Name: Scorchbeak
Species: Hatzegopteryx Cornuregis (Meaning: Hațeg Basin Wing King of Wings)
Age: 22
Height: 20 feet tall
Wingspan: 50 feet long
Weight: 800 pounds
Found In:
Shadow Hallow
Mount Phoenix
Lunafurna
Relationships:
Tsukasa Haruki (Rider)
Yura Haruki (Rival)
Kageshin Haruki (Tsukasa's father)
Lusine Haruki (Tsukasa's mother)
April Aragon
Tobias Kaiwhe
Koba Matthews
Fla Alinta
Albertosaurus Frigirealis "Frost"
Majungasaurus Acuticalvaria "Makashin"
Megacerops Firmuvertex "Gard"
Smilodon Gladiumorsus "Saber"
Amphicyon Eternacanin "Aki"
Giganotosaurus Vastator "Calistus"
Daspletosaurus Stromi "Darshi" (Friends)
Aliases:
Fire Face
The Night's Flame
Tsukasa's Bird
King of the Skies
Appearance:
Scorchbeak has a much more muscular build compared to his Cretaceous counterparts. He has a sharper beak, a pointy crest, and long legs. His wings have rounded edges and he has three claws on all his limbs. He has lava like splotches on his face and diamond shaped spots on his body.
Colors:
His eye color is lime green, his main color is brown, his diamond spots are caramel, the splotches on his face are orange, his crest is red, and his claws and wings are grey.
Personality and History:
Scorchbeak was originally a Pterosaur who belonged to the Flare Tribe when he was younger. However, while he was hunting, he was intercepted by a group of Pterosaurs who had Lunar Tribe warriors riding them.
They soon took Scorchbeak down and transported him to an underground cavern known as Shadow Hallow where the Lunar Tribe was located. It was there where they would decide his fate since the tribe had never caught a Pterosaur as massive as he was.
At first, he was going to be executed. The one who ordered this was none other than Princess Yura Haruki, the eldest child of the royal family. However, her father, Kageshin, protested against this and decided to keep Scorchbeak because he could be useful for them in the future considering how massive he was. He could provide them with a good advantage in the sky.
Scorchbeak was one of ten Pterosaurs who were chosen for the Flight Trials. Which was a test to see which Pterosaur would be most fit to serve the prince, Tsukasa Haruki, Yura's younger brother.
Tsukasa initially wanted to choose a Tropeognathus. However, due to how unpredictable and aggressive it was, one of the handlers of the Pterosaurs suggested that he should pick the largest of the Pterosaurs due to it having a commanding presence that would ward off any potential rivals.
As the years went by, ever since he was captured, Scorchbeak has grown far larger. To the point that when Tsukasa chose him to be his partner, he was already at his maximum size.
When the time came for Tsukasa to ride Scorchbeak, the Pterosaur immediately shook him off of his back. One of the handlers did mention that the Hatzegopteryx was actually picky when it came to how his rider would ride him. Saying that they needed to be in a specific position for him to accept them as their rider.
Tsukasa thought it was tedious at first, but the more he studied Scorchbeak's behavior, the more he started to get a grasp on why he wanted his rider to sit in a specific position. It's mainly because he sees things differently compared to other creatures who have been ridden in the past.
If his rider sits the right way, that means they're respectful and they're in tune with him. If they ride the wrong way, they either don't care or they're out of synch with him.
Which is why before he got onto Scorchbeak again, he asked the handlers to give him an illustration of the Pterosaur to determine which position would be the most comfortable for him to fly in.
The most comfortable way he found to ride onto him was not to sit on his back, but lay on it. Which is why he had a custom made saddle that was one of a kind.
It was however, hard for Tsukasa to learn how to balance on the Pterosaur's back without straps, and not to get dizzy when Scorchbeak preformed certain maneuvers. Since the tribe didn't have technology, Tsukasa had a harder time adjusting to riding a Pterosaur than he would if he were piloting a plane.
