Hey!
Guess what story just got updated?
That's right! This one! Ok, let me begin with apologizing for this enormous delay. Seriously, I wasn't planning this kind of a delay, but I got sidetracked quite a lot. Remind me to bash my head against a wall or something like that, ok?
Secondly: Special thanks to:
1. Story telling-talent fairy, for allowing me to use her character Clover Wei and the help she is.
2. DragonDude23 for giving me the hint of 'manning up and get back to writing' (no, those are not the literal words, I simply edited them to the effect they had)
3. The persons who reviewed, fav'ed or followed one of my stories or myself. Appreciate it guys, this one is for you.
4. You! for reading this story.
Don't forget ADJL belongs to Disney, you know, the guys who let it die. As mentioned earlier, Clover Wei belongs to Story telling-talent fairy. All other OC's atm belong to me and any similarities with real persons are purely coincidental.
I am still accepting OC's but instructions changed a bit, to make sure things aren't against the rules and so on.
Now the formalities are out of the way, I believe this chapter alone is the size of 'To the last breath'.
Enjoy reading!
Greetings,
Joniedinofreak.
-2 weeks later, Scottish hills, United Kingdom-
"Mountain trolls have been terrorizing local magical creatures from these hills for quite a while now, we don't know why or from where so be careful Jakey," Reggie informed Jake
Reggie jumped off Jake's shoulder when they saw the troll camp. The trolls were still unaware of the eyes checking them. They seemed to be gathering crates of food, or at least, seemed to be trying, there were maybe three crates and the trolls seemed to be skinny, the only ones seemed to be fed were children.
"Why are they so skinny? This country isn't poor, nor is there any reason for starvation."
"Jakey, you have a human form, they need shape shifter potions for that and truth be told, the ingredients for that are hard to come by. The point is, they can't go into a city and buy food, if they did, they'd give away the magical community."
"I've got a plan," He transformed and flew up.
"Wait, where are you going to?" Reggie shouted.
Liban sat at a sidewalk cafe in London, drinking a cup of tea. A figure was closing in, stepping slowly but certain towards him.
"A new one? How many errand boys does he have?" he thought "Fine, if he thinks himself to be too important to come personally, then I'll have to make sure, he'll know better next time."
The figure walked right towards him, it's steps insecure, yet whoever it was, it was still smart enough to walk so the sun shone directly into Liban's eyes. He could make out some features, pale blue jeans, white sleeves, but that was it.
"May I sit here?" A feminine voice asked.
"Why ask? There is nobody sitting there is there?" A gesture motioning to sit followed the sentence.
"Who is she? What is her purpose? What does it matter?"
His pondering had to have shown on his face, for the girl looked as if she had asked something. Her mouth opened again. "Something wrong?"
"Sorry about that… I was distracted. Who did you say you were again?"
"I didn't, I asked if you were the one who I was supposed to meet?"
"Ah, my apologies. As for your question, it depends, who sent you? I assume no names were mentioned?"
The girl hesitated for a while, but answered after a small pause. "Chang and no. I was told to meet someone who would try to pose for a Brit, but would fail tremendously at it. And as you seem to be the only one like that here…"
A look crept on his face. It was somewhere between a frown and a smile. It looked really ridiculous on his face.
"Fine, you win this one. You found who you had to find, so I believe congratulations are in order. Anyway do you believe all people can be redeemed in the eyes of others?"
"Of course, for the Bible tells us that God is able to forgive and so should we."
"I'll be crude here, girl, the right answer would've been no. If you really served Chang, you would have realized that most people won't be forgiven. People look to deeds, not the motivation behind them, for if they did, Dragons would still call their children after the Dark Dragon and Loki would be a common giant name, but last time I checked neither happened. Neither will Chang become a popular name soon. Now let's introduce ourselves again, this time as we really are. Ok?" He paused, gathering his breath. "Now, I'll start. My name is Liban De Bolle, pleased to meet you."
"Clover Wei, it's a pleasure."
"Well then, miss Wei, let's play a little game." Suspicion became visible from the look in her eyes, "Don't worry, it's just a way to answer questions. You pose a question, then I answer it and ask you a question, which in turn you answer. That way you have your information and I get rid of my boredom."
"Fine, where is the Jake Long?"
"About 612 miles northwest of London, if I recall correctly. Could be more, could be less, could be east. How did you find out I knew where he is?"
