Jay Parker's Story

Ash sighed quietly as Jay took off, Riley following behind. She just hoped he wouldn't get into any trouble like he usually does. The last time Ash saw Jay around swords, he almost took a guys head off before losing the sword on a back swing and making it stick into the wall of the barn. That was a funny day, especially because it was Mark who almost got his head chopped off by his best friend.

He's rather odd. Liath intervened Ash's thoughts. Who? Jay? Ash replied through there connection. She had to admit that the whole connection thing was pretty cool. Yes. Liath said slowly. He was beginning to sound ever more 'wise' and old, in Ash's opinion. But she wouldn't try to point that out. Yes, Liath, yes he is odd. Ash said with a small smile.

Upon hearing Colette laugh, Ash was pulled from her little connection chat with Liath and looked at Colette with a small smile. Hearing Colette's question, Ash smiled at the ground and shook her head slightly. She then looked up and looked over at Jay and Riley, who were further ahead now and dodging people. "Nah, we're not friends. He's my cousin. And yeah, he's always this hyper. Around me he is anyways." Ash said a little broadly. She didn't like talking about Jay. Back home, the conversation was always about Jay or one of his friends.

When they made it to the swords, Ash was a little awe struck by all the swords. She'd only ever trained with a sword from a poor Ryder or the hook swords, which she was rather good at, but there was so many different kinds now. She looked at the sword Colette held out as she talked about it. It was a bit crowded and all Ash wanted to do was go somewhere else. Too. Many. People. When Colette mentioned the obstacle course, Ash perked up a bit as she thought Thank god! "Sure. Too many people here for my comfort anyways." Ash said with a slight shrug of her shoulder. She was happy she was good at obstacle course though, or she would've regretted agreeing to that.

---

---

"Duck. Dodge. Dodge. Watch out for that tail!" Slayer said to Jay as Jay quickly swerved through the crowd of people and up to the swords. He pushed through a crowd of people who were right in front of the swords and grabbed a shotel. Shotel's were his favorite sword for it's cool curved blade. He might have almost have cut Mark's and Val's heads off with it, but it was his favorite nonetheless.

Jay remembered that time now. Him, Mark and Val were in Jinx's barn messing around with the swords. Jay had the shotel, Mark had Ash's hook swords, and Val was messing with a scythe. Jay was swinging the sword around when Val came up to him. He didn't notice her coming up and he swung the sword back and it almost cut her head off. Then Ash walked in the barn and Jay spun around and almost took Marks head off in the process. That was not a fun day.

Jay looked up at Riley as he commented about how energetic he was being. Jay chuckled slightly. "Well, you're gonna' find out I can be a very hyper and outgoing person." Jay said to him with a big grin on his face, and it was true too. He looked at the sword Riley was holding and nodded. "Yeah, man, that's a cool sword. But this is my favorite." Jay said as he held up the shotel. He followed Riley's eyes to the obstacle course and made a face. "Dude, I ain't gonna lie but I suck at obstacle courses. Ash is pro at them though."

"Sure. Too many people here for my comfort anyways." Ash said with a slight shrug of her shoulder.
Oh, great, she agreed, Colette thought, relieved.Now we can get out of here before Riley sees the girl.
"Yeah, me too. It makes me feel overwhelmed." Colette paused, as she realized this was actually the truth. Being introduced to all these people made her feel uncomfortable, and she longed for the group of friends she had back home. She would IM them later, maybe bring Riley over and have a group video chat, if her roommate didn't mind.That reminded her, she would have to meet someone else- her new roommate. She groaned internally, although it wasn't fair to a girl she hadn't even met yet.

"Let's go pick up Riley and Jay." She put the sword down, staring at it longingly for a moment, and then started to lead the way to where the boys were.Riley was still looking over at the obstacle course, and he now pointed at it to Jay. Jay didn't seem to like it as much as Riley did. Colette assumed it was a child-like yearning to try the obstacle course, because this was how an obstacle course was supposed to be set up, not like the ones at home that were way more extreme. The ones at home had many revolving spikes, fiery pits, and hidden booby traps.
Colette remembered that the first time Riley had seen one. He had almost fainted, but Colette had to remind him that because there was so much snow outside, the fires would be put out soon, and, if you fell, the impact with the ground would be more cushioned.

She finally got to him, but he was still entranced. She waved a hand in front of his face, and he came to.
She rolled her eyes. "Do you want to go there? It's a bit too crowded here, so I don't think they'll be enough room."


Riley tried to look around a bit, but Colette was in the way, moving ever so slightly when he moved.
Colette tried to get in his way so he wouldn't be able to see Aya.
He didn't really care, he was still thinking about the obstacle course, and he could hear all the people anyway.
There's no cutting, no fancy technology that Colette's family set up. It's just a regular, old-fashioned, muddy obstacle course.
He grinned, and Colette noticed his boyish smile, and couldn't help noticing how it suited his face, and made him look much better-looking than he usually was.
"Hell yeah I wanna go!", he shouted as he bounced a little.
Colette laughed, and looked back at the two cousins. "Let's go. It's rare if he gets like this."
Riley put an arm around her, and quickly steered her over, and soon it became him holding her hand as he made her run.

"You do realize I'm not going against you, right?"
He stopped, and she bumped into his back.
"What?", he asked. "But....I wanted to..." He didn't say he always did these kinds of things with her. It was familiar. It was an unspoken thing that they trained together. It hurt him a little, but he put it out of his mind.
"I asked Ash. You could go against someone else....", Colette realized how weird it was, that she was training with someone else. She had just wanted out, and she guessed she had asked Ash because it would be rude if she had just trained with Riley every time.
"Oh....okay." He started along again, but not with as much enthusiasm.
"Hey, you wont get burned this time." She commented, and he brightened again.
"Yeah, and I won't fall into a pit or get cut by a spike either." He smiled again, and she sighed, relieved.

"Hey, Jay, wanna go against me?", the boy asked as they finally reached the station.
A Pegasus was there, and pointed at the ring of obstacle courses. There were about four for time, and four for Ryder versus Ryder.
Colette walked over to Ash, and pointed to the closest one. "Let's try that one."
Likewise, Riley walked over to Jay.

The girl seemed suprised when Aya bowed to her, but nevertheless returned the bow.
"It is a pleasure to meet you miss Ueto Aya, My name is Arnlar Azamanin; but you may call me Solara. This is my companion Ravian Solariat, who does prefer you to call her by her last name."

Aya smiled at the formal, but familiar greeting. She has just expected a weird look from the girl, but she liked that the girl, Solara, had returned the custom. It brought back a little piece of home to her.

Spying the katana Aya held in her hands, Solara smiled and pointing to the blade asked, "May I?"

Why can't you get your own?, she thought, but forced herself to be nice, because she didn't want to break her promise to herself so quickly.

"Of course", she said through gritted teeth, practically throwing the beloved katana towards her.

At this time, Angel decided to answer her question about the whereabouts of her brother.

"Uh, your brother..." He waved his sword, using it to pointing in a general direction."He's over there somewhere. He said he'd catch up later, so he's bound to show up at some point in time."

Aya fretted over this as Angel seemed to nod,as if trying to discern if assuming this was correct.
Of course he's alright. Why wouldn't he be? He probably just wanted to explore, or check on Bluejay.
Still, she felt her instincts telling her to go look for him. There was no time to pretend to want to be friends with people.

