Chapter 8: As if One wasn't Enough

One day before trial

Last night seemed pretty good in my opinion, and today I'm hoping it will turn out the same. I agreed to meet up this morning with Havien for Yukina's training. I stepped out to the front gate and Havien was laying on a stone bench talking into his new gnomish mobile-talkie. I walked close enough to hear a bit of his conversation without him realizing I was standing close by.

"So, mind telling me what you're wearing? ...Yea I'm waiting for him, but he hasn't gotten here yet so…" Havien notices a shadow over him as he glances up "OH! Uh…yea so he's here now, I gotta go! Talk to you later!" *click* Havien chuckled in embarrassment

"Did I interrupt anything important?" I asked as I smiled at him and Yukina growled lightly.

"Nah…not really, I can get back to her anytime with this mobile-talkie my dad just sent me this morning in the mail." He says as he hands me his device "I'm not into gnomish technology, I'm more of a goblin tech but my father just loves making a few useless stuff from them. I got to admit this device is quit handy…and it Actually works!"

I took a good look at it and saw a few wires traveling from one end to another. It had a small screen and a couple of buttons with numbers on it. It wasn't too big but it also wasn't too small. I handed back the device and pondered how it would work. I didn't even need to ask him, he told me right away.

"You see this?" pointing at the buttons "You dial the number a friend of yours has, providing they have a mobile-talkie of their own, you press this green button here that says 'send' and you will hear a ring. Once they pick up your able to talk to them no matter where they are!"

He seemed to be a little too excited about his new toy that he almost forgot about Yukina's training. I had to stop him before he ended up making another call to his one out of a million girlfriends. I pat him on the shoulder and Yuki drops onto his arms. He puts his mobile-talkie away and begins to pet Yuki on the head.

"Hey, I almost forgot about you. What do you say we start your training?" he rubbed below her chin and she began to purr. He puts her on the ground and walks over to the stone bench. Behind it he pulled out another toy of his. It was quite a peculiar toy indeed. "This here is my mechanical destroyer. He normally spins around and does nothing special but I fixed a few tweaks and actually made him more useful."

Havien then places marker cones on the concrete floor with the letters A through D. He placed them in different spots in an odd shape, he then pulls out a whistle and picked up Yuki and placed her on the A marker cone. I wasn't too sure where exactly this training was leading to. I was about to ask when he suddenly interrupted me by putting his goggles over his eyes and shushing me. He holds up his remote like a child would when trying out his first toy. Suddenly the mechanical destroyer walks over to the D marker cone and he blows his whistles, yelling a command to Yuki.

"Yuki, D cone! Get that Destroyer!"

Yuki's ears perk up and she leap after the mechanical destroyer that had stopped in the D marker cone. As she reaches him, the mechanical destroyer yells out 'Great Job!' and drops a treat to the ground where she would sniff and eat up.

"Alright Yuki, good job!" Havien turns a knob on the remote and the mechanical destroyer moves over to the B marker cone "Alright Yuki, Go to B cone!" he blows the whistle one more time getting Yuki's attention yet again.

Purring she leaps one more time to the mechanical destroyer and it again yelled out his cheer. I was smiling over the thought. I wasn't sure how this was helping but I'm certain it will be handy in some way. After spending a whole hour before class started, Yuki was doing an amazing job of following orders without using the mechanical destroyer or the treats, after completing it Havien gave her a rub on the back and a nice treat for doing a great job in following orders.

"She did fantastic Kai. I have never seen a wyvern do so well in one day and in little time. I'm quite surprised. You have a special hatchling here." Havien admitted as he handed Yukina to me.

"Yeah, I'm proud of her. Al though, do you mind explaining to me why you did all that?"

Havien gave a huge grin. His pearly white teeth practically shimmered in the bright sunlight as did his goggles. Was I about to regret asking this question?

"It's quite simple Kai, you see with each marker cone in place and Yuki's amazing sense of direction and obedience, she is capable of going to the next step, which is by the way, flight training. Since she is already capable of gliding we can get her wings ready for flight navigation. She is a perfect specimen of wyvern in training. I am confident as well as you should be, that she will do a splendid job in it as well"

I thought about it for a minute, Flight navigation so soon? I know she did really well, but do I really want to rush her? I looked at her and rubbed her from behind the ears and she began to purr. I also didn't want to hold her back from becoming a splendid wyvern mount. I thought long and hard when I heard the bell ring in the hallways. Class had started. I decided that I would do it as long as Yuki was capable of it. Havien shook on it and we decided to do the training first thing in the morning again since my trial was during the noon hours. We grabbed our bags and rushed into class.

