I don't own Jane and the Dragon.

I did say I would be updating sooner, right? Bad time planning and exams pretty much've put a leash on my time. Darn.

Oh well. Can't choose the schoolwork, now can I?

And yes, I am very aware of the fact that some people might not like the ideas that this story is built on. If you don't like crazy ideas, OCs, made-up stories and legends, or just things like what I'm doing, please don't flame me over it. There are a bunch of fanfiction in this archive that don't have any of this. Please go and read them if that's what you prefer.

Long story short, it does say unleash your imagination for a reason, folks.

Now that I've got that out of the way, on with the story.

Chapter 35: The Odd Ones

Jane pulled the limp figure over the drawbridge and to the knight's quarters. The bleeding that had managed to subside somewhat, which was either really good or really bad. She still hadn't woken up or even moved, which was also making Jane wonder if she had received more than one hit in that fight.

One thing was certain, she had never seen this girl in the village before, but something was oddly familiar about her, even though she couldn't quite put her finger on it. The young squire hurriedly dragged the girl up to a room in the knight's quarters that hadn't been used in years (You could tell from the thick layer of dust on everything.), and had carefully placed her on the bed. She had to move her so that her feet didn't hang off the end.

The clenched right hand still held the air around it in a vice-like grip, and for a second, Jane thought she saw a flash of purplish-silver travel up the arm. How odd. And the sword wasn't cleaver-sized, as she had seen in the fog, but it had shrunk to the size of her own sword. This was definitely not normal.

She waited for a few seconds before going for help. Luckily, she managed to catch Gunther practicing on the dummy outside. It took some convincing, but she managed to get him to at least see the girl, which in the end convinced him to help her get some healing supplies. When they got back to the room, Jane could swear that she saw a flicker of the same aura next to the girl's shoulder. It was there for about a second, then gone in a blink of the eye. Jane shook her head just to make sure that she wasn't still loopy from getting pushed to the side of the road.

When she was sure of the fact that she hadn't hit her head any harder than she'd thought, she carefully reached over to the collar of the girl's shirt and pulled it down to reveal a dried crust of blood on her shoulder. Jane grimaced lightly as she tried to clean it off. At first, she was having quite a bit of difficulty, but after a few minutes, the crusting came off easily.

Surprisingly enough, there wasn't much of a cut. Just what appeared to be a slight bruising that really didn't seem to be too problematic; it could heal on its own.

Jane now just caught the glimmer of the aura by the bedside table, and reached out to get it. Her hand clamped down on something warm and slippery. She pulled out a very startled and very disgruntled Kudos.

"Hey, watch it! Hands off the energy, sister! I need that!"

"What are you?"

"If I tell you, will you let me go?"

Jane gave the wriggling sprite a stern look, but it didn't really hide the wonder that was welling up inside. Was this what was healing the girl's injuries?

"Well, okay. My name is Kudos and I'm an energy sprite. A being made out of energy." He quickly explained, and wiggled sharply so Jane would drop him. He landed lightly on the bed covers, and curled up next to the comatose girl's hand.

"Oh, and by the way, she'll probably wake up in about a day. The sleep is purely restorative. That's why that cut was healing so quickly."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"So you don't think she's dead." He answered plainly. "Oh, and secrecy would be appreciated. Thanks."

Jane was slightly taken aback. Was he telling her to leave, or snubbing her into leaving? The answer came when he looked at her again and said "You don't have to stay. I'm sure you've got other things to do, being a knight in training and all." He waved her off through the door, then turned back to the out-cold Ahi.

"How'd I let this happen…?" he murmured to himself as he watched the small rays of the sunlight trickle through the closed shutters. How in the world was he going to explain this to everyone?

Speaking of everyone, it did not go unnoticed that Ahi didn't come home that night. Not by Lightnose, anyway.

"Are you sure that she's not at the shop?" he asked an irate Kai for about the hundredth time that morning. Even though she was trying to do her best when it came to the keeping Lightnose from going off and looking for her himself bit, his constant questioning was really beginning to wear her down.

