Help, I'm being viciously mauled by plot bunnies and they refuse to relinquish their hold over me.
Also here's chapter 5 hope you enjoy!
Wrestling violently against sentimentality and logic, Renato fought the childish urge to again blame the dragonling Tsu for the current predicament they were in. Which was very much ironic considering the situation they had found themselves in, everyone in his group had been aged down to toddlers. You remember the shopkeeper who passed the dratted child/dragon from before? Turns out he was some kind of ancient wizard who had disguised himself as an innocent procurer of wares in a random village and found him amusing enough to entrust the tiny dragon prince with.
Now he definitely had a reason to find that wizard/fake shopkeeper and really give him a piece of his mind. Right after the spell wore off of course. And if it didn't actually wear off, then he was going to have WORDS.
The annoying wizard, who very politely introduced himself in a different form, as Kawahira, explained who he was and what he had done, bowed once, tossed a potion over them before vanishing in a fit of giggles. Leon curled around his forehead and gave him a reassuring lick. He couldn't tell if he should be thankful or not that the group had retained their current mentality instead of being reduced to the mind-set of a four year old.
At least they had been reasonably close to a village before night had fallen.
Skull was having the time of his life, approaching women in the town and giving them his biggest puppy dog eyes in exchange for coos and handfuls of candy. Snatching part of Skull's haul from him, ignoring his petulant whine, unwrapping and popping two into his mouth, Renato reassessed the situation at hand.
Colonello had been carried off by an eagle away into the treetops to his bemusement, Viper was sulking in the shadows, Lal was swearing up a storm to horrified onlookers, glaring at those who were appalled and tried to admonish her, Verde was trying his best to analyse the contents of the potion, Fon was off in a tree to try and rescue said kidnapped Colonello, while Luce was treating it like an entertaining performance, watching everyone react accordingly to the situation.
And now where was Tsu in all this confusion? Turns out he had been aged up instead, to the draconic equivalent of twenty years. He made for quite the suave young man if Renato did say so himself.
Now Renato normally relished in chaos, not so much when it happened directly to him.
And a child minded Tsu with the body of an adult was not anything he would wish upon his worst enemy. Rubbing a hand along his face, he had claimed Tsu's shoulders as his spot, swinging up nimbly as the brunet oohed at everything from his newly gained vantage point.
"From what I can reasonably deduce, the effects of the potion should wear off in about three days so try not to get too used to this form. We should also just stay in the village in case of any attacks from wild creatures." Verde advised, looking up from his concluded results.
"Great, just great." Colonello dusted himself off, approaching the group with Fon trailing casually behind him. The eagle swirled around the top of his blond head, talons clenching in a threatening manner. Colonello shook a fist at it before it let out a screech and finally left him alone.
"Well at least it isn't permanent. So shall we just try to make the best of it?" Luce offered, soft smile touching the edges of her lips.
"What other choice do we have!" Lal burst out, dragging her rifle from behind her.
Day 2 rose and they awoke from the inn Tsu managed to book for them the previous night with the help of Renato. They had been charged lower prices due to being child shaped, to the firm nods of Viper who was beginning to realize the perks of seeming youthful.
Though the innkeeper had given them weird looks for speaking in perfect english, money was money and he shut his mouth. Spooning a mouthful of oats into his mouth, he chased it down with a chug of milk.
Tsu was making a mess as he tried to copy what everyone else was doing, frowning when more oats landed on the table then in his mouth.
"Hey wait. If Tsu's an adult now, does that mean his dragon form will be adult sized too?" Skull threw Tsu a curious glance as he tilted his head at the sudden attention from the group.
"OH MY GOD THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE EVER." Skull screamed into the air as he held on tightly for dear life. Tsu then flew into a loop as Skull released more excited shrieks, scaring the bird population into taking flight from around the village.
Viper had been so kind as to cast a cloaking veil over the duo, well after they had been paid a proprietary sum of coins. Cue Skull bouncing up and down like the excited child he was when dragon form Tsu held his neck out for him to clamber upon before taking to the skies.
Before he had considered it but Renato could kind of see the resemblance to Giotto the menacing supposed big brother figure to Tsu. It was just mostly the coloration that was different but the fluffiness of the hair had to run in their dragon family.
Tsu landed in the meadow gracefully, as the people who had been interested in watching, mainly Fon, Verde, Colonello, and himself applauded out of habit when someone did something cool.
"God bless that troll of a wizard, now I'll never have anything to live up to these expectations again." Windswept purple hair and dazed eyes adorned Skull's head, legs turning to jelly and collapsing in a heap on the grass patch.
Tsu nuzzled Renato carefully then curled up and fell asleep with him in the middle.
"Guess he still is a kid after all huh?" Colonello mused aloud as Fon nodded in agreement.
Day 3 and Verde was pretty fed up with how big the experimenting equipment seemed in his grasp, waiting anxiously for the potion effects to dissipate.
Then all at once in a cloud of clichéd but very welcome puff of smoke, everyone returned to their regular forms.
"Shall we never speak of this ever again to anyone?"
"Agreed." Was the unanimous response.
The look on the innkeeper's face had been priceless when they left the assigned rooms to continue travelling however.
"Hm, maybe reducing the age was a bit too weak? Perhaps I could try gender changing in a future experiment." Kawahira rubbed his hands together deviously as his assistant Checkerface wondered if the pay was really worth following the wizard for.
Well this happened, I don't know how it got here and I don't know how it's continuing. LET'S JUST WING IT GUYS. It's going to be my new motto. Happy almost Halloween! Hope you have a great one!
Also if there's any improvements you feel I could implement, please let me know. :D Thank you for reading as usual!