As he began to fly with Scorchbeak more, be also studied his movements and how he would react to maneuvers. Which led to Tsukasa creating a strategy so he'd get used to flying on a Pterosaur. He'd focus on where Scorchbeak's head was pointing, then he'd move his body according to where Scorchbeak's own body was going to move next so he could follow the flow of his movements.
Eventually, as he started to get the hang of riding, Scorchbeak was starting to develop more of a personality due to how kind Tsukasa was to him. Sometimes he'd even give the Pterosaur the food that he was supposed to eat at dinner just because he thought Scorchbeak deserved it more.
The more they rode together, the more Tsukasa felt like he and Scorchbeak were one in the same. Whenever they'd fly, in his head, their heartbeats were connected as one and were in tune with each other.
It even got to the point where Scorchbeak felt more like a sibling to him than his actual sister was. But it's mostly because he didn't know she hated him.
When Tsukasa met and fell in love with the Flare Tribe's princess, Fla Alinta, Scorchbeak took an instant liking to her because she was linked to his rider. And anybody who had a good relationship with Tsukasa would be treated with respect by the Pterosaur.
However, not everyone liked his rider. His own sister despised him due to him taking away any hope of her becoming queen. So she devised a plan that would make it seem that he was dead and he was killed by the woman he loved.
Yura framed Fla, but in reality, she and her uncle kidnapped Tsukasa and trashed his room to make it look like it was Fla who did it. And to really make to look like she had done it, they stole her arrows and put them in the room.
For three years, nobody knew where Tsukasa was. Yura had hidden him in a dungeon and only kept him alive so he could witness the chaos. The Lunar Tribe declared war on the Flare Tribe soon after and Kageshin took it upon himself to take care of Scorchbeak because he thought his son was dead.
As the years passed, Scorchbeak was becoming far more aggressive due to his rider not being around anymore. It's even gotten to the point where he'd periodically leave Shadow Hallow in order to locate Tsukasa if he was still alive. But he came up empty handed.
However, what people didn't really care about was how observant the Pterosaur was. He has noticed that ever since the outsiders known as the Fossil Riders had allied themselves with the Flare Tribe, Yura had begun to take more walks outside the village than usual.
This led to him going out of the village to investigate her. Since she's Tsukasa's sister, she obviously knows something he doesn't. And when he came upon the same dungeon Tsukasa was being held in, while he did not see him, he did smell him. And his scent didn't smell like a rotten corpse.
He was soon discovered by Yura who tried too shoot him down but he escaped with his life. Later on, one of the outsiders, April Aragon, started to investigate herself since one of her friends recently snuck into the Lunar Tribe to see what it was like living in the kingdom. And he also noted that Yura was acting off since she didn't seem to care that her brother was dead.
As she was investigating, she came upon Scorchbeak. Since humans could do some things he couldn't, he led her to where Tsukasa was. During this time, Yura and her parents were launching an assault on Mount Phoenix where the Flare Tribe was located which meant that Tsukasa's cell had less security than usual.
April got through the guards easily because of her partner, Frost the Albertosaurus. They soon found Tsukasa and when they did, the prince was overjoyed to his partner after three years. He was broken out of his cell immediately and they rushed to Mount Phoenix to stop the assault.
Frost and April fought Yura and her Miragaia named Hamma. After the fight, Tsukasa and Scorchbeak flew in. Exposing Yura's plan and it resulted in her exile. The Lunar Tribe was then accept by the Flare Tribe and from then on out, they would live on Mount Phoenix as well.
Another three years past and Scorchbeak became more laid back due to Tsukasa taking care of him again. He also received a modified saddle with strings attached to Tsukasa just in case if he were to fall off during flight.
When Sauria Island was invaded by a company called Dunamis Incorporated, Yura joined the corporation but only because she wanted her revenge.
At one point, Koba Matthews was fleeing from Dunamis' Cryolophosaurus Legion and he was on a cliff. Scorchbeak and Tsukasa were in the area and when they saw Koba getting chased by the theropods, they rushed in to save him. Koba held onto one of Scorchbeak's legs as a
Cryolophosaurus lunged at him, but it ended up falling onto a rocky cliff, breaking it's back, and continued to fall down into the forest below.