"We didn't, you just told us." Clover did her best to hide a smirk when he cursed himself. "What is he doing there?"
"Ah, he's trying to make some troll attacks stop if I recall correctly. He wanted to resolve it without bloodshed or battle if I recall correctly."
-Scottish hills, UK-
At that same moment, about 612 miles northwest of London, a dragon hit the dirt.
"So far for trying to negotiate without fighting," he muttered.
Around him stood 12 trolls each swinging with wooden clubs, above that each had a nasty attitude AND a bad breath, were only the smallest of problems they posed. The problem was, he couldn't see their mother anywhere. And that always meant trouble.
"Get lost dragon!" A troll shouted
"Yeah, we don't want dragons in our neighbourhood!" Another confirmed.
"Yeah! Yous want to kill us! We don't like!" Not a bright light that one apparently.
"Let's talk about this, ok? I'm trying to be gentle here!" Jake was being cornered and he knew time was running out. "Don't corner a dragon , guys, it can only end badly!"
"He's trying to talk his way to dawn!"
"Don't worry boys, the sun hasn't been down for even half an hour! We have all night to make the dragon suffer"
The trolls all began to chuckle. It was at this point Jake was getting scared and struck first. By the time the trolls recovered from the shock, three of their comrades were biting the dust. Two of the others attacked at the same time and ran into each other as Jake flew up right before they hit him. A fireball made the others scatter away, allowing Jake to strike down upon another one, knocking the troll out in the process. One of the others ran at him with his club, only to find claws stopping the swing and a tail sweeping him off his feet. His own club took him out and afterwards two of his comrades. He turned to the remaining three and cracked his knuckles.
"So, who's next?"
The trolls looked at each other, shrugged and moved closer. It was only then that Jake noted one had a flail.
"Wonderful," he thought, "As if they weren't violent enough as it is, someone had to give them one of those."
"Stop!" Someone ordered and the trolls stopped right in their tracks. A large female troll came out of a nearby cave."If the dragon wants to talk, then we shall hear him talk. He hasn't insulted big momma, yet. Now, who's idea was it to attack a dragon that wants to talk?" The troll walked closer till she stood right before Jake and... sniffed the air. "Doesn't even smell like Europe! Who's the buffoon?"
"It was Billy, mother."
"And who put Billy in charge? A walnut has more brains than that kid!"
"Herbert."
She snorted "Dumb and dumber! That makes the rest of you extra dumb." She turned around again and looked at Jake. "Sorry for the inconvenience, these younglings have a bad attitude. 25 years is way to young to let them make judgements, but these years have taken their toll." A sad sigh. "But you haven't come to listen to this troll talk, did you? Let's hear that offer of yours." She gestured for Jake to come.
It seemed the negotiations were about to begin...
-London, the same moment-
"So, you serve the council?" Liban asked, though he knew the answer as the question left his mouth.
"I … Yes, I serve the council." She recomposed herself. "And I do so with pride. Now, it was my turn to pose a question, wasn't it? So, how is the American dragon doing?"
"He can't meet his girlfriend because you some of your precious council, still feel that she should be condemned for her crimes, despite her actions for the community, Jake himself still has a capture order pending, I admit, it changed to capture alive instead of dead or alive. He can't contact his family, because that could make them guilty by association, add to these factors that he still has enemies out there, Jersey devils, lots of hobgoblins, those two failing Huntsclan kids and that's just the top of the list. How would you be if all you ever held dear, was taken away from you? Tell your council that the kid is a wreckage. The best I can hope to do, is to get lost of a bit of the rust and your council isn't helping with its current course of inaction." He paused for a moment. "Now, my turn... Let's see... Kulkulkhan would have send a hit man if he knew I was here, so he won't be who you serve... Hmmm... Andam would've tried to persuade me to turn myself in... Same for that Park woman if half of the things I hear about her are true. So that leaves... Kulde or Omina. So which one of the two do you serve?"
"I'm not allowed to answer that question."
"Fine," Liban grumbled, "Ask your next question."
"Who do you work for? We know it isn't Chang."
"I actually feel insulted now, I am a dragon, I don't serve anyone, I cooperate with someone, yes, but serve? Never! A dragon is to serve no person, only the council and as I am not serving them, I should serve no one, that's the way it is." Liban watched Clover for a few moments "Guess it's my turn now. Why the sudden interest in Jake Long? Why bother with any of this?"
