Sorry for the wait guys, just lost track of things. Thankfully, I will have this updated by the next I start typing this. Thanks for waiting.
Surge followed Circuit through the crowd, weaving in and out of the various small groups. Looking around him, he wondered if any of the dragonets were as nervous as he was. After all, it was the day that could change their lives forever. Hopefully the life of the a Lightning Generation dragon was good. He felt a twinge a fear as he thought of dark futures ahead of him. Surge forcefully pushed them aside, he knew that Queen Tesla would never harm one of her subjects.
"Over here," Circuit told him, pointing ahead with her wing. Surge looked ahead, seeing a nice open space where they could talk without any eavesdroppers. "Come on." The two brushed past the final obstacles of disrespectful dragonets.
"I'm not really sure about this. Well, the entire Lightning Generationn thing," Surge told his friend truthfully. Circuit frowned at him, wrinkling her snout with surprise. "What?"
"I thought you'd like to stop being harrassed and actually praised for once," she spoke bluntly, before her eyes widened. "Sorry! I didn't mean to say that rudely!"
"It's fine," Surge assured her. "But what if I'm given impossible tasks, especially things I don't know how to do. Even if I have Lightning Generation, I have no idea how to use it!" The dragonet felt his voice raise, getting a few cautious looks from the surrounding crowd. Flinching, he huddled close to Circuit.
"Well, we can try to figure them out, togeth-" Horns blared, startling Circuit and signaling the beginning of Testing Day. "Come on! We got to get to our spots!" The two friends made their way towards the area they were assigned to. Surge narrowly missed being slapped by a tail. He ducked under it, then saw the smirking expression of Stingray as he ran on.
He felt his blood rush with a small amount of anger. I wish I could teach a lesson somehow. However, Surge couldn't think of the bully, but ran after Circuit. They made it to their spots in no time, hearing the announcement as they stopped.
Surge looked around the field, seeing all of his peers standing at attention. Looking over slightly to Circuit, he saw her grim expression, before staring dead ahead. Soon, he saw a massive dragon with a gold stripe come into view. Following her were about two dozen guards. Queen Tesla. Tesla made her way elegantly to the front of the standing dragonets, scanning over the group.
Surge saw another dragon, a guard, approach beside her. He was talking quietly to the Queen as she moved her eyes. Soon, Surge felt her eyes see him, and they stayed gazed upon them. Almost instantaniously, the dragonet remembered the guard that was peering at him from before. Do they know?
Surge felt his entire body shiver with fear. He's seen that look before: the Queen new the same thing he was confused about. Oh no, he thought, what is going to happen to me.
". . . Welcome all ElectroWing Dragonets of Tonitrua (name of his continent) welcome to Testing Day: the day that can bring you honor to your ancestors and great service for your Queen. We will start with students from this very town, and we will move on. Now, student one: come up to the Tester."
Surge saw past his peers to see a bright purple and silver dragonet walk up to an adult ElectroWing in front of their group. She was heading to a black and grey colored dragon, around the same size as the queen. The oddly colored ElectroWing held something in his claws. Surge couldn't quite see it, but he knew for sure it was something for Testing Day.
"Psst, hey," Circuit whispered. "You doing alright?"
"The queen has her gaze right on me," Surge whispered back, still seeing Queen Tesla from afar. He shivered at the sight of her emotionless eyes, wondering his own road ahead. "You think she knows?" Circuit shrugged, not responding.
"Student 2: come up to the Tester."
The first dragonet was dismissed, moving away from the line of dragonets. Surge saw the young ElectroWing crying, most likely disappointed by her result. Seeing the next dragonet come forward, Surge continued to gaze ahead. Uncomfortable by Queen Tesla, who was still eyeing him, he decided to get lost in thought.
Mother, I wish you were here. The thought of Copper made him feel worse. Trying to think of the happy times, he soon realized that the pace of dragonets was going faster than normal. Soon, the line was almost over when the announcer called the 160th dragonet in line. I wonder if you'll be proud if I wield the legendary power. He tried to think positively, but a series of horrifying futures keep washing into his mind.
"Student 186: come up to the Tester."
Surge heard the number, immediately looking at Circuit. She gave him a worrying and nervous look, but moved towards the black and grey dragon. Surge then saw Queen Tesla, followed by her guards, even closer to the Tester than before. In the dragon's claws was a small, metal looking machine. It had two bars, which Circuit grasps as the Tester spoke. Suddenly, eletricity zapped from Circuit's claws, but only for a split moment.
Surge looked to the queen, who wrinkled her snout in disappointment. The coal colored dragon spoke to his friend momentarily, before moving on to Surge. Circuit moved to the right, off the field and to the crowd before turning to watch him. Even from a distance, Surge could see his friend's supportive smile and determined look.
"Student 187: come up to the Tester."
