Ryder Academy

A single stretch limousine pulled up to the Ryder Academy, and halted right in front of the huge double doors.
The driver's door opened, and a teenage boy got out and looked up, smiling as he rested his arms on top of the limo.

"Isn't it wonderful, SanJee?", JJ asked his 'driver', who was reading a newspaper in the passenger seat.
"Indeed, it is one of the best gifted schools in all of Cree."
"Did you notice how smooth the ride was? The paths are simply luxurious. So well cut, as well."
SanJee looked up from his newspaper. "Indeed,JJ. I think it would have been smoother if you let me, the professional driver take the wheel once in a while. You do understand I am getting paid a large sum of money every hour, don't you?"
JJ grabbed onto the top of the limo and leaned down, giving SanJee one of his best grins. "It's not fun at all when you drive. The driver gets to pick the music, after all."
"Yes, I am aware. And what was it that we were listening to again? High-beat notes accompanied with lyrics repeating themselves over and over?"
JJ pouted. "That was my friend Yin's new single. You have to believe it's so original.The way she expresses her love-"
"For teenage boys with well-styled hair and an alarmingly white smile?" SanJee raised an eyebrow.
"So you were paying attention!", JJ patted SanJee on his head, as the older gentleman raised an eyebrow.

The driver handed the boy a folder. "Here is your new itinerary. We expect you for the recording of your third album in two weeks, along with a song to add onto as your bonus track for the premium deluxe version."
"Of course! How could I not!", here JJ seemed nervous.
Yeah, I don't have a new song. Better get started on that.

"We have already shipped your things to the school. A Phooka was assigned to show you where to go from here." SanJee instructed.
"Thanks.....Well, I guess this is goodbye for now." JJ stuck out his hand, and the driver shook it.
"Good luck with this one, JJ", the man said, changed seats to the driver's side, closed the door after JJ removed his fingers, and then sped off.

JJ took a deep breath, and then walked up into the school, and into the doors to the foyer.
A Phooka approached him now, a half man, half goat variety.
"Hello, you must be the late one."
JJ scratched his head nervously and laughed. "Yeah, sorry about that, I had a practice earlier. It really was my fault, I guess......"
"It is alright. If you would please follow me."

The Phooka walked briskly down a hall, and JJ followed him, his stomach queasy.
The walls seemed to be lined with gold, with very expensive wallpaper.
"Your things have already been shipped to your room. Your television will not be available for use until a few days from now, since someone has to come to set it up."
"Oh...thank you for sending one. I'm sorry if that's too much trouble. I must catch up on current events."
"Of course."
I expect there will be silence when I enter the room. Maybe Draconem, the headmaster will be speaking, and me entering the room will serve as a huge embarrassment on my part. He was prepared for it, and he didn't really mind.

"Here we are." The Phooka led him to a large, spacey auditorium, which was empty.
Ah..., JJ thought relieved, I was too late for any of that, huh?
The Phooka walked over to another huge set of double doors, and, as he opened them, JJ was amazed at the enclosure inside.
"Here is where you will pick your companion. Every Ryder cannot go without one. When you are done, I will be here to escort you to your next location."
"Oh, okay, thank you." JJ was so lucky he had someone showing him around. He knew he would hardly be able to maneuver by himself.


So, I definitely know I do not want a dragon or a gargoyle. Those things are just too big or creepy for me. How about a fairy?
He wandered over to a forest, noticing the fairies there who were whizzing by, laughing. He smiled, remembering the fairies at home, and stepped into the cool trees.
This enclosure is pretty cool. All this magic to create this amazing landscape.
He was glad Ryder training included magic, since he was very good at it.

He spotted a very well crafted blue treehouse, that included three boy fairies who were messing around with some nectar and a horn.
I'll just ask these little fairies, and see if one of them would like to be my companion. No big.
He walked up to them, and the male fairies stopped what they were doing, and looked up at him strangely.
"Can we help you?", one with green hair asked, and JJ balked for a second.

"Well, yes actually. You see, I'm a Ryder now, so I was just wondering if any of you kind gentlemen-"
They interrupted him by laughing, shouting, "Haha, gentlemen?","What a joke this kid is! Who does he think he is!?", and finally, "I'll show you gentlemen!" And then the fairy with the green hair took the nectar and put it in his little horn, and flew up right to JJ's face.
"Uh...um...what are you--ow!", he sputtered, as the fairy shot the nectar in his eye by blowing on the horn.
His friends laughed as he returned,and high-fived him.
No one, not even a little fairy, can get away with that
"Look you jerks!", he seethed angrily, and the three fairies grew quiet, surprised at his new attitude. "I don't care if you think you are someone way better than I am or whatever, but I needed a companion and I thought one of you three could be it! Apparently I was mistaken!"
The fairies stared at him, and JJ stormed off.
"Dude, wait!", the green-haired fairy cried, and JJ looked back to see that they were all flying towards him.
A fairy with copper hair spoke, and he seemed a bit hesitant. "No one has ever asked us to be their companion before....."
"Yeah", a fairy with shocking pink eyes told him,"And we really are flattered. We're not used to it."
JJ lightened up. "So, one of you will be my companion?"
The green-haired fairy spoke, "As much as we want to....we can't. We like that you aren't the pansy we thought you were...."
"Hey!", JJ shouted.
"You know you are. A little bit, maybe. But we realized you could bare your teeth if you wanted to. But... me and my boys", here he pointed to the other fairies,"couldn't bear to be apart from each other. So we can't be your companion, unless two other people asked. We stick together."
"Awwww", JJ smiled, "all fairies are cute!"
"We're not cute!", the pink-eyed fairy shouted, looking as menacing as a baby kitten, and JJ laughed again, his eyes sparkling.
"Of course not. Thank you guys anyway." The little fairies waved, then retreated to their treehouse. JJ sighed.

As he exited the forest, he saw that the sun was sparkling brightly in the sky.
Ah, it's so beautiful. I miss seeing the sunrise.
He trotted on, then started to rub his eyes. The sun seemed to be right in front of him!!
Maybe I stared a little too hard. Seems like there's a fireball right here.
He approached it, and stepped on the fireball, wanting to make it disappear. The fireball shouted, and JJ shouted in return.