Heading close to the door of my classroom I saw Zin'jin waiting at the side of the wall from the doorway. I sneered at him and he grinned. I was about to ignore him and walk into class but he held out his hand and pulled me over to him. I released my arm from his grip; he put up his arms waving them back and forth.

"Hey mon, relax there, I only be needing ta talk ta ya"

"Well you sure have a bad way of doing it, besides, I'm going to be late for class and I don't want to be written up" I pulled up my backpack firmly and was about to head in when he then stepped in front of me. "Look, I'm not looking for trouble so please be kind enough to move out of the way" I glared at him but his eyes did not waver, he stood where he was and simply smiled. I felt no ill intention from him so I couldn't hold my sternness for too long. What was the deal with this troll?

"Listen, da professor is not even here, at least for da time being, lend me ya ear for a sec. I not be lookin' for trouble myself so just hear me out"

I leaned over to look inside the class room and he was right. I grunted silently to myself and allowed him to speak. I can't get into trouble by just talking, as long as it was just that.

"Alright, but make it quick I don't want the professor to come and see me out here"

"Haha, sure ting mon, I won't be keeping ya long" He begins to talk as he approached me closer. I wasn't too comfortable with it but it was clear he didn't want anyone else listening "Whatcha did yesterday, dat be a dirty trick. I didn't want neitha one of ya to get into trouble but I guess dat would be inevitable, seeing how ya be going at each other's throats as of late."

"What's your point troll?" I rolled my eyes at him, why tell me something I already know?

"My point mon, is dat you tink you can get away wit it. I don't wantcha to feel like ya got da best of Zien, dat there blood elf be lookin for blood after being suspended for da whole two weeks. When in truth, it be your fault he in dat mess in da first place."

"He had it coming and you know it! I did absolutely nothing to him and all he ever did was get in my case. I had to put a stop to it and I did what I needed just to make a point!" I remarked him firmly as I shoved him out of my way seeing as the professor was coming down the hall with a wagon behind him.

"And da point ya made perfectly clear ta him, but ya fail to see da truth behind it all"

I turned to face him one last time "And what is that truth troll!"

"He saw whatcha did wit her last night in da garden, dat don't flow to well wit him and if ya tink dis is going to end well, tink again mon, I only be warnin ya"

"Warning me? If he wants to stay in the Academy he needs to watch himself just as much as me. There's no need for warnings" At that I turned away from him to enter the classroom.

"All ya gotta remember is dis mon, Blood be thicker than water"

I turned to look back at him but he had vanished. I was a bit confused as to his last remark. What did he mean that 'blood was thicker than water'? Master Tarm Deepgale walked up to me and patted my shoulder.

"Not trying to skip class are ye lad?"

"Uh…No sir!" I rushed into class and sat next to Brandi who was punctual as always. He faced me and was asking me what was wrong with sign language; I waved my hand letting him know not to worry about it.

"Alright class, today is a brand new day for ye lot, because today these wee ones will be in yer care from now on. I like ye all to meet yer very own egg!"

Everyone was completely ecstatic over it while I was in deep and utter depression. I'm in deep if I have to care for an egg along with Yukina on the side. Even with that trolls encounter my day was actually looking up till this. I was dreading this day but I also didn't expect it this early. My trial is tomorrow. Can I actually do this? Brandi nudged me on my arm as he was excited to hold his very own egg. Havien was feeling the same way, I looked back to see him and he gave me a thumbs up as if that was going to cheer me up. I hold onto my head as my hair loosens over my fingers. I covered my eyes, praying to Elune that this was not happening. I then feel a poke on the top of my head as I hear the Professor speak to me.

"Kai, I believe this wee one belongs to ye"

I looked between my fingers and saw that he held onto a large egg with red and yellow stripes and a few bumps on its shell. I pulled my hands apart and held it. How curious were the patterns. I took a glance at Brandi's and his was green dotted with a rough shell. Each egg I noticed has a unique pattern and color. I pondered to myself if these were normal eggs since I didn't see any that would resemble a gryphon or a hippogryph. Luckily Brandi asked the question I needed answered.

"Master Tarm, I dinna understand, what kind of parents did these wee ones come from?"

"Aye, tha' be a good question Brandi me boi. You see, each egg is not just from a gryphon or wyvern or a bat, not even a hippogryph alone! What ye hold in yer hands are hybrid eggs."

Hybrid eggs? What the hell has this guy been smoking?

"But Master Tarm, how did ye do this? I never thought it possible" Brandi asked as he admired and examined the egg carefully "Hybrids….of what per say?"