Clover leaned forward and whispered "He still has a role to play and the council wants the best for the community." She shifted again, so she was back in her original position. "Now, who do you cooperate with?"
Liban chuckled. "If I tell you that, there's no mystery, you'll have to do better than that. So, what's your next question?"
Clover glared at him.
Liban merely shrugged."What? It's a question."
"Fine, what's your plan?"
"My plan is to sit back and relax, I don't care for your council, nor your enemies."
"Why do you hate the council?"
"Let's just say that the same winds that carried my father's wings, only serve to hit me in the face." He shrugged "The rest of the answer you'll have to ask Kulde, I'm pretty sure it's one of his favourite stories. That and they didn't want to spread the truth behind the Huntsclan. Got more questions?"
"What is the truth behind the Hunstclan?"
Liban stretched his shoulders before answering.
"To explain the truth, I'd have to explain the Värnhagge-curse, which is the result of the 'Battle of the Forgotten souls' so it can't be understood without knowing that. Yet to understand the battle you have to study it with the writings of Fafnir the Great and the teachings of Wu-Luong the First. Those two are the only written sources left of the period that we now call the 'Dark Age'. But this is not the time nor the place to explain all these things nor do I have the materials needed to even give a crash course on it. If you want to find it out, you'll have to spend some time in the 'Great Library' at 'Dragon Island', but if I recall correctly the specific section can't be accessed without the right authorisation." He paused for a breath and suddenly the look on his face changed. "Excuse me for just a moment." He reached for one of his pocket and took out a cell phone. After that he pushed a few buttons and stared at the screen for a few moments. "Mind to tell me how a half-blood managed to become the apprentice of Omina of all persons?" He asked.
At this point Clover glared at Liban, "Why?" The tone became more omnious with every word, "Do you think I'm less capable because I'm half human? That any half-dragon is less capable than you, a full-blooded dragon?"
Liban flinched, a single thought racing through his mind, "This girl is more dangerous than she appeared to be. Note to self: watch your words."
He recomposed himself.
"I just find it hard to imagine Omina showing anything but distrust towards humankind. After all she isn't known for her compassion or her good history with humans."
This only delivered him a , figurative, snap, "She and my mother seem to get along very well, thank you very much."
A hostile silence followed, only to be broken by a single sentence, "Do your parents know you're here? Of this mission the council gave you?"
"No, they think I'm at school."
"Then go home. The vermin of London is starting to stir and I sense the British dragon will go out hunting soon. Also, watch the rooftops, those gargoyles there, do see them? They have been spying at us for the entire conversation, sitting in plain sight, so I believe they work for your council, so you don't have to worry about them. But the other rooftop, there, there's a bunch of werewolves there, you can be sure those are working for a third party, so watch your back," He cracked a smile, "Good luck, girl, I'd accompany you, but I have some place to be."
"Before I leave, I still have to do one thing."
"Oh?"
"Councillor Kulde asked me to inform on your health."
"Five and a half if I'm lucky, he'll know what I mean. Now go, girl, the British dragon can be a bit territorial at times."
Clover nodded, stood up was walking away when a few last words reached her, words that would leave her confused when she arrived at her destination.
"Oh and give Jake's greetings to Haley and the rest of that family."
The whispered words never reached anyone's ears. "Your god knows if they'll need that support."
He waited until Clover was out sight, before leaning back and saying, "It's widely considered impolite to eavesdrop on a conversation, especially if it's nothing to do with you."
A chuckle came from the person sitting there, "Couldn't have you spilling our plans to the council already because you wouldn't have realized she wasn't who she said she was."
"Unless suddenly Chang started working with your master, which I highly doubt because of her fear for the Maroon dragon, I wouldn't have fallen for it anyway, but indeed, your presence did destroy all the chance for the espionage mission to succeed. Too bad actually, she's got quite a talent for it."
"Oh and since when did you see me perhaps?"
"Right before she asked what was wrong. Not that anyone of your intellect could comprehend that."
To the other guy's credit, he had quite some self-control and ignored the insult. "Yet, you spilled so much information to that slave, our master won't be pleased with this! You know that as much as I do."
"Shut up and learn your place, before I remind you of it. First of all, you talk to me with respect, not like I'm an equal. Second, it's not my master, so when you talk about your master, don't act like he is mine. For me he's a partner, not more, you'd do good to remind yourself of that. Third, if that was a threat, then I hope you realize that I can kill you, here in plain air, with no one even realizing it was me or that you are dead, until it's to late to do anything about it."
