Heavy wingbeats split the quiet afternoon as a large, cerulean dragon descended into a clearing.
"Jin! You're late." The trio of commanders stood nearby a fallen tree, dressed in standard uniform. A crisp white shirt accompanied charcoal riding pants and black leather boots. The silver coats marking them as commanders were adorned with the marking of their respective dragons, and the colored sash around their waist marked them as already paired. They quietly awaited the arrival of the dragons.
Morphing into his human form, Jin grinned. "No one else is here yet. I can't be late." Shinoda heaved a long-suffering sigh.
"Get your flock together, we're welcoming new recruits." Seeing the gleam in his eye, he hastened to add, "And no, you are not allowed to terrify them."
"No fun."
A few other dragons landed in the clearing, the reds and greens of their scales shimmering in the early afternoon sun. Behind them, the fledglings followed, gangly limbs and unbalanced wings leading to rather messy landings. Kido stood, completely unperturbed as a golden dragon skidded to a stop amidst a cloud of dust not two feet away from him. Trainees began to file into the clearing. Similar to the commanders, they sported the same shirt, pants, and boots. Unlike the commanders, however, each sash was colored white.
Leading them was a black-capped male with his light brown dragon.
"Arafune, Suwa," Shinoda greeted. The eyes of the trainees were blown wide at the size of the dragons filling up the majority of the open space. They spread in a wide cluster at the edge of the dragons, watching but not speaking. Quiet whispers rose and fell.
Job done, Arafune mounted Suwa and the pair rose into the air, majestic in the clear sky.
"Look at that one- do you think he's pedigree? I want him."
"Are you kidding? Look at that huge red one over there! He's probably the most powerful."
"But that black one has super rare scales."
"He's tiny. Who wants him?"
The dragons shifted uneasily, their enhanced hearing catching every word of what the trainees said.
"Trainees!" Rindo stood at the front of the crowd, speaking as loudly as he could. When the murmuring continued, Jin stepped forwards and roared.
Silence fell.
"We will be splitting you into two flocks, previously chosen based on your merits from the academy. Your mission as a member of the dragon guard is to prevent us from attack stemming from the nearby dragon nations. As you are still trainees, your flocks will consist of one senior rider pair, two intermediate rider pairs, and from three to five trainee pairs." Rindo turned to Jin. "This is Jin. His rider will be coming soon, but his name is Kizaki Reiji. The two of them are the senior rider pair of Flock One. Flock Two is headed by Arashiyama Jun and his rider, Tokieda Mitsuru. They will now take the riders."
As Rindo finished speaking, a red headed man sprinted into the clearing. "Sorry… Am I late?"
He blinked awkwardly, seeing the entire group of trainees for the first time.
The moment was broken as Jin snorted. "And you said I was late."
-Line Break-
"Flock One, please come with me!" The man, now identified as Kizaki Reiji, waved over Tachikawa, Isami, and Ninomiya. "The rest of you, go with Arashiyama."
The latter three trainees, consisting of Mikumo, Murakami, and Konami, hurried to join the man standing nearby a trio of new dragons.
Kizaki heaved a sigh. "Alright. It's my job to give you the blowdown on the purpose of our squad, our duties, everyday schedule, and training. However, we also need to fit the dragons into our schedule, and-"
Jin interjected abruptly. "The dragons are better. Plus, we'll see them before Flock Two. I want to go meet the intermediate rider pairs we've been assigned to."
Reiji shot Jin a warning glance for interrupting his speech. "If you would be willing to give up your break in between, we can see the dragons first and talk later."
Exchanging hasty glances, the recruits thought. "I want to see the dragons." Tachikawa was the first to break the stalemate.
"I agree." Ninomiya shot him a dirty look for being the first to speak. Isami put on an easy grin, adding, "If that's what those two want, I'm game."
"It's settled then. Let's go."
Tokieda looked on in mild surprise as Flock One began heading towards the caves. "Finished already?"
Jin smirked. "Yep. We're just bet-" Reiji slapped a hand hastily over Jin's mouth. "We're going to see the dragons and then talk. They'll be missing break, though."
"Hn." Tokieda nodded. "Alright, then."
A few minutes of a walk later, the caves came into view.
"Are you Flock One?" A large brown dragon scrambled out of a nearby cave, followed closely by his rider.
"Yes. Are you our intermediate rider pairs?"
"Yep. I'm Suwa, he's Arafune." Switching tones abruptly, he turned and yelled, "MIWA COME OUT. THEY'RE HERE. STOP HIDING!" Several trainees put hands over their ears. Suwa's yell was akin to a foghorn in volume.
A black haired boy dashed out of the cave. "Shut up, you're loud!" Another boy followed behind him, hair held back with a headband. Upon seeing the cerulean dragon, the first boy froze.
