Reviews (written by Apheleia):
PyschicSabrina - Thanks so much! And yeah, it's a little, loosely-based on well-loved fantasy books that are in print. Well... we'll assume Alkali gets a little mocking, too. xD At the time, Lithium only had a vague idea, but didn't want to get ahead of anything, so she kept it to herself until it was positive. And even if she DID have a good idea of who it was, she probably would've just kept quiet just for the sake of watching Leaf's unadulterated reaction, haha. And yup! That's where Dippet came from. You're good. ;) That's alright, thank you for your lengthy review! x)
Guest - Thank you so much! Actually, when we were discussing the plot, the Inheritance Cycle did come up as one of our loosely-based inspirations. It'll definitely be very different, though - Christopher Paolini wrote a few hundred thousand words too many for us to be able to draw directly from his plots. xD
Chapter 2
"Leaf, open the door." The persistent knocking continued, showing no signs of letting up anytime soon. Leaf groaned into her pillow and pulled the blankets all the way over her head, trying to block out the repetitive banging against her door. She cursed the day her dorm mates told May she was always welcome inside their dorm.
You can't hide in your room forever, you know.
Yes I can, Leaf bit back, unwillingly opening her eyes and throwing the blanket off of her. Despite having said that she still clambered out of bed and dragged herself over to the door; unlocking it as the knocking continued and swinging it open, leaving May to nearly face-plant when her fist was met with empty air.
"Finally," she complained as she caught herself from falling before entering the room and jumping onto Leaf's bed. She lied down and stuck her hands behind her head in a relaxed position while her friend closed the door before proceeding to join her.
"I don't see why you had to go and make a big deal out of this," May said as Leaf sat down on the edge of the bed and crossed her legs. Her cerise tie was missing from her uniform; carelessly thrown over the bed frame. "I mean, how bad can it be – having Gary as a partner?"
"How bad can it be?" Leaf stressed, staring at her friend as if she had just told her cancer was a good thing. "May, he's a player. And an idiot. And annoying. Have you seen how he flirts with every girl he sees? For Arceus' sake, even his dragon is a flirt!"
May's nose wrinkled. "It's not like you can swap partners, though. Professor Dippet made it clear that no trades are allowed, so you're stuck with him. You might as well accept it, instead of moping around and wallowing in your self-pity all day."
"It's only been two hours, though…" Leaf grumbled as she flopped back onto the bed, throwing her arms out above her head. "It's not fair," she moaned, closing her eyes. "Why did I have to be paired with him? Do the professors want me to kill him? Because if he insults Lithium again, I will…"
A smirk crawled on to May's lips. "You never know, maybe the professors are trying to set you up with him. Don't you remember the rumors about how most riders end up being in a romantic relationship with the person they're assigned to?"
Leaf shot up into a sitting position, staring at May incredulously. "May, you know those rumors aren't true," she fiercely refuted, glaring at the sapphire-eyed brunette.
May grinned. "Then why are they always boy-girl pairings?" Leaf was silent at this. A smug smile formed on May's lips when the girl didn't reply. "That's what I thought," she said with a hint of satisfaction in her voice. Then, she brightened. "Hey, did you and Gary make plans to meet up later – you know, so that you can get better acquainted as partners?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Leaf sighed, massaging her forehead as if to ease a forming headache. "We have to, remember? Dumb school rules…" She could recall the details of the partner ceremony clear as day, all the way from when she had first entered the auditorium with May to when she stormed out the moment they were dismissed; fuming about being paired with Gary Oak. Oh, how she loathed his name.
. . .
Leaf stared at Professor Dippet, horrified. Had she heard right? Gary Oak was her partner?
Her worst nightmare was confirmed when Gary climbed onto the stage and approached where she and the assembled professors were standing. He glanced at Leaf and smirked upon seeing her shocked expression.
Then, another one of the professors – Professor Vaziri, the dragon care class instructor – stepped forward, a plush pillow resting on her palms. Professor Dippet graciously took the two necklaces resting on the pillow in his hands and turned to Gary, who bowed his head to allow the headmaster to slip one of the necklaces over his head.
Professor Dippet did so, and then faced Leaf, who snapped out of her shock just soon enough to hastily bow her head as well. The professor smiled and slipped the necklace around her neck before stepping back to allow the newly proclaimed partners room.
