Disclaimer: yada yada, you know the drill by now. actually relevant shit for the chapter. all names for the sake of me not getting things mixed around are in the western first-last format. for plot reasons, this means that the earliest members of Su's family had the last name Ji as opposed to Li. I bring this up simply for that one dude or dude-ette who'll complain otherwise: Su's ancestors changed their family name, since they thought Strength would be more fitting than Luck.
Pushing open the huge door, Su walked into the entrance hall. It was a grand space, with marble pillars along the sides and intricate carvings all around, and not for the first time Su cursed the concept known as jetlag for making the place secondary to her readjusting internal clock.
Walking through the room, the girl heard a voice call out to her. "Su!" at the top of a flight of stairs was a man with white hair and green eyes. He was wearing white hanfu with a green belt and gold collar, and was cheerfully waving an oversized sleeve from the top of the stairs.
Returning the greeting sleepily, Su returned, "hey, Uncle-" before she was cut off by a jaw cracking yawn! "Uncle Ao." she finished. The man went to walk down the stairs, but tripped on his own clothes and comically fell, making thumping noises as he impacted each step. Su barely flinched: he was one of the strongest people the family had produced in a long time, and ungodly levels of durable besides. It had resulted in him developing a bit of an airheaded personality, being amusingly clumsy then brushing it off like nothing, such as now.
"Did you see that? I fell down here and bonked mah brain cage." he exclaimed goofily. Getting up off the ground, he picked his niece up in a bear hug, spinning around cheerfully. "Look at you, you're so big now! Have you been keeping up with your training, did you make some friends at Hogwarts, how've your parents been, I know they weren't able to make the trip,-" Ao leaned in conspiratorially, "have you had any opportunities to take my advice?"
Long used to her uncle's antics, Su replied, "I have, yes a few from each house, they're fine but a bit put out that they'll miss the ceremony and yes, actually. In a sparring match against a couple of my friends." Dropping to the ground, she brushed at the jade green jacket she was wearing.
"Really? That's perfect, it's always good to have at least some practice for every occasion, constant vigilance and all that. There's a Brit that's all about something along those lines, isn't there? Wait, no. Focus Ao Lie, explain the Blade ceremony now, fun later." Watching her uncle try to corral himself was always amusing, since he acted all goofy even then, Su thought as she followed him.
Moving down a spiral staircase (the best kind for entrances to secret weapon vaults) the pair came out in a massive room, more a perfectly circular cave than anything. The walls were actually far farther than the space they could walk around in, due to the fact that they were standing on a walkway that led to an octagonal platform in the centre. In the middle of the platform was a pedestal, in which sat a sword with a handle styled after a dragon and a green straight blade.
"Below us is the Dragon Vein." Ao Lie stated, gesturing over the side of the platform. There were massive, visible flows of green energy, and looking closer Su could make out many eastern dragons all moving in harmony. "It is also the true source of the term. Originally it was a normal ley line, but millenia of infusion with unique energy has resulted in it becoming a source and a well of draconic spirits."
Walking around to be on the opposite side of the sword from the walkway, Ao Lie continued. "That eventually led to the Dragon of the West Ao Ji, our ancestor, fusing with one of these spirits. It granted him and his entire bloodline great power, however others could not replicate the phenomenon entirely, unable to fuse with one of the spirits on their own. So, he developed a work around.
"The Dragon Blade was forged for two purposes, to protect the clan and his descendants, and to act as a catalyst for the fusion process." Ao Lie manifested a torrent of energy, which formed into a serpentine beast behind him. "The Blade ceremony was created so that not only could the fusion happen safely, but also to find a successor to his weapon. He was able to pass on the secrets of the dragon blade however, so that when one is found, we would not be unable to do the ceremony if the original wasn't available," he chuckled.
"The ceremony will awaken your draconic abilities in full, and draw on a spirit that will bind itself to you. Should you contain whatever quality that allowed Ao Ji to create and the other users of the original Dragon Blade to wield it however, you will be able to draw the sword from its pedestal, as well as manifest Ao Ji's Dragon spirit. So, are you rea-snrk." the white haired man snorted. Su appeared to be almost having a stroke holding herself back from just right out drawing the sword.
"I guess that's a yes." he smirked. "Unfortunately, you're going to have to wait for the winter solstice in a couple of days." the groan from Su could probably be heard across the compound.