"If you'll excuse me", she said to Solara as she departed.She didn't try to speak to anyone else, as Angel and Trista looked preoccupied in other things. She walked in the direction Angel had pointed in,and didn't really hear anything until she heard a shout of enthusiasm over to her right.

"Hell yeah I wanna go!"

Aya looked towards the yeller, and found herself face to back with none other than Colette, her hair glowing with fairy dust easily recognizable. She also saw a girl from the bench earlier, and the boy that had approached her,
Colette and Riley before she had run away.
What is she doing here? And why is it that I feel like I know that name, before I even met her?

But Colette wasn't the one that had screamed. Of course, it was Riley. Obviously since she was here, he was sure to follow. Aya felt her stomach grow queasy, which she assumed was because if her loathe and disgust for him. Trista was right. He was creepy.
Aya walked quickly now, not that it mattered, as they looked ready to head in the opposite direction, and Colette was blocking her anyway.

Good. I don't want to see him.

But she looked back,once, and caught the boyish smile on Riley's face.

........!!!!!
She went into an almost run, and the group escaped her view. She took deep breaths and closed her eyes for a few moments, and then walked on, remembering she was looking for her brother.

She tread the path until she got to the stations for companions, and she saw him right in the middle of a huge disarray.
On one side, Saga was clinging to Estabel, and on the other, little Bluejay was being challenged by a menacing tiger who looked like he would rip him to shreds.

Aya watched, horrified, as Saga just sat back, scratching Reechi on the head.
Why isn't he doing anything?!

Then, she saw Bluejay begin to dance around the tiger, playful and unafraid. Aya admired his technique, and, now calm that her brother was not in danger, sat next to him.

She supposed this was to teach the little dragon a lesson. "Tough love, huh?" She commented as Bluejay continued whatever he was doing.

Ash nodded slightly with a small smile on her face in agree to Colette's statement of going to get the guys. She could tell Colette didn't want to put the sword down as she stared at it a moment. It was always odd for Ash to see someone look so...longingly at something. That made poor Ash think of her father. Her and her father, Omar, weren't all that close. He was a Ryder and all so he could only visit on holidays or special occasions. The last time she saw him, she told him she wanted to be a Ryder. He didn't want her to, but she didn't want to be stuck in the farm wasteland of Vesper any longer.

Pushing the thoughts of her ever so cherished father out of her mind, Ash looked around as she walked with Colette. There was a lot of people crowding around and the sooner they were away from there the better. Upon finding the guys, Ash noticed the look of disgust on Jay's face. 'Why, what's his problem?' Liath asked. 'He's no good at obstacle courses.' Ash replied matter-of-factly. It was true too. No one, not even Jay himself, would bet for him to win an obstacle course. He would try the first part of the course, and if he even had one simple little trouble, he would give up.

Ash went over to Jay as Colette talked to Riley. She gave her cousin a sly grin as she knew what was bothering him. "Awh, what's wrong? Don't you want to go have fun on the obstacle course?" Ash said, giggling slightly as she did so and Jay stared daggers at her. He really didn't like being picked on by his...fear, if you could call it a fear. Probably more like a very strong dislike. The whole short walk to the obstacle course, Ash picked on poor Jay about it to the point where he was mumbling "Shut the fuck up. Shut the fuck up." As he pushed her slightly. When Riley walked up, Jay simply pushed Ash causing her to walk right into Colette. Ash glared at him as her face heated slightly and Jay gave her his famous ha-ha-that's-what-you-get smirks that he'll usually point out was a half good thing since it wasn't some random person, but Colette.

Letting out a sigh, Jay looked at Riley. He wasn't totally surprised the guy asked him to go against him since the girls where going together, but Jay wasn't really all into obstacles considering he sucked at them. "Listen, man, Im'ma be straight with you." Jay started in an I'm sorry voice. "I suck at obstacle courses. I'll go against you, but it would be the same as going alone." Jay said, completely putting himself down. As he talked, Slayer flew off to cause some havoc.

Ash apologized to Colette saying "Sorry 'bout that. Jay pushed me." She didn't sound as shy as she did earlier, she didn't even have the same body langue as earlier. Ash was slightly more loose and open. Until, of course, she remembered who she was with and she shut up again. She looked up as Colette pointed to the closest course. It looked easy compared to the ones back home. The ones back home weren't as nicely made considering they were ones Jay's dad made for the two minus the one metal course from school. Either way, the ones back home were somewhat unstable where if you hit it the wrong way it would completely fall apart. "Okay." Ash said in agreement, a small smile on her face.

Colette stumbled a little as Ash pushed into her. "Woahh...", she teetered, but then regained her composure again.
Ash had turned around to look over at the boys, so Colette assumed she just hadn't been looking. But when she saw a mischievous smirk on Jay's face, she knew that wasn't the case.

Ash apologized to Colette saying "Sorry 'bout that. Jay pushed me."
"I figured as much." Colette said and grinned a little,knowing a lot herself about teenage boy antics,especially when they were quite close to you, and weren't reserved in their actions. Ash sounded a bit different, and wasn't so tensed as she was before, and Colette was happy that someone was finally warming up to her.
But then, after a moment of thought, her body became rigid again and she looked the same as earlier.
Nevermind. Maybe she just forgot she was speaking to a stranger,Colette thought as she sighed.
"Okay." Ash responded to Colette's previous question about trying the obstacle course.

Colette wanted Ash to have the same friendly stance as she did earlier. She needed to have some friends. She decided she would be the talkative one from now on. It wasn't that easy for her to become relaxed around someone either, so Colette knew at least they had that in common. How to proceed?
Plan A: I will lead Ash over to the obstacle course and become competitive in disposition,and so training together will make her like me.
Hmmm...
Plan B: I will not seem eager to win at all, or I will seem eager to win, but will let Ash win anyway.
Oh, God, no, that hurts too much.
Plan C:I will be friendly, even though I just want to be alone, but still I will want to win.
Colette thought this was the best course of action. She tugged Ash away from the boys, holding her forearm, and began to steer her in what she hoped was a friendly, but still eager way.
As she did this, she spoke, even though she just wanted to be quiet, or, better yet, quiet and on her own. She wanted people to talk to,yes, but she thought so many events had happened, and were still happening, that her mind was muddled.
"This obstacle course looks very placid, considering the ones I have at home. My father loved setting up traps and firey spikes all all around the obstacle course. You would fall into a pit, or be tied up by the legs, or maybe something came after you, and really, this is like a breath of fresh air."
She hoped talking about training would get Ash to talk about training. Or something. Anything, because speaking politely so much was making her grit her teeth.
They approached a Pegasus and the rules were simple.
"You and your companion will enter the obstacle course, and when the horn blows you may begin. The first person to make it to the other side wins."
Colette's mind was clear, and for this she was happy, because training always made her this way. There was one goal, and only one way to go.

Letting out a sigh, Jay looked at Riley. "Listen, man, Im'ma be straight with you." Jay started in voice that seemed apologetic. "I suck at obstacle courses. I'll go against you, but it would be the same as going alone." Jay said, and he looked as if he was depressed.As he talked, Slayer flew off to do God knows what.

Riley grinned at him. "Honestly, I don't care man. I just wanna try this out without getting a boulder chasing after me or ink flying into my face." He nodded at this, as if reminiscing. "Colette's family's obstacle courses are brutal."