"AHHHHHHHH!!!!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

"Watch where you step, ignorant boy!", the fireball snapped, and JJ stepped closer.
"Woah! You're a phoenix!"
"What did you think I was, a fireball?!"
JJ shifted his feet. "Um...nooo...."
"I saw what happened there in the forest."
"Oh...did you?"
"Yes, and I am here."
"For what?", JJ asked.
"To be your companion." The phoenix's fiery feathers shone, and JJ was transfixed to them.
"You want to be my companion?"
"Yes, and don't make me regret it! You were not entirely weak and girly out there,so I will accept it."
"Um...ok...my name's JJ."
"My name is Gladiator."
"Hey, that's cool! Let's go back, Gladiator." Gladiator puffed out his feathers and followed JJ out of the enclosure, back to the Phooka.
"Excellent", the Phooka said as he returned. "All the students are in their first training crash course. Follow me."

Oh, boy, time to show off my nonexistent skills.
I really cannot deny that I knew you did not have any talents. Gladiator said in his mind.

JJ retaliated. AHH!How do you do that?!, and Gladiator explained about the connection between Ryder and companion, with a roll of his eyes.
Ah, cool! They finally reached the other enclosure, full of rings with weapons, bleachers, an obstacle course, and many, many people.
"Ooh, wow, this is pretty sweet." He noticed some girls looking at him and whispering. He waved to them, and they grinned fully at him, shouting ,"Hi!!", then looked back at each other and giggled.
"Here is where I will leave you. Please explore whatever you like, as you experiment with things that you may not be used to. Goodbye", the Phooka said.
"Wait, what's your name?!", JJ did not want to forget him.
"Egore."
"Goodbye, Egore!"
JJ walked in a random direction, and found himself at the archery station. He saw some people fighting, and then a girl a little worse for wear stooping down to view a hideous, scary companion. He went up to them, allowing himself to be on the side as they interacted, but then he caught the eye of the girl.

Reechi’s head swiveled this way and that, taking in all of the training areas while they made their way to the Special Abilities. Once they made it there, Reechi’s eyes scanned the opponent rings, watching as a few companions went at it. She watched their reaction times and moves, tilting her head to the side in order to better focus. She was jolted out of her analyzing by Estabel’s remark that she was kind of hurting the unicorn’s skin, and should move towards her mane. Reechi dipped her head a bit as she clambered forward, settling into the fur.

She looked around the equine’s head to one of the bigger rings, spotting a rather large white tiger there, roaring out challenges to the other companions, ”Come on youngins, too scared to fight an old man?” Reechi remained comfortably seated right where she was. She was definitely not going to mess with that one if she could help it. There was suddenly loud panting behind her, to which Reeps turned her head around to identify the source, when a large form suddenly launched itself onto Estabel’s back, and Reechi went scrambling backwards against her neck. “Saga?” She looked up at him curiously.

Suddenly, Bluejay came out of nowhere, managing to weave through the unicorn’s legs, but going at a ridiculously quick speed. ’If he doesn’t stop soon-‘ She began in her head, but the thought was finished for her when the little blue dragon rammed right into the large tiger in the ring. “Oh geez, that’s definitely not good.” Chi spoke quickly, suddenly slithering off of Estabel’s back to scamper towards the two. She stopped at the edge of the ring, looking over at the two and wondering uneasily what the white tiger would do to the little runt of a thing.

She turned back to Saga, who was currently weezing like an old man who smoked way too much in his youth, and shot him a look. He had probably come for Bluejay, worried over him. Reeps suddenly paused, her eyes narrowing before a look of open mouthed despair came onto her features. Rowan was nowhere nearby. Sure, she could take care of herself, but it's the first day, her Ryder should be there anyway! She hunched her shoulders a bit before dropping the emotion, returning her attention to the ring.

Macari simply grinned brightly to Loki, tilting her head slightly to the side as she felt his fingers wrap around her own. They were hard and definitely boney, but again, it just made the Phooka more interesting overall. She tilted her head back to the lanky boy as she asked her question, and he sputtered just slightly. ”He’s definitely not confident, huh Pip?” Pippin hopped over to where the others stood, and lounged between his Ryder’s legs with a content smile. ”Well, you are kinda scary.” He joked, and Macari shot him a good natured look with a small chuckle before turning back to him as he answered.

"In a manner of speaking.” Minx blinked a bit before shrugging and nodding her head slightly. ”I-I'm D-d-d-d," Macari looked at him expectantly, a confidence to her eyes while she waited for him to speak. ”He’s weird.” Pippin remarked through their connection, tilting his head up to look the boy over. ”Yeah, but weird’s good.”

"I'm Drew. Drew Sh-shar." With his small grin, May could only return one that was brighter, extending her hand. “Nice to meet you!” She jumped slightly as the Phooka began laughing, the noise catching her off guard before she laughed through a breath. “What’s your Companion’s name, Drew?”

He then addressed the blonde guy, asking of his name. Her eyes lit up, and she gave him her attention as he continued to launch arrows at the target. ”Derek.” Was his reply, and she responded with the same, “Wonderful to meet your acquaintance.” She smiled, before watching him loose a few more arrows. “Oh yeah, I should try too.” Her tone made it sound like a kind of side note, and Macari scanned the weapons rack, picking up a few bows before testing the resistance of the string. She knew she couldn’t use a newer one, as it would be a bit too tough to draw it back, so she searched for one that was broken in already.

Finding what she sought, she quickly returned to her place, the next row over from Derek. She positioned her feet a bit so she’d have more balance, and Pip cheerfully walked up to her, settling down beside her with a content look, excited to see how well his Ryder could use the bow.

She grabbed an arrow from the sheath to her side, notching it into the bowstring and holding it there. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes with a focused look on her face, pulling back on the bowstring and tuning out those around her.


”Heh, alright, focus on your target now, get it into your mind where you want your arrow to fly, keep a steady hand, keep your arms taut, and that elbow up, Little Minx~” Kennedy teased lightly, Macari always seemed to forget to keep her elbow up and her hand at her chin. The wind kicked up a bit, making the leaves shift, and she smiled brightly.

”Since you’re smaller, you want to keep your feet parted a bit more, it should help you keep your balance. Good, now, close your eyes, take a deep breath, in through the nostrils out through the mouth, calm your hands so they don’t waver. Open then up, focus on the mark on the tree, pull back, aaaand, release!”