The moment the pendant on the silver chain touched her skin, Leaf felt another consciousness touch hers, and knew that it must be Gary's. It was a weird sensation, sort of like her connection to Lithium, but with Gary she could only feel his presence – not telepathically communicate with him, like she could her dragon. She was thankful he couldn't access her mind like Lithium could, though – what would she do if Gary knew all of her secrets?
Turning her head, her forest green eyes met Gary's, who was watching her with that awful smirk still stretched across his lips. She gritted her teeth and faced him, offering her hand to shake – as was required of new partners to signify their partnership.
Gary extended his hand in return; shaking her hand in a relaxed, almost nonchalant way. She, however, stiffly copied the motion, the blood beneath her skin boiling with revulsion where his skin touched hers.
After a few shakes Leaf quickly withdrew her hand, discretely wiping it against her skirt in an attempt to rid it of Gary's touch. They made eye contact with each other once more – narrowed green glaring at dark brown – before Leaf swiftly pivoted on her heel and headed towards her seat. She could see Gary returning to his seat across the room out of the corner of her eye, but pointedly ignored him as she sat down.
The next person was then called up, but Leaf paid the rider no heed as she slouched in her seat, angrily fiddling with her tie. It didn't take long for her attention to be drawn to the gleaming pendant hanging around her neck, and she stopped playing with her cerise tie to examine it more closely.
Lifting it up and closer to her eye, she stared in awe at her partner pendant. Unlike the example one Professor Dippet had shown the sixth years earlier, her pendant consisted of a maroon-colored stone set into a silver ring; Leaf could have almost sworn it emitted a faint glow in the dimmed lights of the auditorium.
For a moment, it didn't matter that Gary was her partner, and that he had a pendant identical to hers; all that mattered was the gleaming maroon stone in her hand.
Lith, do you see this? Leaf asked, sending a mental picture of the necklace to her dragon.
It's pretty, Lithium hummed, but the brunette could tell her dragon wasn't really paying attention. She rolled her eyes and was about to reply when the guy sitting in the seat to the right of her – Drew Hayden – nudged her.
"Looks like this is the last pair to be announced," he said, leaning back in his seat and kicking up his feet on the seat in front of him. The blunette in that seat, however, turned around and glared at him with her piercing dark blue eyes, causing him to smile sheepishly and put his feet down. He anxiously tugged at his green tie – symbolizing that his dorm was Beau Plains and his dragon a Grass-type – as the blunette rolled her eyes before facing the front again.
"I guess," Leaf sighed as she gently released the necklace and let it hang around her neck again; adverting her attention to the stage as the last two riders received their pendants.
"I can't wait to get out of this boring place." He flicked his green hair out of his face and looked over at the brunette, flashing her a smile. "I mean, seriously, why do we need partners? I'm capable of doing missions on my own."
"I know, right?" Leaf nodded her head in agreement. "I got the worst partner ever."
"That sucks." He shrugged flippantly. "At least my partner's kind of hot."
"Hm, I don't really care," Leaf blatantly replied as she watched the last two riders exit the stage, a bored expression on her face as she rested her cheek against her palm. Drew snorted and rolled his eyes before directing his attention to the stage as Professor Dippet stepped forward.
"Now that you have been assigned your partner," Professor Dippet began, "it is tradition that you, your partner, and your dragons meet together sometime between now and next Monday – when we will give the first set of missions out – so that you may get to know each other better. You and your partner will be responsible for choosing the time, date, and place of where and when you're going to meet up.
"Also, remember that classes will still be held every day for the next week. Now, you are all dismissed."
As soon as the last word was out of the professor's mouth the students jumped out of their seats, filing towards the exits as they met up with their friends – and some, partners – and cheered and laughed as they escaped into the freedom of the academy's campus and no classes for the rest of the day.
"Leaf, wait up!" The green-eyed brunette paused upon hearing her name being shouted, and turned and spotted May struggling through the crowd of students towards her. Stepping out of the stream of sixth years heading towards the doors, Leaf waited for her friend to catch up to her before she continued on.
"Man, I was so nervous when they called me up there," May said as she and Leaf exited the auditorium. "My heart was in my throat, literally. I thought I was going to die, it was so intense in there!"
