Drageria
Ch. 27: Training part. 4
After a few months of getting trained, drilled, and demolished to the utter exuberance of Namiel, the recruits had once again lost a few more people, but this time far fewer than the last few. One such odd morning, all of them were gathered and marched out into one of the woodlands surrounding Drageria. After an hour of uniform marching, they came out into an open field where they were lined up and waited for the General to fill them in on the day.
After he did his normal routine of pacing up and down the front of the recruits, he finally faced them and addressed them with a question, "Now recruits, do any of you know why we're out here?"
After a bit of time where everyone was either thinking or just refusing to say anything, Kirishima of all people called out and answered unsure, "Uh, sightseeing, sir?"
"No.", The General said with a huff. After pinching the bridge of his nose he told them, "Today you all will be learning something that all recruits like yourself take part in, as part of your training. A Drageria costume we call, Ridding of the Drake."
"General MacArthur, sir.", Momo called out, allowing the man to grant her permission to speak, to which she asked, "What exactly is a Drake?"
Before he could open his mouth to answer, a very loud and strange animalistic scream echoed through the forest! All the teens looked out towards the woods, ready to fight or flee, but still feeling nervous nonetheless. However, the General did not look worried about this one bit.
He simply readdressed the kids and said, "I'm glad you asked because your next teacher is coming here now."
With the statement spoken, a huge creature burst out of the woods and galloped straight for them while screaming! The teens did know whether to fight or run, especially since the General didn't move from his spot or react at all. Just when it looked like it would barrel straight through them, it came to a screeching halt as a figure sitting atop its back pulled back on a set of horse reins. Once the huge creature was at a full stop, the figure on top of it slid down.
Izuku recognized this person, since he saw him once before, but couldn't place the name. He was in a full-body suit made of iridescent shimmering silver brown scales that reached the floor and covered every inch of him. The longer parts were tucked into boots which were the same color. A hood adorned him with a cranial cover underneath, gloves, red goggles, and a plague doctor mask on his face.
The man walked towards the teens after petting his mount and greeted them in a very thick Germanic accent, "Greetings children, for I am the Keeper."
Without skipping a beat, all the kids sounded back, "Good Afternoon Keeper, sir!"
The Keeper waved his hand dismissively and told them, "There is no need for that kind of talk with me. I'm in no way related to the Drageria military, but I do supply them."
"Um, supply them with what, pray to tell?", A person from the crowd asked aloud, after being reassured of casual conversation.
"The magnificent creature you see behind me.", The Keeper exclaimed excitedly while motioning to the huge animal behind him. As he moved back to the animal, petting its face, he told the kids, "This is a Drake, and my personal Drake I call Paella."
The creature they now knew as a Drake, was a very curious creature, to say the least. Weirdly, it vaguely resembled a dragon. If the dragon was only the size of a draft horse, had no wings, large front claws that caused it to walk on its knuckles had a higher hip-to-shoulder ratio(almost like a kangaroo), and appeared like a quadruple velociraptor with a head that resembled a T-Rex, with protruding teeth, and two horns.
"So…..is it like a dragon?", Izuku asked aloud.
"Yes, but no. You see, Drake's not only lack the ability to fly, but also has no element of breath. In essence, they're just large lizards. But they're ferociously fast with an equally nasty bite.", He explained simply as Paella snapped her jaws. From there he took out a whistle and blew through it hard under his mask. After this he turned to the kids and told them, "Today you will be choosing your own Drake. Drake's take a lifelong bond to their main benefactor. So taking them at a young age is important.", As he explained this, several smaller creatures came barreling out of the woods where the first Drake did.
The creatures came running in almost as fast as Paella, and once they made it to her, they all began to run around her. Chittering, squeaking, and croaking with delight as they snapped their jaws at one another, playing, and just having a great time. Once a few of them stopped running around wildly, it was plain to see that they were baby Drake's! All of them looked just like tiny adults, not bigger than a large dog, but with bigger eyes and shorter horns. All of them are in an array of different colors ranging in gray, dark purple and blue, and even black.