"No, but everyone's looking. Will you relax?" She replied irritably. Lightnose opened his mouth to answer, but decided against it, and went back to pacing the perimeter of the riverbank.

Jakku and Alken happened to be in the town, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, under the same techniques so as not to be seen by normal people.

"Now, where could one kid and one sprite be this early?" Alken asked, bemused. There was barely anyone on the street, just the usual drunkard stumbling home after a night of booze.

"Not sure. Guess we'll find out, though." Jakku answered as his eyes when he saw a familiar looking head of silvery hair down on the side street. "Hey! That looks like her! OI! AHI! KUDOS!" He called, darting down to the figure he had assumed was Ahi. Alken, however, saw one small problem in that theory. The person Jakku was going up to was too short, and had no sword strapped to its back.

"Wait, JAKKU! THAT'S NOT AHI!" Alken called, but it was too late. Jakku had already tapped the person on the shoulder. The figure turned to reveal an old woman with an extremely shocked look on her face.

"Oh, wait. You…aren't her…Oops…Sorry…"

But it seemed far too late for any type of apology to be understood, for the woman fainted dead away. There was a long silence before either Jakku or Alken spoke.

"…Well, what do we do with this?" Jakku finally uttered, gently nudging the unmoving heap on the side of the street.

"We should put her someplace where she won't get stepped on, for a start." Alken suggested.

"Good plan." Jakku replied as he hoisted the comatose lady up onto his shoulder. "Urgh…she's definitely been drinking the booze too long…smells worse than some of the remains at a morgue."

A few minutes later, Alken and Jakku were walking away from the limp figure of the woman, who they had left in the care of one of the other drunk-yards that happened to be trudging home. Apparently, he was her husband.

"Hope that wasn't a really big mistake. Like the ones we usually have a tendency to make." Alken mused worriedly as he looked back just to make sure there wasn't any lasting harm done.

"You mean the ones that I'd make and blame you?" Jakku asked with a sly grin as the two of them walked away, once again undetectable to the human eye.

"Sun's coming up. We should go back." Alken said shortly, also trying to hide an inward nostalgic smile as he remembered all the times that their little excursions usually took that turn.

Turning back in the direction of the store, the two headed home as the early morning mist began to fade with the rising night.

"Any luck?" Kazi asked as the armor and the undead teen walked in through the back door.

Two inconclusive faces further sunk the small bit of hope that had managed to surface when they entered. Kazi slumped back into her chair, a hand holding her head.

"Where on earth could that kid have gotten to?" Jakku wondered aloud. Even though it wasn't for the first time, no one had an answer for his question.

It was around afternoon that Jane decided to go check on the girl. Dragon was also interested in this bit of happenings, as he was perched on the wall outside the knight's quarters. He tried to peer around Jane as she lightly pushed the door open. Kudos wasn't near the girl's arm anymore, nor was he anywhere in sight. The girl looked no different than before, but there was a slight rise and fall of her chest and a flush of color in her face. She, in all respects, looked somewhat like she had a fever, but when Jane felt her forehead just to be sure; it was surprisingly cool to the touch.

"She looks sick to me." Dragon commented from his spot on the wall.

"Doesn't feel sick…" Jane mused, then stopped as her eyes noticed movement under the other girl's.

They were flitting around as if seeing things flying across her vision. Was she having a nightmare of some kind?

"Jane!", Dragon hissed, cutting through her thoughts like a knife, "Old Rusty Legs is out looking for you! Something about a tracking lesson."

Jane let out a gasp and ran out the door, completely forgetting to shut it behind her. Dragon was about to nudge it closed, when he saw a funny-looking glimmer of light inside. He pulled the door open a little further and looked inside carefully.

Everything looked normal enough. Dismissing the glimmer as a trick of the light, Dragon shut the door quietly.