He felt his legs automatically move forward, as if someone else was controlling them. His muscles felt numb and his mind went blank with fear and worry. Looking at the ElectroWing's before him, he felt himself cower before the queen.
"Now, young dragonet," he heard Queen Tesla suddenly speak, a fake smile implanted on her snout. "Don't be afraid, we are going to see if you can help this tribe for better or worse." She nodded to the Tester, who then held out the machine.
"Place your claws on these poles," he instructed. Surge obliged, and he felt a tingle as he grasped to the two copper poles. "Now, this machine will extract electricity from your body. It will not harm you." He went on. "If electricity begins to continously flow, then you have the magnificent ability. If not, then it's the other answer."
Surge held back a laugh: he's never been struck by lightning. He hardly believed that any electricity would appear at all. His tail swayed from the side-to-side, anticipating the result. With the flick of a switch, Surge saw his eyes gaze upon the flashing eletricity from his claws to the machine.
And the current never stopped.
The Tester's eyes widened with disbelief, and so did the several guards that gazed upon him. Surge was as equally surprised, but looked up to see that the Queen's expression changed oddly. She leaned in, and the dragonet could see her eyes were looking intently at him, as if they were hungry for something. Surge gulped, before the queen spread her wings and face her subjects.
"At last, my loyal people! We have found a wielder of Lightning Generation!" The crowd roared in approval, and Surge looked over to Circuit, who was giving him a thumbs up. "With his power, he will help our tribe thrive for the ongoing years!" Many dragons were cheering, some were awestruck with disbelief.
Surge however, felt unsure of what to think. Should I be scared? Happy? Worried? He felt as his mind was overwhelmed by various expressions. He couldn't quite understand the meaning of what was happening either. His brain stopped working when the queen gazed over him, peering at him with what seemed to be greed.
"Come on, my lovely Lightning Generation dragonet, we have a lot of work ahead of us." Four guards came around Surge and the Tester pulled the machine away from Surge, flicking the machine off.
"Wait!" Surge shouted out, and Tesla stopped in her tracks, turning to the dragonet. "Can my friend come along?" The moment he asked the question, he regretted for it to come out. The queen looked at him dumbstruck, before nodding to the guards. "Her name is Circuit: she's over there." Pointing in the direction of his friend, the guards flew quickly to the young dragonet. There was a moment of conversation before Circuit flew back to the small group on the field.
"Why, you are a very beautiful young dragoness," Queen Tesla complimented. Circuit looked down, smiling a bit. "However, formalities will have to be done later." The gold stripped dragon took off into the air, and Surge followed after confusion for a few seconds.
They arrived at the biggest building on the entire continent: the ElectroWing Palace. The queen landed gracefully at the front entrance to the building. Surge followed suit, Circuit next to him. He felt his friend's tail twine around his. Looking over, he smiled to her, and she grinned back.
"Welcome to the Lightning Palace," Queen Tesla announced, guards circling her as they landed. "I hope you have a wonderful time here. Well, since your going to live here for the rest of your life." Surge felt happiness burst from his chest, he definitely wasn't expecting to get an upgrade on his home. "That includes your beautiful friend, too. Circuit, is it?" Surge looked over to his friend, who now had a look of disbelief on her face. Queen Tesla also saw her changed expression. "Something wrong, dear?"
"What about my parents? Won't they be worried about where I am?" Surge hadn't thought of that, either. He than began to feel fear and regret. "Why do I have to stay here, too?"
"Well, because you're here to keep our wonderful Lightning Generation ElectroWing company. Trust me, the Lightning Palace can get quite boring." The queen walked through the doors, and the guards also ushered in the dragonets. "No worries, I'll contact your parents as soon as introductions are done."
Circuit nodded. "Thank you, your majesty." Surge looked around the room in awe. Decorations of gold, silver, bronze, and various other metals and jewels covered the celing and walls. Accompanying those decorations were statues of Queen Tesla and other queens before her. "Wow, these are beautiful."
"Indeed, made by the finest sculpturs and jewelers, this represent the pride of the ElectroWing tribe." Walking further, the group made it down a hall, before stopping suddenly. "This room is where the two of you will be staying."
"What?!" Surge and Circuit yelped at the same time. "What about privacy?" Circuit asked, and Queen Tesla chuckled, her face mad with glee.
"You two have so many questions," she retorted, smiling at the two dragonets. "There are two beds, and there is another room where you can have your privacy." She nodded to a guard, who opened the door. Surge felt himself pratically shoved into the room, before being knocked down by Circuit's movements.
"Hey!" Surge heard Circuit protest.
"Apologies for my guards," Queen Tesla told Surge and his friend. "But I am quite busy, and I do not need wild dragonets in my way right now." After that, the door shut, and following it was silence.
At least for a few seconds anyway.