When the recruit's had their full attention on the babies, the Keeper explained, "Once your bond has grown, you will be taught how to handle, ride, and fight with them."
This was the point that ever began to gush all over them! Since it was the first thing that didn't cause them any stress since they got here.
"They're so cute!", Uraraka squealed.
"And so tiny. How are we gonna learn everything you just said if we only have a few months left?", Shinso noted while asking the masked man.
"Drakes grow rapidly, so working with them from this age is important.", the Keeper answered while taking two large baskets off Paella's back, and setting them down he told the teens, "Now take one of the treat balls I have provided and wait."
"Wait for what?", Izuku asks back in the confusion of his vagueness.
The Keeper chuckled at this like it amused him or he was stewing in anticipation, before answering, "The Drake. A Drake will choose its rider, not the other way around."
With that, the teens went to the baskets and each pulled out a huge ball of something that smelled awful and amazing at the same time. It was wet, bound in leaves, and tied up with something that looked like twine. Once they all spread out, the strange order hit the noses of the babies and each of them ran, skittered, screeched, and pushed against one another to get to the ball of food.
Pretty soon each person had a baby begging for the ball at their feet. All except Izuku who seemed to yet again be the odd man out. He looked around but couldn't see a single spare Drake. Looks like they were all called for, or the Keeper was just one short. He was about to give up when someone caught his eye.
He looked over and saw something small and white dash behind a boulder. Izuku carefully approached and heard hissing! He backed off and saw something poke its head up. He held out the ball and the aroma caught the baby's nose.
Slowly it made its way out from its hiding spot and stared down Izuku. Izuku fell to its level and the baby seemed to act a bit more at ease, coming up even closer than before.
It was certainly a baby Drake, but this one was different. It was milk white with shimmering blue eyes. It was smaller than its siblings, only the size of a medium-sized dog. Several injuries adorned its body, all in different stages of healing or age.
Trying to keep his voice low, he called out, "Mr. Keeper, sir?"
"You can drop the 'sir' bit. Now what is your question?", the Keeper told him while casually walking up to him, making the baby Drake back away and hiss.
"What about that one?", he asked while trying to coerce the baby close to him again.
The Keeper looks at the baby for only a moment before saying with recognition in his voice, "Ah yes, that's one of the discolored runts. Normally the smaller or oddly colored ones are either eaten by their siblings or the mother, but this one managed to beat the odds."
As they were conversing, the baby took this as an opportunity to get closer, and in doing so it smelled the food ball. Before it could taste, it noticed Izuku's hands. The baby took a chance to smell it, and everything changed from there. It immediately got a sense of what Izuku was like as a person and became like its other siblings.
Licking Izuku's hand instead of the food ball, much to the boy's surprise! When he turned back to the baby, it was already nudging its head into his chest, cuddling and cooing at him. A huge smile spread across the boy's face!
He looks to the Keeper and excitedly exclaims, "Hey, I think it likes me!"
Izuku could almost feel the suspicious eyebrows raise as the Keeper asked him, "Are you sure you want this one?"
Izuku strokes the head of the small creature, feeding it the food ball and replying, "You said it yourself. The Drake chooses its rider, not the other way around."
The Keeper sighs and agrees, "Very well. Do you wish to name him?"
"I'll call him…", Izuku trailed off in thought for a bit, petting the little one's head. He then had a great idea for a name. Something he had almost lost not too long ago. Then say with pride, "Nozomi."
The Keeper nods at his decision and then returns to the group of others while clapping his hands. Doing so grabs the attention of the recruits and their Drake's. They all group up around him and the Keeper explains something to them.
"Now that you all have acquired your own Drake's, you will be learning the basics of handling them, so that in a few weeks you'll be able to ride them. Though I must tell you that handling such creatures is a truly difficult task. Even at such a young age, they are incredibly strong, even able to ride on their back at such a size.", he informs them, his tone gradually getting more and more excited about the prospect with the Drake's.