Macari released the tensed bow after following her old friend’s instructions, a grin on her face. She could almost feel the cool wind from the forests back home. The arrow flew true, lodging itself on the outer area of the red circle on the target. “Haha, bulls-eye, that was great!” Pippin chirped up at her with a shining, excited look. She laughed brightly, returning the bow to its place before walking back over to where Pippin sat, joining him on the ground with a bright look, running her fingers through his soft fur and messing with his ears.

“Hey, cut that out!” He quipped with a grin and a laugh, not actually minding it. “Haha, never!” She responded, making his long ears move from side to side, back and forth, and around, with small chuckles and clicks at her Companion.

She suddenly paused, hearing someone else come up behind them. She turned to look up at an Asian boy. Macari covered her mouth with her wrist, a good natured half smirk half grin on her face, her eyes closing a bit as she laughed. Pippin ’snrked’ and snorted, having looked up as well, laughing at the boy there, covering his mouth just slightly with his paw, mimicking his Ryder so as to try not to offend the new guy. “Hey guy, you appear to have something dribbling out of your eye.” She offered, explaining their response to his appearance. She looked down at Pip as he looked up at her, and they both grinned and simultaneously said, ”Fairies.” She offered an open hand, and Pippin patted his paw down onto it in a high-five.

Minx looked up at Drew and his companion, shielding her eyes from the sun again, and smiled, motioning for them to join she and Pip in sitting, if they so desired.

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."

Check mate. Derek turned his head slowly, staring at Macari with a blank expression. The space cadet had hit the bulls-eye dead on, a calm expression laid upon her foundation. He didn’t think someone like her could ever display a serious expression. His eyes followed her as he watched her adore her companion and then go sit next to him, inviting Drew over to sit with them and giggle at the fairy dew in the pretty boys eyes. A new entrée. He stared at him for 5 seconds before concluding that he was, indeed, a pretty boy.

Haven’t you leaned your lesson yet, boy? Your profiling can be off and misleading. Still needs some work.
Kirk corrected, an old mans laugh following soon after. Derek rubbed his temples; he wasn’t even going to respond this time. He cocked his head to the side, shoulders relaxed, and called out to the talented archer.

”Hey…Macaroni right? Could you help me with this?” he asked. He still wondered…what kind of parents named their kid after a food?



What’s this?

Kirks wise eyes met those of the same color, but different experience. Young. Inexperienced. The white beast towered over the little guy, most beasts his size or greater would have to squint their eyes to see him. But he was a cat. His pupils dilated, he could see between his feathers, the rise of his chest as he breathed, his hunting instincts were rising. He pawed at the little guy, pushing him around rather gently but with some force. He licked his lips and chuckled.

”Hey little guy, far from your nest are you not?” the blue dragon reminded him that of a Bluejay, a bird. ”Will you be challenging me? What’s your name?” Kirk asked. He had to admit, there was a bit of an impulse to eat the guy…

Pretty boy..
Kirks ears flinched and shook his head lightly, for a silent kid, he thought a lot.

Haven’t you leaned your lesson yet, boy? Your profiling can be off and misleading. Still needs some work.
He corrected, but with no response. Ah, so the guy was giving him the silent treatment. So be it. Humans never listened to cats anyway. By most people in the world, cats were not adored. They were seen as evil, rude, and emotional. Well, how do you think cats view humans? Felines can sense things most can’t, and when Derek starts to listen to him…he will become stronger. He hated it when people tried to do things on their own. Heh, what was he saying. He was the same way. That's why he liked the guy.




”Saga, your companion…and Reechi…” Estabel gestured towards the big ring where the tiger was pushing his companion around. Reechi merely just watched and than looked back at Saga. Almost pitying him. He huffed; maybe he should cut back on the smokes. Nao’s words about how bad cigarettes were for you were actually starting to make sense now. He picked up his feet and put his arms behind his head to get a better breath and walked over casually. Almost tiredly. What was Bluejay doing? Did he seriously want to fight the feline? Saga couldn’t stop him but…he hoped the cat would go easy on him. BJ had to learn things on his own or else he would never grow up and mature, Saga knew this. He had to let Bloo take his own course. He bent down beside Reechi, scratching her behind the ears.

”Hey girl,” he charmed.

Angel

Angel couldn't help but grin at Aya's slightly harsh response, not really offended. They hadn't been gone for too long and he'd meant it more as a greeting then an actual question; still, she would have come off a little friendlier had she used a more sarcastic tone, but Angel decided she was just a blunt type of person. Still, he resigned to slight sulking as the short girl seemed a lot more friendly to say hello to Trista. Of course, she then turned to him with a kind of critical look, making Angel almost feel guilty for daring to pick up the cool hook sword things.
"You really.... don't know what you're doing, do you?"

He 'hehed' in a sheepish way, shaking his head, even as Solara took the swords from him with a look. A look that made him slightly uncomfortable. He was used to preppy girly girls checking him out back home, but this wasn't so much as a 'checking out' as a hmm-whats-this-loser-capable-of.
"Hook swords are not for beginners to use, and even harder to master. Perhaps we should get you something better for you?" She plucked a long sword from the rack and Angel took it, holding it in a way that just screamed ew-maybe-I-should-rethink-this. None the less, he made off towards the area the girl had pointed him towards, never one to skip out on practice. However, he paused to answer Aya.

"Uh, your brother..." He waved his sword, using it to point in the general direction Saga had gone running off in after the two dragons and unicorn. "He's over there somewhere. He said he'd catch up later, so he's bound to show up at some point in time,"

He thought his own statement over then nodded, assuming he was probably right. Saga didn't seem like the type to never let his sister know what he was doing. Then he moved over to the dummy's, adjusting his grip on the sword. It wasn't that hard to hold. Despite his inexperience, it was a simple sword and holding it wasn't rocket science. The handle was wrapped with what felt like leather and was large enough to grip with two hands but also comfortably with one. He decided to go for a one handed approach. He felt a two handed would be too much unnecessary movement- but he liked the sword. If he wanted to add another hand for extra strength, he could.
Angel grinned, experimentally slashing at the dummy. The sword was seemingly dull- he assumed Draconem didn't really want any students mortally wounding each other. Though, he figured thrusting would work just as well and impaled the dummy with his sword just as Trista walked up.

"Hey Angel, I'm sorry about Fucuello's behavior earlier. He's the jealous type, and if I don't say sorry for him he never will." She looked out of place slightly, rubbing the back of her neck, a habit Angel found he had as well.

