by Amari A
Chapter 6
“So what’s the first step in your dragon training?” I ask.
“In order to do dragon training you must be in your dragon forms,” he says with a sigh.
I close my eyes and call to my inner dragon and transform. When I open my eyes I’m in my full dragon form and so is Brenden. Brenden is a beautiful orange dragon with some blue scales scattered along his back. His dragon form was twice the size of mine, but it didn’t matter. Dom looks at us and nods his head.
“A pink dragon. That’s rare. You may be more special than I first believed. What’s the longest you’ve ever been in your dragon form?”
“Not long. About six hours.”
He looks over at the guy who was pouring the potion or something in the water and motions for him to come over. “I will have you drink the potion later and it will help you stay in your dragon form for forty-eight hours.”
“What about Brenden? He was already turning into his dragon in his sleep,” I say.
“Well, it may last a little longer on him, in which case we will just give you more of it. It’s important to be in your dragon form; it’s when you’re most powerful. In your human form is when you’re most vulnerable.”
I nod my head but I still wasn’t sure on drinking a potion. “Okay, so what’s the first lesson?”
“What do you think is a dragon’s greatest asset?”
“Fire breathing,” I say.
“Being able to fly,” says Brenden.
“No, you’re ability to sense and feel other dragons. Can you do that?” he asks.
I shake my head no and so does Brenden.
“What do you know?” he asks.
“How to fly and breathe fire,” I say. Great! Now this guy is giving pop quizzes. For all of this I could’ve stayed in the human realm and suffered through high school.
“Typical,” he says. “When you’re in combat, you don’t want to talk to give away your location so it’s important that you be able to sense one another and then speak through the mind. You, orange dragon, go into the woods.”
Brenden goes into the woods until we can’t see him anymore.
“Okay how close are you and orange dragon boy?” he asks.
“His name is Brenden and he’s my best friend,” I say.
“Okay well, close your eyes and focus on just him,” he says.
I close my eyes and focus on Brenden. I think about his smile and the shape of his dragon and soon I can sense him and mentally see him in front of me.
“Can you hear me?” I say with my mind.
“Yes. Wow, this is pretty cool!” he says.
“I know, right? No need for a cell phone when you got this.”
“What?”
I forgot Brenden didn’t know what a cell phone was. And he was lucky they were nothing but pests and a slick way for parents to keep tabs on you. “Nothing.”
“So what else can you do with this vision?”
“No idea.”
“Open your eyes,” says Dom.
I open my eyes and I can’t see Brenden but I can still sense him and hear his thoughts.
“So how was that for a first lesson?” he asks.
“It was okay. It was no disappearing act or anything like that,” I say.
He laughs. “You have a very sharp tongue princess.”
“Yeah, that’s what they tell me,” I say.
“Tell the orange dragon to come back.”
I send a message to Brenden with my mind and he comes back and stands beside me. I smirk and Dom looks between the both of us and shake his head.
“Do you two know any defensive training?”
“I took a karate class once. I’m pretty much a threat in my human form,” I say knowing it was a lie. I took one karate class a year ago, when I was young and childish, and quit after one class. The teacher had really bad breath and liked to be too close to my face. I told him to pop some breath mints, chew some gum, and keep it moving. The class thought it was hilarious. Him, not so much.
“Well, you need to be a threat in a dragon form,” says Dom. “Do you know how to dodge fire or attacks?”
“No, no one has ever ever threw fire at me and I’ve been pretty good at avoiding it,” I say.
“I know how to dodge fireballs pretty good,” says Brenden.
I turn to look at him. “Since when did you become dragon ninja?”
“It was a part of my dragon training.”
“Uh huh, so why haven’t I learned it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, since you know how to dodge them, let’s see what you can do,” says Dom.
“Brenden stands a short distance away from Dom and faces him. Dom leans his head back and throws a fireball towards Brenden. He ducks it. He throws another and Brenden dodges that one. He throws them over and over and Brenden dodges each one. I had to admit I was a little impressed, but mostly jealous. How did he know how to do this and I didn’t? Dom nods his head at Brenden and he comes back to stand by me.
“Your turn, princess,” he says.
I look at him as if he’s crazy. “You are not throwing fireballs at me.”
“It’s part of your dragon training,” he says.
“No,” I say defiantly. I wasn’t about to be bullied into an near death experience. Was he out of his mind?
He leans back and throws a fireball at me and I duck. He throws another and I dodge it. “Look, you’re not just going to keep throwing fireballs at me!” I yell getting frustrated.
He throws another fireball and I get really frustrated and it turns on him. My eyes widen and Brenden looks at me in disbelief.
“How’d you do that?” he asks sending me a message to my mind.
“I have no idea,” I say. “But it’s totally awesome.”
“I look at Dom who is staring at me in amazement as well. He flies towards me and circles me. “How’d you do that?” he asks.
“I really don’t know. It just sort of happened,” I say.
“Transform back to human form.”
“Uh okay but I’ll do it in the woods. You’re a creepy old dragon and seeing me well…anyway I’m going in the woods.” I pick my backpack and clothes up in my mouth and go into the woods. I merge back into my human form and put some clothes on. I put my backpack back on and walk back towards the guys. Brenden was back in his human form and was dressed and Dom was still in dragon form and that creepy guy was still standing beside him.
“Okay, allow me to address the elephant in the forest. Who is the creepy guy holding the jar who doesn’t talk?”
“Oh Bilal? He’s my servant. He only speaks when spoken to,” he says.
“Okay. That’s not weird at all,” I say.
“You two need to drink this potion,” he says.
I eye him suspiciously. I knew enough from fairy tales not to eat or drink anything from a stranger in the woods. “Nope. I’m good. Not even thirsty.”
“This will help you stay in dragon form,” he says, visibly frustrated.
“Yeah, but I don’t really have a problem staying in my dragon form,” I say.
“Yeah, me either,” says Brenden.
A frustrated look crosses Dom’s face and he looks as if he’s about to explode, but then it passes. “Okay, fine.”
I look up at the sky and I can see that the sun is beginning to set and I know Brenden and I need to get back to our secret spot. “Look, it’s been nice and all but we really have to get going.”
“Fine, but meet me here bright and early to continue your training,” he says.
“Yeah, okay, see ya tomorrow,” I say as I turn to walk away. Something was up with this guy, I just didn’t know what it was. But I definitely was going to figure it out.