Author'S Note

I don't own Amdrag, only my oc, Erica

Back again! I posted pretty quick on that last chapter, huh? Enjoy!


Chapter 3: Kelpies and Dragon Scales


Erica (POV)

I was surprised to see Lao Shi in his dragon form, as well as Fu-dog and a red and yellow dragon I didn't recognize. All seemed surprised, yet determined. I crouched down, eyeing them all warily. We stood like this for what felt like hours, but it was only a few seconds. The red one lunged, taking me by surprise, bowling me over and pinning my hands to my sides.

I writhed under his grip, baring my teeth in a hiss. He was just a little bit bigger than me, and I couldn't get loose!

"Great work, kid! We got the Kelpie!" exclaimed Fu-dog. What he called me rang a bell, if just barely. Lynx had mentioned it, but we hadn't gotten a chance to actually go into depth about any water-based creatures. I hissed again, going limp in his grasp. As soon as he loosened his grip, I lunged upwards, biting into his arm as hard as I could.

He cried out, trying to get me off, but I held tight. "Jake!" cried out Lao Shi. He launched himself at me, but instead of resisting, I let him bowl us over, tossing him off. I whacked his left ear as hard as I could before releasing him, spitting out some blood. He went limp on the ground, I was tackled by Lao before I could make my escape. I struggled, clawing and trying to bite him.

I was on my stomach, writhing. I finally stopped, panting. Lao's dragon weight on my back was making it hard to breath. I laid my head on the ground, and then Lao put a firm hand on it. Fu-dog approached with some handcuffs, but they were bigger, and looked stronger. I could barely even open my mouth now. I tried to struggle, but I could barely move.

"Jake, are you alright?" Lao called. Jake didn't answer. "Fu-dog, make sure Jake is alright. I'll deal with the Kelpie." Fu left the cuffs next to us, and hurried off to wherever Jake was. I could here groans as Fu apparently roused him.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Man, my ear hurts!" he exclaimed. I tried to shift underneath Lao, to see what was up with Jake, but he held me down. I could barely draw enough breath now. I was frightened and scared. I don't know anything about Kelpies, how can I prove I'm not one?

"Yo, G, aren't we gonna make it change to it's regular form?" asked Jake. He moved in front of me, rubbing his left ear gently. I looked into his eyes, which glowed a bright amber-orange. I tried to speak, to open my mouth, but my snout was kept planted to the ground. I tried to plead with my eyes, but he merely glared at me.

"No. Jake, help me with the handcuffs." ordered Lao Shi. Jake came over, grumbling, and Lao shifted slightly to allow him access to my arms. As soon as I could breath again, I hurled myself upwards, as hard as I could. I whirled around, and somehow managed to breath a spurt of hot flames, causing them to back away. I watched them closely as they tried to approach.

"Stay back!" I hissed, leaping into the air to dodge Lao's lunge. Jake had the cuffs, and was twirling them around.

"Listen here, Kelpie. This can happen the easy way or the hard way. Come with us quietly, or have the tar beaten out of ya. What's it gonna be?" he asked. I didn't want to fight, but I wasn't gonna go easy on him. I suddenly had an idea. If the potion Lynx gave me allows me to turn human for an hour. . . I slowly reached into my pack, grabbing the bottle.

I lunged for him, and we ended up rolling on the ground in all's out dragon tousle. I pinned him under me, before taking the bottle and forcing him to drink some. He spat a little out afterwards, throwing me off.

"Ah, that's nasty! Since when do Kelpies use potions, leh!" blue flames surrounded him, until he was in his human form. I was surprised to see that he was the teenage boy from Lao Shi's shop. He had green-tinted black hair, and a red jacket.

"Uh, say what now?!" he exclaimed. I smirked and let out a triumphant growl. "Dragon up!" he yelled, but nothing happened. He tried again, with the same results. I approached, grabbed the cuffs from his hands, and cuffed him to Lao Shi, who was just rising. He tried to strike, but I launched myself into the night sky.

I hurried back to Lynx's place, taking a few detours to make sure they couldn't easily follow me. After I gave Lynx the unicorn hairs, I explained what happened.

"You made him drink some of the potion! Brilliant, ha ha!" he exclaimed, putting the unicorn hairs on a shelf with the label underneath.

"What's so brilliant about it?"

"You see, if your a normal dragon, the potion makes you transform against your will. It only works for you because you have the necklace. The necklace gives you the extra energy you need to transform, which is currently blocked off for you." he explained. He pulled the book out, showing me the page.