"It's fine really, I'm not really mad," He said quickly, watching as she began swinging at the dummy next to his. He glanced at her footwork- despite what she'd said earlier, she had to know at least the basics of swordplay. "He just caught me off guard is all."

"It's really not his fault though. I've really been the only good thing in his life since his mother died when he was a foal."
Angel frowned, pulling his sword from where it was sticking out of the dummy. He couldn't help but compare an emotion of loss to when his father had died.But at least he'd been able to grow up with the man; seemed the poor unicorn had grown up under the eye of humans, found a new family. Like his friend Ashton.

"You took him in then?" Angel asked, trying to stray from a grief trip. It wasn't like he had an aversion to talking about feelings or something. He just didn't want to get started on losses, because that would inevitably stir up emotions of his father.
His death was my fault.
Angel turned a small smile to Trista, ignoring his own thoughts.
"That's incredibly kind of you, I can see why you're so close." He paused and contemplated, not used to feeing so socially inept. What was one supposed to say to that? His face turned incredibly serious for a moment, remember the nurturing Ashton had required when they'd brought him into the Paladsky family. Animals took longer to build up trust too. He felt respect for the girl and turned his serious face on her.
"Trista... you seem like a really good person."

He coughed and flushed slightly, returning to his sword and dummy, practicing new and comfortable ways to wield the blade before freezing, brows furrowing. He had suddenly become overwhelmed with dread. Why?? Was he physic or something? Was this a sign that he'd been incredibly not smooth with Trista? Was the world going to end-
It was Reeps. Definitely Reechi. What was wrong?! Angel suddenly felt panicked calling out aimlessly in his mind, unsure where she'd gone off too. He figured she'd be safe, since she was with Estabel and bluejay and Saga apparently, but maybe she'd angered one of the bigger companions- oh lordy lord could she even defend herself!? Who was going to protect his baby!
Just as suddenly as the feeling had come it was gone.
No.
Was she dead!?
Angel wanted to whack himself in the face. He could tell very well the dragon was alive, and though it was still biting him what was wrong with Reeps, he was content with the fact that she was okay.

Drew starred as Macari extended her hand to him. She was so.. so... so friendly!
He eagerly accepted the handshake, not used to such blind kindness; as a result, he might have shaken a bit overzealously. She asked his companions name whilst he was doing so, and he let go quickly, blushing.
"Th-thats Loki."

the blonde, still shooting arrows, then decided to answer Drews question, tossing his name into the mix. Derek and Macari
He had to refrain from throwing a party.
What's a party? Loki asked mentally, and Drew was unable to stop the flashes of memory that came to mind, somewhat explaining the concept to the phooka.
His eleventh birthday party, old relatives standing around; him, Lena, and Allison gathered around a small cake, the girls grinning as he blew out the candles, feeling content-
Last years homecoming, the pulse of the music in the gym, groups of people jumping and mingling, Drew floating around in the shadows, shooing Lena away from him with an order to have fun-
One of Jonathan's crazy house parties, while their parents were out of town, lights flickering and music spilling into the streets, girls and guys intwined on the couches, grinding on the open space of their living room, Drew trying to stay out of the way in his room but constantly being interrupted by couples looking for a quiet place-

Loki's confusion broke through his memories and Drew tried to focus on the here and now, on Derek repeatedly shooting arrows and Macari moving over to join him, easily notching and letting loose a bullseye. Drew watched in awe. She was good. Derek was good too, he was pretty close to a bullseye as well.
Drew wished he had half their skill, wanted to learn,wanted to be useful and before he knew it he was rushing over, stammering a quite "Excuse me," hoping to snag at least Dereks attention. Maybe he would help him! He was distracted by the giggles from Macari as she and her companion greeted a new boy, and before Drews eyes she patted the grass next to them, obviously intending it to be an invitation to Drew. And invitation. To sit by her?! Wait where they friends!? Would he really have to throw a party now!?

Of course, watching her with a shocked face and trying to walk towards Derek didn't fare well for him. A rock or something evil and foul decided to spring out of the flat grass and trip him. Before he could even contemplate her invite, he was down.
And he was rolling and rolling, in a rather painful way, a trip straight out of the cartoons, and then Loki was stopping him,picking him up and setting him down on his backside.

Drew sat on his bottom, reeling, face bright red. How had that happened. Just how. He wasn't even that clumsy. He took a breath waiting for the world to stop spinning. The gods were against him thats what this was. He was cursed by the great dragons. The world was out to kill him. Destiny required him to have no friends that was what this was.

The teen sighed, sweeping grass off his blue hoodie. Loki seemed remarkably light on his feet, to have intercepted his tragic roll to the death before he'd gotten to far. He shot a mental thank you to the phooka, before pushing a hand through his hair. It always refused to 'unpoof' yet here it was getting in his face. He just wanted to put his hood on and curl up and die.

Drew just hoped Derek and Marcari hadn't seen that- well, they probably had, since, as Drew looked up, he was just feet away from the area Macari and the boy were sitting in.
The new asian kid looked familiar for some reason and Macari was next to him, the giggle frozen on her face, and Derek was looking over with an unreadable expression, looking like he'd just asked something but Drew had missed it.
He assumed his entire face was red at this point, when he was distracted by something weird on the Asians eye.
"Um..." Drew said, feeling the unreasonable urge to apologize for tripping, even though he hadn't even run into anyone. Instead he pulled a pocket sized pack of tissues from his pocket, offering it to the new boy with near shaking, embarrassed fingers.
"Th-there's s-something on your face,"

He blinked at them innocently with his deer eyes, unaware that his own face was now rather disgruntled and dirty, just trying to change this first impression he was giving off to the group.
Behind him, Loki shook his head in a way that almost screamed, 'we have a lot of work to do.'

Fucuello could not have felt worse.

As he watched his companion leave his side and walk over to the swords with the girl she had just made up with and the boy he had hit, a feeling of, emptiness swept over him. The shoulder where she had slapped him stung, not because it had hurt him, but because it was her who done the damage. Those final words she had said swam round and round in his thoughts.

That was not ok.
That was not ok.
That was not ok.
That was not ok!
That was not ok!
That was not OK!

