Greetings, my lovely dragon-lovers! This is the beginning of the weekly updates to this fic. This chapter is a little shorter, but it does bring our other freshman teams into the fray and gives some more world-building.
This week's dragon recommendation is a slightly-strange one: "The Last Dragon Chronicles" by Chris d'Lacey. I'm not going to say it's a good series per say, but it's a very interesting series that I found myself utterly hooked on in high school. What makes it different is the fact that d'Lacey used what he calls "organic writing," which essentially means that he just sat down and made stuff up as he typed, barely editing before sending it out. The result is a seven-book story that almost reads like a dream sequence. Things come out of nowhere and are sometimes never mentioned again, characters change personalities or become very exaggerated, and things are revealed that you definitely wouldn't expect in a million years. The dragons are consistently awesome, however. I don't know. As a writer, I found it to be a bizarre and fascinating read.
Anyhoo, enjoy!
"Did you remember your nausea medication?"
"Yes, Mom."
"Your warm pajamas?"
"Yes, Mom."
"Your bunny slippers?"
"Mom!" Jaune groaned. "I'm fine."
"Right, sorry," Mrs. Arc murmured as she fussed with her son's hoodie. "Okay, be careful and call often."
"You're gonna do great," Mr. Arc added, giving Jaune's shoulder a firm shake. "You'll have the biggest, toughest dragon in all of Remnant, just like your granddad. I can just feel it."
Jaune smiled shakily. "I'd be fine with one the size of Ignis," he murmured, referring to his father's spirited fire dragon.
"Of course you will," Mrs. Arc assured him. "You'll be fine no matter what, because you and your dragon will take care of each other." She kissed his forehead. "Make sure to send pictures once it hatches. You know the girls will want to see."
"Will do." Jaune grinned as he thought back to an hour ago, when he had been saying goodbye to his sisters. Little Jenny had clung to his leg while the others shoved gifts into his hands and argued over what kind of dragon he would get. It had taken fifteen minutes just to get from the door to his parents' car.
After several more hugs, Jaune finally got his father to close the car doors. He stood back from the road, waving as his parents drove away. Taking a deep breath, he picked up his bag and walked toward the airship stop.
Several other people his age were also waiting, holding their own bags. He passed a group of boys, one of whom snickered and pointed at the large bunny on Jaune's hoodie. Jaune blushed and hurried on, wondering whether he should have chosen something else to wear.
He hesitated, glancing at the various people, wondering if there was anyone he could start a conversation with. There was a monkey Faunus talking with an overly-cool looking guy with blue hair. Eh. I'd probably say something stupid. There was a tall, intimidating young man with tattoos who was listening to a flamboyant, red-haired boy. The red-haired one doesn't look so bad…but his friend looks kinda stern. A little ways off, a boy in green was nodding slowly in response to the rapid-fire words of his short, ginger companion. Hm. Maybe.
Then, Jaune's gaze fell on someone who was standing all alone. She was a tall, red-haired girl who stood a distance away from the other groups. The first thing Jaune noticed, besides her fire-colored hair and awesome headpiece, was the fact that she regarded everything with a very open, friendly expression. He wondered why no one was talking to her already.
Well, here goes nothing, he thought, walking over. "Uh, hey. You going to Beacon too?" As he spoke, he realized how lame his question sounded. Of course she's going to Beacon. Everyone at this stop is going to Beacon, idiot!
The girl blinked, looking surprised that someone was talking to her, but the expression was quickly replaced with a welcoming smile. "Yes, actually. You?"
"Yep. It took forever to shake my parents off, though."
"I noticed. It's nice that your family is so concerned." The girl held out a hand. "My name's Pyrrha."
Jaune readily shook her hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Jaune." He paused, tilting his head. "Hm. Your name sounds kinda familiar. Did you go to school here?"
"No, I'm from Mistral. I arrived in Vale just yesterday." Pyrrha shrugged. "Maybe my name is more common here."
"I've never met another Pyrrha," a new voice chirped. In a second, the ginger girl zipped over, followed more slowly by her friend. "But I totally saw you on TV a million times! You're Pyrrha Nikos, the dragon wrangler, right?"
"Nora!" the green-clad young man said sternly as he approached. "Maybe she didn't want people to know that."
"Who wouldn't know, though?" Nora asked. "She was on Pumpkin Pete's cereal box like all of last year."
Jaune gasped. "Wait, I remember now! I don't watch much TV, so I didn't realize." He tilted his head. "Dragon wrangling… What exactly is that?"
Pyrrha glanced at the ground. "Well, it basically involves capturing and subduing wild dragons. Since I'm one of the younger ones, the television stations picked up on my exploits and started filming them."
Jaune frowned. "It's, uh, not like cage fighting, is it?" he asked. When he was little he had seen a dragon cage match playing on one of the televisions at his friend's house. Wild dragons and maddened elemental dragons were put in cages and fought to the death. Sometimes, people would fight against them. He had had nightmare for weeks.
"No!" Pyrrha shook her head vigorously. "It's nothing like that. I've actually been to several protests against cage fights. Wrangling is the process of capturing a wild dragon for breeding. Some brooderies prefer wild dragons, or need new blood. That's what wranglers are for."
"Oh." Jaune's shoulders relaxed. "Well, that's pretty cool. I've never really been around wild dragons, just my dad's fire dragon."
"Your father's a Rider? Did he train at Beacon?" Pyrrha asked, relieved that the conversation was steering away from her.
