Alright, it's time for Talea's training!
Good, I was getting bored.
Same here.
Will the two of you be quiet! I'm trying to set the mood for the chapter!
Well you're not doing very well.
I agree, all you've done is say it's time for Talea's training and told both of us to be quiet.
Whatever, on with the chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted stuff I use; I do own my OCs and this story.
Side-note: Arlyn means 'water battle'
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Chapter 17: Feel the Water
Talea reluctantly went back over to the other side of the training room to continue with her own training. Ignitus sat in the middle of the room, watching her as she closed her eyes and tried to feel the water in the air. Sadly, she couldn't focus on it as she was too concerned about Blane.
Letting out a sigh, she turned to look at Ignitus and said, "I can't concentrate."
"You must try, Talea," Ignitus said, "You must try to clear your mind and let your thoughts flow away like a stream."
Talea nodded and turned her head back before she closed her eyes once more. This time, flashes of different memories started to pop up. She forced them back and let her thoughts float away. Soon, through her closed eyes, she began to see the water that floated in the air around her. She focused on the area in front of her and tried to bring the small particles of liquid together, but found she was unable to.
Growling in frustration, she opened her eyes and found she was still able to see the water.
She turned to look at Ignitus and said, "I can see it, but I just can't move it."
"You have to feel it," Ignitus expressed, "Feel it as if it was a part of you, like it's an extension of your body."
"I'll try," Talea said, turning her head back again. She closed her eyes once more and reached out with her mind, as if she was trying to move her wings or her tail, but in reality she was trying to move the water. She once again tried to move the water in front of her, and found she was able to literally feel the water like it was a part of her body. She tried moving it and discovered that the water moved at her command. She laughed as she continued to move the water around the room, forming it into different shapes and figures, but she stopped paying attention to where the water was going and it hit her in the face, as a liquid and not a gas.
She opened her eyes and started to laugh again, Ignitus chuckling as well.
"Excluding the splashing yourself part, you did very well Talea," he said, still chortling, "Now, you must learn from a water dragon as I am unable to teach you more."
"How can I learn from a water dragon?" Talea asked, cocking her head to the side in confusion, "Unless I'm mistaken, there's no water dragon here."
"That is true," Ignitus said as a mist started to take form beside him, "as a matter of fact, there are very few water dragons left in existence. However, being the Chronicler has a few advantages, one of which is allowing an ancestor that does not have the power to form anywhere else to form in my domain. In this case, it is the ancestor from where you receive your ability to control water."
When he finished, the mist that was forming beside him began to take the shape of a dragon. After a few moments, the dragon had formed completely. It was the same size as Ignitus, its body build proving that it was male. The dragon's scales were the color of the ocean, as were his wing membranes, and his plated underbelly and the rest of his wings were a lighter bluish-green. He had two dark-blue horns on his head, but the one on the left was broken off in the middle of it, leaving a jagged stump instead. He had frills that looked almost like fins on the sides of his face and behind his paws. His tail tip had one as well, instead of a blade. His eyes were two different colors; one was ocean-green while the other was clear-blue, like a stream.
"So, it's time for her to be trained, eh?" the dragon said, his voice like the ocean on a clear day.
"Yes, Arlyn, it is time," Ignitus said, looking at the dragon before turning to look at Talea again, "She was able to move the water quickly, so I believe she might be able to master this quickly."
Arlyn nodded and walked over to where Talea stood. She looked up at him as he looked down at her.
"So," Arlyn said, "you're my great-great-granddaughter?"
"I guess," Talea said, not sure how to respond to the dragon standing in front of her, "and you're my great-great-grandfather?"
"Indeed I am," he said with a smile, "you must be a powerful water dragon to be able to move the water so quickly, it usually takes a water dragon many years before he is able to move it as effortlessly as you."
"Y-you saw?" she asked timidly.
Arlyn chuckled and said, "All of it, the splashing yourself bit was rather amusing."
Talea's face turned reddish from embarrassment and she looked away, saying, "It was an accident."