Three days later, the pair were back in the cave protecting the Dragon Blade. Something that Su didn't notice the previous time was that the chamber included a skylight: lined up to perfectly shine the moon's rays onto the exposed weapon, Su felt a tug at her soul, and observed her arms with a level of curiosity as emerald Reiatsu flowed over her arms.
The skin it touched developed a hard, patterned appearance akin to scales, and as Su touched one of the segments she realised with a jolt that they were. Looking to her uncle proved that this transformation wasn't unique to her, as the normally slender man visibly gained muscle mass alongside scales covering the entirety of his skin, mostly grey but with swirling patterns of electric green and blue.
"Woah, are we were-dragons!? Am I gonna get the cool patterns as well, tell me, tell me!" Su exclaimed, zipping around Ao Lie as though to examine him from all sides, before coming to a rest hanging off his outstretched arm like a monkey bar. Smiling, the clan's strongest member picked the teen up by the back of her shirt and gently deposited her back on the ground.
"Were-dragon, got to admit that isn't a bad comparison!" Ao laughed. Su thought that the patient seriousness he sometimes displayed fitted his new form much better. "But no, not quite at least. We possess minor therianthropic capabilities due to millenia of infusion from the Dragon Vein, letting us take on the forms of dragon-human hybrids. The transformation, while certainly aided and boosted by the moonlight, can be used at will."
She idly wondered how they'd managed to keep this ability a secret, considering she didn't activate it consciously. "The power becomes active only on the night of a child's Blade ceremony. It's automatic when the rays hit your skin in here, but easily controlled afterwards, and keeping our other family trick a secret has been a bit of a tradition, like Hogwarts' sorting." Oh.
"Now, Su Li." Ao's eyes began to glow the same shade as their Reiatsu and his voice got an echoing, multi-layered quality to it. "Step up to the pedestal and claim your power." Eagerly but with a trace of hesitation, the teen did so and grasped the handle of the first Dragon Blade. With an almighty crack of thunder, Su's consciousness was drawn into the weapon.
She found herself at the summit of a mountain, the top levelled into a platform about twenty feet across. Surrounding her on all sides were colossal storm clouds. "So, you are the next of the guardians to be bound to my kin." a voice like crackling lightning roared. A bolt illuminated the coverage for a moment, and Su spotted a serpentine form of unfathomable size.
"Tell me little wyrm, are you worthy of my power?" the spirit continued. Its head breached the clouds, revealing a visage larger than anything Su had seen! The face alone seemed the size of a ship! "Are you different from so many others of your clan, or do you simply wish for power? You have potential, but do you have a path?" the dragon questioned, and Su closed her eyes.
Opening them again revealed orbs shining with resolve. "You know, this time last year I probably would have said yes, and then told you to stuff your Blade up your own ass." The dragon was reminded some decades earlier, when a white haired boy in this same position did just that. "But no. I'm not worthy, not yet at least." a single colossal brow lifted.
Su's words were solemn, and she'd clearly thought long and hard about what she was saying. "I… am impulsive, I'm impatient, I tend to focus on fights above all else. I lack restraint and control in most things, wear my heart on my sleeve and my idea stealth tops out at not yelling at the top of my lungs. I have a lot of growing to do.
"But, that does not mean that I'll never be worthy." the girl began pacing around the mountaintop. "Some weird shit's going on at my school, and me and my friends are certain we're going to get dragged into it. And I don't know about them, but I can feel that whatever it is, won't be the end. More will happen, probably getting more dangerous as time goes on.
"I want to protect them, for us to protect each other. I want to be someone they're proud of, someone my family can be proud of and someone who I can be proud of. If that means asking for help now, swallowing my pride for a bit, then very well. So," Su finished by stopping in the middle of the platform and bowing. "Please lend me your aid, dragon spirit."
The beast was silent for a moment, before a rumbling filled the sky. It took a minute to realise the gargantuan scaled beast was laughing. "It is rare that I get such a passionate request! Very well little wyrm, I shall work with you and aid your growth. Listen well mortal, for I am Longg, first of the dragons! All those that come after are my young and are named in my honour! Now steel your heart and draw my blade youngling!"