"Let's go, slow ass!", Colette yelled from in front of him,and she jumped over a hurtle,mud smeared all over her face.
Not like he should be talking, because not only his face, but his arms are legs, were covered from the mud pit they had to swing over. The mud had started spraying like a sprinkler, which made no improvement on Riley's already slipping hands.
Colette and Riley were in two different courses, but they were only divided by a glass panel, so they could easily see what the other was doing, and their progress. Which,of course, did not motivate Riley at all, seeing as Colette was ahead of him.
"I'm trying!", he huffed, jumping over an identical hurtle on his side. He sides hurt, and he really really really needed to go to the bathroom.
Suddenly, the atmosphere seemed quiet.

Too quiet.

And that was a hint that there were booby traps hidden in the faux-jungle, which really only had enough trees for it to be called one. He stepped carefully, avoiding leaves,plants, and anything that might fall to reveal he had set off an alarm. On the other side of the glass, he heard an alarm ring, and grinned as he heard Colette's shout in frustration.

Step.
Step.
Avoid the root.
Step.
Step.
He was gliding with ease now, and as he reached the edge of the jungle, he sighed, letting his guard down as he stepped out.

Which was his biggest mistake.

He stepped on a loose branch, and the sound of it echoed in the enclosed space.
Aw, shit.

He looked behind him to see the boulder rolling straight towards him.
"AHHHHHHH!", he screamed as he ran for his life.


He shuddered a bit, and then looked at Jay.
"If you don't wanna do it man, that's fine, but if you really do suck, then you could use the practice." He said this as they neared the Pegasus, who started relaying the instructions that seemed basic to Riley.

The first attack he could handle.

The dragon trapped under Sagas shoulder, strained to force her neck as far as it would go to reach Kirk. She had just managed to reach a nice size of his chin, and clamped her mouth down on the flesh, a determined look on her face. He hissed in annoyance at the petty thing and lifted one paw off of Saga, grabbing her with his claws and threw her to the side and into the ground.

”Stay out of this, this is not your battle.” his voice boomed rather coldly, eyes narrowing down on the smaller dragon. His tail lashed side to side irritably. He rubbed his chin with the back of his paw, smearing blood onto his alabaster coat. Stupid dragons. He whipped his head around with a hot uproar. ”You're going to make others fight your battle for you!? WEAKLING!” he taunted. His eyes bore into Bluejay, convicting terror into his soul. The measly, tiny dragon froze in what Kirk saw as confliction. Right now, the connection was possibly taking effect. And instincts were on the verge of take over.

Come on! Fear is an illusion of the mind, open your eyes to face your fears. Let your heart still. he thought.

”Deep inside, let the feeling of instinct take over! Better now you realize danger hangs around, side by side. You won't be able to call for help, because no one is going to rescue you! You'll have to face it, you'll have to fight! Bluejay!” he snarled when a sound, somewhere between a hiss and a mighty roar leapt from BlueJay's chest. Yes! The ground released him, instinct took over, and he flew. Body out stretched and reaching for him. Fast as a flash he dug his claws and razor teeth into Kirks body. He tasted flesh and fur. Then up, up he went with a powerful flap of his wings, tearing away bits and pierces with him. Kirk attempted to bat the thing away from him, but he was too small...and too fast.

He backed off of Saga, who flailed around on the ground gasping for air pathetically. Kirk tried his best to concentrate on his movement, his pattern, he had to endure a few more of his attacks before he would see it. The opening. He could hear it now, Bluejay diving down at him. Kirk tensed up, ready to take it. The dragon snapped his wings out and grazed past Kirk, tearing again at his flesh with his claws. Then he zoomed away. Kirk took a deep breathe and winced, the pain was little but it still hurt. Bluejay banked around and came zooming back at Kirk again, this time sinking in his teeth before tearing away. Kirk flinched.

Bluejay rose up and dove again and again, each time bombing Kirk with claw, tooth, fang, and even full out ramming into his side head on. Kirk easily took the hits, being full of muscle and durability he was a hit taker. Born in a jungle, he fought stronger and bigger foes then him. When Bluejay repeated the dive pattern again, right before the small dragon was about to rip at him again, he arched his back and flipped. Stretching his claws out to grab the pestering little guy and landed on his back. He sunk his teeth lightly around his neck, just as a warning and held him down with a heavy paw. He then pressed one overly large paw onto Bluejays wing and once sure the dragon couldn't get out, sat up. He got his free-paw and pushed onto Bluejays other wing, holding him down.

”I'm impressed.” he admitted.



At the first chance to breath, he took it! It felt as if a huge weight had been taken off his chest, literally! He had never been so thankful for the oxygen and trees in his entire life! Flailing his arms around he rolled away from the tiger who had backed away at Bluejays minimal damage and numerous attacks. Bluejay! Bluejay! He had saved him! The hyper-ball of many questions...actually saved his life! His sister rushed to his side, flustered and unable to control her shaking hands. She helped him sit upright, hanging onto his arm with a deathly pale face.

”Saga! Saga! Takeshi! Are you ok?” she repeated this over and over again, her voice cracking mid-way through. He laughed nervously and was sent into a coughing fit. Ayas head darted back and forth as she sat up on her knees and patted his back. ”Takeshi?” she hadn't called him by his real name in a very, very long time.

”I'm alright Sis, everything is alright.” he reassured her. Right hand on his chest, he hooked his other arm around her neck and pulled her into a hug against his chest. His heart still pounded madly against his rib-cage like a drum, but he could breathe. And that's all that mattered. He wanted to go kiss a tree! His little sister embraced him tightly, burying her face into his chest like she had done on late stormy nights. This reminded him of the time when she was 14, and she came running into his room and onto his bed, on top of him crying. She was bawling her eyes out, crying about thunder! She would flinch every time at the crack of thunder outside their house. From then on, even now, she comes running to his room. And because of that, she is a constant weather freak and checks the weather constantly. If there was even a slight chance of thunder the next day, she would spend the night in his room.

”Bluejay, I'm ok!” he yelled, holding the hand that was against his chest now next to his mouth. He had felt it. In that heated moment when his ribs had-

his ribs...he sucked in a breathe in realization, remembering the pain. He had been so happy about breathing, his adrenaline pumping, that he had forgotten about it. He hunched over, feeling agonizing pain over Ayas sudden tight embrace. She jumped back in shock, a pained expression of what-have-I-done across her face.

”Shit, Aya...I think I broke one of my ribs!”



stupid.

Stupid.

Stupid.

Stupid!!!!!!

”I'll go get a nurse,” She rushed off frantically into a the pile of people, disappearing within the many faces. Searching for some doctor or nurse only to no avail. All she saw were people. People. And more people! Damn it, she didn't care about them! Unless they were a doctor and could help her brother, they were nothing to her right now. She kept turning around in circles, turning, turning, turning. Voices muffled her thoughts, and everything sounded like screeching cars. Hammers banged wildly on the inside of her head, jackhammers buzzing away pain spots and nothing else. Lights and sound were driving her crazy! Ushering the tempo faster on whichever wall, left or right, to knock down, crumple. Everyones whispering was talking, talking was yelling, and screaming was a death sentence for her nerves! She gritted her teeth.

My head is going to explode! And my eyes are on fire! Aya thought as she shut her eyes tight, Estabel neighed for attention and Aya glanced up to see her loving companion. She didn't always notice the unicorn, but she was always there, watching.