The man didn't flinch, he was told his contact could act like a 'though guy' some times, yet his master forgot to tell him thing. Never try to make him come true on a bluff. "You're bluffing, you're afraid of me. A little pussy. A dragon with no scales, a beast, a pet for the master." The man bellowed.
Liban simply took the man by both his shoulders and leaned in close. "A dragon does not bluff. One does not awaken the dragon, one does not insult a dragon, one does not act like he is worth more than a dragon," he whispered with menace clear in his eyes, "And a piece of advice, a wise man wouldn't use either of both arms now for at least 10 minutes, given he wants to avoid amputation of said arms. Now, you tell YOUR master that he has to come personally at next month's meeting. He can choose the location of said meeting, but hour and exact date, I'll decide. If any of these factors is not agreed of, the partnership is done and I'll turn myself in to the council and give them all the information of his petty little plans, do you understand?"
The man nodded, to scared to speak.
"Good, have fun not moving those arms in the next ten minutes!"
And with that he walked away.
As he watched Liban walk away, the man instinctively rubbed his arms. The advice clearly forgotten.
"You drive a hard bargain dragon, but I believe we can agree to these terms." The big mother paused, "Yes, they're quite agreeable."
"Okay, but let's recap this quickly. I find a way to get you and your clan into London and the USA when we find parties to sponsor our trip."
The mother interrupted Jake, "And deliver us food until we got a large enough stash of transformation potions."
"And deliver food until you got a large enough stash of transformation potion," Jake agreed, "And in return you fight with me, as a way to redeem yourselves for your crimes. You will not steal from anyone, you will protect. You will not plunder, you will help repair. We agreed on this, right?"
"Yes, we agreed to that. Billy, come over here you big dimwit!"
Said troll came and stood next to the mother, obviously not having a clue what was going on, "Yes, mother?"
"Give me that club!"
Billy didn't seem to hear her, so the mother simply pulled the club from his grasp. Another motion made said club hit a solid object...
The ground.
"Jake Long, both American and Maroon Dragon, I swear to you this, no matter the foe, no matter the danger, no matter circumstances, as long as you keep your promise our clubs and shields will guide your battles. We will obey your command, heed your words, provide advice when asked to both you and your kin. We will give our lives for you, serving you will be our honour. I, Helga, mother of trolls, chieftain and matriarch of the Scottish hill trolls, swear this, in the name of myself, my clan and my blood, present, future, with those of the past as my witness. Do you accept our oath?"
Jake stood there, speechless, after all a troll swearing their sacred blood oath to an outsider was rare, to have the oath sworn in name of an entire clan, even rarer. To have this oath sworn to a dragon? Unprecedented, unheard of! In troll eyes, such a thing had to be close to blasphemy, yet this was how desperate they were.
And so it dawned on Jake that there was an awful lot of trust invested into him. More than there should be.
He looked up and saw the trolls looking at him, expecting an answer, hope in their eyes. His mouth felt dry, he stumbled over his words, but in the end the answer came.
"Yes, I accept the honour you bestow upon me and I realize the faith you put in me. I will share your burden and will not rest until my part of our deal is complete."
The trolls cheered, drowning out the cry of anger and despair. Thus it came as a surprise when a small form suddenly attacked Jake.
"In the name of Picadilly Circus! You could at least have warned me you big, ugly, flying reptile! You made me run for so long!" The hits were growing weaker with every time the tiny fists connected, "So... tired... Tell... my... family... I... hate... them..."
"We really need to work on your anger management someday, Reggie."
"Can... manage... to... get... angry... pretty... fine," the brownie fainted.
-Abandoned Hunstbase- USA-
Rose sat at a table waiting for the other hunstmembers. She had just finished her tasks and it was time for lunch. Which the hunstmembers took together as a sort of reminder to their camaraderie.
"So Rose, did you speak to your boyfriend lately?" The voice came from behind Rose.
She sighed, she knew what was coming next and if there was one thing she wasn't in the mood for, it was that.
"No, I haven't heard from Jake since last week and no, I'm still not interested in you," She gave the boy the a glare and made sure her voice was as venomous as possible. "I thought you were starting to get involved with an elven girl, can't you at least try to show some respect towards her?"