"And that's alright," he said, a comforting smile coming onto his face, "that usually happens because when a water dragon finally learns how to control the water they become so excited they stop paying attention to the surrounding area. Water dragons have been known to splash themselves and others on their first successful attempt, so it's nothing to feel embarrassed about."
"Oh," Talea said, the red fading from her cheeks as she turned to look at Arlyn again, "so, what are you going to teach me?"
"Many things, young one," he said with a smile, "but first we shall start with moving the water with open eyes."
"Alright," she said, nodding her head in understanding.
"Just do what you did last time; only keep your eyes open." Arlyn said. Talea nodded again and turned so she was staring at open space rather than him. Slowly, the water in the air began to become visible once more, looking like misty smoke. She focused on the moisture a little bit away from her face and all the mist besides that area, which was about the size of a soccer ball, faded from her view. She narrowed her eyes in concentration as she willed the misty sphere to become water and to move. Slowly, the mist began to take on the form of water, but it stayed in the same spot. Growling slightly, she focused on moving the water at least an inch. Gradually, the water ball began to move slowly to the left. Grinning in happiness, she began to move it a bit faster. The water began to move slightly faster as it floated around the room, Talea keeping a close eye on it to make sure it didn't go where she didn't want it to.
"Good, good," Arlyn praised, "Now try to make it take on the shape of a spike or spear."
Talea nodded and made the water stop moving and tried to will the water to change shape. The water began to shudder, but it slowly became a pointed spike that was about a foot long.
"Excellent," he praised her once again, "now use your imagination to make it change shape to whatever comes to mind."
Once again Talea nodded and she began to imagine it becoming a helmet of water, but a memory of her and Blane together broke her concentration and the water began to take on the shape of the two of them together. It looked life-like, excluding the difference in size, and it showed her and Blane, as a dragon, curled up with Talea against his chest and his foreleg around her and his wing over both of them.
"Not exactly what I expected," Arlyn said, shaking his head in amusement, "but the detail on it is amazing."
"I-I'm sorry," Talea apologized, "my mind wandered and I-"
"Do you care for him?" he interrupted, looking over to where Blane still sat, unconscious, against the wall on the other side of the room.
"I-I do," she admitted, "I'd do anything for him. I'd give my life to protect him."
"Then allow the want to protect him with your life to give you strength to do anything," Arlyn said, "The strength and power of love is unmatched by any other, with it you can do anything if it means that the one you love will be safe."
Talea nodded and allowed all of her memories with Blane to come forth. As they did, she saw that the water began to grow and grow as it began to move towards her. As it did, it enveloped her, and when it finally stopped growing it had taken the shape of a full grown dragoness made of water. She found she was still able to breathe and when she moved, so did the part of the dragon of water.
"Incredible…" Ignitus said breathlessly at the sight before him.
"Indeed," Arlyn agreed, nodding his head, "she has succeeded in doing something that usually takes years to do in only a few moments. You were right; she will be able to master this very quickly."
"So, what now?" Talea asked, her voice coming from the mouth of the dragon of water.
"Now," Arlyn said, turning back to her, "you learn to control that form."
When he finished, a large group of straw training dummies appeared behind him.
"I want you to defeat everything I throw at you," he said, "without letting the dragoness-shaped water surrounding you from breaking apart."
Talea nodded and Arlyn motioned with his great head before the group of straw, ape-like dummies charged at her. Talea watched as they came closer before she spun around and whacked some of them with her water tail and sent them flying into the wall, where they exploded into piles of straw on contact. The remaining dummies tried to attack her with their fake claws and various weapons, but she swiped at them and either cut them in half or sent them flying into another wall. After a few moments, they had all been destroyed and Talea began to let her guard down just as several large dummies appeared around her. She grabbed one with her water maw and threw it into another one, both of them exploding into straw. She watched as the remaining 5 dummies charged her before she opened her maw and blasted several of them with a pressurized blast of water. The water was so strong it literally blew them apart when it hit them. Soon there was only one left and Talea was panting from using so much energy. The ape-like dummy charged at her with its dual wooden swords and Talea waited until it was mere inches from her before she grabbed it with her maw and threw it against a wall. It tried to get back up before it slumped and exploded into a heap of straw.