What was not ok?! All he had tried to do was protect her! Trista had no idea what Angel's intentions were! What if all he wanted was to- to- to-. No, he couldn't say it, couldn't think it. He didn't want it to be true he really didn't! But he had to be sure, he had to be! Or else she might turn out like....

Like his mother...

No that was ridiculous. The stallion gave a flourish of his main and began to trot over to the companion portion of the training ground. What kind of nonsense was he thinking. Trista was strong, beautiful, and most if all his companion. That meant that no harm would ever be fall her. As long as he existed, she would be protected. From her mother, from Diablo, and from any smelly man or boy who tried to put their filthy paws on his companion.

But what if....

No, no he would not listen to that wretched voice of doubt.

But what...

No, there were not 'buts' when he was around.

What if....

No! There was no way-

What if-!

NO! NEVER would be EVER let ANY harm come to his companion and that was FINAL! He stamped his hoof hard against the earth, earning him a few looks from nearby Ryder's. He shrugged them off. No matter, they were of no consequence to him, but he did give them a seething glare to get the message across he did not enjoy their attention. A commotion drew him for a second, but it did not appeal to him to grace them with his presence. He would much prefer solitude right now. The dummies he had seen other companions attacking seemed his best bet at training right now.

But....doubt creeped back into his mind on cat's paws, taking advantage of his distraction ..... What if?

He had sensed affection towards the young man from Trista.
What if she fell for the boy?She would have no need for him, now would she. He would be forgotten, alone.

He aimed his horn at one of the straw dummy.STAB

She had defended the boy and had not shown an inkling of remorse for him.
What if she hated him? What would he do then? Would the be forced to part ways?

STAB!

Trista was angry at him. She didn't understand his purpose for his actions.
She doesn't care.
She doesn't care!
He ruined it, ruined it all!

STAB!STAB!

Put his filthy paws all over his companion!
His companion of all people let him!

STAB!STAB!STAB!

Why?! Why?! Why?!
Why won't she understand that all he was trying to do?!
Was PROTECT HER?!

STAB!STAB!STAB!STAB!

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip!

We'll talk about this later.

He blinked, red haze retreated from his vision. The dummy had torn off the post and was stuck on his horn, hanging limply over his face. Fucuello stared at the straw body for a full minute then quickly and efficiently slid it of his horn and onto the ground. People had begun to stare again. Yes he knew he was strong and powerful but did they really have to stare, so rude. When the attention had died down the words echoed once more.

We'll talk about this later.

How could he? How could he let his emotions and jealousy get the better of him? How could he scorn Trista like that?! He was no better than her mother! Of course she struck him, the boy was becoming her friend in her eyes, and she clearly had affections for Angel. The boy still shouldn't have his filthy paws all Trista but, perhaps it was right to make such expectations known in front of her. Clearly it hurt her. What kind of companion was he if he hurt his companion in such a way. Of course she cared, they had been together their whole lives pretty much. What a silly unicorn he was, sometimes.

They would get back to their dorm later, talk it over, and everything would be ok.

Right?



Scary. That's what this thing was.

But what was scary? Was it his heartbeat that was so loud the others could surely hear it? Was it how big the thing was? Why was he so big? What was he? What was his name? Why was his heartbeat slowing back down, the more questions he asked?

A force sent him tumbling gently over his back and onto his stomach. Huh, had the thing pushed him? It licked its lips and made a sound, that bounced with deep and rich tones.

”Hey little guy, far from your nest are you not?” BlueJay marveled at the thing's voice. It was lovely to listen to, like the booming one from the darkness. It came up through the ground and settled in his stomach. Made want to listen with rapt attention. He didn't care that he had no idea what a nest was, he just nodded. ”Will you be challenging me? What’s your name?”

Name.... Oh, name! The dragon gathered himself onto all fours and answered. "BlueJay! Who are you?" He waited for the thing's response before considering it's other words.

Challenge, challenge, what was a challenge? It sounded big, like something hard to do. But he couldn't wrap his head around the whole of what might a challenge might be? He looked up at the white thing. A word popped into his head.

Play.

As if on an accord both his own and not, his feet began to dance. Here, there, over, under, hop, skip, jump. All around the towering thing he pranced with a big grin showing his little sharp teeth. He would stop for a second as if to let it get him then dart away at the last minute. Sometimes he would jump at it and tap it with his claws or tail, never doing any real damage. Zip, zip, zip, it was like when he had gone of to follow Reechi! The ground had no substance and the wind was his friend, only one thing was different. This time it was....

Fun.

"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.

Solara was surprised at the hesitation and was just about to tell her that she didn't need to, to keep things smooth when Aya all but shoved the sword into her hands. Solara herself was merely wanting to inspect it, as she herself preferred a Rapier. Drawing the blade she whistled in appreciation of how the weapon felt in her hand. About to turn and remark on the beauty of her home locations blades, she blinked as she watched Aya run off looking scared and worried.

Frowning in worry she sheathed the blade and held onto it, meaning to give it back tonight when the ryders gathered for dinner. Placing it into her belt she turned to the rack and drew out another rapier. Solara meant to practice, and if she couldn't with someone she would with her companion.

"Are you ready for this Ravi?"

"Our normal practice then?"

Solara nodded as she assumed a ready position with her left hand's fingers laced behind and into one of her belt loops, her right held the sword so the point of it pointed at Ravian's chin. She held the blade loosely, so that it looked like it would fall out of her hand at any moment. She held her right arm out to her right, as if she was trying to clothesline someone, bent at the elbow to about 90 degrees. Her body and stance she shifted until her head faced towards Ravian, and her body was perpendicular to hers. Solara's feet spread till they were shoulder width, and her right foot was facing towards Ravian.

Ravian herself assumed no pose, as she didn't need to. She was planning to use her own magic. Summoning several balls of fire, she held out her hands and, after waiting for Solara to assume her pose, something that took her all of 5 seconds, caused them to fly at her. The rules of the practices were simple. Ravian had to dodge the balls, or hit them with her sword. This would cause them to reflect and come again. She could attack them, or defend, it was up to her, but if she succeeded in touching them with her sword 5 times the balls would disappear. However, she was not able to be hit by one of the balls once or she lost.

This practice served to sharpen Solara's abilities.

Fencing, a sword skill used with rapiers, generally was used for piercing not slashing and used only a few moves. Solara used some of them now to dodge the balls, and to attack them. Yet the entire time she did not move the tip of her sword from pointing at Ravian.

