Another thank you to xfallenangel13x for being my beta.
That night, Joey rode his bike back home, content only when he found that Nai had allowed Ciaran to sleep in her stall with the other hatchlings. It had been hard to leave; some irrational part of him wanted to stay, but his aching stomach and exhaustion eventually won, and Joey had to rip himself away from the barn.
Stumbling into the house, Joey went straight to the refrigerator and helped himself to a large bowl of cereal, taking a seat at the kitchen table as he slowly ate his food. The more full he became, the more tired he felt, and soon Joey's head was sinking down closer to his bowl, with his eyes fluttering with the attempt to stay open every so often.
A loud clank on the table startled him awake. Looking around wildly for the source of his interrupted slumber, Joey watched his father sit down across from him. He pointed to a black rod that had been tossed down next to Joey's bowl.
"What's this?" the teen questioned, dropping his spoon and picking up the item.
"A nightstick. You'll need it if you want to get a firm handle on that thing," his father grunted.
Frowning, Joey studied the stick. His finger glided across it, before it pressed a button that was built into the center of the handle. The rod extended into a metal stick. At the end was a prong-like fixture with electricity zapping out from it, surprising Joey and causing him to drop it in alarm.
"You teach them early with a taser stick, then hopefully, if it goes right, you can settle for a nightstick at about... a year old." Joey's stomach churned unpleasantly at the casual way his father spoke about this. Was he really expected to electrocute his day-old dragon?
"You want me to shock her?" his eyes looked up to him, almost as if he were pleading with Matt to say "no".
Instead of withdrawing what he said, the man just looked at Joey, bewildered. Almost as if he were some sort of mental case. "Joseph, it will be a huge fucking beast in a year! Huge! It will want to eat your face off, and burn trees down. Do you really think saying 'please' will work?"
"Well… no, but - I mean… I jus' thought…" he stammered quietly, before studying the dangerous 'tool' in his grasp. He finished his small ramble with a dim, "I dunno'," looking rather disheartened. What had he thought? She would just grow up to be a fighter and he wouldn't have to do anything to get there?
"Just nothing, Joey. This is how things work. Get used to it." His father stood and clapped a hand to his shoulder when he passed. "I've worked with them for years, Joe. Believe me; they're too stupid to do anything that you don't make them do."
Joey kept silent as his dad went back into his room, still staring at the electric prod that sat lifelessly on the table. No longer hungry, he took his bowl and emptied it in the sink, grabbing the training tool and heading off to his own room. Upon entry, he closed the door behind him, and sat at a computer desk.
Now that he was wide awake, he figured he might as well research the matter, and began to scan the internet for tips and tricks. Forum after forum, and site after site, spoke about the use of electric prods, nightsticks, and even self-heating branding irons (the last bit had left Joey feeling rather terrified and queasy). Late into the night he continued, until accidently stumbling across one website that gave him an inkling of hope. One that told him things could be done differently.
It was by a tamer he'd never heard of, but she seemed to know what she was talking about, so Joey spent the remainder of his night reading her reports, until his eyes stung. Positive reinforcement, body language, even dietary needs were there. Eventually, however, he fell asleep at the computer, shamelessly drooling on the keyboard.
"Joey! Joey, wake up! Dad is going to leave you here again!" Serenity shook her brother harder. "Joey… wake… up!" This time, she yanked the computer chair out from under him, causing her older sibling to crash to the floor.
His eyes shot open, dark circles looming around them in an unappealing shadow. His brain was fuzzy, still partially trapped under the haze of sleep. "W-Wha...?" He rubbed his eyes with one hand ran the other through his tousled, golden tresses. Never mind the fact that his ass felt like it had just been broken from hitting the hardwood floor.
"Get up! Dad is leaving!" she repeated firmly, grabbing him by the arm and hauling him up from his spot on the floor. "Here," Serenity chirped, stuffing a sloppily-made sandwich into his hand, followed by a clean shirt thrown at his face, before she promptly shoved him out the bedroom door.
Still laden with sleep, it took another moment for Joey to grab his shoes and head outside, rushing to get into his father's truck before they took off toward the stables. During the ride, neither of them spoke. Joey just put his shoes on and ate his sandwich, leaving the shirt his sister had given him off to the side. If he was going to change, he might as well hold off until after work; there was no point in getting a clean shirt dirty.
"Did you think about what I said last night?" Matt inquired suddenly, finally breaking the silence as they turned onto the long gravel driveway that led to the family barns.