Leaf rolled her eyes. "You're over exaggerating, May. It wasn't that bad." May stopped and frowned at her friend, but Leaf ignored her. "Hey, who was your partner again?" Leaf didn't want to admit that she hadn't been paying attention when her best friend had gone up to find out who her partner was, when May had most likely been paying attention during Leaf's turn.
"It was-."
"Yo."
Leaf and May abruptly stopped in their tracks when Gary suddenly appeared in front of them, causing both of them to take a step back, startled. Leaf cursed under her breath; if there was one thing she absolutely hated about the dorm members of Darkness Ridge, it was that they knew how to manipulate the shadows around them to hide themselves. Sure, it might have been a good thing, if Gary didn't use it to scare May and Leaf out of their wits every day. This was not the first time something like this had happened before.
"Oh gosh, Gary, you scared me!" May gasped, holding a hand to her chest – right above where her heart was. "I hate it when you do that!" He simply gave her a smug look in reply.
Leaf groaned. "What do you want, Oak?" she snapped, glaring at him.
Gary, however, ignored her, and instead turned to May. "Mind if I steal your friend for a while?" he asked, nodding in Leaf's direction.
Leaf's eyebrows furrowed, and she was about to protest when Gary – without an answer from May – continued, "Good, okay then. Green, you're coming with me."
"Wait wha-AHH!" Leaf shrieked when Gary grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder with no warning whatsoever. "Put me down!" She struggled frantically and banged on his back, but to no avail did he let go.
"See ya later, Bandana," Gary gave a mock two-fingered salute to the bewildered May as he walked off, Leaf in tow.
Lithium! Leaf whined. Help me!
Sorry, Leafy. I've kind of got my own problem to deal with right now, too.
"Gary Oak, I will say this one last time. Put. Me. Down," Leaf growled.
"Okay," he complied to her surprise.
And then he unceremoniously dropped her on the ground.
"Ow… What the hell was that for?" She scowled at him as she climbed back on to her feet, stopping to brush the dirt off of her black skirt.
"Language, Green, language." He made a clicking sound with his tongue, and flicked her forehead with his index finger. As she rubbed the spot where he had hit her, he continued.
"Look," he drawled, "I know that neither of us wanted to be partnered with the other, but we're stuck together. So, meet me at the fountain near the west gate tomorrow, twelve o'clock sharp."
Leaf perked an eyebrow at him. "Why?"
"For that stupid 'partner's meeting' thing, duh," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, rolling his eyes for additional effect.
"And I get no say in this? What if I have a class tomorrow at that time?"
"I don't know, skip it or something. That's not my problem," he haughtily retorted.
Leaf's eye twitched, but she forced herself to take a deep breath to calm herself before she spoke. Then, right as she opened her mouth to speak, she noticed something that made her smirk.
"Fine," she agreed in a tone that resembled Gary's haughty one, "I'll be there at noon." Ignoring the flabbergasted look on Gary's face – probably caused by her agreeing so easily - she started towards where her dorm was located.
"Oh, and by the way," Leaf whispered as she brushed past him, "I think you have a little bit of a bruise around your right eye."
. . .
"So you're meeting's tomorrow?" May hummed once Leaf had given her her account of the story after Gary had carried her away. "Mine's today at…what time is it?"
Leaf quickly checked the clock on her wall. "It's…4:56."
May eyes widened. "Oh no! I'm going to be late! My partner said our meeting was at five!" she exclaimed, scrambling off of the bed and messing up Leaf's green bed sheets in the process.
As she grabbed the door handle, ready to pull it open and dart out, she paused, and a concentrated look formed on her face.
"Hey, Alkali, take that back! I am not an idiot!" she yelled, and then stormed out of the dorm room.
Leaf rolled her eyes; May never realized she said things out loud when speaking to her dragon. She lay back down on her bed, relaxing into the pillows, and had just closed her eyes when a sudden realization made her jerk up into a sitting position.
She had forgotten to ask who May's partner was. Again.
Darn it.
Lith, where are you? Leaf impatiently tapped her foot on the ground. It's almost noon.
Calm down, I'm right above you.
Leaf looked up, and sure enough, a majestic silver dragon was lazily circling in the sky above her. Slowly, the dragon started to descend towards the brunette; spiraling downward towards the ground.