"The last ingredient is some dragon scales. But it'll only work if it's scales from a dragon with out your problem, preferably one close to your age." explained Lynx, reading from the page. I groaned, falling onto the couch.

"Aw, man! If I had known, I would have swiped some from that Jake dragon!" Lynx merely huffed.

"Well, when he next show's up, you can try then. I don't know how you'll convince him your not the Kelpie, though." I swung my head around to look at him.

"What is a Kelpie, anyway? You mentioned it earlier."

"A Kelpie is primarily a creature of the water. When it bites you, it sucks out your essence and acquires your powers, actually transforming into a look-alike, leaving you a lifeless husk of your former self." he shuddered slightly, then continued.

"I heard that one escaped recently. And from the way you were acting, I can tell how they could make that mistake. I don't believe that you're a Kelpie, so no worries there." I nodded absentmindedly.

"So how are we gonna get those scales, anyway? And why are they important?"

"They have leftover energy on them, or chi. It'll help reopen your locked up magic." he replied. Tossing a blanket over me, he walked over to a scratching post nearby.

"Rest up. Tomorrow, I'm taking you to my shop in Magus Bazaar." The next morning, he woke me up before the sun rose. I groaned covering my head with the blanket.

"Wake up! I made you something to eat, and I had to get up earlier than usual to make it!" he crowed loudly. I pulled myself off the couch, letting him guide me into the kitchen. After we ate up and refilled my potion bottle, he showed me to Magus Bazaar. It was pretty neat, and would be even better when there was light enough to see anything clearly.

"Can you tell me why am I in my human form again?" I whispered, feeling somewhat awkward. He gave me a look. Oh, right. Dragon protector of the city thinks I'm a Kelpie. He brought me to his little shop here in the Bazaar. The sign proclaimed it to be, 'Lynx's Spell-books and other'.

On the outside, it looks a bit like a rustic log cabin. On the inside, it has the same vibe. Once inside the door, there's a checkout desk to your right, and bookshelves to your left and in front. The books are of nearly every kind imaginable, from spell books and potion books to mythology(but with extremely accurate facts) and some novels and stories written by various magic creatures and even regular humans.

In the back there's a little drink station(coffee, hot cocoa, and other drinks various magical creatures would enjoy) There are light blue curtains hung on the outer walls of the store between the bookcases. In short, this place was sweet!

"Wow, I can't believe a cat is running a store!" I teased. He merely swatted my hand with his tail while purring, jumping up onto a tall stool behind the register. After having me turn the little sign on the outside to 'OPEN', he showed me how the register worked and such, besides the greeting to someone coming into the store. He showed me the different wares, what was available.

He also explained how he shifted new things on the shelves for 'older' things in the back, and repeat.

"'Old things become new, new things become old, repeat.'. It's a good cover up for shifty characters looking for wares that would be bad in the wrong hands." he explained quietly.

"Now, if anyone you recognize, besides me, comes in, act like you never met them before. If you act guilty, they'll think your guilty of something. I need to go see what the latest news is, like with the Kelpie. I'll be back soon. There's a drawer underneath the register. It has a list of all the wares I have. The ones with 'X's are unavailable, okay?"

And with a wave goodbye of his tail, he walked out of the store, the bell jingling merrily. I sighed and grabbed a book. Lynx had pretty much pinned me with a job. I understood why, sorta. He was just trying to teach me. Which reminded me, I need to visit Ed the Gargoyle sometime soon. I could bring lunch. I licked my lips, returning to my novel.

A few hours and some potion drinks later, I was still waiting for Lynx. It was nearly noon. On the bright side, I'd learned a lot about basic and advanced potion ingredients, as well as spells, basic and advanced.

I turned as the bell jingled. "Hello, welcome to Lynx's Spell-books and other, may I help you?" I asked politely. I was surprised and rather nervous when Fu-dog and Lao Shi came in the door.

"Trust me, Gramps. If anyone know's what was up with that potion, Lynx will. Despite being a cat." Fu-dog insisted, though he seemed surprised to see me there.

"Hello, my name's Fu-dog. Is Lynx in?" I shook my head no.

"Sorry, he's out at the moment. How can I help you?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for him. We need his expertise to find out what was with this potion that was used against us in a fight." replied Fu-dog. I nodded.

"I'm not sure when he'll be back. What potion are you talking about?" I ask, almost instantly regretting it.

"Well you see, there's a Kelpie on the loose. We believe that it was going after unicorns the other night. When we were fighting it, it made the American Dragon drink a potion. The potion forced him to resume his human form." Fu explained. This was bad. I shrug.