As soon as he was sure that the visitors were gone, Kudos drifted out from under the bed. This was, hopefully, the last time he would have a three second warning. And that voice from outside. Must have been the dragon that dwelled in these parts. He had heard Kai talk about a girl that was a knight in-training that also had a dragon for a friend. He didn't actually think it could happen, though. Humans were notorious for trying to get rid of dragons. Wasn't that why them and the other creatures were moved to the Overworld? How'd this one avoid that outcome?

Oh well, back to the real world. Kudos watched as the color in Ahi's face took on a more normal hue. He'd better let the others know that they were here. They were probably worried frantic as it was. No sense in delaying any longer.

Kudos sighed as he let loose a pulse that would not be felt by humans, but hopefully be picked up by Kai, Jakku, or anyone that could understand what it meant. Knowing how sensitive they could be, it probably wouldn't be long before one of them was showing up.

Kai was finally home after a long early morning stay at the river. Slumping down into a chair, she stared absentmindedly at the fire brewing in the grate (courtesy of Tigre) when her eye caught something out of place. The fire had acquired an almost unnaturally flamboyant dash of red that flickered around like a slip of paper.

Kai slowly lifted up the headband that covered her eye, revealing a patch of emerald green scales, and a closed eye. This eye slowly slid open to reveal a dilated, stormy black pupil, pale green irises, and a yellowish tinge to the area around it. It was the type of eye that seemed like it was piercing through you like a dagger. One thing was sure, it was no human eye.

As it looked deeper and deeper into the fire, the flick of bright red became a flat surface bearing the words:

Hello whoever gets this,

We're in the area. Let us know when's a good time to come.

Tsuchi

Finally. Kai thought as she looked over the name. Using the black armor on her arm, she pulled the ashes in the rate into the form of a pen. She carefully scribbled out a reply into the same tongue of fire. Lucky thing Hannashi had given her a couple pointers, or she might not have been able to reply at all. Eventually, she had composed a small reply right underneath the original message.

Was wondering when you guys would make your presence known. You can come now; we've got a room ready. If there are any problems, just let us know.

Kai

And with that, she sent it on its way.

Jakku was out looking again, at Kazi and Kai's insistence. This time, however, he was alone. Alken had to stay behind. Something about keeping Kazi out of the kitchen.

He was probably about a ways away from the castle when he stopped short. There was a strong, rippling pulse in the air. It wasn't the one he had felt when he had found out about Dragon's little talent, but it had a lot more force and it was a bit more direct.

The people down below seemed to be unaffected by it. They just went along with their business, like nothing was wrong.

Jakku flinched as the pulse ripped through the air once more. This time, though, it felt more urgent. Definitely coming from the direction of the castle. Now with a clear destination in mind, Jakku set off.

It was a typical day in Kippernia castle, for most of the castle staff. For Dragon and Jane, however, it had to be one of their more unusual ones. Hiding a comatose girl in one of the knight's quarters was a lot easier said than done. Apparently Sir Ivon had left something in there the other day, and he kept trying to go back for it throughout the day. Jane, however, could not seem to find the object (he was looking for something called the 'Boomerang of Vengeance').

It was around lunchtime when he decided to make final stand. Unfortunately, only Dragon was there to attempt to stop him from entering. Thinking and acting fast, he knocked over a cluster of barrels in the yard. Of course, it didn't really do much to stop Sir Ivon, who threw open the door and walked right in.

Dragon waited for some kind of an explosion, or at least an exclamation, but the room remained unnervingly quiet. A few minutes later, Sir Ivon walked out, carefully cradling his 'Boomerang of Vengeance', which resembled a curved metal rod with spiked balls on each end.

Watching him go back to his room, Dragon couldn't resist a small peek to see if the girl was still there.

But, when he lightly tapped the door open, he saw not only the girl on the bed, like nothing had happened, he also saw a small flare of purplish-silver, and Jakku, of all people, standing right next to the bedside!

Sorry to cut you guys all of with a cliffhanger, but if I wanted to ever get a new chapter up, I had to cut it kinda short. Hope you all don't mind.

See ya l8er!