air Dragon, has extremely weak gills, and thus cannot stay in the water for a very long time, or they will drown.

Abilities
Ultrasound signals: the horns of a Swiftscale can be rapped to send ultrasound signals to other dragons of their own, or to summon other dragons.

Honey-scented tail: its leaf-tail has a smell of fresh honey, luring its prey towards it and giving off a calming hormone.

Trivia

 * The Swiftscale is based on the Silver Phantom from the original book series.
 * Its horns look like ice cream to me... so it earned the nickname 'Ice Cream Dragon'.