Chapter 10: Flower Power

When Jay walked into the blacksmith's shop he looked at the clock. Since he had left Kai slightly earlier than usual, he had a few hours to himself but he didn't know what to do with that time. He sighed and finally looked himself over. First, he would need to get out of these clothes. The once blue fabric was now hidden under layer upon layer of mud. After getting changed and having a quick shower, he sat down on the soft couch, thinking of what to do next.

His brain and bruises acted as one and he came up with a brilliant idea.

He really needed to figure out a way to stop falling off when they were flying and how to properly control Kai's prothetic tailfin. A light bulb turned on over his head and he ran around the workshop. First, he needed to figure out a way to keep from falling off Wisp's back as he feared that one of them could be very hurt if it continued happening. He gathered all the materials he thought he'd need and began working. As he worked to modify the saddle and tailfin, he took some inspiration from horse saddles.

He was particularly interested in how the riders steered the horses and stayed on their backs.

Eventually, the whole thing evolved to include a series of gears, pulleys, and cables controlled by a foot pedal mounted on a saddle from which Jay could sit and control the pedal. He had also constructed a leather flying harness that attached to Kai's saddle so he didn't fall off anymore. After he was sure it finished, Jay had to find a place to store it all until he saw Kai again. He quickly stuffed it all into a large, empty chest that he knew neither Ed nor Edna ever opened or even noticed.

Once he had hidden all of the evidence he tossed a small blue tarp over the chest to hide it for good measure.

The next time he would go to see Kai he could test it and he hoped Kai liked it.

"I hope this works."

"What do you want to use, Jay?" A voice suddenly asked and he nearly jumped out of his own skin, turning to see Ed standing in the doorway right behind him.

"Ed, please don't sneak up on me like that!" He exclaimed as the silver-haired man rolled his eyes.

"Just what exactly are you doing up so late, and here of all places?" He asked and Jay tensed, before mentally cursing. He really needed to start thinking of good excuses before people asked him any more questions.

"Um... well with winter on the way and... I thought it would be... best to make sure all our armors kept us warm." He stuttered, lying through his teeth, but luckily Ed didn't seem to notice.

"Yes... wouldn't want a repeat of last year."

"You don't have to bring that up every five seconds!"

"Yes, but I still can't believe you put a steel helmet through a washing machine." He chuckled and Jay facepalmed. That was by far the most embarrassing moment of his life. Ed sighed as he stopped laughing, before looking at his watch.

"You should be getting home sonny-boy, it may be a later class, but you'll be sleeping till wee hours of the afternoon staying up this late at night."

"Late class?"

"Yes Jay, as in a class we have in the afternoon instead of the morning." He replied and Jay grinned. The later start meant he would probably get to see Kai earlier.

"That's great!"

"Yes, maybe you'll be on time for once, now go to bed!" He ordered kindly and Jay quickly ran out of the store. When he did get home, Jay was too lazy to change into his pajamas' so he collapsed on the bed before crawling under the blankets, welcoming the warmth they supplied. As he started drifting off to sleep Jay started to wonder if Kai got cold at night. He thought he'd ask him tomorrow, but for now, the teen could barely keep his tired eyes open...

"Ready?" Jay asked as he sat on Kai's back while the brunette was in his dragon form. When he showed Kai the new saddle and harness, he had been very impressed, although he did a good job hiding most of it. The dragonblood gave a low rumbling sound in his throat as a form of agreement before he took off, and Jay held his breath, praying not to fall off again. For the first time in history, they actually managed to fly out of the valley without falling.

Jay sat on his back, controlling the dragonblood's tailfin, and deep down he was loving every second of it.

He looked down over the land below them and marveled at the beauty. He decided to try and adjust the tailfin's position. When he did, however, the dragonblood's wing suddenly closed in closer to his body on instinct, and before he could scream, they were diving down to the ground. Jay held onto Kai's saddle, not realizing they were about to crash. His eyes blurred with the wind created by the speed they were going at, and he felt the air being drawn from his chest.

They crashed into a field, Jay being thrown away from Kai in the impact.

The ginger-haired teen quickly sat up and realized they had landed in a field full of many different, colorful flowers. Jay inhaled deeply, enjoying the smell when he heard Kai swearing in many different languages. He followed the sound of his voice and found the dragonblood in his human form a few meters off, holding his nose and still cursing.

"What is it?"

"Flowers!" He exclaimed and Jay tilted his head to the side confused.

"Flowers?" He asked and Kai glared at him, accidentally moving his hand from his nose.

"When Dragonbloods smell flowers..." He started but slowly stopped talking, and looked at the human teen. The look on his face was almost that of a drunk when suddenly he fell backward.

"Kai!" Jay cried out in fear as he ran over to his fiery friend and sighed in relief when he saw the steady rise and fall of his chest telling him he was still breathing. Looking more closely, Jay started laughing. The great Fire Dragonblood was sleeping like a little baby. He looked at the different purple and white plants surrounding them and picked up a handful. They were Jasmine and Lavender flowers. Grinning, Jay pocketed the plants, knowing this could come in handy.