The huntsclan member sat himself right in front of Rose and obviously didn't even flinch from the venom in her voice or the accusations, " That was a year ago! And even if she wouldn't have dumped me because of the stunt my mother pulled off, then it still has been a year since someone made a certain wish. Plenty of time for that girl to get over me and move on. So the least you could do is make it up to me..."
His sentence got cut off by Tatyana's voice: "Victoire made some meatloaf and for once it looks edible."
"Oh really? Well, I've got to check out if the miracle is true, talk to you later Rose."
Rose mouthed a 'thank you' towards Tatyana and watched Rodriguez get up, only for his chest to jerk a moment later. A spear was sticking right through it, disbelieve was in the boy's eyes as he collapsed.
Rose's first instinct was to shout so the others were alerted, her second was that whilst she was still shouting, jump on the table, over Rodriguez, towards the doorway and engage the assailants.
It was only when she had taken out the third attacker that she realized she was fighting werewolves. Some of her clanmates appeared to help fight the werewolves, whilst others had disappeared, their first instinct to get actual weapons instead of fighting with nothing but their fists and legs. Their return was announced by a net that surrounded a werewolf, the creature tried to struggle himself free, only for a beam to hit him, effectively ending the his struggle.
Shortly after 14 werewolves were lying dead on the ground and one laid dying. Rose stepped to that one, determined to find out why they had been attacked. The werewolf looked at Rose and she could see a mixture of both hate and admiration in his eyes. He spoke, softly, coughing between his words, "The pack * cough* will rise * cough cough* again."
In a fluent motion he shut his jaws and his eyes rolled back as foam started to come out of his mouth.
Victoire crouched, inspected the werewolf and then spoke, "Suicide pill, their boss probably didn't want them to talk."
"So, we have an enemy that knows where to find us and doesn't want to be known under anything other than 'the pack'?"
"Obviously they didn't want to get in the line."
"The only questions remaining are: 'Who is their boss?' and 'What is the pack?'"
"We may never know. I will check the archives, nothing to do here."
Rose nodded, turned around and moved towards the body of Rodriguez, giving him a silent promise, despite the fact he had reminded her of Brad in some ways. She was going to find that elven girl.
She looked up and at all her clanmates. She noticed something she hadn't noticed before in all the action. "Where's David?"
The huntsclan member thought, when it suddenly dawned on Juliette that the missing member had been feeling sick and was gone to the sickroom.
Needless to say, they all hurried to said room. Only to find the hunter there, trembling with a scalpel in one hand, wounds on his chest and arms and a dead werewolf on the floor.
"Took you long enough." He fainted.
-London, a few minutes later-
Liban had been flying over the rooftops for a few minutes when he found what he was looking for.
A pack of werewolves and hobgoblins was gathering around a certain point on a rooftop.
On closer inspection the point appeared to be a dragon being held down by a net, from the helpless struggling it was safe to assume that said net was made of sphinx' hair.
Close by them laid the motionless bodies of a werewolf and two hobgoblins, every one of them at least slightly singed.
He landed on the roof, making sure not to make any noise and crept stealthily behind them. As a result he could now identify the dragon, which before had merely been a suspicion.
"Damn it, Tom," He thought, "How often does one need to be captured to realize how dangerous those sphinx hair nets are."
He sneaked in closer, moving towards the one who looked like the leader. In contrast to his captors, Tom, the other dragon, had spotted Liban already and started, as was his nature, threatening the captors.
"You do realize I'll kill every one of you the moment I get out of this blasphemous net?"
Needless to say, his captors were unimpressed, "Dragons can't resist sphinx' hair, so no chance for you! Stupid dragon, thinking we couldn't see through your bluff?"
The hobgoblins and werewolves laughed together with their boss. In the meantime Liban had almost crept in range for his attack and reallocated energy to make the palms of his hands were heating up.
"There's at least three dragons in London at this very moment." He paused for a moment, "One of them is standing right behind you."
Instead of checking, the hobgoblin laughed, "See? Bluffing dragon! Wes would've heard it! Guy-"
Liban leaned forward so the tip of his maw was right next to the hobgoblin's ear and he whispered.
"We don't do bluffing."
Before the hobgoblin had a chance to react there were claws on both side of his face. A moment later his head was facing the wrong way and his body collapsed. He never felt his body impact with the captured dragon's form, freeing the latter out of his painful situation.