Later on, a squad of three Dunamis biplanes were sent to capture the rider and his Pterosaur. They entered a rocky valley which the two used to their advantage. They tricked the planes into flying lower by dodging every dart they shot at them, forcing the pilots to get closer for a better shot. However, the pilots soon crashed into rock formations as the Hatzegopteryx flew upwards to avoid the same fate. And one of the planes was taken down when Tsukasa jumped onto it and tore a hole in the left wing using his sword.
However, Yura had a much more sinister plan up her sleeve. And it was to lure out the Flare Tribe's prized dinosaur, Solaire the Tyrannosaurus by attacking his son, Torch. It was then that another attack was launched onto Mount Phoenix, Torch was almost killed by a Ceratopsian when his father came to his aid. Scorchbeak and Tsukasa flew above the fight for most of it as Tsukasa tried to locate his friends and his lover.
He then came upon Fla who was being attacked by two Nyctosaurus. Being a larger animal, Scorchbeak scared away and even killed one of the smaller Pterosaurs before they, along with the Fossil Riders and the newly formed Eclipse Tribe abandoned Mount Phoenix.
After that attack, the Eclipse Tribe was able to find out that there is a Dunamis facility located in one of the beaches on the island. They intended to storm it as revenge for what they did to Mount Phoenix.
Scorchbeak and Tsukasa were part of an aerial unit that consisted exclusively of Pterosaurs like Tropeognathus, Scaphognathus, Tapejara, and Rhamphorhynchus. And they were tasked with bombing the facility. They managed to find these bombs from old Dunamis facilities on Sauria which were abandoned years ago. But the bomb Scorchbeak was carrying was a very specific one.
It's one that Koba and Tobias found a few months after they first arrived on Sauria four years back. They found it near a cargo plane that crashed. Even they were surprised the bomb didn't go off when the plane crashed. This particular bomb was spray painted with a smiling face that had sharp teeth and Koba decided to call the bomb "Mr. Smile".
A fight broke out on the beach. The Pterosaur unit came in during the final segment of the fight and they proceeded to rain the bombs onto the facility. What surprised them however was how much damage was done because they only intended to take out the outer layer of the facility. What they did not expect was that Mr. Smile was a bomb that was specifically made to bust through hard metal. Which meant that a majority of the facility was destroyed.
After the bombing run, Tsukasa landed near the facility, but was soon confronted by his sister. The two siblings dueled with their blades before Tsukasa was able to defeat Yura and convince her to stop hating him.
When all was done, Dunamis was defeated and the Eclipse Tribe didn't have much to worry about from that moment. As such, Scorchbeak became even more laid back.
As for his personality, in a way, he seems to give off a regal attitude at times appropriate since his rider is of royal blood. He likes to look assertive and dominant when with other Pterosaurs so they won't even think about attacking them. He does however get along with other creatures like dinosaurs and mammals due to him being trained to respect them. He especially respects the partner of Tsukasa's mother, that being Aki the Amphicyon.
Though he likes to have a dominant presence, he does coordinate well when put into a team of Pterosaurs as was seen during the bombing run.
Traits/Attributes:
Intelligence:
Scorchbeak may very well be the most intelligent companion in the Fossil Riders team. His observant behavior was what led to him finding Tsukasa helped in exposing Yura.
Flight:
Unlike the Azdarchids of the past, he's actually quite fast for his size. However, he does fly slower when he's in a calmer mood.
Musculature:
He's way more muscular than Mesozoic Pterosaurs which means he's physically stronger than them and is more durable.
Fighting Style:
He mainly uses his beak to shove and pierce opponents. But he also has a lunge maneuver that he uses where he uses all his limbs to thrust forward for a jumping attack. He also uses his claws and talons to scratch his target.
Running:
As with any Azdarchid, he's one of the few Pterosaurs who spends most of his time on land than in the sky. And can easily catch up to swift dinosaurs.