Kai murmured something in his sleep and Jay groaned, now realizing his newest problem.

"Please don't tell me I need to drag you all the way back!" He groaned but received no comment from Kai. He sighed, grabbed Kai's feet, and started dragging him towards what he hoped was the end of the field. Kai may have looked light, looks could be deceiving. After dragging Kai for about ten minutes, he noticed the flowers were beginning to lessen in number. Kai started to stir and Jay dropped his feet, standing a little away from the dragonblood.

Slowly, the brunette pushed himself up onto his elbows and looked over at the freckled teen, before groaning as if he had just woken up from the worst hangover ever.

Jay felt a small smile grace his lips but tried to hide it from Kai. Kai looked just about ready to fall asleep again and Jay couldn't help himself from asking.

"What do you give another Dragonblood on Valentine's day?" He joked and Kai groaned, shaking his head.

"Be quiet." He said and tried to stand up but tripped over his own two feet. Jay ran over and managed to help stop him from completely falling over again. "I HATE flowers."

"Yeah, I can see that." He replied as he helped him stand up, and with him leaning on Jay for support and they both managed to exit the flower-covered hell. "Just one of those days that makes you want to stop and smell the roses?" He asked, trying to ease the tension and Kai sighed, playfully hit him over the head.

"Alright, if we fly back then you run you'll make it back on time for class." He said. Jay's eyes widened as he looked at his watch, seeing he had about ten minutes before class started. Kai had to flinch and cover his ears as Jay shrieked a curse to the sky...

Running over to the battle arena, Jay saw the others waiting outside and sighed relieved. At least he made it this time, even though he only had a few seconds left to spare. Zane saw him and walked over, looking very amused by his panting.

"Looks like you just ran a marathon Jay." He smiled and Jay shook his head, sweat dripping down.

"My legs aren't made for running... actually I don't know what they're made for." He panted, completely out of breath. Zane laughed and Ed showed up to unlock the arena. Before most of them had walked in an Earth Dragonblood had been released from its cage and was already having fun trying to kill them before they could pull a weapon. Jay gulped as he stared at the large creature. The books talking about dragonbloods didn't do it justice.

Large emerald eyes sat lightly within the creature's hard, hard skull, which gave the creature a very ominous looking appearance.

Several enormous central horns sat atop its head, just above its long, cat-like ears. Small, strong, sharp bone structures ran down the sides of its jawline. Its nose was round and had two small, angular nostrils and there was a small crystal growth on its chin. A few large teeth poked out from the side of its mouth. A large neck ran down from its head and into a bulky body. The top of its body was covered in dark brown and black coarse skin and rows of sharp, rocky growths ran down its spine and its bottom was covered in narrow, bright orange scales.

Four muscular limbs carried its body and allowed the creature to stand towering and mighty.

Each limb had six digits, each of which ended in spiny talons seemingly made of obsidian. Monstrous wings grew from it's back and looked like they could block out the sun. The wings were somewhat triangular, a specialized layer of skin was all that's visible inside and armor-like scales grew on top of the wing's primary bones. Its long tail ended in a hammer-like growth and was covered in the same massive scales as its body. Ronin was already hobbling outside and Dareth followed his brother, claiming to be making sure he was alright.

Harumi hadn't even shown up for class and Plundar had just got himself thrown across the arena by the beast's giant tail.

The Earth Dragonblood looked right at Jay and charged forward. He closed his eyes and tensed, holding out his hand and hiding the flowers under his fingers. The creature almost attacked but came to a stop right in front of him. Jay slowly opened his eyes as the large dragonblood fell over in a deep slumber. A few seconds later its dragon form faded away and Jay was faced with a middle-aged man. He had shaggy dark brown hair, a large bushy beard, earthy brown skin, and large muscles that were much bigger than Cole's.

Almost all his body was covered in scars, more than Kai had.

All he was wearing was a black loincloth and dark brown sandals. He also had silver, rusty shackles around his wrists and ankles. Jay slowly sidestepped around the sleeping creature, trying to ignore the growing crowds above. He had almost walked past the sleeping beast but stopped when something caught his eye and he stopped, holding back a laugh. The Earth Dragonblood was soundly sucking his thumb in his sleep.

"Class dismissed, excellent work sonny-boy!" Ed exclaimed as he and Edna dragged the dragonblood back into his cage. All the teens left the large stadium, but unlike usual everyone was surrounding Jay.

"That was amazing!" Plundar exclaimed

"I've never seen a dragonblood do that!" Dareth agreed. As they kept praising him, Jau realized that since the class was so short, he would be able to see Kai again if he hurried.

"Um... I left my knife in the arena, you guys go on ahead; I'll catch up with you later." He said nervously as he turned around and almost ran into Cole, before weaving around the older boy and running towards the large building they had all just left to try and make his story believable. If he had turned around, he would have seen Zane and Cole shoot each other look. However, Jay was too busy trying to figure out the fastest way to the valley to care...