The remaining werewolves and hobgoblins looked dumbfounded at Liban, who responded with a simple "Boo!". They shrieked in anger and two werewolves and a hobgoblin charged at Liban. Liban jumped forward, claws wide open and a moment later the impact happened, his hand's palms were touching the heads of the werewolves and he vented all the built-up heat. It wasn't as warm as he would've wanted, but the werewolves fainted and scorch marks in the shape of his palms were left on their heads. However, now the hobgoblin jumped up and pointed his spear at him.
He dodged and broke the spear, only for the hobgoblin to pull out a dagger.
"That's new." Liban mused, he hadn't met a hobgoblin before who carried more than one weapon.
What was less fun was that said hobgoblin charged at him again.
Instinct kicked in. He only regained his sense as a fireball seared right past him, leaving a stunned Liban to wonder why he had an hobgoblin's neck between his jaws. He vomited.
The other dragon flew up and landed beside him.
"Was it a tasty, mate?"
"Liban spat another time to make sure the taste left his taste buds. "It's a bloody hobgoblin, tasty is among the last things that would cross my mind."
Tom chuckled, "Any sane dragon would've spat a fireball, lightning bolt or whatever at him before the hobgoblin had a chance to hit him. But... I forgot you're insane AND you can't breathe any element!"
"Haha, very funny. You know damn well why I can't do that," He let out a menacing growl which drove the remaining three foes back, whilst guilt filled him.
"Yeah, sorry about bringing that up." The foes came closer again, their spears nearly in striking range. "So we doing this like Venice?"
"Yeah, Venice."
The two dragons flew up right before the spears were pushed forward and let themselves crash down on the shafts of the spears before their wielders even realized what happened.
A bit later said wielders were forced to resort to hand to hand combat. A hobgoblin and werewolf went for Tom whilst a particularly heavy looking hobgoblin smacked into Liban, knocking them both to the edge of the roof. Liban turned his body, allowing him to push the hobgoblin over the roof.
Or at least... That's what he had hoped. Instead the hobgoblin held himself up at the side of the roof with one hand. Liban used this breathing moment to look back at Tom and saw that he had taken out one of the two going for him and was fighting the last of their foes. Wanting to finish this fast Livan put his foot on his hobgoblin's hand and pressed down. He didn't realize the other hand was around his ankle until he was falling down himself.
With a last, desperate reflex he grabbed the side of the roof. The hobgoblin, however, was to heavy for him to hold out for much longer, so he tried to kick said hobgoblin in the face. Instead he suddenly had the hobgoblin's hands around both of his legs. To tired and weakened to keep struggling, his claws started to give away.
A last thought went through his mind. "If this is the end, at least let it be quick, someone is waiting for me." Strength left him and his claws released the side of the roof.
The ground seemed to race towards them in a very fast pace. His vision became more hazy with the second.
And then the ground stopped closing in out of a sudden. A fireball hit the hobgoblin in the face, making him instinctly grab for his face with both hands. They could hear the crack as they reached the roof again.
"Now we're even again. Don't think I'll try to save your ass next time."
"Should've let me hit the ground, I still have a date I am late for."
"I'm pretty sure she can wait for another three years."
They were interrupted by a moan coming from a werewolf with a scorch mark on his face.
"Oh, jolly, a prisoner."
The werewolf's eyes shot open, his head turned around, for him to see most of his group dead. He then looked at the two dragons, pure hate in his eyes. "The pack will rise again!" He screamed with a nearly fanatic fury, before twitching his jaws and falling back, his eyes glazing over.
"The hell just happened?"
"I don't have a clue. I wonder if the other one with the scorch mark still lives."
On inspection that one too still lived. They inspected the, still fainted, werewolf and found a fake tooth hiding a glass capsule.
"A suicide pill?" Tom muttered.
"Someone must not want to have their secrets revealed. Too bad I love interrogations."
"And I know just the secluded place. By the way, shouldn't we clean this mess up?"
"No way," Liban said as he picked up the werewolf. "We made it to prevent the capture of a council agent, so consider it the council's mess. We'll ask a messenger pixie or something to send them a message."
"Ok, last time I'm serving as distraction for any agent though, you and your stupid plans."
"Hey, it's not my fault I was delayed! And she started to scare the crap out of me. That gave her enough credits to have you in the form of a distraction."
They both chuckled as they flew into the night with their prisoner...