"Aye lad, thas' fer me ta know and fer ye ta find out" Master Tarm said with a grin as everyone stared perplexed at their egg including me.

I took a gander at my egg as Yuki began to sniff it; her ears would prick up and then back down as the egg began to make scratching sounds from inside. I glanced over to Master Tarm as he nodded in a grin. Something was up with this and I was actually starting to become anxious myself as to what kind of breed this would be.

"A hybrid…can ye imagine tha' Kai!" Brandi said as he nudged my arm "What do ya think dis hybrid will be like?"

"I'm not sure, I'm curious myself. I just would like to know why we're the ones handling them rather than a professional breeder" I told Brandi as I cautiously placed the egg on a spare cloth shirt I had in my backpack.

"Aye, tha' be a good question, why dontcha ask him"

"I don't know, he wouldn't answer the hybrid question, I can imagine his reply to mine"

"Nonsense!" Brandi stands from his chair and pats the top of my head as he loudly speaks to the professor "Oh Master Tarm, this here friend o'mine has an excellent question for ya!"

"Oh does he now?" Master Tarm steps over to my desk as Brandi tells me to go ahead "So, what be yer question lad?"

Why me?...

"Well…uh…sigh….oh alright, why are we the ones handling these hybrid eggs instead of professional breeders that have more experience than we do in this kind of field?"

At that point Master Tarm smiled greatly as though he was glad to hear the question he needed to be asked. He leans close to me nodding his head as he said "Now tha' lad, is tha' right question indeed" he stands right back up and looks over to his entire class "How many of ye have been wondering tha' same thing?"

Everyone in the classroom that held their own egg raised their arms up. "Good, I'm quite glad tha' ye all have been wondering tha' same thing" He turns around and walks over to the blackboard and begins to write something on it. What he wrote was 'Beast Specialization Content'. He then wrote each known city from Azeroth including that of the horde and the flight paths that are used in those cities.

Beast Specialization Content

Alliance Horde

Stormwind Orgrimmar

Gryphon Wyvern

Ironforge Undercity

Gryphon Bats

Darnassus Thunderbluff

Hyppogryphs Wyverns

Exodar Silvermoon City

Hyppogryphs Dragonhawks

"Now, what do ye notice of all this I have written up in tha board?"

One student raised his hand as Master Tarm picks her. The student stands up, a human girl that was sitting beside Havien.

"Other than the obvious, the cities familiar here in Azeroth, along the flight beast they used for their traveling needs. But, we already know this. How is this answering our question of the Hybrids?"

"Well lassy, here is tha' thing. When we first tried ta breed these beast together as an experiment in bringin' out a better and a more resourceful beast, we dinna do so well in it. But, after taking in some consideration to tha' new species tha' have showed up from tha' regions of Outlands we came across a huge discovery, and apparently we weren't tha' only ones to discover this."

"Who else knew about it Master Tarm?" Asked Havien

"Well Hunters, who else would it have ta be?"

Hunters? What would a hunter know anything about breeding flight mastery beast? Brandi looked just as confused as me, and if he was confused then obviously there was something wrong with this whole lesson. Brandi couldn't take his doubts any longer and spoke up.

"I dinna understand Master Tarm, hunters? What on earth are ye talkin' about?"

"Oh, I believe ye all have ye doubt in this. Well, let me put ye confusion ta ease." Master Tarm turns to face the blackboard yet again as he put up two species we were all familiar with. He wrote:

Wyvern + Hippogryph= Cunning Species

"Now, what did ya notice here?"

No one responded nor did they raise their hand. I had no idea where this was coming from. I asked about why we were chosen to raise these hybrids not what species we already know about. As for the cunning part, I really had no clue as to what this was supposed to mean.

"Hmm…I see no one is figuring it out…Well, let's see if this will help ye out"

He then writes several other beasts normally seen with Hunters in their travel and adventures. He listed them as so:

Bats Serpents Ravagers

Birds of Prey Silithids

Chimeras Spiders

Dragon Hawks Sporebats

Monkeys Wind Serpents

"Now, each of these breeds is what ye normally see tha' hunters use in their journeys. Tha' Breeders League of Azeroth has learned tha' each of these beasts is considered part of tha' 'Cunning Class'. This means, if we bred our winged beast, tha' breeding would be successful."

I couldn't take it any longer. I raised my arm up and granted the professor immediately picked me, as expected.

"This doesn't explain my question at all. Why are we the ones dealing with these hybrid eggs and not the more experienced breeders from the League?"