Reeps blinked a few times before she suddenly felt fingers behind her ears, scratching about there. She churred pleasantly, enjoying the feeling before remembering Bluejay’s plight. Her attention returned there, watching the reactions between the two. Bluejay definitely had an intimidated air about him, looking the large tiger up and down.

As the white one commented on him being far from his nest, Bluejay simply nodded, and Reechi grinned softly, a bright look to her face. After Bluejay supplemented his name, he realized the tiger had asked him of a challenge, but… he seemed confused, or at least that was how it appeared to Reeps. However, he suddenly sprang into action, zipping about and circling the tiger, occasionally jumping and tapping at him, simply messing around.

She snorted with a slight laugh, shaking her head in slight disbelief towards the actions of the dragon. She tilted her head up so her eyes could focus on the tiger himself, completely unsure how the creature would react. She turned to crawl up Saga, suddenly realizing that Aya was nearby. She lifted a paw, a look of confusion on her facials. ’When did you get here?’ She mused to herself, placing her paws onto Saga’s arms and crawling up them to his shoulders with a small chirp.

Reeperchi suddenly paused, her ears swiveling and twitching all about the place, and her nose wrinkled as her eyes narrowed. Something felt off, she could feel anger emanating from somewhere, and she had a feeling it was somewhat related to her in one way or another. A soft growl rumbled through her throat, and she turned to look around. The feeling grew and receeded, then grew again, until finally, as she had almost located the general direction it was in, it disappeared altogether. Her nostrils flared and she snorted slightly, shaking her head before returning to the action in the ring.



The large tiger’s eyes focused down on the small little dragon, watching its every movement and facial perks and decreases. He nodded at his first question, but Kirk simply smirked just a bit, getting the feeling the small fry didn’t have much of an idea of what he was talking about. He let out a little huff as he fell back on his haunches, his tail sweeping along the ground, his eyes trained completely on the dragon.

"BlueJay! Who are you?" He blinked once more lazily letting out a yawn, he hadn’t answered his main question, or at least not yet. Once more, that niggling in the back of his head returned, doubt flaring up as to if this thing had any idea of what was going on at all. “Kirk.” He responded bluntly, suddenly shifting forward with his shoulders squared a bit, analyzing his prey with eyes that told of a long experience doing such. There was absolutely no question that he loomed over this Bluejay, which was a rather perfect name considering the dragon was so alike to its namesake, and once more Kirk licked at his chops.

Suddenly the thing darted around his form, seeming to dance and prance about, sometimes leaping up to poke and prod, which was somewhat amusing at first, but quickly became somewhat of a nuisance. It confirmed his previous beliefs that he didn’t know what anything was, and Kirk soon became bored with its constant buzzing about. Almost as if he were a fly buzzing about his ears. His eyes focused on the small creature, watching its motions and movements, every time he seemed to pause, as if taunting Kirk to come at him, he’d zip off without a motion from the tiger. He figured out the pattern rather quickly. The white tiger yawned once more, his left ear flicking. It looked as if he was going to settle down on his stomach for a nap.

Suddenly, his paw shot out of nowhere, clasping down on the little dragon’s tail. “Heh, gotcha.” He chuffed with amusement, shifting backwards a bit to lay down. His other paw came out from under him, batting at the dragon’s head gently before he released it. “A challenge is more a fight, not so much a game.” He said simply, eyes seeming to bore into Bluejay’s as he rumbled his comment.

The girl covered her mouth with her wrist, and laughed, her blue eyes twinkling mischievously at him.
That's confusing. Why is she laughing at me? I haven't even done anything.
Maybe, Gladiator offered, You have an awkward standing position.
Ahhh! Oh, wait, yeah,you can read my thoughts now.That is going to take some getting used to. Wait.....I don't stand funny!
JJ moved his shoulders a bit just to make sure.
Her jackalope mimicked her, and now they were both laughing at him.
This is getting quite annoying.
“Hey guy, you appear to have something dribbling out of your eye.” She offered.
She looked down at the jackalope as he looked up at her, and they both grinned and simultaneously said, ”Fairies.” She offered an open hand, and the jackalope patted his paw down onto it in a high-five.
Wha....
What she had said still hadn't resonated in his brain.

She then turned away from him,and called over to the guy that seemed to have a horrifying, demon spawn as a companion.
As the boy was walking, he tripped over a rock and then started rolling and rolling rather awkwardly, until the personification of hell stopped him, right next to JJ.
Ouch. At least I'm not as clumsy as that boy. Now....what is dribbling from my eye?
He touched his left eye, but nothing seemed to be there.

The boy was now beet red as a sigh escaped his lips, and then started fixing himself up.
He then looked up, and JJ could see the streaks of dirt on his face.

"Um...", the boy sputtered, then he pulled a pocket sized pack of tissues from his pocket.
I should tell him that I don't think those tiny tissues will clean the mess off of his face.
But instead, he offered it to to JJ with embarrassed,shaking fingers.
"Th-there's s-something on your face."
The second person to say there is something on my face! Why....
But by then, JJ had located the liquid he had forgotten about, the nectar from the horn the three male fairies had blown into his eye.
Aw, man I forgot about this. How embarrassing...
Oh yes, I probably should have warned you that the nectar was still rolling down your face. Gladiator chimed in, nonchantaly.
I see you are a contender for the Companion of the Year, JJ thought sarcastically.
Ooh, you can be sarcastic. At least you are not entirely delicate.
Hey!
The boy was still offering the tissues, and JJ smiled down at him, and took them.
The boy was trying to be friendly, or at least JJ thought so, and he wouldn't mind at all making friends here. The boy seemed to have an innocent, naive look about him, and he was very lanky.
"Thank you, my trials in the fairy forest had nearly escaped my mind. If you ask, I'll tell you all about it."
He opened the pack and cleaned his face carefully. Gosh, those fairies.
He extended his hand, so the boy could shake it. "Hello, nice to meet you, my name is JJ." He looked at the girl who still looked amused. "What are your names?"

Trista quickly decided that Rapier's were not her thing. Heck even swords might not be her thing, they were long heavy and hurt her wrists. Solara seemed to already have a handle on this stuff though which was cool, because somehow she had managed to get her Rapier stuck in the Dummy's torso. She placed her foot against the straw of the dummy and tugged. Oh come on you piece of crap!