You need to calm down, Aya. her voice was soft-spoken, gentle. Reassuring. It cleared a path through all the noise and allowed her to think. Even if it was just for a little bit. She was right. She needed to clam down.

Breathe Aya. Who can help you? Who to go too?

She didn't know why, she couldn't explain it, but she needed to get back to the swords area and tell Angel! She pushed through the crowds, curses and foul language being thrown at her. She ignored them. They weren't important right now. They weren't worth her time! Dashing through the crowd, she came into a clearing, it was the obstacle course area. Going around it would take longer then going through it, is what she concluded. Jumping off the ground, she started to climb the wall with a few grunts. A focused expression, she almost appeared angry. Once at the top, she jumped down. Rolling into a ball, she fell on her right shoulder and rolled up perfectly fine, using the momentum to pull her forward and onto the rope swing. Easily, she made it to the other side and landed on her feet. Pillars were next, running through them she dodged them with grace considering her frantic state. When she arrived at the log balance, no hesitation was used to slow down, and so she ran across it! Lastly, was the tires. She could see the swords in plain sight now! Angel was off talking to Trista, and Solara! Friends! She needed to tell them! They would know what to do!

Trip!

At the end of the obstacle course (which was technically the beginning) she fell face first into the dirt, her foot getting stuck in the tire. She sniffled, adrenaline pumping and feeling no pain except in her heart. She lifted her head up, pushing herself off the ground with her arms.

And saw a Pegasus, talking to two males.

Riley and Jay. But she didn't notice them. Only the horse. Eyebrows furrowed, and dirt splotched all over her face she cried out.

”Pegasus! My brother, he's hurt! P-please go help him! I-he...” Estabel came up out of no where, trotting over. She sent those reassuring thoughts again. ”He broke a rib, and, and.....he's over in the c-companions section......” as soon as she finished her sentence, her cheeks flushed a bright, heated-red. She had over-reacted..... big time!

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! He's broken a rib before and lived!

She hung her head low in embarrassment. No reason could be given for this unforgivable action. If Saga saw her now, he would laugh at her....

Ashes eyes widened slightly feeling Colette grab her forearm and pulling her to the obsticle course. She looked at the course, it's sterdieness looked welcoming. It looked easy and well put together unlike the one's back home that were simplly makeshift obstacles made out of old splintery wood. As if she read Ash's mind and was proving her point of how different this was than the ones back home, Colette told Ash about her's. Ash smiled, a real genuine smile at ths. Ash let out a small laugh. "Yeah, the one's me and Jay trained on where just unstable makeshifts built out of old splintery wood." Ash said. It wasn't said shyly or quietly, but more in a matter-of-factly way with a slightly toned down genuine smile on her face as she recalled the obsticles back home. "The Death Traps" was the nickname Ash's father had given the poorly built things.

So, I gotta do the obstacle too, as I take it. This may be a harder day than I thought. Liath said with a bit of a sigh. Ash smiled at him with a slight nod after the pegasus talked to them. "Okay." Ash said with a smile to the pegasus in an almost eager way. She them stepped up to the start, but not before flashing a grin back at Colette in a rather flirty way. What was that about? Liath said as he jumped off Ash's shoulder and landed on the ground Beside her. He standed to about Ash's knee and looked up at her with a slightly raised eyebrow. Oh, that? That was nothing. Ash replied as she smiled, unable to stop. She then put her hands on her hips and looked ahead into the obstacle course as she waited for the horn to blow.

Once the horn blew, she balted down into the course, leaving Liath in the dust. Liath had to take a double take before he noticed her running then took off after her. Ash seemed to be takeing the course at ease. She easily leapped over the hedges, ducked under the walls, and swinged over spaces on the ropes like an acrobat.

---

"Damn, dude." Jay said with wide eyes as Riley said how brutal Colette's family's obstacle courses were. "Sounds fucked." He added before seeing Riley shudder. That was weird. Jay thought with a raised eyebrow. He let out a chuckle after Riley continued talking. "Alright, man." Jay said then they started walking toward the obstacle course.

As they walked, Jay thought about home and his 'training', if you could call it that, and his friends. Oh, how he missed his friends. He would hang out with them literally 24/7. They'd go everywhere with eachother. They even took turns staying at each other's houses, except for Val of course. She would go off and do her own thing once in a while. But, all in all, him and his friends were unsepreteable. And to think, it was Jay's big idea to leave and come here, alone, without anyone but his cousin. Jay wouldn't say Ash was bad company or anything, he just didn't always like hanging out with her.

As soon as Jay and Riley made it to the pegasus, Jay saw a girl come from the front of the obstacle course. Jay's first reaction, "Da' fuck...?". Jay's second reaction after the chick tripped, hestarical laughter causeing the Pegasus to give him a look. Jay's third reaction after the girl started yelling at the pegasus about her brother breaking a rib, "Damn." with wide eyes of course. Jay's fourth reaction after noticing the girl was from earlier, smirk-smirk-smirk-smrik-smirk like there's no tommorow. The Pegasus walked up to the girl and titled it's head. "Calm down, child. Lead me to him and I'll see what I can do." The pegasus said an a lightbulb went off above Jay's head. "Hey, we'll help!" Jay yelled to the Pagasus and he came closer to him and the girl. "Me and Riley can help walk the guy to the nurse." He added as he came over, a big smile on his face. He smiled at the pegasus, then at the girl, then back at Riley. "Come on, Riley. Let's go save a life!"

Meanwhile, Slayer was at the obstacle course Ash and Colette had just entered getting ready to stir up some trouble. He pulled out some 'invisable' string, which is clear string that's un-noticeable, and pulled it across the course in a clear running section of the course. His laughter was silent as he did so. He them placed some more un-noticeable tripping traps over the rest of the course. Sensing his Ryder was getting ready to leave, Slayer decided not to stay and watch, though he wanted to, and he headed over to his Ryder, perching on his shoudler with a wide smile as he could feel his plans coming into place just as Ash tripped over that first wire.

The Pegasus walked up to the girl and titled it's head.

"Calm down, child. Lead me to him and I'll see what I can do." She heard the sound of hoofs pick up grass as they neared and the sedative voice bring her back to reality. Cursing herself in her head like an idiot, she got up with the help of Estabal, pulling her up by the collar of her violet Japanese-Samurai attire. She dusted herself off respectfully, cheeks beet red and bowed deeper than ninety-degrees.

”I'm terribly sorry, my behavior was-”

"Hey, we'll help!" A random male with obsidian, emo styled hair yelled, interrupting her. How. Rude. He came closer to the Pegasus and her. "Me and Riley-”

Riley.

Riley.

Riley.

Wha-

Whe-

Ho-
Why-
Wher-???

