I'm not really sure how the training chapters are going to turn out except for really two from here on out.
That being said, time for the fan favorite character to take the stage!
Enjoy!
"Holy hell, how have you managed to get by like this?" Drake winced as his fathers sharp remark reached him. He looked up from his position on the ground to see his father shaking his head. "I mean honestly, I know we stopped training together when you were little, but this is sad."
"Sorry." Drake spat. "Not all of us can be one of the Six Demon Generals." His father glared at him with his one good eye, but Drake didn't back down as he sat up. "I've had to teach myself for years, cut me some slack."
"And why should I?" His father shot back. "You think I was cut any slack as a 'Demon General'?" Drake sighed as his own jab was thrown back at him, and his father smirked. "Exactly. Now get up, we aren't done." Drake got to his feet, flinching as he did. Once he managed to stand, his father faced him fully. "Now, try to land a blow."
"What exactly am I gaining from this?" Drake demanded.
"If you're going to rely on your sound magic, you need to know what to do when someone else can do it too." he grinned. "Now, we'll go back and get something to eat if you can land a hit."
"Just one?"
"Just one." Drake frowned. He knew this was some kind of trap. His father was far faster than him in all regards, including hearing what he needed. Focusing his magic, Drake listened in on his father. He didn't hear anything useful, except a string of insults he was positive was to mess with him.
Coating his fists in poison, Drake decided to go for a simple advance, running forward and swinging his left fist.
"God, try a little harder." Drake felt a leg connect with his midsection, and he flew away from his target. His arm was grabbed, and he was flipped over on his back.
"Ow..." Drake hissed.
"How the hell have you managed, honestly?" His father asked. "Genuinely curious."
"Not everyone out there is a God tier Dragon Slayer, Pops." Drake replied. "I've managed because I am powerful, just not in contrast to you."
"Well, this is going to be way harder than I thought to train you. get up and try again." Drake groaned.
"Drake! Erik!" Drake looked over to the side to see his mother standing at the edge of the trees, her arms crossed and a smile on her face. "Are you not going to come eat?"
"We aren't done." His father replied. "He hasn't earned it yet."
"That's bullshit!" Drake said, raising his hand. "I've been trying for hours!"
"Trying doesn't count!"
"Go easier on me then!"
"Since when does training involve taking it easy?! Do you want to enter the Games or just fuck around?!" At this point the two Dragon Slayers were in each others faces. It took Drake's mother stepping between them to defuse the oncoming argument.
"Maybe it'd be best for Drake to eat, After all, he has been at it for a while now."
"Thank you." Drake said, stepping back. His father sighed.
"Fine. I'm not hungry though, so go without me." Praising his mother as he followed her back to camp, Drake rubbed the sore parts of his body. He`d been training with his father for a whole month now, and he'd yet to land a single blow. It was sort of demoralizing, honestly.
"You okay?" Drake looked up into his mothers kind gaze at this question. He honestly didn't know how well he'd be faring if she hadn't decided to come along, nine times out of ten the only reason he was still able to move was because she'd stepped in.
"Just fine." He replied, stopping with a flinch as he touched a bruise on his arm. "Just...Trying my best here."
"I know." She replied. "So does your father. He just..." She laughed awkwardly. "Doesn't think your best is good enough."
"Clearly." He spat. "Not all of us spend a lifetime mastering our craft, you know?"
"I know." She replied, still walking ahead of him. "Your father isn't like most men, Drake." Drake had no way to respond to this, so he didn't. "He probably has no way to gauge if your trying as hard as you can or not, so he's just going to keep pushing."
"I am trying as hard as I can." Drake fought. "He's just faster, stronger, and better. It's not fair." His mother sighed and turned to look at him over her shoulder as she walked.
"But really Drake, you haven't hit him once?" Drake groaned.
"No." he replied, hanging his head. "Not even once." She laughed and rubbed his back in an attempt to soothe him.
"Don't worry about it, not many people hit him anyway." She made a face. "As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure how many times Natsu has hit him directly."
"Huh?" Drake asked, looking over.
"You know, the Nirvana story." She replied. Drake's mother had been a snake at that point, so she really only had the stories as proof as well. "Natsu beat him by deafening him, not by hitting him."
"I'm not Natsu." Drake reported. "So I don't think it'll work the same way. Plus I remember him getting a few hits in." She chuckled.
"I guess." They finally made it back to their camp, which consisted of two tents. One for Drake, and the other for his parents. Their was a fire pit in the middle with a pot over it, with various wild animals cooking on a rod as well. Drake inhaled and sighed happily at the smell of the meat. Squirrel tasted surprisingly good.
"What's on the menu today?" he asked.