"Yeah…" Joey was quiet with his reply, hinting that he didn't really want to talk about it.
"And?" he prompted.
"And, what? I heard what you said," he muttered, still trying to avoid the subject like a plague. None too subtly, at that.
"Are you going to do it, or what?" The tone in his father's voice was getting edgy, annoyed.
"No, I'm not!" Joey practically shouted back, not from anger, but rather, from raw nerves. He knew it wasn't the desired response, but damn did Joey suck at lying.
"What do you mean, you're not?" This time it was clear Matt was angry. His tone was harsh and risen to a near-yell, incredulous and practically outraged.
"Well, I did some reading... and there are other ways to train. I just thought I'd give it a try and-" He was cut off.
"Joey, for the love of God - are you serious? I knew you were a damn sissy, but fuck!" Matt slammed his hands against the steering wheel, causing Joey to cringe. "What'd you go about reading, some pansy bullshit about how you can reason with them? They are dumb animals Joe, dumb fucking animals! You'll only end up dead if you don't take this seriously!"
Was his father actually concerned about him? The thought caught Joey by surprise, and he was silent for a moment. He didn't know what to say. Numerous beatings and taught him to not back down, so it wasn't like he was about to apologize or change his mind. Ciaran was his, after all, so he could deal with her as he pleased. Hell, he could let her go in the mountains and there wouldn't be anything a damn person could do about it.
When the truck slowly rolled to a stop, Joey wasted no time in jumping out of the vehicle, and rushing into the barn. Quickly, he opened the door to Nai's pen. A wide grin plastered over his face when Ciaran rushed out to greet him. The baby slithered up his body, coming to rest on his shoulder with a happy squeak.
Joey reached up and scratched under her chin, her tail twitching furiously in pleasure. "That's the spot, huh?" He smiled as her neck rose to follow his finger in hopes of being scratched longer. Almost like a cat.
Matt came into the barn, glaring down at his son. "Get to work," he growled threateningly, obviously still heated over their conversation (or rather, argument) in the car.
Not needing to be told twice, Joey went about feeding and watering the dragons. As he finished up, the boy went to the back of the barn and entered through a door that had a giant lock on it. Before, the door had been tightly secured, but since only Matt had a key and was currently in the stables, he'd left it unlocked for Joey to use freely.
Pushing the door open, Joey looked around the medium-sized, well-lit room. It was packed with wooden, brass-built barrels. Each one had a lid tightly shut on it. One, however, was smaller than the rest, and Joey realized it to be new. Curious, he went over to inspect the barrel, stopping when he saw the initials of 'S.K.' engraved into them.
Rolling his eyes, Joey went back to the front of the room, where several different tools hung on rusting nails, and removed a crowbar from its perch. "Pretty boy has put his name everywhere... Even on his stones. Kinda' stuck up, eh, Ciaran?" he murmured absently to the little dragon, who didn't reply. She was far too engrossed in watching as Joey used the crowbar to pry the lid off the nearest barrel.
In it, was a cluster of light purple stones, which he knew to be amethysts. Picking up a large plastic scoop that was in the barrel, Joey filled it up then emptied it into a nearby bucket, which was placed by the door. He repeated the process with each barrel, going through various stones as he worked. Hematite, smokey quartz, rose quartz, tiger's eye, the list went on. It was like a dragon's supermarket. The entire time, Joey kept a close eye on Ciaran.
After eleven buckets had been filled, he went about giving them to the appropriate dragons. Keller received a meal of hematite. To Nai, went the smokey quartz. The male in stall ten got tiger's eye, and so on and so forth. Only when the buckets were all emptied and stacked against the back wall of the room, did Joey close the door behind him. Before locking up, however, he quickly swiped a single stone from each of the brass containers. All except for Seto's, that is. Seto could feed his own freaking dragon.
With a handful of various gemstones, Joey gently took Ciaran, and set her on the ground in front of him. He crouched down, smiling, before her. "Look here, girl. Which do you like?" he asked quietly, offering them for her in the palms of his hands. She sniffed at them with mild interest, but to Joey's dismay, she abruptly stuck her nose up at them.
"Wha…? But you gotta' like at least one of 'em!" he groaned, pushing his hand towards her again in the hopes that she'd change her mind. This time, she didn't even spare the gems a second glance.
"Great..." Joey stood and put each gem back, hammering the lids back into place before leaving the room, letting Ciaran follow along beside him.