"Wait, seriously!", Kirishima exclaimed while trying to mount his marble-gray Drake.
However, the baby did not take kindly to this and ended up screeching and kicking him off its back! Causing the teen to fall back on his head, which everyone laughed at.
"Though I would advise you against doing it. Much like a horse, they have to be broken into it.", the Keeper explains in an unamused tone while shaking his head.
"Now you tell me.", he groans while rubbing his head.
"Now then, let's go over the basics and commands.", He tells them with contained zeal.
Their things took a very different turn from how they were before. The recruits did as they did normally each day; get up, get dressed, do morning stretches run and calisthenics, followed by breakfast, then drill runs, combat training, dinner, then sleep. Though this time they did it all with the Drake's. They ate, and boy did they have an appetite, trained, and even slept with them….at least until they got too big. Which they did so extremely fast!
Their entire schedule now went around training the Drake's as well as themselves. Within a week the little animals went from large dogs to small ponies! However, the recruits had to teach the babies like dogs. How to sit, stay, come when called, the heel on command, and other such things. From there they did more advanced training like walking on a lead, then off, side-by-side, and so on. The training was long and difficult depending on the Drake, but Izuku's was always the most difficult. It always seemed like he wanted to outdo the others or run off despite his commands, which Izuku had to work twice as hard with.
Then came the biggest part of the training with the babies, riding. After only a month, they had grown to the size of a small horse, and the size of their parents! They had to get used to reins, saddles, taking verbal commands, and having the recruit's on their backs which none of them liked. And as before Izuku's was the worst of all, always trying to bolt off, but Izuku always managed to wrangle him in. Until he realized he could buck and used that every time Izuku tried to hold him back. Leading the poor boy to become the best bull, er, Drake rider in all of Drageria.
Eventually, they came to what could arguably be called the final day of Drake training. Once again they met in the clearing of the Keeper for the last time. The man slid off his own Drake and examined each person's nearly adult Drake. After several minutes he nods with satisfaction.
"You young ones have done extraordinarily well for yourself. You have learned the ropes and have managed to train your Drake's with ease and fluidity.", He commemorates all of them, clapping his hands together with joy. "Now that your Drake's has grown to a size more suitable for riding, and has done so, you will be learning how to fight upon them. That will be your next and final task ahead.", He says with excited zeal at the prospect.
However, one of the Drake's, a certain white one with blue eyes, began to act out, leading its rider to get him under control.
"Easy Nozomi!", Izuku tried to soothe his wild Drake as it snapped and hissed at the others who got too close.
The Keeper sighs behind his mask and tells him, "Izuku. Despite your best efforts, your Drake has shown a stunning amount of behavioral issues over the last few weeks. Are you sure you would not like another one? It will not be held against you. Not every animal can be perfect.", He offers gently.
Izuku looks at the man, then his Drake, and back to him where he shakes his head and replies, "No I don't. Nozomi is just antsy all the time. He wants to run, to push himself, to show his worth."
"You can tell?", The Keeper inquiries, a glint of intrigue and his goggles.
Izuku nodded and explained as best he could, "Yes…I can. He might be difficult, but that's only because he's impatient and wants to go off. He's been working just as hard to meet his accomplishments."
The Keeper rubs his covered chin and after thinking it over for a bit, says, "Well if that's the case, then let's give him what he wants.", This leads not only Izuku but also the others to wonder what he meant. "Although this is a more advanced part of your training, we shall engage in a race!", He explained exuberantly.
"A race?", Izuku asks back.
The Keeper nods in reply before explaining further, "Yes! If there's one thing Drake's loves more than butting, it's running like the wind!", He then takes a tool out of paella's saddlebag and uses it to draw a thick white line in the grass. Pointing to it and then at several other structures, he says, "You will all start here, run around the base of the mountain, and finish back here. Understood?"