"Well, there's still some deer from the other day. Soup, squirrel, whatever. Take your pick." Drake did so happily, picking off the hot meat and eating it happily, despite the burning of his fingers as he did so. Once he'd had his fill, he cracked his back.
"I really don't want to go back." he moaned. "It'll just end the same way."
"Well, how else are you going to train?" She asked. "Don't even look at me, you're already way better than me." Drake shrugged.
"It'll just be another few hours of insults, beatings, and the like. But I guess I don't really have a choice do I?" She shook her head, and Drake turned to trudge back to the clearing he and his father were using to train. As he walked up the hill, Drake thought about his friends. How were they doing? He knew that Sim,on and Damien were probably getting the worst of it, maybe even worse than him. Erza and Jellal alone were scary, but together? Laxus and Mira? Drake shuddered. He knew that compared to them he had it easy, but he still didn't like it. Elise was probably okay, same with Ultear, as Juvia was probably not going to take it all that seriously, while Gray probably would.
Then there was Nashi.
Drake stopped where he was and allowed the breeze to pass by him as he thought of her. He...he honestly didn't know what to think of her anymore. On one hand he knew her well, his closest friend that he cared about over his own life more often then not. It was to no fault of his own he felt protective of her, it was always being the one that stepped in between her and Rocky as a child that made him that way.
But when he remembered the look of the monster that had turned his way in the center of the Silverridge crater, He faltered. Just what had that been? Because whatever it had been, Drake had the itching feeling it wasn't in any way, shape or form the girl he knew. The cold, blue stare, the volcanic craters lining her form, the brimstone colored hands, and the horns made of pure fire...
"I got him."
And then, as if nothing at all had happened, she said these words accompanied by his name, and collapsed. Had that been her? Or...Something else? He' had been tormented by this for the next two months, waiting for her to wake up from her Etherion coma. And when she had, it was a if she had not changed whatsoever, as if the Silverridge incident had not occurred.
As if everything was as they left it.
But Drake was no fool, he'd felt it himself. Whatever had happened in the city that day had reshaped the battlefield, and no matter what way he tried to look at it he always saw it the same way.
But that wasn't what he needed to think about at that moment. He wondered how she was faring in her training with her father, who was just as if not a bigger monster than Erza, Jellal and Master Laxus combined. Especially if he took something seriously.
Poor girl.
"Alright, I'm back." Drake announced he reached the clearing. He looked up to find his father sitting in the center of the clearing, looking deep in thought. "Dad?" The elder dragon looked up at his approach, acknowledging him with a nod but said nothing. Drake reached him as he continued to think. "What, uh, what are you doing?"
"Thinking." he replied. Drake went to ask another question, but was silenced with a hand. So he just stood there with his hands in the pockets of his coat, waiting for his father to say more. He was about to say screw it and return to camp when his father clapped his hands and stood. "Got it." he said.
"Huh?" Drake asked in confusion. His father turned to address him.
"Your new training plan." he answered simply. "I've got it." Drake tried to not look pissed, but he was. He somehow doubted this new training plan was a plan and more of a regime doctrine. "We're going to work on this until you can hit me."
"Is that it?" Drake asked in confusion.
"Yes, until you can hit me." he replied. "That's all."
"Uh, okay?" Drake was unsure what exactly that meant, but he really had no reason to object to it, so he walked to the opposite side of the clearing and stood facing his father, who shrugged of the blue Crime Sociere cloak around his shoulders.
"Whenever your ready." He said. Drake nodded, and waited for a little as he observed his surroundings. His father didn't seem the least bit concerned, for good reason, as Drake had been nothing but a pushover lately. Sighing, Drake decided to go in for a frontal push, using his hearing to read his fathers thoughts, which was nothing important. He raised his fist and tried to bring it down on his fathers head. Unsurprisingly, the attack was blocked.
And his fathers full offensive fury struck him in the stomach.
Drake gasped in surprise as he flew backwards through a tree, landing hard on his back. He writhed on the ground from the blow as he tried to soothe the pain from the attack, but to no avail.
"Holy hell, what was that?!" He shouted angrily at his father.
"I had an epiphany while you were gone." Was the answer he got. "I figured if I tried as hard as I could and you managed to land a hit, you were more than ready to enter the Games."
"What the hell!" Drake shouted as he tried to stand. "How am I supposed to land a hit on you if I couldn't before?!"
"As I said, you'd be ready." He replied, changing his stance to be more defensive. "Now, come at me with everything you have." Drake growled as he stood on his feet, watching his father wait for him. There was no need for him to rush Drake, he needed no training. Drake charged back at him and listened actively as he did so, watching his fathers movements. He heard his father preparing to dodge his left fist, so Drake turned his attack to match the way his father dodged.