"I'm not sure. Maybe Lynx will know. Where can I call you at?" I ask nonchalantly. Fu-dog gave me the number, before both he and Lao left the store. Lynx walked in a few minutes later. When I explained about Fu and Lao being in the store, he seemed thoughtful.

"I think that I'll pay them a visit. You stay behind and man the fort." and with that, he left. Leaving me here the rest of the day.


Lynx (POV)

I made my way from the Bazaar with little trouble, but was halted by the Oracle Twins.

"May I help you, ladies?" Sarah, the happy one who gets bad visions, spoke up.

"Yeah! I got a vision about you and your new employee! She's going to try to find her parents with a spell and everything will end in pain and heartbreak!" she exclaimed in her overly happy voice. I was definitely put on edge because of this.

"She's also going to make new friends at the school who'll be able to help her get through it all." added the other in a mood-dampener tone, the emo one who gets good visions, Kara. I cocked my head. What school?

"Do you mean a high school?" I ask. They shrug.

"We don't know everything that will happen. We can only tell you what we see." answered Kara.

"Bye! And good luck dealing with the Dragon when you try to enter the shop!" called Sarah as the two walked away. I sighed and continued on to Canal Street Electronics Shop. I peered in the window to see that although the sign said 'CLOSED', there were still people inside. I pushed the door open and slipped inside. I walked up to the front desk.

"Excuse me, I'm here to see Fu-dog." Lao Shi looked over the counter, glancing around until he spotted me. Although somewhat surprised, he led me into a back room, where Fu, and three teenagers were lounging around. I paused before continuing. The first to notice me was the tall boy. He held out a hand, saying,

"Ah, a kitty cat. Come here little buddy, come here OW! He clawed me!" he exclaimed. I rolled my eyes.

"I hit you with the flat of my claws. If I had really clawed you, you'd be bleeding right now." An African American girl looked me over.

"Seriously? First a dog, now a cat? My name's Trixie, by the way. The one you 'clawed' is Spud, and that's our buddy Jake. What's you name?" it was almost like a whirlwind, it was so fast.

"My name is Lynx. Fu, you'd better have called me over here for a good reason. I had to leave my new worker at the shop alone." I exclaimed, faking anger.

"Oh, so you do have the nerve to show your face around here, after what you did back in China?" demanded Fu, walking forward until he was nose to nose with the feline.

"And that would be?" I retorted.

"I dunno. Great to see you again, Lynx, no here's the problem." he quickly explained what happened with the 'Kelpie'. I had Lao and Jake give me their sides of the story, as well. I sat between Spud and Trixie. I licked a paw and drew it over an ear in thought.

"So the 'Kelpie' struck your left ear?" I confirmed. Jake nodded. I leapt up next to him and gently tapped his ear. He yelped and rubbed it, giving me a look.

"Just as I thought. It appears that dragons have a pressure point there. A tap, like what I did, would-"

"Feel like a punch to the face?" interrupted Jake, giving me a glare.

"Correct. Imagine a blow with some real force behind it would do. It could knock you senseless, as what I'm guessing happened with the 'Kelpie'."

"Dude, you're saying 'Kelpie' as if you think it's something else." noticed Spud. I nodded.

"The evidence doesn't really match up. Point one, what type of bite marks were on Jake's arm? Two, why didn't the Kelpie just suck out his essence to begin with, leaving him more immobile? Three, how many other creatures know a dragons weakness on the ear? Four, how long was it with the unicorns before they finally fled? And finally, why and how would a Kelpie use or get potions?" I finished.

While Spud seemed to get it, Lao and Jake weren't so sure, and Trixie seemed somewhere in between.

"Oh, I get it! Your saying that the Kelpie, isn't a Kelpie?" asked Spud. I nodded.

"Or at least, the creature that you currently suspect to be a Kelpie, is actually just a young dragon." I allowed that to sink in. Jake's eyes widened.

"Of course! But how would we find her? She could be anywhere!" I'm not sure about the potion. It could have simply been a power-drainer, or it could have been made specifically for dragons. I do not know for sure, having not been able to see it. I left my new employee back at the shop. I'd better get going." I nodded a curt farewell, saying over my shoulder,

"If I see anything, I'll tell you!" I had na idea.


That's a wrap! Little side note, school is starting up again real soon, so that'll probably slow down my updating speed. Just letting y'all know. Please review, leave suggestions, and whatnot!