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't move. Her throat felt dry. She ran her tongue over her lips, and she almost dared to speak but kept her mouth closed. Her chest felt heavy. She could feel the heart beat in her neck. Her face remains unfazed, and her posture is stiff as a statue. She gripped the edge of her short kimono, rubbing the sweat piling up in her palms against the fabric.

~~~~Freshmen year~~~~~3rd Quarter~~~~

When the lunch bell rings freedom throughout the hallways, she walks to her locker and she walks fast. Hitomis boyfriend Yashamaru and his friends were walking behind her....

'They're not following you...'

The footsteps grew heavier. One of his friends pushed her to the ground. She falls to her knees and drops her binders and books. Loose papers fall out and she quickly tries to gather her papers off the ground.

”Are you having a bad day, Scarbod?” Yashamaru Gou says. Aya grabs her arm, hugging herself defensively. She hated that name. Hitomi had ripped her clothes off one day after P.E. And her and all her friends had cornered her. Mocking her about the scar on her chest. She'd gotten it when on a bike-ride with Saga during the summer in middle school and had fell. She had fallen on some metal from the bike. Hitomi had sent the picture of her scar to all her friends. Shes never told her brother about it, way to embarrassed to tell him all the boys at her school knew how she looks under her clothes. She never wore pretty clothes like all the other girls, and so wore sweatshirts and pants and tennie shoes and or boots.

"Just leave me alone, Yashamaru..."

When Aya stands up, his crew blocks her way. She sighs and looks at Yashamaru, and he smiles as he steps forward.

”Why are you in such a rush to leave?” Six guys surround her, and she knew there was no chance to escape if she didn't want the bullying to get worse. ”Open your locker.” he commands. Aya stares at him blankly.

"No." she states.

”Open it, Scarbod.” he says. With steady fingers, she tries to open her locker. She messes up on the combination six times. What would happen to her? Would they slam her fingers in the locker? Shove her in there? Yashamaru tapps his fingers impatiently against his knee. When she opens the door, one of his friends tries to shove her in. She grips the sides with her hands and puts her feet against the bottom edge of the locker, pushing against it and his hands. All of them join in and she feels more then 10 hands on her back push her forward. She yelps. The door closes and then she is enclosed in complete, and total darkness. She bites her lips. If she wasn't trying so hard to keep peace, she'd snap their petty necks or break their ugly bones! When she closes her eyes, she can hear Yashamaru and his friends laughing. Hitomi would laugh for days if she knew Yashamaru had stuffed her into her own locker. Her brother wouldn't be able to find her. No one could save her. Her parents would be so worried. She slouches back against the locker and slids down, hugging herself.

'Just try to sleep'

+++1 day later+++

Her eyes open to a sea darkness. She can't breathe. She can't move. The walls become smaller and smaller. Her throat feels dry and she rauns her tongue over her lips over and over again. She almost dares to speak but keeps her mouth shut. Her chest feels heavy, and she's cold. She can even feel her heart beat in her neck.

'I can't breathe'

She braces her hands against the small walls of the locker and struggles to find her own breathe. Her hands begin to shake. And then her entire arm.

'Don't let this happen!'

Suddenly, her body has a mind of it's own and she couldn't control it. She was shaking, her body was convulsing, flailing itself between both walls and her ribcage burning. WHY HER!? WHAT HAD SHE DONE!? WHY WAS SHE BORN!? WHAT WAS THE POINT ANYMORE!? Her eyes fall shut, and she falls.

+++a couple hours later+++

When she woke up she was still trapped in the dark locker. It is stil hard to breathe. She gets on her knees and starts to bang on the locker. Again and again! She didn't care if her fists ware bleeding! She just wants to get out of here!

'Let me out of here!'

Tears spring to her eyes.

'I hate people. I hate all people!' Her fists are raw, and she just couldn't do it anymore. She couldn't fight anymore...Her bod goes numb as she closes her eyes again. She was sick of this...When she opens her eyes for the third time, she sees a light and hears voices! She thought she was imaging things at first, the sound of footsteps gathering together. Loud chatter, and conversations decorating the halls. She can hear them talking, but she couldn't make out their words. She thinks of banging her fists against the locker again, but was suddenly...afraid. She didn't want people to know she was stuck in this locker for hours. She didn't know how many minutes, hours, or even days have passed. But, the door springs open and she jumps out instinctively. AIR! She breathes in fresh air for the first time since being stuck in there. Her eyes are filled with tears of joy, she was happy yet also disappointed to be alive.

”Scarbod.” a voice says. She flinches. She wipes her tears with the sleeves of her shirt. She would recognize that voice from anywhere. Yashamaru. Aya scans the area, looking for witnesses. The hall is empty and there is no one there to see her. Yashamaru grabs her hand and she yanks it away.

”Get away from me!” she whispers darkly. Finding her voice is hard, she hasn't spoken in who knows how long. Aya steps away from him and gets ready to run away but he grabs her hand and sinks his nails into her skin. She wraps her other hand over his wrist. She casts him a scary glare, and for a slight second he flinches. ”HEL-” He puts his hand around her mouth and drags her off to the bathroom. She kicks her feet and grabs his arm, ready to flip him and escape his pathetic grip till-

”Shut up. If you dont obey, then I'll make it worse for you!” he whispers into her ear, his lips barely touching her earlobe and she felt like she was going to be sick! ”I can make your life a living hell.” he threatens. She laughed to herself.

'My life is already a living hell! There isn't much more you can do to make it worse.'

Yashamaru pulls her into the boys bathroom and pushes her into a stall, locking it. He then pushes Aya down to her knees and her eyes widened. Dear God, please no! Aya reaches for the lock of the door, throwing him off guard. Gritting her teeth and pushing him to the side with all the strength she could muster. He grips both of her arms like steel.

”Stop, I dont wan't to hurt you more then I have too.” he says. She scoffed.

”LET. ME. GO. What the hell do you want with me!?” she asks. She's been pushed into lockers, knocked down, pelted with stones, hit with bats, hit and cornered into worse things, but no one has ever dragged her into the boys bathroom. She kicks him in the shin. Hard. And fumbles with the lock, her hands are shaking and she curses at herself. He grabs her by the hair and pulls her down, she hits her head on the edge of the toilet and sucks in a deep breath. She turns on her side, holding her head and he re-locks the door. BASTARD! He knots her hair into his fists and pushes her face into the toilet. She's never felt so dirty! She couldn't breathe! And at this point, she was battling caring and the enjoyment of possibly suffocating from water filling her lungs and dyeing. He pulls her out of the water and air enters her lungs. Torture.

”You know why I'm doing this don't you?” He whispers.

' No, I don't'

She says nothing, glaring at him through the corner of her eyes. She doesn't look away. He runs his hands through his hair and opens the door.

”You can go,” He looks confused and almost as lost as I do.

'Why don't you finish the job, Yashamaru?' she thinks.

”I said you can go!” he yells, ”Are you stupid or something!? I said fucking leave!” A part of her wants to ran his face into the side of the bathroom door but forced herself not too. So she starts running and running. When she had gotten home, she'd told her parents that she had stayed over at a friends class from martial arts. Her brother could tell she was lying and confronted her about it. He had hugged her for hours and invited the crew over to help cheer her up. They said they had looked everywhere for her. She had gone missing for almost two days, but it felt like so much longer....

~~~~~~~~End~~~~~~~



”We can help walk the guy to the nurse." He added as he came over, a big smile on his face. He smiled at the pegasus, then at the girl, then back at Riley. "Come on, Riley. Let's go save a life!" How was she suppose to get out of this? She raised herself on her tip-toes, trying to peek past the two males to the sword area. Angel wasn't there. Shoot...Who was suppose to help her!? She didn't want their help. They could do something to her brother...Estabel nudged her shoulder and grinned strangely, as strange as it is for a horse to grin and neighed. Right! Estabel could take him!