Coming back out of the sword world Longg had made in their first partner's weapon, Su pulled upward. Slowly, the blade came loose from the stone prison and erupted with Reiatsu, the same jade pigmentation as both humans. At the same time, one of the seemingly endless spirits rose from the Dragon Vein and began circling Su, before phasing into her body.
The scales, which had previously taken the form of a crosshatch pattern the same colour of her skin and fused together, began to separate as the teen grew both in height and muscle by a modest but noticeable amount. The natural armour layered itself to deflect attacks, taking on the same grey of her uncle, and Su's eyes developed a reptilian slit pupil.
Looking at herself and the sword now in her hand, the newly designated wielder of the original Dragon Blade hopped in place with excitement. "Ah, I look freakin' awesome!" she yelled, before remembering her conversation with Longg and stopping and coughing into her fist. She might have asked for help in tempering her excitability but she needed to take the first step.
Speaking of which, Su stepped back… and collapsed to the floor, unconscious before she hit the ground. The Dragon Blade took on the form of a pendant, disappearing from her hand. Ao coughed into his hand awkwardly before walking around and lifting his niece like a sack of flour. "Knew I was forgetting something, but did it have to be the post-awakening exhaustion?" he muttered to himself.
"Alright, you ready to test drive that… what did you call it, 'complete brought'?" the adult asked. He and Su were in the training arena the next morning. The teen had woken up to a splitting headache, which wasn't made better from her constantly knocking into things. Or her uncle's hysterical laughter.
"Fullbring, Uncle Ao, but yeah, let's get this show on the road!" Su cheered, before wincing at the volume. That flinch saved her from getting flung into the far wall; faster than she could blink, Ao moved from standing still fifty feet away to throwing a brutal roundhouse kick, barely avoiding hitting her. "Ho-kay, training starts now!" Su yelped, dropping into her therianthrope form.
The transformation was near instant, and let her get an arm up to block Ao's follow up punch, but the impact still rattled her enough to be sent skidding back. "Man that stings! How strong are you in your Dragon mode!?" she exclaimed. Sure enough, the white haired man had yet to enter his alternate state.
"Believe it or not, I'm actually weaker like that," Ao replied. Su's face at that sent the older Dragon Reiatsu user into a fit of manic giggles that he took a minute to control. "Yep, see the Therianthrope transformation lets you go all out, being able to expend all of your energy in an instant. Thing is, to do that you have to sacrifice fine control: you have an inherent limiter that stops your power output from going past a certain point.
"Transforming removes the limiter by shifting your body to be closer to that of a dragon, as they lack one to begin with. It's the reason dragons are often seen pulling off massive feats of magic in myths. In situations where you don't need control, sure it's more useful, but the physical abilities will blend into your normal state anyway, so..."
"Huh, neat. Anyway, Twin Rising Dragons!" Su cried, and the Dragon Blade appeared in her hand. Rushing forward, she noted the way the sword felt in her hand; it clearly gave her a degree of competence since she hadn't practised any form of swordplay in a while. However, a notable sensation was the way Longg's aura emanated from the weapon.
The more she used it, the more that aura matched with her own, like resonating frequencies. Each strike appeared to strengthen it, and while it certainly improved her style she felt there was more. It was only as she noted the way Ao was using his own Reiatsu, creating a scalpel-like dagger blade from his fingers, that Su remembered she had more in her arsenal regardless.
Mentally gripping onto the life energy, Su pulled it to the surface, and pushed it through her weapon. What she expected was some form of energy slash, like a green version of Blaise' Shadow Shot. What was produced was closer to a tidal wave of jade power, completely at odds with amount of Reiatsu she used. "The fuck!?" the teen exclaimed.
"Hahaha!" Ao laughed, making his way past the subsequent dust cloud. There were a few scorch marks across the man's clothes, not that he seemed bothered by the damaged articles. "That was very good! You managed enough power to get me to feel it already, and you have enough to maintain your therianthrope form! You're already leagues beyond where I was!" and then he was on the offensive again in a blur of motion.
The next thirty seconds were a blur at the time, but later Su would be able to recount everything in pinpoint detail: with the realisation that Twin Rising Dragons amped her Reiatsu while gradually increasing her skill with the weapon itself, she could be even more cost effective with her energy, but she also couldn't pull on the exact amounts she wanted.