"You." The single word held so much disgust that Reiji glanced at Jin, trying to gauge his reaction.
"Shuji! Long time no see."
"Too short of a time, you monster." The second boy grabbed Miwa's arm. "Relax, Shuji. I'm here too."
"I know, Yosuke. But he-"
"Shh. Trainees are here. Let's get the fledglings." Miwa morphed into a sleek, deep red dragon and flew towards a higher up cave.
A few minutes later, three dragons stood in front of the trainees, eying them. Their scales were vibrant, one a shimmering gold, the next a deep blue. The last one was smaller than the others, and had inky black scales. His eyes, a red deeper than the colors of Miwa's scales, studied the humans in front of him with distaste. His posture screamed of defense, wings curled in front of his body.
Jin body bumped the dragon, forcing him to stumble and put out his wings for balance. "Chill, Kazama. They won't hurt you."
Kazama sent a baleful glare to Jin, regaining his balance.
"So!" Reiji swept out an arm. "These will be your dragons. We don't know who will be paired with who, or even if you will be paired at all. This depends on both ends of the partnership, and your dynamic with each other. We will observe carefully, and by the end of the year during the final test, we will pair riders with dragons. Should you pass, you would stay with the flock for another year before becoming intermediates like those two."
Miwa stepped forwards, now back in human form. "There are four types of dragons within our kingdom. Fire, Earth, Wind, and Water. They excel in attack, defense, agility, and healing magic respectively. They each have their own weaknesses, although you can discuss that with individual dragons when you get a chance. This year, the fledglings are one water, one fire, and one wind."
Yoneya pointed out each dragon as he said their name. "This is Izumi, fire dragon." The golden scaled dragon grinned, extending his wings and nearly knocking over the smaller dragon next to him. "Kazama, wind dragon." The smaller black dragon lashed his tail angrily at Izumi, scowling. "And Narasaka, water dragon." The blue dragon sat quietly, watching the events occur.
"Miwa and I are fire dragons, and Suwa is an earth dragon," supplied Jin.
"I should let you know that not all of these dragons were pedigree. Kazama and his brother weren't, and neither was Miwa."
"Brother?" inquired Tachikawa. Reiji sighed. "Jin, why'd you have to mention that." Kazama's expression was stony and closed off. "Anyways, both Miwa and Kazama were taken from the wild. Now that we've all met the dragons, please morph into human form."
As the dragons began to morph, Reiji hastily added, "Remember clothes!"
Narasaka and Kazama went red, hastily hiding behind a rock. Izumi rolled on the floor, laughing his head off at the unfortunate dragons.
Tachikawa tossed his spare coat over the rock. "Kazama, here."
A slender hand reached over to grab the coat before fastening it and stepping around the rock. Tachikawa had to hold back a gasp.
The boy was beautiful.
There was no other way to say it. His body was slender and petite, but well built. Dark hair framed his face, where two sharp red eyes stared straight at him.
Although, maybe the coat was a bit long.
Just a bit.
Narasaka had been a bit more prepared, this having happened before. He had a spare set of clothes within the cave, and had changed into them.
"I'm going to explain the guidelines now." Reiji held up a map. "This is us." He circled a space bordered with forests. "We have many neighboring nations that attack us." He marked an icy wasteland, a series of rivers, and a large forest. "We scout and defend, and sometimes attack to protect our country."
He opened a large book, the word 'strategies' scrawled on the cover. "We'll be learning the various strategies and their cues, flying patterns for both evasion and attack, and battle strategies and roles for each type of dragon and rider."
"That's the gist of it, and it's a bit more complicated than that. But for now, that will do. Get some rest, we'll see you bright and early next morning. Dinner is back at camp, and you will be sleeping in the barracks until you get a dragon to trust you enough to let you sleep with them."
A muffled snore broke the silence.
"Izumi, stop sleeping!"
A/N:
So that was the first chapter. This is a multi chaptered affair, and it will have somewhat of a meandering plot, with attacks, etc. However, there will probably be a few different plot lines all happening at the same time. Both Flock One and Flock Two will get attention, and I will be bringing in Yuma in a few chapters. Neighbors will have interesting colors and dragons, and I will do my best to include as many characters as possible. There will be a lot of terminology and world building, so I apologize if it feels like a lump of info and no action. PLEASE ASK QUESTIONS ON THE COMMENTS IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND SOMETHING. I WILL DEFINE IT AS SOON AS I CAN. Ex. Specifications about relationships, powers and weaknesses, history, etc. This was a long A/N, but I feel like it is necessary. Please favorite, follow, and review! I love reviews! Constructive criticism is welcome.
Thanks for reading, as always.
-WorTri