"Well lad, tha' thing is, as much as I'd like to deny tha' circumstances, we tha' breeders are much needed elsewhere. Tha' league has entrusted all of ye new coming breeders to help wit this process since…we are still at war and losing more lives than what we had anticipated."

We all fell silent in the class and each stared at our eggs in our custody. Brandi fell still on his seat as a look of dread came about him. He closed his eyes and held the egg close to his chest as though something had triggered a long hard memory of his. Master Tarm noticed and walked over to him and patted his shoulder, nodding his head as he gave a faint smile. Brandi looked up at the professor.

"As for yer egg Brandi, this wee one actually belonged to ye dear ol' mother. I wanted ye to have it"

Brandi's eyes lit up almost teary eye. He looked at his egg with admiration and held it dearly to him with a smile. He nodded to Master Tarm.

"I will not let ye down Master Tarm, or my dear ol'mum"

Master Tarm padded his hand on Brandi's shoulder and smiled in return "I know ye won't Brandi, I am confident of ye and everyone of me students here in tha' class"

Throughout the whole lesson, we paid no mind to menial questions and decided to take the role of becoming the next generation of experienced breeders. The war that is occurring now at Northrend must be so intense that we have been chosen. I only hope that I can feel the honor continue when I take my trial tomorrow. My father had told me many stories that have been occurring out there, and obviously things have become worse. The Breeders League of Azeroth have been around for many years and find new ways to make our beasts more reliable and battle ready, hybrids seem it would make a lot of sense. I only hope that it can help in some common illnesses the beast normally have during and after birth.

We each learned that some of our eggs may have been breed with a DragonHawk and Hyppogryph to provide and hope for a fire breathing Hyppogryph or a DragonHawk with more Agility based attributes, as well as a Bat breed with a Ravager. We were astounded of the idea as to what each beast would look like and the capabilities they will be born with. A great lesson indeed.

After the class I was called in to meet with the Headmaster. I looked over at Yuki as she did the same. I was escorted to his office and to my surprise I saw my father standing beside him. I didn't like the look on either of their faces.

"Kai, I'm glad you're here. Your father has spoken to me about a family situation. I would like for you to take the day off."

"Family situation?..." I looked at my father as the look of concern was in his expression "Is it about mother! Is something wrong!" I said in a panic.

"No Kai, but she begged to see you soon. The medics have been caring for her while my duty at Night Song Woods, so I have asked the Draenie Captain to allow me to take this week off for her sake. Auhulu is taking my post for the first time, so this should be quite an experience for her. I'm sure she is capable of her post."

"Kai, being the fact that tomorrow is your trial, I will be willing to postpone it till things get to settle down for you and your mother's health. This should give us further time to do a thorough investigation on your case; it seems our gnome tech squads have found something that may help in your situation of that particular day. So please, take the time you need. I will see if any of your friends will be willing to hand you the school projects while you're away, so that you don't miss any of the lessons."

I didn't hesitate for one second. I had agreed with the Headmaster and immediately headed for my room, with the new egg wrapped in my shirt and Yuki following beside me. I packed what little things I had in my room. As I exited the room, Lexi had passed by with his engineering attire.

"Hey big guy, where you headed off to?"

"Home"

"What! They kicked you out!" shouted Lexi as he raised his wrench at me, but not in a threat, just concerned.

"No Lexi, its my mother. She needs me and the school is allowing me leniency for it. I will be still studying but from home for the time being. As for my trial, the Headmaster will put it on hold as well."

"Oh well that's good news…I mean about the trial, not about your mother. I hope she gets better soon Kai, I'd hate to see you so upset after everything you been going through buddy"

I smiled and thanked Lexi as I ran off to meet with my father outside the academy. The Flight Master was waiting for me as my father was mounted in one of his loyal hyppogryph. I mounted in one of the academy gryphon to follow my father.

"You ready Kai?" My father asked to be sure I wasn't leaving anything behind when I suddenly remembered. I looked over to the flight master and I pulled out a sheet and pen to write a message as I handed it to him.

"Can you please give this to a blood elf name Vellamoon?"

"Aye lad, I shall do so since tha' lassie is always around these parts of tha' academy"

I thanked him and went off to Astranaar to meet my mother, hoping and praying that she is still alright.

I hope you all enjoyed this part of the chapter. Pretty soon I will be posting a story based on each character on this story including Zien's "Tragic loss". I know its not much as other chapters before this one, but I do hope you all enjoyed it. I look forward for your reviews; please feel free to post them up. I enjoy reading them and taking in good advice. =)