It was like her uncle said, any fine control she had was lost in that state, leading to her continually over- or under-shooting the power she needed. Su parried a downward slice, punching with her other hand. That was blocked with a wrist grab turning into a centrifuge throw which the Fullbringer then used to send another wave while she was in the air.
She frowned at the size of the attack. 'I know I only put about two thirds the power into that one, so why is it only barely smaller? Is Longg compensating for the energy reduction?' Landing, she immediately used Bringer Light to dodge another hit, this one an axe kick. Su went in for an ascending diagonal strike but Ao simply leant back out of the path of the blade.
Then he knocked the weapon into the air and tried to throw Su off balance by high kicking her still extended arm. She used that momentum to instead go for a roundhouse of her own, which was deflected into a glancing blow across his forward facing shoulder. Ao then grabbed her leg as it went past his hand and flung his niece over his shoulder.
Su landed in a crouch, and sprung forward with the force of her impact for an uppercut towards her opponent's kidney. It actually landed, and the sensitivity of the area was enough that Ao actually reacted lightly, giving the girl an opening for several more attacks. Those didn't do any damage, but they did push the unnaturally durable man back enough for Su to catch her sword when it finally landed.
When the grip hit her hand, Su's eyes literally shined as the feel of the Dragon Blade's Reiatsu synced completely with her own. Holding the weapon in a loose grip behind her, Su charged as much Reiatsu as she could into it and announced a technique. "Serpent in wait." with that intonation, she swung the sword in an arc across the ground, and fired a massive blast of Reiatsu, far greater than anything she'd used so far!
The attack rolled into Ao without slowing down, knocking him into the arena wall. When it finally lost power he dropped to the floor coughing into his hand. "Holy hell Su, where were you hiding that one!?" he exclaimed. Su looked at the Dragon Blade; it's reiatsu was out of sync with it again, although it felt like something remained, however small.
"In the sword, I think." she muttered. Seeing her uncle's raised eyebrow, she hastened to elaborate. "I think my Fullbring lets me resonate with the Dragon blade, or more accurately my dragon spirit and Longg resonate, as the battle progresses until they reach a maximum. The more they resonate, the more skilled I am and amped my reiatsu is."
"Huh, augmenting your skills and raw power, simple but effective. Like you!" Ao cheerfully summarised, getting a snort out of his niece. "But that doesn't explain the 'fuck everything in that general direction' wave at the end."
"That's what I think happens when I hit full synchronisation. I can use one of Ao Ji's swordsmanship techniques, but it resets after that. There's probably a set timer between a reset or summoning and the full sync now that I think about it, somewhere around the one minute thirty mark."
"Ah, but we wouldn't be able to tell exactly from that one use, because you didn't have a hold of it for a good twenty seconds at the end there. Well then, guess we can only keep training and hope to work it out completely. Who knows, maybe you'll even push me to use my Drake Scale ability."
Su grinned, full of feral battlelust as she dropped into a stance. "Get ready to eat dirt old man."
"Hoh, confident are we?" Slowly, a bit of the Li family bloodthirstiness leaked into Ao's expression. "Let's fix that."
word count: 3290
ugh, this was supposed to be out a week and a half ago, but better late than never I suppose. anyway, hi! welcome to the Awakening arc's second chapter! this time we're focussing on everyone's favourite dragon, Su!
when I first started writing this, I was going through the Monkie Kid fandom and thought "damn, Mei's awesome! I want to include her character somehow!" and so I did via an expy, since I don't think Su ever gets any canon characterisation. benefits of blank slate character's I guess, can't worry about OOC when there isn't an established C.
anyway, next chapter should be Blaise, and hopefully that won't fight me as much as this one did, so I just wanted to ask this question. What roles do you think the cast are going to end up playing once they're all grown up? their abilities lend themselves towards certain expertise, and I'm curious as to who can guess the most. for the record, the main five/ ryouka gang equivalent will be Harry, Neville, Ginny, Hermione and Luna.
"But Point," I hear you cry. "what about the others?" and to that I reveal that this is going to be three groups, the core five plus two supporting trios. of them, we've only seen one of them completed with Su, Tracy and Daphne. in case anyone's having trouble counting, that means we have four more people before the entire legion is complete. anyone feel tired yet?
this isn't like, splitting into factions by the way, these are just teams based on who they vibe with most often. but enough of me rambling, it's been lovely, and I'll see y'all next chapter!
Ja ne!