Several of the teens look out to see the objective, and one such person, Uraraka, asks worriedly, "Isn't that a little far? Even for them?"
The Keeper chuckled at this while shaking his head and explaining, "Drake's requires the exercise of that nature, it's completely fine for them to run that sort of distance. And you haven't seen just how fast they can run.", With that concern answered, he told them with excitement brimming in his voice, "Now everyone, saddle up your Drake's and be ready!"
Doing as told, the teens took seats on their Drake's and lined up side-by-side. Oddly enough, Nozomi was well-behaved and listening to Izuku without a fight. Though his eyes were hard and deadlocked on the course at hand. Practically itching to just bolt out!
The Keeper revere them by exclaiming, "On your marks.", The Drake's tensed up. "Get set.", They started to inch toward the starting line. "Go!", He shouted while firing a gun from his robe.
With that, all the Drakes dashed out in a mad sprint! Claws digging into the dirt and pushing them forward as fast as they could! All of them ran to their heart's content and all of them surprisingly kept pace with one another! All except one, that one being Izuku and Nozomi. The Drake that was so impatient, impertinent, and wild was now lagging far behind…..very far behind. It wasn't like he was losing stream but rather losing his drive.
First, he was neck-and-neck with the others before something changed and he ends up slowly falling back. Before Izuku knew it, his Drake had completely given up to the point where he tripped and slid across the ground to a dirty halt! Izuku was flung off and just before his other siblings went out of sight, Nozomi saw his oldest and strongest sibling look back and make something of a mocking laugh before running out of sight.
Izuku pulled himself from the ground, spitting up dirt chunks and brushing himself off before running towards his downed mount. Nozomi didn't get up or even respond when called by him, only laying there while turning his face away while making a pitiful noise. Finally, Izuku tried to confront his Drake.
"Nozomi! What are you doing!? They're getting ahead of us!", He half shouts at the animal as if only to ignore him. Causing Izuku to pout and push against its body to make it stand, while staring, "Come on! What's with you? You're not like this, you're never like this! What gives?!"
He eventually stopped trying to push against him as he was too heavy and already curling into himself. Where Izuku stationed himself in front of the animal's hidden face and exclaimed, "I thought you wanted to run wild and unchained like you've been trying all this time! All your outbursts and uncooperativeness! This is what it's all led to! And now you're just giving up! Why?!", He shouted in frustrated anger and the animal still refused to acknowledge or respond.
Suddenly the Keeper's words rang out in his head and he heard, 'Normally the smaller or oddly colored ones are either eaten by their siblings or the mother.'
All of his pent-up anger and frustration melted away with a sense of understanding as he looked down on the pitiful animal and said, "Oh I see. You've given up because of the past, right?",
Nozomi still didn't reply in any way, but seeing it flinch and shudder was all Izuku needed. He leaned down on his knees, and said in a melancholy tone, "Despite all circumstances, you beat the odds and survived, but it wasn't enough.", Nozomi flinched and shuddered again, this time more violently as Izuku placed a hand on his snout, saying, "You lived, but didn't thrive. You were still an outcast. That's why you acted out all the time. To show off, to show you were strong, to show you weren't weak, to show you're still a survivor and a fighter."
He then goes on to gently stroke the muzzle of the giant animal and figures with some zeal, "You wanted everyone to know who you were, but when it came to it you just fell apart." L, he then sighs and tells him with a melancholy tone, "I know how you feel. I've been there, and to be honest…..I'm still fighting that battle."
Nozomi finally revealed his face and looked up at the teen who was looking at him with a confident yet distant expression, telling him with hope, "But I have people who still believe in me, who care about me. Maybe you can finally consider me one of those as well?"
Nozomi fully revealed his face and lifted his head, touched by the boy's words. He stares into his green eyes while he stares back into his blue ones, and with a forceful yet cheerful tone, "So come on! Don't you want to prove them wrong?! You and I have trained so hard despite all of your resistance, yeah?", Nozomi finally stands up and roars in excited agreement at his proposal!