-Dragon Island, early morning-
Clover felt tired. The reason for this was that her parents had found out that she had left school early the previous day, despite the fact she was back home hours before dinner. As a result she had been grounded. At least after she nearly could have been listed among the people who had hugging by a relieved mother as their cause of death. So she had woken up early and had sneaked out so she could be debriefed of last day's mission before going to school.
"Stupid overprotective parents," She thought, "I could've gone later today and have slept an hour longer, but nooo, they had to ground me. Return to home the moment school ends? Who invented that punishment anyways? That person was evil!"
So that's how she ended up going up the stairs on Dragon Island, at this very moment, to get debriefed. Why they hadn't called her to Dragon Island the moment her mission was done? She didn't have a clue. What she did know was that she'd make sure to be the first one to be heard by the council today.
She was about halfway up the stairs when she passed a green-yellow dragon with orange stripes and horns who suddenly started shouting at her.
"Hey, sheila, looking good!"
Knowing better than to react she simply walked on. Unfortunately, the other dragon wasn't planning to give up. He flew up and landed in front of Clover.
"No need to be shy, sheila, I was talking to you."
Clover transformed into her dragon form and tried to walk around him, only for the other dragon to stand in her way again.
"Excuse me, I'm in quite a hurry, so if you could please get out of my way?" She said as she tried to move past him again.
He didn't move.
"Just what I needed," She thought, "More delay in the form of an annoying male."
And when diplomacy doesn't work... Well... You push the offending party out of the way. Literally, which is kind of what she did.
"I said get out of my way."
"Ooh, feisty. I love that in a girl, you know. By the way, did anyone tell you you have a nice..."
She turned around growling menacingly and scowling at him.
The dragon cowered and squeaked, "Scales! Scales! I was going to say scales! I swear! Please don't hurt me!"
"A nice scales? Great, so I'm being drooled upon by someone who is not only a pervert but also illiterate? Just my luck again."
"Err... What?" He blinked, "Did you just call me stupid?"
"Well done, Colombo!"
"Hey! Nobody, not even a sheila, calls Fred Nerk stu-ouch!"
He didn't expect a stab to the foot by Clover's tail.
"Now leave me alone!" She said as she turned around continued up the stairs.
"OK,OK," He said, "Xanthippe."
She turned around and raised an figurative eyebrow.
For a person who's foot had just been injured he ran away remarkably fast.
On the bright side, he wouldn't try that again.
A few moments later she reached the top of the stairs, where a grey-brown dragon stood.
"Dragon student Wei, I'm not sure whether to call you late or early."
She bowed before speaking up, "Councillor Andam"
"Come child, multiple members of the council are eager to hear your report. Your master and Kulde the most of them all."
And with that he led her towards the council's meeting chamber. Another while later she was at the end of her story.
"That is all Councillors."
"And what about the question I had asked?" Kulde demanded.
"He said something about five and a half and you knowing what it meant."
Kulde's expression saddened, but before he could say anything Omina spoke up.
"Dragon Wei, there's a second reason why we called you here," she said, "I'm saddened to tell you that you, from this day on, are no longer my student. I have taught you everything I can, thus your training will have to be completed under someone else. This dragon will be Lao Shi, the Chinese dragon."
"So not only are you telling me you stop training me?" Clover asked with disappointment in her voice, "But you'll let the dragon who started the entire mess with Jake Long replace yourself?"
"Lao Shi is still a strong and loyal dragon and you are to be his student. Is it hard to understand that?" Kulkulkhan remarked.
"You are assigned to him so you can watch Haley Long and make sure she doesn't end up the same road as her brother. You'll also have to watch his friends. Of course this will mean you will have to change schools too. From now on you are a student of the Millard Fillmore high school."
"What? You can't just do that! What about my friends? Are my parents even informed? And couldn't you have warned me sooner? I don't even know where that school is!"
"Young dragon, calm down. Your parents already know about it. In fact, they'd have told you if they hadn't known that you'd try to sneak away. They most likely decided to keep it as a surprise, judging from your reaction. Also, it's not as if you're going to the other side of the world, so you can keep in touch with your friends without any problem. As for the last part, councilor Park happens to be that school's principal, so she will show you to there."
Said councillor now spoke "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure you'll fit right in. Now let's go," She smiled, stoop up and guided Clover away, "I'll answer any questions you might have."
"What are they like?"
"Trixie Carter is a friendly girl, she'll be fun to hang out with, at least once you gain her trust. She'll be the one who will also distrust you the most and the longest. Keep that in mind.