"You took him in then?" Trista glanced at Angel and nodded.

"In a sense, yes." Ssssssshhhhk- She stumbled a little as the sword finally came loose from the frame of the straw.

"That's incredibly kind of you, I can see why you're so close." She heard Angel say.

"Well it was my father who found him and brought him home to me. He put Fucuello under my care since he didn't have the time. Honestly I kind of failed at taking caring of him first but after a while we grew to be just like siblings…" Trista trailed of and bit the inside of her lip. A burn had began to smolder in her chest.

"Trista…" The girl looked up to meet Angel's serious face and blinked in surprise. Woah. Behind his eyes was a respect she hadn't ever seen from anyone her age before. "You seem like a really good person." A soft smile spread over the Raven girls lips.

"Thank you." Her reply was soft. The boy coughed and turned back to his dummy, earning small giggle from Trista. She could have sworn she saw a slight blush flash across his cheeks but that was just her wishful thinking.

"I'm gonna go get a new sword," She said looking down at the Rapier. "this one isn't wor- Hey, are you ok?" Angel's face, it suddenly looked so freaked out like the world was going to end. Trista waited for his answer then walked over to the swords, examining each one. None really stood out as something she could use.

Ugh! Trista placed a hand against the rack. The burning in her heart had seared into a roaring flame. It receded for a second then came back worse, ten times worse, then receded, then came back, receded, and came back, over and over again each time worse. She collapsed to the ground, clutching her heart from the pain. What the hell!?

We'll talk about this later.

Then it subsided, a warming feeling replaced it. Fucuello, he was being upset and throwing his little hissy fit probably. Though yes he had the right considering that he most likely thought that he was protecting her. She got up and brushed herself of with a sad sigh.



"Heh, gotcha." A pressure clamped down on his tail. Kirk set himself down on the ground, bat the little dragons head, and released him. BlueJay wanted to continue, to again jump around and feel the same glee that had overcome him. However Kirk's voice captured him again. This his eyes captured BlueJay in his gaze."A challenge is more a fight, not so much a game."

So that was what a challenge was, a fight! But what was a fight? He racked his small brain for some inkling or notion of the word. Fight? Fight? Fight? "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"Silence!" A voice boomed. This one rumbled through his darkness from below and slithered into his ears. "Let the Lady speak."

"I have no quarrel with you! Leave my territory neither I nor my mate have done anything to wrong you." It was his mother, she was close.

"Hmmmm, that is of no consequence to me. I like this territory and it would be good for me and my clan to have it." The voice slithered.

"Well you won't have it!" Never before had he heard his mother use such a voice. It cracked with a screech that split the darkness in half.

"Then how bout a deal, a fight to the death. If you win my clan leaves and bother you no more. If I win I get the territory," there was a pause. "As well as your precious egg."

BlueJay shuddered, the rest of the memory had been horrifying. There had been terrible noises he never wanted to hear again. Ripping, writhing, screaming, roaring, it was all so awful. The darkness had been jostled about with the turmoil, he had felt the dizziness of moving and then gone Thump! He couldn't think straight but had heard a distinct Crack! somewhere. Then he was being lifted again, moving again. It had gone on a long time, very slowly, throughout it all he'd heard his mother making terrible noises. Wheeeeze. Flap. Wheeeeeze. Flap. Wheeeeeze. Flap. When the dizziness had stopped he had been unsure if he ever wanted to leave his egg.

The little dragon looked up at Kirk. He wanted to fight. Which entailed whatever had caused those terrible sounds had been. He wasn't if he wanted to partake in such things, they sounded terrible. Plus what was death? And what did fighting entail, how did someone or something fight?

Little did BlueJay know he'd said this all out loud.

Saga felt all warm and happy inside when Reechi churred. He felt so accomplished, and the vibration of her vocal chords soothed his soul. He divided his focus between both of his favorite dragons, adoring Reechi and keeping an eye on BlueJay, The tiger was not doing much harm and playing nice, so Saga did not fret much. Bluejay kept spewing question after question after question after question after question after question…after question. Saga couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. At least he wasn’t the one who had to answer the questions. Anyone willing to answer, he would gladly let them! He didn’t know the complete entail of everything, only bits and pieces. Although if he had to answer, he would just make it look like he knew what he was talking about by doing conductive reasoning…and sounding confident.

He felt a presence all to familiar to him sit by his side an wrap her tiny arms around her knees. He let his head fall back and stared at the sky. Smiling. His sister really couldn’t live without him, she was just too cute! Still though, he hoped she would mature this year and venture out of her comfort zone. Explore the new, make friends, be confident, be herself…take risks!!

” Tough love, huh?” she had asked.

”Yeah,” he replied simply. Both sat in silence, watching the baby blue dragon. His sister knew him just as well as he knew her. They knew what the other needed to grow but not themselves. They knew each others habits, nervous ticks, and pet peeves. They knew everything about each other. He loved it! But sometimes…he hated it! He could never get away with lying, or being sneaky. When she was around he was not allowed to be ok with his faults, she pushed him. She corrected him. She gave him discipline and he gave her Love.

Saga smiled warmly when Reechi climbed up his arm, it gave him shivers. He felt so professional with Reechi at his side, maybe Angel would trade dragons with him haha.



”Yeah.”he replied simply. Aya nodded in a plain response, resting her chin on her knees. She tapped her feet softly. up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. She glanced up at her brother with big eyes filled with admiration. Only him. Only him. Only was she most comfortable around him. She scooted closer to him until their shoulders touched and she could rest her head on his shoulder. He didn’t move, or push her away, just…sat there. His breathing brought peace to her heart and she paced hers with his. Taking one deep breath at a time.

She had seen Riley.

He was smiling, laughing, enjoying his time with his precious friends. He was scary. He was big. He was…creepy. She snuggled up closer to Saga and tightened her embrace around her knees. If this kept going on, she would have a plague #2 on her hands. At that thought, she grinned to herself. She really couldn’t stand Nao back home. Part of her found him annoying, another amused. His reactions to everything was far to great to miss out on, scaredy-cats like him were rare. Not only that, but picking on him was enjoyable. It was a way for he to vent and relieve stress.