Not realizing she'd just put Joey in a bad mood, Ciaran began to make odd little chirping noises, showing that she was hungry. And to make matters worse, someone with annoyingly familiar brown hair and blue eyes was just entering the barn entrance, crossing paths with the irritable blonde. Joey bit his lip as even the mere aura of the young Kaiba sent his blood boiling with irritation.
With a starving baby dragon at his side, Joey walked by Seto with his head cast down, desperately trying to avoid confrontation this early in the morning. Not to mention he was drop-dead tired. Another argument wasn't high on his list of priorities that particular morning.
They passed without any sort of verbal nor physical contact, thankfully, and Joey slipped Ciaran into Nai's stall to nurse. Relief flooded him when the she-dragon allowed the youngster to nurse freely. That was one problem he didn't have to worry about, for the time-being. Although it was a somewhat poor substitute for gemstones, it would offer Joey a few more weeks to come up with a plan for getting the amount of food Ciaran was sure to eat. And that amount, he knew, would only grow larger with the hatchling as she, herself, grew and matured.
He observed silently for a moment as the little dragon fed, then left the stall quietly. Passing Seto's stall to get a fresh bale of hay, he couldn't help but to peek into the stall as he walked by. What he saw about gave him a heart attack. "Diamonds?!" he exclaimed in disbelief, stopping in his tracks, the bale of hay hanging loosely in front of him. "He eats diamonds?" He put extra emphasis on the last word.
Amused, Seto stood, just having put a large handful of said precious stone on the ground that Addis was eating away at. It was no wonder his scales were such a beautiful white shade!
"Not all of us have to worry about where we get our next meal from, Wheeler," Seto chided smugly, going over to the door, contemplating if he should slam it in the teen's face. He couldn't help not taking a jab or two at the blonde, though. It was so easy. Not to mention an entertaining pastime for the multi-millionaire child. "What? Did you find out that yours eats lava rocks?"
A pathetic choice stone for a pathetic dragon, in his eyes.
"She wouldn't eat any of them," Joey said, blatantly ignoring Seto's stinging insult. He was starting to understand that Seto's comments and snarky behavior were not to be taken personally. It seemed like it was just natural for him. Like a skunk, he thought with amusement, holding back a smirk. They smelt horrible, but they couldn't help it.
"Ha!" the brunette snorted quietly, "Did you try feeding her dirt?" Seto laughed at his own joke, while Joey proceeded to do them both the favor of taking the stall's door handle in his fingers, and slamming it shut. Even through the heavy, insulating wood, he could still hear Seto laughing.
"Stupid Kaiba," he grumbled as he grabbed the large bale of hay, and went to a stall, spreading it around until it was even throughout the floor. Its reptilian occupant only cast his a single, disinterested glance, before returning to its nap that Joey had disrupted.
Just as he was finishing up, Ciaran's tiny head poked around the door. She seemed to beam with a draconian smile, squeaking happily as she trotted into the stall. Her comfortably full belly dragged close to the ground. Worried about how the other dragon might react, Joey quickly scooped her up in his arms and backed out of the stall, closing the door behind him. He slide the reinforced lock shut, securing it.
Now done with his list of chores Joey set Ciaran back on the ground, searching for his father. Although he had let Seto's remark about the stone go, he still knew it was a problem. Without proper digestion of a dragon's mineral they would develop poorly, and that was the last thing Joey needed. From what he had gathered from his research the previous night, he had very little time to figure out what the hatchling would eat.
His father had just finished his morning inspection of the dragons when Joey came up, and asked if he could leave. "I want to take Ciaran back to the river so she can learn to fish." A bold-faced lie. Joey couldn't believe he was saying it with such ease.
The man tossed him a disinterested sound. "Make sure you're back in time to exercise stall four and nine," he grunted, "They need it." He answered without looking at him, instead keeping his eyes on the bright, golden yellow dragon that was in front of him.
"Sure." Joey shrugged, and without a goodbye, swiftly walked out of the barn and began to head across the meadow. When he reached the trees, he didn't bother to turn right and head toward the river. Instead, the adolescent continued to walk on his current path, Ciaran trotting alongside him, unaware of the change in direction.
Together, they walked for the better part of an hour, if not more, until Joey reached a junkyard. At the entrance was a sleeping dog. His dark, beady eyes opened, ear perking up at the noises of foot and claw that approached. Glaring at Joey and the dragon, the canine began to bark furiously at the intruders, lunching at the end of its chain linked lead. Not daring to push his luck, Joey froze in his tracks, but had to move when Ciaran stepped forward.