Izuku puffs out an excited stream from his nose and says with a clenched fist, "So let go and show them the full caliber of our training and leave them eating our dust!"
Nozomi makes a sound like a velociraptor, leans down, and lets Izuku climb back into the saddle. Once seated, the dragon-like animal races off in hot pursuit of its siblings! Not only did Nozomi pick up amazing speed, but he also started to catch up and then completely overpassed several of them! All to the amazed and shocked faces of the other Drake's and their riders!
Izuku, delighted with all this, cried out in excitement at the rush he and Nozomi were feeling! As they ran, the wind biting their faces, their hearts pounding, their adrenaline rushing, their sense alive, Izuku yelled with zeal, "Go Nozomi, go!"
And the animal did just as told, putting on even more speed and thus causing them to overpass nearly everyone! That is until they reached the front of the line. The one person who was so far ahead it almost seemed impossible to even think about catching up! But Nozomi did, and now at the halfway point around the mountain base, they were neck and neck!
The leader was none other than the boy with the fire quirk who got his ass handed to him by Namiel. Running around the unsteady and rocky terrain was a Drake that was not only much larger than Nozomi but very different in color. A pure silver color with rust patterns ran down the length of his eyes to his tail.
The fire teen looks at the steadily keeping duo and sneers in a vexing comment, "So the runt and his runt managed to catch their second wind I see."
Without warning, he immediately launched a fireball in their direction! Luckily Izuku managed to duck out of the way, only causing Nozomi to swerve a bit.
After making sure he hadn't gone singed he turned his eye to the fire boy and yelled, "Hey, watch it!"
The Fire teen crudely smiles at him and boasts, "I got the biggest and strongest Drake, so I'm gonna be the winner!", With that, he launches another fireball that is yet again dodged.
"This is against the rules!", Izuku exclaimed angrily as Nozomi roared.
He laughs at this and proclaims while motioning around, "There are no rules in this and no one to stop me!", To which Drake makes a sound like a bound of laughter, while also trying to snap at Nozomi.
Izuku narrows his eyes and bares his teeth at him while exclaiming, "Fine! Then you leave me with no choice!"
The fire team laughs at this and asks back vexingly, "Oh yeah? What are the two runts gonna do?"
Izuku stares dead into him and states, "Something we've been working on."
With that proclamation, Izuku jumped into the saddle and lunges forward wrapping his arms around Nozomi's neck! At the same time, Nozomi beers off to the side a bit before running back towards their opponent and jumping in the air! With the momentum from both of them, Izuku swings his body around Drake's neck and kicks the fire boy clean in the jaw while Nozomi shifts his legs out to the side and nails the other Drake right in its ribs and leg! The fire boy was sent off his Drake while his mount was fixed over into its side where it crashed along the terrain!
With the two of them down, Izuku put himself back on his Drake's back, and grabbing the reins he shouted, "Run Nozomi, run!", Which it complies by putting off more speed!
At this point, the two of them have already run the base of the mountain and have started to make their way back into the treeline that borders the open field. At this point, it wasn't even a competition as Izuku and Nozomi were already so far ahead in the lead! Within minutes the finish line was in view and with absolutely no one to oppose them they crossed it without issue! Nozomi came to a screeching halt before allowing Izuku to slide off his back where they were personally met by the Keeper who congratulated them.
"Well Izuku, I have to admit I had my doubts, but you fully managed to subvert my expectations. Congratulations on that and your first-place finish in the race.", He said happily while clapping his gloves and hands. He then looks over to Nozomi and studies some over for a bit before observing, "It even seems that you're Drake has seemed to smarten up a bit?"
Izuku smiles at Nozomi, petting his face as he kicked him back, telling the concealed man, "We just needed to talk it out, and then we were on the same page."
A glint of the eye and smile formed under his mask as he said with a low yet proud tone, "Well then, let's wait for the other and I'll get into your final lesson, but it seems you won't be needing that."