Of course, two sound mages bounced off of each other horribly.
Drake's strike was dodged and his father's leg came for his upper body. Drake was ready this time though, as he too moved his body out of the way of the attack and went in for a strike from the right, which was dodged as well.
"There you go!" His father shouted. "Come at me like I'm the enemy, not like your a bitch!"
"Shut the hell up!" Drake roared, swinging his whole right arm at his father. It was caught in an open palm.
"Now now, don't get angry!" He retaliated as he tried to swing Drake over his head. Drake allowed him to, only to get the upper hand and attempt to get him. It was to no avail. "The angrier you get in combat, the more of an edge the enemy gets!"
"I sad shut up!"
Kinana watched with a small smile from the tree line as her husband and son duked it out, both yelling a variation of insults and comebacks.
What she noticed amid all of this however, was the smiles they both had on their faces.
"They'd never admit it to each other, probably not even themselves." She said under her breath. "But this is when they get along and have fun the most. When they're at each others throats." She shook her head with a sigh and leaned up against the tree next to her, watching as Drake received a rather painful looking blow to the midsection. "Somehow I imagined my family life would be a little less dysfunctional..."
"Too slow!"
"That's what you thought!" Drake spun around the fist going for his midsection and tried to sweep his father off of his legs, but it was to no avail. The elder Slayer was already prepared, and knocked Drake flat on his ass with one big push. Drake cursed as he sat up, cracking his back.
"It's been a month." His father informed him. "You still have yet to land a blow." Drake nodded. He knew that full well. A full month had passed since the ne training had begun, and Drake had still to complete it. Of course, that had to do with the full extent of his fathers power being used regularly. "Plan on giving up?"
"Not yet, no." Drake got to his feet and smiled. "I've still got a month until we go back, right?"
"So a month to keep getting your ass beat?" His father retorted calmly. "Sounds like a plan." Drake rolled his eyes and repositioned for another run at it, which would probably end at futilely as the rest. Listening in on his father so he could try and reposition a strike when he tried to dodge. Running forward and jumping in order to attack from above, Drake tried t bring his fist down right on his fathers face, but he was kicked in the midsection and flew back into the top of a tree. Jumping away to avoid the incoming scale shaped projectiles, Drake jumped around the branches and flew right for his father, who reared away and allowed Drake to soar right past him. Drake felt a fang of poison wrap around his arm and constrict, which was about to ricochet him back towards his father. The air left his lungs abruptly as it happened, catapulting him back towards his father. Drake looked back jus in time to see a rather painful looking punch on the verge of connecting with his face.
Kinana jumped at the sound of the earth breaking apart. She sweat dropped and looked over in the direction of the clearing Erik and Drake usually went to train in, which was obviously the source of the explosive force.
"For the love of..." She muttered under her breath, standing and beginning the walk towards it. "I kept telling them the full force training was a bad idea..." She shook her head as she reached the end of the path towards the clearing, greeted with exactly what she expected.
Drake face down in a crater, while his father looked down at him.
"What did you do?" Kinana demanded. Erik looked up like a small child getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
"Uh," he replied. "I'm not sure how to reply to that." Kinana rubbed the bridge of her nose with a heavy sigh.
"I've told you at least a million times to not hit him so hard!" She scolded, making him chuckle weakly. "I mean really Erik, he can't learn if you..."
Drake started laughing. Kinana and Erik both looked down at him in confusion as he slowly sat up, still laughing.
"What's so funny?" Erik demanded. Drake looked over at his father with a smirk.
"You tell me." he replied. Kinana watched the two stare at each other for a minute before Erik choked, a hand shooting up to his cheek. Kinana walked up to him, surveying the problem for herself.
here was a scratch on his cheek.
Normally that would've meant absolutely nothing, but in these circumstances, it meant a lot more. Drake fell backwards and smiled widely.
"You were so focused on punching me you didn't pay attention to me." he explained for them. "It wasn't much of a hit, but it counts right?" Kinana looked over at Erik as Drake asked this question, waiting for his response. Finally, after what seemed like a millennium, the older Poison Dragon laughed.
"Well, not much of a hit, but the deal was one hit. It technically counts." he announced. Drake laughed victoriously, and Kinana smiled. "Bu if you intend to enter the Games with that little strength behind your swing..."
"Oh don't even act like that doesn't sting!"
"It doesn't, cause you hit like a bitch."
"What?!"
"You heard me. That moron from Blue Pegasus can hit harder than you."
"Oh it's so on!" Kinana jumped as Drake tackled his father, and the two once again started to fight. She smiled weakly as a broken tree flew past her.
"I suppose the dysfunction is sort of fun..." She murmured.
And Drake's chapter is completed! I hope you guys enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get eight!