Her body stiffened and she slammed her tiny tail onto the ground, letting out a small breath of fire in a sort of warning. Had she been bigger, the sight would have sent the dog running. But unfortunately, at her current size, the display just looked pathetic. "Easy there, little fighter," Joey cooed as he picked her up in his arms.
"Joey? Is that really you?" A boy who looked to be about the same age as the Wheeler came jogging up from around a pile of scrap metal, alerted by the barking dog. He had dark brown hair that had been styled in an odd manner, sticking out in front forming a point, while the sides were buzzed short to the skin of his head. His eyes matched the color of his hair, a mid-tone of earthy brown, and he wasn't quite at pale as Joey. He did stand a few inches taller than him, however.
"Tristin!" Joey held Ciaran to his side so he could give his friend a one-armed hug. "Long time no see!"
"No kidding!" the other teen chuckled, before his eyes widened comically as they came to rest on the mass of black scales that squirmed in Joey's grasp. "Whoa, dude is that yours?" he demanded pointing to Ciaran, who was now fiercely struggling to get out of his arms.
"Yup! This here is Ciaran." He set the baby dragon down. Again, she took on the threat of the dog, who was still barking madly.
"Wally, go lay down!" Tristin shouted back to the dog, waving an arm dismissively. It obeyed immediately, going over to a blanket, and laying down, but never taking its eyes off of Joey. The two had never been friends in the first place. Joey knew that if he so much as looked at the dog wrong, he would sink his teeth into Joey's ass without hesitation. Internally, he shuddered at that thought.
Ciaran seemed to be pleased with herself when the dog went to lay down, and she trotted triumphantly back over to Joey with her head held high. "Yes, you were very brave, my little fighter," he praised, laughing fondly.
"So, what brings you here, man? Doesn't your dad have you working at his stables now?" Tristin questioned as he stuffed the gloves he'd been wearing into the back pocket of his jeans.
"Yeah, but now I got this little thing, and I don't think she likes stones," Joey explained, hoping his hunch was heading in the right direction.
"They normally eat those kinds of things, though, don't they?" Tristin wasn't exactly an expert on whole dragon bit, despite them being such a big deal. He'd much rather hang out at home and weld with his dad, which is where Joey had learned the tricks of the welding trade. Had it not been for his father finding out, he probably would have hung around a lot more, too. Tristin's family was nice, and they accepted Joey like a second son.
Joey gave a single-shouldered shrug. "She doesn't seem to like 'em. I was thinking we could try some metals, if it's alright with you? I don' wanna get you in trouble or anythin'."
"Nah, of course not! You know Dad won't mind! Especially when he sees her - he is going to freak out!" Tristin said excitedly as he led Joey through the junkyard, passing broken down cars, cans, and car parts to a few different trash cans. Each was filled to the brim with different scraps of metal, plastics, and tins.
Putting a glove back on, Tristen reached in and pulled out a piece of copper, then tossed it on the ground. Ciaran seemed to show more interest in the metal than the stones from before, but all the same, she eventually shoved her nose up at it.
"Huh…" Tristin turned back to the can to see what he could find.
"Ya' know, normally their scales match their stone..." Joey mused to himself in a whisper, watching as Ciaran curled up in a ball to go to sleep.
"Hey Trist', got anything that's black and shiny? Somethin' like that?" he asked hopefully.
Tristin stopped his search and turned to look at Joey, a thoughtful expression on his face. "You mean something like titanium?" Joey shrugged, unsure of what that was.
"In its purest form, that stuff is ridiculously expensive, but trace amounts are in everything. Rocks and metals, for example, but some have a better concentration of it than others," he explained while rummaging through a different can. "Here." He pulled out a small black bolt that had an odd shine to it. Tossing it over to Joey, he watched as his blonde companion bent down and ran it in front of the sleeping dragon's face.
Much to his surprise, Ciaran's eyes popped open and she sprung up to her feet, hungrily chasing after the bolt in Joey's hand. She even tried snapping at him for it a few times. "Geeze, okay, okay!" He dropped the bolt and removed his hand quickly, watching as she devoured it. "Well, I think we found what she likes." He glanced over his shoulder to Tristan. "What're its properties?" he asked as Ciaran sniffed around in hopes of finding more.
"One of the hardest things on earth, man. They use it in engine blocks, and stuff like that. It's also really lightweight too, so it can be thinned out and used for things like airplanes," he enlightened.
Impressed, Joey's eyebrows raised up towards his hairline as he watched Ciaran.