She turned to look at Arlyn and when he nodded his head, telling her she was done, she let the water fall and it splashed into a pool around her and it spread across the floor. The water turned to mist as Arlyn willed it to become gas once more before he walked over to where Talea stood.
"You did well," he praised her, "especially for one so young."
"Is…that…it?" she panted, looking up at him.
"For now, I think that will do," he said with a slight smile, "and I think your friend is waking up now as well."
Talea turned her head and, sure enough, Blane was beginning to stir. All exhaustion forgotten, she ran across the room to him and positioned herself so that she'd be the first thing he'd see when he opened his eyes. Blane began to blink open his eyes and he found his vision blocked by her. He smiled slightly as he saw her there and reached out his left hand to stroke the side of her face gently.
"I was worried about you," she said softly, rubbing her face against his hand.
"You need to stop that," Blane said playfully, a grin stretching across his face, "Not even death would keep me from you."
"Well, let's go get you patched up, can you change back into a dragon?" she asked.
He nodded before white light enveloped him and when it faded he had become a dragon again. He tried to stand but his right foreleg couldn't hold his weight and he stumbled, Talea catching him before he fell. He leaned against her with his left shoulder and she wrapped a wing around him to help keep him steady.
"Take him back to the infirmary and get some red ge-" Ignitus started to say but Blane cut him off.
"No, I want this wound to heal on its own," he said, looking at the teal dragon over his shoulder, "I want to keep it as a reminder of what I'll do to protect those I care for."
Ignitus looked at him for a minute before he said, "Very well, bandage it instead. Then I want you two to find a room and rest, you both deserve a break."
Blane and Talea glanced at one another before they both nodded simultaneously and continued on their way out of the room.
Arlyn walked over to where Ignitus stood before he said, "You know very well that they won't be resting when they get to the room."
"I know, but this is the last night of mating season. They need to conceive tonight if Dex is to be born." Ignitus said, turning to look at the water dragon next to him.
"And what about Dex's companion, your granddaughter Annabelle?" Arlyn asked him.
"She, too, will be conceived this night," Ignitus said, "those two must come to be if the timeline is to remain as it is."
"Haven't you already altered it?" Arlyn asked.
"No, Dex and Annabelle were always meant to assist in this time. However, the two of them must soon return to their own time. They are not meant to fight in this battle." He said.
"Shouldn't we get as much help in the coming battle as we can?" Arlyn inquired.
"Yes, but not from those two. They have their own battles to face in their own time." Ignitus said.
"You mean that even if Ragnarok is defeated, there still will be no peace?" Arlyn said.
"There will be a time of peace, yes," Ignitus said, "it will last for 16 years after Ragnarok's defeat. However, all things have their time. Peace shall reign for nearly a hundred years after the battle that Annabelle and Dex will face."
"You see many things Ignitus," Arlyn said knowingly, "some of which are not very pleasant. You must truly wish that the Chronicler did not choose you to take his place."
"Actually, I am glad he did," Ignitus said, "I may have to know terrible things, but it is worth it in the end. I had died without telling Spyro I was his father, but the Chronicler gave me another chance to do so. I have no way to thank him enough for what he did."
"You are truly an optimist, Ignitus," Arlyn said with a chuckle, "however, in a job such as this, it is good you are. I am glad I was able to speak with not only my great-great-granddaughter, but also you, my old friend."
"As I am glad I was able to speak with you as well," Ignitus agreed, "but now it is time for us to part ways once more."
"Very well," Arlyn said, nodding his head in understanding as he began to become mist once more, "good bye for now, my friend."
"Good bye," Ignitus said, Arlyn now completely mist before he blew away. Ignitus walked over to the door Spyro and Cynder had gone into and opened it before going inside.
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Well, whaddaya think? Good or bad?
Eh, coulda been better but not bad.
I think it was pretty good.
Well, thanks. R&R everyone cause I like to hear what you think!