"Er, thanks." She instinctively put a hand over the back of her neck, sounding annoyed. It's a bad habit when she felt uneasy. Something the two siblings shared. She had to calm down, that horrible flashback put her on edge and she wasn't sure why being around Riley brought back such horrid memories she had tried to hard to forget and let go. Maybe, because he wasn't doing anything scared her more. AS if, he had a bigger plan and scheme. She spotted the stone gargoyle perch itself on Jays shoulder and felt a horrid gut feeling wrench and twist itself into her stomach. ”But I can take care of it myself.” she stated rather coldly. She got up onto Estabel rather easily since in her village travel was taken either by foot or horse, and looked down at the Pegasus finally regaining her compose. ”This way.”

He heard a frantic scream from behind him, this time a cold voice he knew from not too long ago was sounding frightened, and he turned around very suddenly.
”Pegasus! My brother, he's hurt! P-please go help him! I-he...
Aya....
Emotions flooded back too quickly, despair shot through him as he looked at her small, beautiful face....
”He broke a rib, and, and.....he's over in the c-companions section......” as soon as she finished her sentence, her cheeks flushed a bright, heated-red. Riley's heart beat quicker, in time with some running he heard to the left of him.
The Pegasus walked up to the girl and tiltled its head. "Calm down, child. Lead me to him and I'll see what I can do."
"Hey, we'll help!" Jay yelled to the Pagasus and he came closer to him and Aya.
No, what are you doing?!?!?!
"Me and Riley can help walk the guy to the nurse." He added as he came over, a big smile on his face.
What the fuck man, no we aren't! He smiled at the pegasus, then at the girl, then back at Riley. "Come on, Riley. Let's go save a life!"
I need to save my own goddamn life!
Anger boiled inside Riley, and also guilt, along with a sense of explicable hurt. He really wasn't one of those 'feel multiple emotions at any given time' kind of guys,so all these emotions just made him feel angrier, and this wasn't a very good emotion to feel in this particular situation.
"Er, thanks."Aya put a hand to the back of her neck, sounding annoyed.
Of course, it's because I'm here, isn't it? More hurt was felt, and therefore more frustration. He didn't feel wounded often,either.
”But I can take care of it myself.” she stated rather coldly.
She got up onto her companion and looked down at the Pegasus she was talking to earlier.”This way.”
Great,still a threat.
He looked over at Jay. "You probably only offered to get out of the obstacle course, huh?" He spat these words out and rolled his eyes.
Calm down, Riley, his dragon thought to him, and Riley snarled in response.
I can't do this forever, can't you see that?! I can't have an aneurism every time I see her! I should just focus on studying for my family, and even Jay won't let me do that!!
WHAT
DO
I
HAVE
TO
DO
?!
What about...., the dragon responded calmly, you try to redeem yourself? He sprayed cold ice on Riley's face, and Riley's anger boiled down a bit.
How?! If I approach her, she'll just run away again.
Just try to be as gentle and as friendly as possible. Don't touch her, don't tease her, don't do anything suggestibly uncomfortable or mean.
Why should I? The consequences are too steep.
Dude, you have nothing to lose. And much to gain.
Gain.....hm....
Riley rubbed his shoulders, his anger momentarily forgotten. He looked at Jay, and apologized.
"Eh,sorry man... I just have kind of a short fuse. And..uh...ya know, I'm looking out for the best interest of my education.. and all that.Hey, why don't we go and help them anyway? I mean, I know Aya was kind of cold to us, but who are we not to be good Samaritans?" He smiled a bit awkwardly. "Right?"
Well, I'm gonna go even if he doesn't. The chance of redeeming himself was very loud in his mind, and he wasn't going to wait around for Jay's consent while Aya was getting away.
"Aya!", he called out to her. "Wait up!" He ran a bit to where they were, which was not very far away.
"Look, I know you don't like me and everything", it pained him to say that, "b..b..but I want to help your brother out. Also, you looked undeniably frantic earlier, and I...I just feel the need to help you. And I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable before...."
He looked down at the ground, embarrassment running through him, his companion behind him cheering him on through the silence of thought.

"Er, thanks." The girl had said, and Jay watched with a cocked eyebrow and a smile. Jay can't really tell the difference from a person that sounds irritated or annoyed unless he knew them for a while. So, though she obviously sounded a bit annoyed and such, Jay couldn't tell whatsoever. Though, he did associate the action of her putting a hand on the back of her neck with irritation. But Jay doesn't really give a fuck about that, he was just offering to help. "But I can take care of it myself." She had said after a moment, and a bit coldly. The smile dropped from Jay's face and he shrugged. "Okay, just trying to help." He mumbled and watched as she got on her unicorn, to which Jay's eyes widened.

Damn, unicorns are fucking scary... He thought just as Slayer perched himself on top of his shoulder. "You probably only offered to get out of the obstacle course, huh?" Jay turned slightly to look at Riley, letting out a small "Huh?" as he was pulled away from the sight of his one true fear. He shrugged at the question instead of getting on Riley's nerves even more and saying that that was partially true. After a moment, Riley spoke again. "Eh,sorry man... I just have kind of a short fuse. And..uh...ya know, I'm looking out for the best interest of my education.. and all that. Hey, why don't we go and help them anyway? I mean, I know Aya was kind of cold to us, but who are we not to be good Samaritans? Right?" Jay rolled his head back slightly to look at Riley with an almost bored look as he apologized then went on about his education. But, though all this talk about education and shit like that made Jay tired, a smirk cross across his face at the question of going and helping Aya, apparently, out with her brother.

"Yeah, let's go be good Samaritans." He said it with a slight chuckle before continuing. "We can come pick up the girls after." He added, referring to Ash and Colette. He simply walked after Riley as he caught up with Aya and the Pegasus, whom was stopped watching Aya and Riley. Once he caught up with them, Jay just stood next to the Pegasus and, nonchalantly, nodded to him. "Hey, how's it goin'?" The Pegasus just looked at Jay for a moment and blinked twice then looked back at the two. Jay let out a huff and looked around. After a moment, he decided to speak up. "So, we gonna' go help this guy or just stand her like a bunch of pansies? No offense." Jay said the last part to the Pegasus who actually responded with a "None taken." making Jay smile in an accomplished way.

"Aya!" a voice all too familiar to her on such short notice called out to her. She never forgot a face, a voice and took pride in her photographic memory but in Rileys case...she would gladly make an exception. She clenched Esta's rough, obsidian mane and tried not to lose her breakfast. "Wait up!"

Go faster Esta! Faster! They picked up their pace but came to a stop when she noticed the Pegasus halt at his call. She glanced back at the Pegasus and her energy depleted. Noooo...Riley caught up to her quick. He was coming after her now. How did he even get here in the first place!? Did someone leave his cage open?

"Look, I know you don't like me and everything.” he paused.

Just drop dead already.

"B..b..but I want to help your brother out. Also, you looked undeniably frantic earlier, and I...I just feel the need to help you. And I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable before...." He looked down at the ground, not like Aya would notice. He saw her in such a state! How embarrassing! Now he knew she was weak, and what her weak point was. Was he aiming to-

he couldn't possibly-

he wouldn't dare-

”D-do what you want.” She snapped her head back to straight ahead and continued on, Pegasus, a random boy, and Plague 2 close behind. The crew made it to her brother rather quick and she hopped off her companion. Oh her glorious, perfect brother! She made her way over to his side and to her surprise, found someone else by his side. She narrowed her eyes. Who was she? And why was her brother displaying that expression on his face. She bent down and clenched his hand. ”This is him.” she noted to the Pegasus before turning her attention to the blushing brunette. ”Who are you?” she questioned a bit touchy.