"So, how much would it be for me to come around and take some off your hands?" he asked hesitantly.
"Are you kidding? Show Dad that thing and he'll hand it to you, I'm sure. We have plenty floating around, anyways," Tristan rambled happily, like it was no big deal (which it really wasn't.)
With an unsure smile, Joey followed as his friend lead them away from the junk piles to a small, single-story house, much like his own. The door was wide open and Tristan stepped inside, kicking off his boots as he went. Past the door was the living room, with a kitchen and dining area to the right. A small hallway was to the left. "Hey, Dad!" His voice rang throughout the quiet house.
"Huh?!" a man's voice came from down the hall, where one of the doors sat open.
"Joey's here!" he shouted back as he went to the fridge to rummage around, tossing Joey a soda and laughing when it almost hit him in the face. "Way to keep a heads up."
About to make a nasty comment of his own, Joey was interrupted by a tall, thin man who had appeared from the open door in the hall. "Joey!" His legs took long strides and he quickly embraced said boy in a tight hug, not minding Ciaran as she paced anxiously at his feet, waiting to be greeted. "You look thin. That bastard father of yours still have his foot up his ass?"
Joey shied at the question, feeling conflicted. Tristin's dad had always hated Matt for the way he treated his kids, but Joey still couldn't help the feeling of pity that overwhelmed him when his father was spoke of in such a harsh manner.
"Oh, what do we have here?" Tristin's father let the subject drop as he scooped up the baby dragon, Ciaran letting out a tiny roar of excitement, her tail trashing wildly, but harmlessly, around in the air. "Joey, is this yours?"
A smile stretching ear to ear, the teen nodded excitedly. "Yeah, she is! Her name is Ciaran. She's actually the reason I came around - Dad doesn't know I'm here," he admitted, albeit a bit sheepishly.
"Oh? What'd you need from us?" He tickled the dragonette's soft underside with a finger, laughing as she squealed and ran up his arm to his shoulder.
"Metal," Tristin cut in to help Joey explain, "She likes titanium, and I told Joey he could stop by whenever and grab some." He knew Joey would never ask for a favor, so he went ahead and did it for him.
"Yeah, sure, sure! Are you staying for dinner?" It was as if Tristin hadn't asked for anything at all. The easygoing manner was so different to Joey, he didn't know how to respond, so he merely settled for shaking his head with a kind smile.
"I gotta' go back to the stables and exercise a few of the dragons." He observed as Ciaran crawled from the man's shoulders, down his body, and to the floor.
With a raised eyebrow he looked from Joey to his dragon. "She's a quick one. Keep an eye on her, Joe." He ruffled Joey's hair and turned to Tristin. "Get him something to eat on the go, would ya', kid?"
"Sure thing, Dad," Tristin responded as his father turned and disappeared back into the room down the hall, not responding when Joey said thank you. It was an old habit of theirs. Whenever Joey said thank you, he would ignore it and act like Joey was invisible. He had told Joey he didn't need to thank him, and to come back if he ever needed anything.
"Here, get yourself some food, I'll be right back." Tristan slid his gloves back on and stepped back outside.
Not needing to be told a second time, Joey went to the fridge and pulled out a handful of carrots, as well as some ham. It wasn't a lot, but he didn't want to impose and take too much. The few times he'd eaten a real meal at a friend's house, he'd left feeling guilty and greedy.
Eating the ham, he tossed a piece of fat down to Ciaran, who snapped it down happily. By the time he was done with his carrots, Tristan had returned, carrying a large burlap bag. "Here." He thrust the bag toward Joey. "This should keep her for a while, just come back when you need more."
Joey took the bag, surprised that the weight. There had to be at least twenty pounds of scrap metal in there! Already, Ciaran was standing on her two hind feet, sniffing the bag suspiciously as Joey and Tristan walked across the room.
"Thanks Tristan, I mean it."
"Ah, it's no biggie. Like Dad said, just stop by soon." They had reached the door and gave each other another one-armed, brotherly hug. "If not, I'll have to come drag you out of the barn myself!"
"Yeah," Joey gave a halfhearted laugh, knowing very well how his father would react if that happened. Matt hated people around his stables when they weren't a part of his staff. "See ya' soon, Trist'."
With one last wave, Joey left the house, the heavy bag slung over a shoulder, Ciaran nipping at his heels, hoping for another tidbit of metal.
Hold onto your britches ladies and gents, because in the next few chapters things are about to get ugly.