A minute later Lithium landed on the ground, sending a shockwave pulsing through the ground and over Leaf. Once the shockwave had subsided Leaf approached her dragon, who bowed her head to allow her rider to stroke her scaled skin.
In the empty courtyard the two stood in, Lithium was the most eye-catching thing in it at the moment – outranking even the beautifully constructed water fountain a few yards away.
Towering at least fifteen feet high and twenty feet long, Lithium was catching every glint from the sun on her shimmery silver scales, making her shine like the metal she was named after. Despite how large she might seem given her measurements, Lithium was an average sized dragon for her age. Some dragons – like the ones owned by the experienced riders that had already graduated the academy – were twice, sometimes even three times, the size of Lithium, depending on their age.
However, that wasn't to say that there weren't large dragons owned by academy riders, either.
Leaf looked up at the sky and then down at her watch, letting out a prolonged sigh of irritation. "Who tells somebody to be on time when they end up being the one late?" she grumbled, kicking a stray stone off of the path she was standing on.
Her pendant felt odd; Leaf could almost swear it was vibrating, as if sensing something coming closer and closer…
They're here, Lithium announced just as a strong gust of wind lashed the courtyard.
Leaf let out a startled yelp and ducked under Lithium's wing as another gale blew down on them. Peeking out from under her dragon's wing, Leaf realized that the wind was coming from the downbeat of a dragon's wing – and it didn't take a genius to figure out whose.
Descending into the courtyard was a large – scratch that, humongous – black dragon. Thank Arceus the courtyard was rather spacious, or else it would have been a rather tight squeeze.
Leaf recognized the dragon – she had seen him various times before; not many, but enough to know who he was – but was still stunned by the massive size of the dragon, as she always was.
The dragon finally touched down on the ground – causing Leaf to cling to Lithium's leg as the ground shook – and the two watched as a human figure slid off the dragon.
"It's about time you got here!" Leaf yelled from under the protection of Lithium's wing as the rider approached them. "You're late."
His mouth twitched in amusement. "You can't rush greatness," Gary replied, nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders. He casually strolled towards them as Leaf came out from under Lithium's wing, sending a dirty glare in the spiky-haired brunet's direction.
Just then, Gary's dragon joined the trio of humans and dragon. He was nearly twice the size of Lithium – well, twenty five feet tall and thirty feet long was pretty close to twice her length, anyways – and had scales blacker than a pitch black night. It was no wonder he was a Dark-type.
Well hello there, Lithium, Gary's dragon flirtatiously purred, eyeing the female dragon's body. Lithium snorted and turned her head away.
Azreth. She said his name in disdainful way.
Leaf paused. Wait a minute – she understood what Azreth was saying now? She could never understand any dragon but Lithium before. Must be the pendant, she thought, recalling how Professor Dippet had said it was made of a mix of you and your partner's dragons' "essences".
"Gary, don't you have any control over your dragon?" She placed her hands on her hips and scowled at her partner.
Gary smirked. "Hey, if Azreth wants to flirt with the lady dragons, who am I to stop him? 'Sides, he learned how to flirt from the best." Gary proudly pointed at himself.
"Oh please," she scoffed, "you and your dragon are just perverts. Flirting with all of the girls and dragons at the academy is not a feat to be proud of."
Gary's eyes – viridian in color at the moment – sparkled with amusement. "Jealous that I flirt with other girls and not y-?"
"MOSH! NO! GIVE ME BACK MY SANDWIIIIIIICH!"
Gary and Leaf's head whipped in the direction the yell had come from, only to let out a yelp and duck as a small, skinny gray dragon corkscrewed through the air above their heads, snickering as it cast a glance behind it before shooting up into the sky and over the courtyard wall. This dragon must have been "Mosh", because it was carrying a BLT sandwich in its claws.
Seconds later Ash appeared, sprinting after the dragon like his life depended on it. When he saw his dragon fly over the courtyard wall, however, he fell to his knees, distraught.
"NOOOOOOOO!" He wailed, shaking his fists at the sky. "MY SANDWICH!"
Leaf, Gary, Lithium, and Azreth stared at him blankly before Gary spoke up.
"Dude, it's just a sandwich."
Hey guys, it's AquaStarlight making her debut this chapter. ;)
There's not much to say about this chapter, but both Apheleia and I want to thank everybody (again) for reviewing/favoriting/following so far. :) It really means a lot to us.