Saga wrapped his hand over Ayas and grinned stupidly.

”That's May.” he said her name with ease and a certain softness, responding for Macari. ”Her and her Companion watched over me while you went for help. Her companion, Pippin dulled the pain.” He looked up at the Pegasus. ”Haha, so what are you going to do? Am I going to be out for a couple weeks?” Not like he wouldn't mind. Saga wasn't too fond of training in this death course from the beginning and being injured might give him an excuse to avoid his insecurity and fear for a bit longer. Man, he thought he had gotten past this. One minute he is all for this and excited, the next he is ready to get back into his bed and under the covers with his bass in hand.



”Oh...” her voice trailed off. When her eyes met her brother, they both knew. And her heart hurt. She stole a glance of Riley and clicked her tongue, turning away. He was still here. Just go. Disappear. Her hands grasp tightened around her brothers. This day truly sucks. What was he talking about, sorry? Feel the need to help? Lies! Those were all excuses, excuses disguising his true motive. Just like Yoyogi Hitomi. Hitomi.

"Sorry, did we ruin your project that you worked soooo hard on?" Hitomi cackled.

Stupid mocking, condescending tone. She bit her lower lip, fear gripping her heart strong. Was she going to have to face another year like before or even worse than last year? She noticed the concern in her brothers eyes as he gazed into hers.

”You alright?” he asked. She forced a smile and nodded.

”Haha, silly. You're the one who isn't alright.” she put the attention on him. He put his hand over her head and ruffled her hair.

”Don't worry about me, I'll be fine.” he reassured. She nodded cutely. She couldn't act this way in front of her brother right now, when he's the one in true pain.

May’s attention split as she shifted a bit, her legs beginning to feel uncomfortable underneath her. When she returned back to Takeshi, she flinched back a bit as he seemed to be analyzing her. It made her highly uneasy, and Pip immediately returned all of his attention to her and away from the tiger that was walking away from the scene. He glanced between the two, his ears twitching in thought. Macari had quickly detached herself from previous thoughts, rubbing the side of her head ever so lightly as she figured it wasn’t something she should bother herself with anyway.

”Aya, she's my little sister.” May looked back up at him and blinked before nodding. “Ah, I see. Makes sense.” Her comment was rather bland, but she grinned anyway. Pip’s large ears flicked backwards an inch, he didn’t like how this guy was making his Ryder feel negative emotions. ”Don't worry, she always knows what to do; she’s probably on the verge of tears right now,” Once more, the answer was received by a blink from Minx as she processed the information. ’So they both seem to rely on each other, then. That’s good, means they have a close relationship with one another.’

”So, May right? You're cute,” Both Pippin and Macari’s heads snapped towards him, Pippin with his mouth dropping open and his eyes knitting together in disbelief, and May with huge eyes, a wary countenance, and one eyebrow raised.

Want to hang out sometime? Once I can move around of course.” Pippin slapped a paw down on the ground silently, fury plainly written on his face before he concealed it better, lest his Ryder see. ’Woah woah woah, hold up holdupHoldUp. Is this guy hitting on my Ryder!? Who does this idiot think he is?!’ Pip clenched his jaw, tilting his chin up and keeping his eyes down on this Takeshi guy. ’Not happenin’ bud.’

“Ehhh?” Macari blurted out, completely confused. No one had ever, seriously never, been so blunt with her, furthermore when it comes to her physical appearance. Sure, she’d had a few guys compliment her before, but… this guy seemed to have no restraints on him. Her head sorta tilted to the side on its own, still in shock from that little social bomb. Her cheeks flushed, and she remained silent for a few seconds, trying to grab onto some words in order to respond to him… somehow.

She was interrupted though as a group of people and a Pegasus arrived on the scene. The girl she had seen before came up swiftly and grabbed Takeshi’s hand. May respectfully scooted backwards from the two, also a little glad to put some space between herself and Takeshi. The girl turned back to the Pegasus before informing him that the one who was injured was the boy on the ground. She suddenly looked up at May, ”Who are you?” Her tone seemed to be rather short and forced. It instinctively made Macari want to back up just a bit more, but she kept her ground. Opening her mouth to respond, May was beat to the chase as Takeshi seemed to answer for her with a foolish grin to his face at the sight of his sister. ”Well, it should seem he’s perfectly fine now.” Pippin commented, ready to turn and get going with their day, and get away from this guy. But unfortunately his Ryder remained where she was, ’Oh right, she still has to answer that uncouth question.’ He rolled his eyes and sat back on his haunches. Takeshi explained what had been going on, and at the mention of himself healing the boy, Pippin almost wished he hadn’t, and that’s where a mischievous little idea popped into his head.

The two then spoke reassuringly to each other, and May felt more and more out of place, and certainly felt like she was interrupting. “Er, maybe some other time, yeah? Pippin and I should really be going anyway….” She quickly rose to her feet, stooping down to pick Pip up and drape him over one of her shoulders before blinking once and turning around to walk off, removing herself from the situation. “Um, feel better then.” She waved with a slight sheepishness before truly departing.

However, as she was walking away, Pippin looked backwards, waiting for his Ryder to get out of earshot from the twins. As soon as he deemed it safe, his antlers began to glow a shadowy tone, and it seemed as if little droplets of pitch black dripped from the tips. With his job of removing the dulling, he rested his head against the crook of May’s neck, glaring backwards at the scene. ’Not happenin’.’

“Maymay, let’s go get some lunch, huh?” He pulled back and looked up at her excitedly, his tail wriggling this way and that.



The little blue dragon had remained rather silent, overwhelmed by the emotions and feelings darting between he and his Ryder, and when Aya got up to run to get help, he would have jumped to go help her do that, but then a strange girl appeared by their side. His eyes were focused more on her and the strange little creature beside her rather than on Takeshi, so he missed what had gone on between the two. When Takeshi’s pain was dulled so was his, and he could finally begin to deconstruct this situation properly. “Who are you? What kind of companion is that? Are you okay Takeshi, I tried really hard to get you out of that, did I do okay? I’m kind of hungry, are you hungry? When’s Aya getting back? What are you doing? Why are you not paying any attention to me?” However, he seemed to go unnoticed, which was actually okay with him for now, as long as Takeshi was okay. Bluejay was suddenly distracted by a grasshopper, and, with one more glance over his Ryder to assure he was indeed okay, he wandered away to go chase it.

He looked up though as soon as he heard a group of five coming back, and he could smell Aya, so he bounced back to Takeshi and this May girl. He grinned up at Aya, his tail wagging back and forth and slapping the ground happily. Takeshi took a moment to share a glance with Aya, and Bluejay tilted his head curiously. He shrugged though, and crawled next to Takeshi’s neck. "Who are those people with you Aya? What is that horsey thing?" He asked, looking at the Pegasus and the two boys.

”Don't worry about me, I'll be fine.” He watched the two again, then snapped his attention up towards May as she departed. Once they were pretty much out of sight he looked back at Saga. But suddenly, a searing pain returned around his stomach, and he let out a loud squeak of pain, wincing.