"He went to Haven, actually," Jaune explained. "But, he said that the resources there weren't as great as they are at Beacon. Still, he got Ignis out of it." He shifted as he thought of the excitable dragon. "I hope I don't end up with a fire dragon. Not sure I'd be able to handle it."
"I want a wind dragon," the ginger girl piped up. "They're so fast! Or maybe a fire dragon…"
The boy with her rolled his eyes. "She's Nora, and I'm Ren, by the way."
Nora pouted. "I was gonna introduce myself in a second."
"I'm Jaune." Jaune grinned at the two. "You're more gutsy than me, Nora. I definitely couldn't handle a wind dragon."
Nora rolled her eyes. "Well, you just excluded half the dragon types."
Jaune shrugged. "I, uh, get airsickness really easily, so I'm kinda hoping for a calmer dragon."
At that moment, the monkey Faunus approached, followed closely by his blue-haired friend. "Hey. Are we talking about dragon types over here? I'm hoping for a wind dragon."
His friend laughed nervously. "I'm good with an earth dragon. Or a fire dragon. Or a wind dragon…" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm pretty sure dragons can smell fear, so I doubt a water one would go near me."
"Not a fan of water?" Jaune asked.
"Eh, no." The boy shook his head. "I fell into a bog in Mistral when I was a kid. I've been kinda leery of the water since then."
The monkey Faunus snorted. "Kinda leery? That's the understatement of the century."
"What about you, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, turning back to her. "Any preferences?"
Pyrrha shook her head. "I'm just going to let the chips fall where they may. I don't mind fate deciding."
"Is that why you don't have your own egg?" Nora asked. "Being a wrangler, it probably would've been easy."
"It would have," Pyrrha allowed. "But, I'd rather be surprised. I really don't have a preference. Besides, I've heard a lot about the hatching process. Apparently, they line the students in front of the eggs, and the hatchlings choose." She smiled at the thought. "I guess I like the idea of a dragon specifically choosing me out of everyone else, you know?"
Jaune bit his lip. "Um, have you heard whether there have been cases of people not getting chosen at all?"
Pyrrha shook her head, smiling gently. "I'm sure you'll be just fine. You got in, didn't you?"
The two newcomers introduced themselves as Sun and Neptune. Sun grinned at them. "So, speaking of getting in, which test did you guys take as your second exam? Combat or sight?"
Almost everyone responded with "Combat." Only Jaune replied with a shy "Sight."
His face flushed when the others turned to look at him. He wondered if he should have lied, but figured that it wouldn't have done any good. They would have realized that he wasn't exactly a fighter once they got to Beacon.
Being accepted into Beacon Dragonry involved two exams. The first was a written exam that tested basic knowledge concerning dragons. People who passed that test were then given two choices: combat or sight. The combat test involved showing off one's fighting skills against various professors. It was the most common method that people chose, since most potential Riders were trained in some form of combat.
The sight test, which Jaune had chosen to take, was something very different and very strange. He had entered a large, circular arena at the Dragonry, near the stables, which was painted to look like a compass. The hundreds of seats that had a view of the arena were empty. Four people and four dragons waited for him in the arena itself, one pair at each point of the compass.
At the southern point stood a large, portly man with a mustache. A stocky orange fire dragon stood at his side, wearing what looked like a lazy smirk on its muzzle. Its eyes were an intelligent amber color. At the western point was a woman with a sharp expression, and a pale blue water dragon that gazed at everything passively with milky eyes. At the eastern point stood a green-haired man with thick glasses and twitching hands. His dragon was a yellow-green wind dragon with a constantly-flicking tail. Finally, at the northern point, beside an ancient-looking, gray-brown earth dragon, was Dragonmaster Ozpin himself.
Jaune had stood in the center of the ring, trying not to tremble under the silent gazes of the four dragons and their riders. Then, behind him, he heard the fire dragon mutter something to its partner. Then, the water dragon whispered to the woman. Then, the wind dragon added its voice. Finally, the earth dragon drew itself up and nodded its head once.
Ozpin then smiled and said "Congratulations, young man. You have been accepted into Beacon."
Jaune's knees shook for hours after that experience.
He tried, and probably failed, to describe what had happened, and how powerful it had been. There was a moment of silence while the others looked at each other.
"So…the dragons just stared at you, and decided you were okay?" Sun laughed. "Maybe I should've gone with that one. Sounds way easier."
"I don't think it is," Pyrrha murmured. "I have a feeling that the dragons are far more selective than a combat test would be. Dragons are incredible judges of character." She looked at Jaune, admiration in her eyes. "They clearly saw something in you that told them you'd be a great Dragon Rider."
Jaune stood up a little straighter. "You think?"
"I'm sure of it." Pyrrha looked up. "Looks like the airship is coming. Would you like to sit next to me, Jaune?"
"Sure!" Jaune replied eagerly, glad that he hadn't presented himself as being totally lame to these new people.
The students all followed her gaze as the airship came to a landing. Jaune took a deep breath, discreetly popped an extra nausea pill for good measure, and hoped that Pyrrha's reassuring words would turn out to be right.
Why is Team SSSN going to Beacon? Because I wanted them to, that's why! I like giving Neptune actual depth, and it looks like Sage and Scarlet will never get the screentime they deserve in canon, so why not have fun with them here?
If you like what you see and want to show some extra support, please consider pledging to my P/atreon, which is Solora Goldsun.
As always, praise Monty and peace out!