Swimming:
While he can't do it for long periods, Scorchbeak can swim if he dives down fast enough but he barely does this because he feeds on dinosaurs. He only feeds on fish as a snack.
Trivia:
• Scorchbeak's name and design is a tribute to a Kenner Jurassic Park toy of a Quetzalcoatlus named Fire Beak.
• There were a number of Pterosaurs who almost got Scorchbeak's role but were cut in favor of Hatzegopteryx. Those include: Quetzalcoatlus, Ornithocheirus, Cryodrakon, Pterodactylus, and Zhejiangopterus. You may be asking why I chose Hatzegopteryx over all five of those. It's simple really, I just really liked saying it's name.
• His original color was supposed to be grey. I changed him to brown because it would've looked too similar to Hangjaw the Albertosaurus' color scheme.
• Scorchbeak's sounds consist of lower pitched emperor penguin noises.
• Originally, he was actually going to be either Yura or Lusine's partner, but I really wanted to give Tsukasa a partner that could fly so I opted to give Yura a Miragaia and Lusine an Amphicyon.
• His crest was partially modeled after chicken crests.
• Scorchbeak having a fiery name and originally being from the Flare Tribe symbolizes how much respect Tsukasa had for the opposing tribe even before he met Fla who became his lover.
• He is one of the tallest carnivorous animals in the series. Only beaten out by the mega theropods.
• Though the Lunar Tribe was themed after the moon, Scorchbeak stands out since his design is obviously themed after fire which is related to the sun. Which is kind of fitting since Tsukasa is Japanese and Japan is known as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
• When training, Tsukasa would often fly Scorchbeak through hoops for practice. This is an obvious reference to Superman 64 and it's infamous hoops.
• Scorchbeak and Tsukasa's relationship was supposed to resemble Hiccup's bond with Toothless from the How To Train Your Dragon franchise but it ended up being fairly different from that due to the more regal attitude Scorchbeak has compared to the more playful attitude Toothless has. And Tsukasa is also less awkward than Hiccup is. In fact, he's actually one of the most suave characters in this story.
•We were going to feature pycnofibers on Scorchbeak. But we couldn't find a way to draw them in. Although, the brown on his body is supposed to be where the pycnofibers are located so they're still present, just not in this drawing.
• From the start of his conception, even before he had a name, I always wanted to feature a giant sized Pterosaur who had a fire themed color scheme. As a subtle nod to Rodan from the Godzilla franchise.
• He has his own dedicated room where he sleeps in. Even when he and Tsukasa moved to new homes, his rider always built a room specifically just for his partner.
• Yura to an extent, also hated Scorchbeak because he was her brother's partner. She even went as far as simply calling him a bird even though they were far from related. She hated him even more after he escaped when she was trying to capture him.
• Sexual dimorphism is present on every animal on Sauria and is especially present on Hatzegopteryx. The males like Scorchbeak have these decorative, sharp looking crests while the females have duller looking crests that are barely noticable. These crests are exclusively used to attract mates
• Sometimes he brings corpses to his rider. He does this since Tsukasa always brings him food so he thought that it was only fair to do the same thing. But Tsukasa didn't eat the food his partner brought to him immediately. He'd always have it cooked before he did because he didn't like eating raw meat.
• He is the tallest member of the Fossil Riders' companions. Although, if Torch the Tyrannosaurus had a rider, he'd be the tallest since he's an unofficial member of the group.
• I think one of his original names before I settled on Scorchbeak was Ropenus or simply Ropen. Which is of course the name given to a bioluminescent Pterosaur cryptid.
• He was supposed to have a very long tail. But that would cause drag during flights which is why his tail is barely noticable. In fact, it's not visible in this drawing.
• He has a fairly close relationship with Saber the Smilodon. Not only because he's the partner of his rider's lover but also because Saber has a similar regal attitude.
• His species name, Cornuregis, translates to Wing King or King of Wings. Which is a reference to Dinosaur Train where Mr. Pteranodon is sometimes called the Wing King.
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