“それが痛い!” He slipped back into his native tongue from the shock. Saga sucked in a sharp breath as he laid his head back. Biting his lower lip and clenching his eyes shut. The snapping pain from his ribs rushed back into his nerves senses, shooting bolts of what felt like electricity through his veins. He placed one hand over his rib and clenched the grass with the other. What the hell was happening? Did Pippins ability wear off the farther the distance? He turned his head to the side, tapping the tips of his finger tips hurriedly against the ground. He concluded that it was highly plausible. Magic effects could wear off demanding on the distance and magical ability they had. He shouldn't have expected a perfect dulling spell. Pippin was just as new as all the other Companions.

“AAAAAH!” Bluejay and him yelled in agonizing unison. Aya whipped her head to the Pegasus.

Help him!” she exclaimed. The edge of Sagas mouth tipped up for a split second, he could hear his sisters inner heart speaking. Really she meant, what the hell are you doing!? Are you just going to stand there? Through half-lidded eyes he searched for Bluejay, finding the scale creature at his side withering in pain. He lifted the hand over his rib and spooned up the little guy into the tuck of his arm. He hated this. Honestly, he just wanted to sit back and sleep in his bed with BJ. Was fighting always going to be like this? How many broken bones would he acquire in training? In war? How would either of the two be able to continue if Bluejay was reckless and hurt himself severely. There would be no way for them to protect one another. Would he even survive school?

Maybe it would be possible to use some spells that could dull the pain. He let out a sharp groan. Aya death gripped his hand, hushing reassuring words to him. He could feel her sweat seep onto him.

“You only die once, right?” she forced a pained laugh. He needed to distract himself, think more about magic. Think how it doesn't hurt. He petted Bluejay with his index finger and forced himself to be strong. Magic. Protection. Lesson pain. He was sure Green Magic mainly focused on such things. What were some of the spells? Protect? Shell? How many times had his father tried to force that chapter of the Grimoire down his throat and he had flatly refused? What had he told jijii(Old man)? Right, he wouldn't need it. He'd kill them in the offense because defense was for weaklings. Stupid.

Stupid.

Stupid.

Well, guess what. Saga is a weakling, guess he better brush up on Green magic at his recovery.

After they got Saga to the medical chamber to get better, Draconem had decided it was enough. This was suppose to be training, no one was suppose to get hurt like this. But, what can he do now? They only thing he could do was use his magical powers to ease the pain of all the students who got hurt during training and heal faster. Draconem seems like such a saint, don't he?

After this, is was time to begin to plan the feast! Draconem had planned to have a feast for all the students after a day or two of being at the school so that they may meet their roommates and become better acquainted with their companions. After a while of preparing, it's finally ready. The grand hall is big enough for Draconem to fit in and curl up at the end behind where the teachers and such will be sitting at a long table facing the tables where the students will be sitting. The tables are long and decked out with a red and gold stitched table cloth that brings out the gold in the bricks of the floor. The bricks of the wall are a devein mix of red and gold with large red and gold stitched drapes that go all the way up to the ceiling that is a glass paneling with a black rim that lets in natural light. Yet, every three feet down the long tables is a magical golden candle that lets off a brilliant blue flame.

Set out on the tables is all kinds of food. There's the normal food in which humans usually eat as they are easy to get for humans. There's turkey, chicken, fish, wheat bread loafs, tomato soup, red and green apples, pumpkin pie, cherry pie, white cake, and the list goes on. But there is also the food that other beings, less likely humans, would it. Like for the dragons there's coal, lava rocks, flying fish, and fireflies (literally fireflies) and then the various human foods. For the fairies there sweet honey, cookie crumbs, sweet jam, nectar, and pieces of the various human foods that can be pinched off of. For the unicorns there's golden apples, golden carrots, orange long carrots, and then the various human foods. And then it goes on to magical apples that are a purple color and can change a humans appearance to a random companion. Draconem put this out there to see how many students wouldn't know what it was and eat it. The effects wouldn't last that long. Only a couple hours or so.

On top of all of this, Draconem also had a friend, Aquarius, and his minions to bring the beautiful northern lights or Cree into the grand hall of Ryders Academy. So, now our scene is set and ready with red and gold walls, floors, and tables. Glowing blue golden candles. Tables decked out with all kinds of food. And now with the open sunlight coming from the windows on the ceiling and the northern lights being right inside, only made brighter and more pink by the light coming in. It was perfect. All that was missing was music. Some kind of music. He got all the little elves together and put them in a little group off to the side of the grand hall, their whole tiny little orchestra. Not only were they tiny to him, but they would've been tiny to humans too. Yes, they were about as tall as a fairy, usually an inch or two taller, but still around the same height. And there was a great amount of them so that their music could fill the whole room, which it did, with the help of Draconem putting an enchantment on them to make them louder. At Draconems go, they will play.

After a moment of looking everything over, he called for the students to come. Once all the students were outside of the grand big door to the grand hall, Draconem opened the door and nodded to the elves, signaling they to play. As the first Ryder stepped foot in the door, 6th Symphony Pastoral started playing from the elves and filled the room brilliantly. "Please, come in and take a seat wherever you like." Draconem said with a smile to the students and watched as they all filed in the room. Once they were all seated, Draconem perched behind the teachers table were a few Pegasus, Degore, and a few Phooka. "Let the feast, begin!" Draconems voice rang out over the grand hall and the students began to eat and talk as the music continued to play. "Oh yeah! Food!" Jay yelled in excitement and grabbed a chicken leg and began eating, Slayer did the same with a small "Yay!" and grabbed a turkey leg. Ash rolled her eyes at her cousin and grabbed a red apple.

At Derek’s added input about her appetite, though probably only based for his own benefit, she figured she might as well get a bit more sustenance than what she had chosen by then. She quietly picked out a piece of warm bread and slathered it with butter, and also nibbled a bit on the beef she had picked out.

”Nothing much, how is training?” At his response May smirked gently, “What, you mean to tell me you haven’t been out at the weights, or jogging your legs off, or cramming your brain with mumbo jumbo spells and whatnot? Just laying around all day instead being a potato?” She tapped her fork lightly against the plate she had before her as she looked at him, a playful, almost challenging look on her face. “Anywaay, training is good, but it is a little hard, I have to admit. I’m having trouble with magic, even though my companion is like made out of it.” She nudged Pip with her elbow, and he grinned brightly with no shame. ”Still with the two idiots?” She blinked a few times, in all honesty she had no idea where those two had disappeared. “Nope, haven’t seen them since the archery platform, to be honest. I’m sure I’ll see them around, especially since Loki seems to split crowds.” She grinned with a hint of humor to her eyes before her attention was suddenly snapped away to the front of the hall as a loud screech emanated from one of the violins as the music came to a scraping halt.

Her eyes widened with worry, hoping that the orchestra wasn’t injured, and searching for the cause of such an interruption. Her eyes fell upon the demonic little form of a stone creature laughing at everyone’s expense. An irritated look fell upon her features, she hated things that were like that, bullies, hardly pranksters. The little gargoyle obviously only had intent for evil, and it irked May. As the guy whom she assumed was the little monster’s companion, she eased back into her seat, happy that the stone would have some supervision again, as it was obvious from the guy’s staggering up towards him and yelling curses out at him he had not known that his companion would do that. Another relief was that the band was coming out from beneath the fallen curtain unscathed.