The second one is Arthur Spudinsky. I'm still not sure what to make of him. Is he really as naïve and stupid as he looks like or is it just an act to hide a genius. Aside from that, he's a good kid.
The last one, Haley Long, my apprentice, used to be a cheery, friendly and very smart girl. However the circumstances changed that. Her brother's departure and the constant stress she experiences these days, made her a wreck. With your help, I hope, no, believe that we can at least undo a bit of the damage. I doubt that she'll ever be her old self again, she's just too young. I expect you to take care for her, no matter what happens. Is that understood?"
"Yes councillor." Clover remained silent for a while before speaking up again, "That reminds me actually, in our conversation yesterday, the Belgian dragon seemed to know that I was going to help with Haley. Does the council know there is a spy amongst our midst?"
Sun giggled, "Ah clover, the-" She stopped and suddenly looked very serious, "Get behind me. Now."
Clover wanted to protest, but the look Sun gave was enough to silence all protest before the tongue could even move.
She looked in the direction Sun was looking at and saw the reason for Sun's sudden change in behaviour. A white dragon with a red stripe running vertically from the top of his head to the tip of his tail. Next to him was a chained and muzzled werewolf, scorched patches of fur all over its body. The dragon shouted and kicked at the werewolf as he practically dragged the werewolf up the stairs. The werewolf collapsed in front of Sun.
The white dragon shouted, "Get up you! The faster you get up, the faster I can give you to those nice dragons up there and get off this stinking island. Even the stones smell wrong here." He emphasised his words by pulling the werewolf up by its neck fur.
Sun spoke up, not able to stand such actions, "I thought that we told you not to be violent on Dragon Island? You agreed to be calm here."
This rewarded her a snort and daggers shooting out of the male's eyes, "Just as I thought that we had agreed that the council would ask my permission first, before holding any of their operations in my city, yet I saw a council operative strolling around yesterday in London. So, I guess, no one held them to their ends of the agreement." He spat at Sun's feet.
The werewolf used the distraction, to scurry behind Sun, sensing possible protection there.
"Oh, so you're hiding behind dragons now? Good, then I can leave this stinking place and cut off the elevator to London once and for all." He turned around and started to walk away, suddenly seeming as if he were the definition of serenity. He took 5 steps before he stopped, "Before I forget, that beast's crime was the attempt to ambush a council operative. If you want to hear his side of the story, don't forget to check his teeth!" He walked down the stairs and towards the magical elevator, cackling the entire time as he walked.
Sun beckoned a guard and told him to move the werewolf to a holding cell.
When she was sure there were no more disturbances, she turned to Clover.
"I'm sorry you had to witness that. As for your question. No, there are no spies amongst us. You see, at the same time as you were doing your operation, we were trying to placate one of the rebel dragons. We had forgotten however, how close the core group was, so once she had gotten a message that we had an agent trying to extract information from someone else, she was quite upset. We were just as shocked, because Omina and Kulde neglected to tell us that they were holding an operation."
She paused to let the information sink in.
"Anyway, in a burst of anger she demanded a punishment for the both of them or she'd simply call of the negotiation. Andam tried to save the negotiations by assuring her that we'd place you somewhere else to punish Omina. Kulkulkhan however, made the progress undone by threatening her at the same time."
"That doesn't explain how they knew I was going to watch Haley Long?"
Sun rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, let's just say that I spoke to soon about needing some help with her"
"I also don't get how Omina has to be punished and Kulde doesn't need to get punished."
"You talked to his former apprentice yesterday."
"Bu-" Clover got interrupted this time.
"Oh my, look at the time! We've got to hurry."
Aaaaand... Cliffhanger... I hope. An author's best friend and a reader's worst nemesis, or at least so I heard.
Anyway, back to business.
Aside from the first two things in the previous post (so Romance and sentiment/role), you'll also need to give me their age (as of 2008), powers, appearance, personality, motivations, background and whatever else you want to tell about it.
How to send them to me?
The best method is to send me a PM with all the information in. Yet, if you can tell them short you can always send them to me on twitter, I'm using the same name there as I use here. You can also use this way to ask me questions, remind me to write if you think I take to long, ... The possibilities are limitless!
Anyway, that being that, talk to you lot later. Or maybe not... Everything is possible (Yes, I am referring to bad luck stuff and so on).
Greetings,
Joniedinofreak