Following the short moment of silence was Circuit's unimaginable anger. "GRRRRR!" she growled, huffing and storming away from the door. "Why'd you have to bring me here!"
"Circuit, I'm sorry!" Surge pleaded with his friend, but all he was getting was a glare. "Look, I didn't know this was going to happen." The dragoness scowled at him.
"Listen, I'm happy that you brought me here, but I don't actually want to be here. I would visit often, but not actually move into the palace," she huffed. "Now, I have no idea what's going to happen." She thumped her tail onto the ground, her pronged end hitting the stone with a loud clank. "Ow! Ow, ow, ow." She flinched, bringing her prong to her face.
"I understand," Surge sighed, thinking of how he just lost his only friend through this. "Look, maybe they'll let you go if I ask them. We won't have to see each other for a long time." Walking to the bed, he clambered on top of it and lied on top of it.
"Woah, hold up. What makes you think I hate you now?" Surge's eyes lit in surprise at her statement. Uh oh, she's going into sassy mode. "Just because I'm angry about this doesn't mean I never want to see you again."
"But you just made it clear I'm to blame."
"Yeah, but I'm not going to hold you against it." She walked over to him, nudging his head with hers. "Remember when I said we'll get through things together?" Surge nodded. "Well, we'll get through this together." He gave her a appreciative smile, and she grinned back. "So, what's the plan?"
He shook his head. "What?"
"What are we going to do, partner," she lied down on the bed next to him, and he thought for a moment.
"Well . . . I guess we could wait the day out until tomorrow; see if they come back," Surge offered his idea, and Circuit nodded reluctantly, sighing in response.
"Okay. One question: what do we do for the rest of the day," Circuit asked, her sarcasm kicking in.
"To be honest, I have no clue."
(* * *)
"In the first time in my life, I now know the meaning of being bored," Surge admitted, getting a laugh from Circuit. They were each lying in their own bed, opposite from each other. "They could've at least given us something to do."
"At least they gave us something to eat," Circuit replied, and Surge had to agree with that.
"Yes, that whale was amazingly good, but it doesn't cure boredom."
Surge looked up at the ceiling, thinking of the day before. A day where he had the freedom to go where he wanted, and do whatever he wanted to. Now, it felt like he was being restricted from the rest of the tribe. Stuck in a palace room with his best friend. All they did after being locked in this room was talk, laugh, and look at each other. For Surge, it felt way better than being alone at his old home right now, alone until his mother got home.
Mother. He felt his stomach twinge with guilt and sadness. Copper probably thought something tragic happened to him, or she knew Surge was here. He was hoping it was the second scenario. I really hope I see you again.
"Surge?" Circuit's voice called from the other side of the room. It was low and calm, which meant she was getting tired. "I've been wondering something and can I ask you it?"
"Sure, there's really not much else to do." He looked at his tail prong, waiting for the question.
"Well, I'm not sure how to ask this, but . . . " She trailed off, but didn't respond for a long time.
"How to ask what?"
"Well, if we're just good friends or something-uh-else."
"I'm not following."
"Doyoulikeme?" She blurted out, but Surge heard her words loud of clear. He went silent for a moment, not sure how to respond to that question. "Well, it's fine if you want to stay friends. It's just that I've kind of had a crush on you, recently. Well, it's been a while."
"Well, I have a crush on you, too," Surge admitted. Circuit went silent this time. "I just wasn't sure if you felt the same way."
"It seems like we're going to be together throughout the next few days, months, years, however long this takes. It's just that maybe we'll come together as a couple. Hopefully it'll be over before we know it." They both went silent for a moment. Surge felt his head buzz at Circuit's verbal thoughts of becoming mates. He didn't know what to say.
"Same," Surge agreed, but he already knew this wasn't going to end. The look he saw in the queen's eyes showed him all he needed to know. That was the queen would never let him out of her sight, with him being a Lightning Generation user and all. Sighing, he didn't want to ruin Circuit's moment of hope, and decided to close his eyes.
Maybe Circuit will be able to get out of this before it's too late. Surge was determined to get her out of this new life he was going to live. He knew it wasn't fair to drag her into something she didn't want to be a part of.
"Well, I guess we'll have to figure things out. Together," Circuit told her friend. He didn't know how to feel about the last word she said. It seemed like she wanted to be a part of this new journey. However, Surge knew it was wrong to let her in. His thoughts fought each other on the imaginary battlefield as he thought of what he should do.
Should I let her stay? Drifting to sleep, the question became lost in his mind. "Good night, Circuit."
"Good night, Surge. I love you."
He held that very phrase in his heart, especially the last three words. Surge didn't know what to think of them, but he couldn't worry about it right now. The only thing set on his mind was getting a good night's rest.
Hey guys! Sorry for the late update. However, I got a summer reading list, which means I might not be as active as before. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy the story, I will see you later.
FuRy-Mike
