Hunting a Burning Rose
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meddle not in the affairs of the dragon; for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup
unknown
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Jake awoke early the next morning, and while getting ready he couldn't help thinking about the previous day.
Rose hadn't been that bad of a company, and actually shared his sense of humor and sense in music, which was rare in a school full with moronic idiots. She chose her exile for herself, and he really shouldn't meddle with her affairs, but it still didn't fit well with him.
So, for the first time since middle school, he dialed the numbers of his used-to-be best friends as he made his way towards the bus stop.
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Third: Blazing Intermezzo
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"You don't mind us sitting here, do you?"
Blue eyes snapped up at the male voice opposite her, mouth slightly agape when she saw Jake and two other teens sitting down at her table. "What the-"
"You know what, don't answer, we'll do it either way."
As the black-haired teen began digging into his food an indignated huff left Rose's pink lips. "You just set a whole new level of 'rude as a brick wall', Pendragon."
He smiled wryly. "Thanks. Doing my best."
With a tired sigh the blonde turned towards his two companions. "And you guys are...?"
The girl smirked, stabbing a piece of cucumber with her fork. "Name's Trixie, and the guy over there looking like he hit his head a few times too often is Spud. Jake called us this morning to pull this off. Fancy, he hasn't spoken a word to us since middle school." Her dark glare towards the Asian spoke lengths.
"You're just like the other popular retards," Rose stated blankly before returning to her meal, not missing Jake's dirty glare.
"That really wasn't nice, dude, ignoring us like that," Spud's monotonous voice clawed at the blonde's ears like sharp nails.
Jake frowned. "Hey, it's not like I started ignoring you, you guys just became rude as shit."
"As if," Rose coughed fakily, causing Trixie to grin smugly.
"I don't have to put up with this!" The Asian glared, cheeks tinted pink. "Here I try being nice and that's my reward, thanks karma."
"I never asked you to call your old friends on a whim and bother me with your presence, dimwit." Jake surprised the blonde when he raised from his seat and walked around the table to halt right next to her, glare firmly in place and hands crossed in front of his chest.
"Okay, again since you're so slow. The three of us will hang out with you from now on whether you start screaming and clawing at the walls or not. I'm not about to let someone like you wither away like that just because you think it's a duty of yours. All your opinions on the matter will be rejected with vengeance, dimwit."
Dead silence and gaping ensued from the blonde girl, giving Jake a satisfied feeling. "Well?"
Rose nodded, closing her lips slowly and stiffly returning to her lunch. "Thought so," he smirked
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The bell above the front door rung as the piece of wood was pushed open, alerting the Shar Pai and the old dragon to a visitor's presence in the shop front. Stepping out of the back his face lit up upon seeing his granddaughter, the blonde teenager smiling brightly back in return. "Hey, grandpa..."
Lao Shi waved her over, beckoning her to the back. "Let's go to the roof, Rose, we'll need space." As they climbed the stairs they passed the gray Shar Pai, who smiled warmly at the slightly nervous girl. "Good luck, girl."
Her smile brightened some more.
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A silvery, ragged blade came down in a sharp, definite slash, a dirty violet staff only barely coming up in time to avoid the blade from ripping open fabric, skin, muscles and flesh. The next the poor apprentice knew he was thrown back against the hard, iron wall of the training room by his master's thick boot. "Too slow."
As if I don't know...
In the blink of an eye the Huntsmaster was at his throat again, the Asian teen barely dodging in time.
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"To call forth your dragon form, Rose, you have to feel its presence inside you. Do you understand what I mean?"
She didn't really, but, guessing it couldn't be that huge of a deal, she nodded anyways, closing her eyes and... waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
So much for that.
Her grandfather sighed. "This will be a long day..."
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"Can we drop it for today? I have homework to do..." Soon after the words left his lips a cry of pain followed as his instructor grabbed his right wrist tightly, cutting of the blood circulation and ripping of Jake's glove, revealing a blood red dragon marking burned into his palm and disappearing in his sleeve, continuing further down. "Let. Go," the teen pressed out through gritted teeth, black eyes narrowed at his adoptive uncle.
"No," the taller man growled dangerously, a shiver of fear grasping control of the boy's body. "Do you see that mark?" When Jake didn't reply he jerked the appendage roughly, another pained cry tearing from the teenager's lips. "Do you see it?"
"Yes," Defeated, Jake whispered the sole word like it was to be his last.
"You are destined to cleanse this world off these pests, mythical creatures, and you're going to train for it until you bleed to death, understood?"
"... Yes, sir."
"Good," With that he pushed him back by the arm, slashing at him once more.
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Rose sat with crossed legs on the rooftop of her grandfather's shop, hands lying lightly on her knees as her blue eyes were covered by her eyelids, breathing calm and slow.
Talking about different training methods.
Pale eyebrows were scrunched together in a light frown. So, I'm supposed to feel the dragon inside me? How the heck...
She remembered briefly the happenings on the Island of Draco, and her frown deepened as she shifted slightly in her seating.
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The African Dragon slowly brought the aureate orb to her forehead, her skin prickling with electricity upon contact with its icy surface. The orb dispersed into a shock of golden and black mist, encircling the frozen-stiff teen, thunder sounding through the tall dome and lightning cracking about.
There was nothing but black and gold around her, occasional beams of lightning letting Rose jerk back from them. Suddenly blazing hot pain shot through her back as another lightning struck her from behind.
The last she remembered was a flaming heat inside her chest as consciousness slipped her.
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Her brows lifted as the heat returned in the center of her chest. Maybe...
Soon enough the golden and black mist returned and whirled around her, surging towards the red-tinted sky of New York.
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When she had taken up the job as American Dragon she had bargained for more than she could swallow.
No one had said she'd have to awake at ungodly hours to mediate between pixies.
Fuck it.
"So... what's going on?"
"They are fighting over a magical apple," Fu deadpanned, flipping the page in his magazine.
Rose turned to her grandfather with an expression that clearly asked whether he was kidding. "You're not serious, are you?"
"I'm dead serious, Rose."
Fuck it again.
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"A golden what?"
"A golden apple, it bears great, magical power. We can't have the dragons get to it first."
"But seriously, what could a golden apple actually do?"
"It depends on those who eat it. And now come."
"But-!"
His uncle had already hauled him onto the flying – what was it? A skateboard? And took off with him.
There went his homework.
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Yup! Trixie and Spud returned! Hurrhurr...
And don't bother asking for explanations, they will be included in this fiction, just enjoy the suspense for god's sake! X3
Next Chapter Jake meets the American Dragon, whoopy x3