---Flashback : D---

”Look, Aya! It’s your favorite person, Nao!” Saga gestured hurriedly for Nao to come over. The rest of the boys: Shou, Tora, Hiroto, Saga, and her were gathered around in a square on the roof. Saga and Hiroto scooted over so Nao could join them. Nao ran over like one of those girls you see prancing around like a unicorn. He jumped through the gap between Tora and Shou and landed into his spot. Flailing his arms around, thinking he was cool.

”Just sit down!” Tora exclaimed, slapping his leg as he laughed. All the othoys laughed while Nao took a seat, but Aya didn’t. She reached into her bag, took out a bug repellent bottle(filled with water) and sprayed him with it.

”Saga, why did you call the Plague over here? He would have gone away eventually…” she said sourly. Nao twisted his body in weird ways as he flung his arms and legs everywhere as if the water was killing him like radiation. He hit Saga Saga in the face and kicked Hiroto in the side. Both yelled at him to knock it off and he pretended to cry. Aya smirked to herself, and Tora pointed at her.

”Oi! Aya, you’re just like Shou!” Tora pointed out. Everyone looked at the tiger in confusion. ”Shou is our Sadist King…And Aya, our Sadist Queen!”

Everyone burst into laugher.

Even Aya.

-----Flashback End---



“I’m not sure if I want to partake in such things, they sound terrible. Plus what was death? And what did fighting entail how did someone or something fight?” the young duckling spouted out one question after another, vomiting his thoughts all over Kirk. The young flyer was curious about everything he saw, heard, touched, and smelled. It reminded him of his daughter. The little cub was always getting into things, being chased by bears, going after dears, pestering her father about how to hunt, what she could eat, what certain plants were, what new places were, blah blah blah. She asked every when, what, where, and why question possible. His heart ached. He missed his little princess.

”Death, means that a person or thing is gone forever. They are never coming back.” darkness and sorrow laced itself into his voice like fine thread, ”And that will happen to your Ryder, if you don’t learn how to fight. he warned. He curled his tail around himself, his overly large shadow looming over the small bird-like dragon. He glanced over at Saga from the corner of his eyes; the scent of the bird was strong on him.

He must be his human companion

The boy appeared of an asian descent, with chestnut styled hair. His muscles were merely toned, nothing compared to Dereks mass of muscle in every single inch of his body. The Asian held himself elegantly, and resembled a young lady next to him that reminded Kirk of a middle schooler. However, unlike the young lady, Kirk got a down-to-earth vibe from him. He didn’t fret or run to his dragons rescue like most, or even shout out words of encouragement of battle. He was just…watching.

Kirk had an idea.

”Boy, I will teach you the first lesson of fighting. If you wish,” the feline said with a devious smirk sprawled across his face.

Angel

"I'm gonna go get a new sword, this one isn't wor- Hey, are you ok?" Angel looked up, disregarding the momentary feelings Reechi had been bursting with, content that she was okay.
"Oh, yeah I'm fine," He said, scratching the back of his head while examining his own sword. He actually liked it; it was rather long and thick bladed, but that was fine with him. Perhaps he'd go into swords, with more attention to the art then his other classes. Of course, hand to hand was always something he could do on the side, but this, this seemed like something he could like.
He slashed at the dummy a few times before turning to see what Trista was choosing. To his shock, she collapsed as he turned. Shoving the long sword into the dummy, he jogged over, not sprinting, because she seemed to be standing, but a pace fast enough to express his worry.
Angels hands closed on her shoulders as he kept her at arms length, looked her over squinting. "Whats wrong?! Are you okay?!" He removed his hands awkwardly but continued surveying her, searching for some injury. When she responded and he realized it was a more, surprised, emotional reaction he sheepishly cleared his throat and glanced around the area. He was glad she was alright, but he was really starting to have a tendency to be awkward- perhaps it was all these new people. Back home, he'd been smooth with everyone, not hesitating to flirt or throw out a compliment, but here, he felt a pressure to be held in good regards to these people.
But seriously, he was feeling very socially inept at the moment. Deep breathes Angel, calm down. Just get used to everyone, get focused on school, THEN you can be totally charming.

His eyes were attracted by bright flares of light- he glanced over, only to witness Amazon- er, Solara- expertly dodging and tapping flaming balls, thrown from her companion.
"Ooooh," Angel cooed in slight awe, admiring her abilities. The girl seemed to use no effort or conscious movement. In fact, she hardly seemed to move at all, but no ball touched her. If only he was half that graceful- that exercise would be fun, though he doubted his new favoring of the claymore wouldnt be so well suited to it.

"Maybe we should go to her for sword help, eh?" He said, half serious. Whatever pointers the girl had would probably be helpful, but since her sword choice was different from his, Angel didn't think she'd be much help to him. But Trista had had a rapier to begin with, so he figured the two girls might get along well. Well... Angel paused his thoughts. They had seemed to make up after their initial bad first impression but...
He wouldn't try to understand girls. Who knew if they were okay or what, even if they had seemed friendly on their way over.
He turned his attention back to Trista.
"You're sure you're okay?? You didn't hurt yourself when you fell?"
It wasn't that the girl looked particularly delicate, he was just naturally protective, and that included worrying about others. Which explained the hint of worry in the back of his mind at what would happen if Amazon- SOLARA- got hit with the flames. He didn't think her companion would truly let her come to harm, but still.
He glanced over as she finished her exercise, applauding enthusiastically. A few other kids, who hadn't drifted off to other stations yet, glanced at him and joined in the clapping, before becoming disinterested and going about their own business. Ooh, which, there was also quite a few other interesting ways of training going on behind Solara... but Angel tried not to get ahead of himself, and instead gave the girl a cheesy grin as she acknowledged his clapping.

"I'm going to have to practice and train hard, I feel incompetent compared to her." He noted to Trista, already thinking about how he would plan out his schedule in his head. He'd need time for training every night. He'd have to factor in how much energy each class would take too-so maybe every other night, depending how much work they did in class. speaking of which, when would they have to report to the next class?

He glanced at his large sword where it stuck out of the dummy. "Do you think we should keep trying to work this out, or you think this free period will be over soon?"

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.

"Th-thats Loki." Pippin practically bounced with glee, sharing his Ryder’s feeling of high energy and how great that seemed to fit the Phooka, and Macari grinned, “That is a fantastic name.” She said seriously, looking up to the Phooka with another look of appreciation.

”Hey…Macaroni right? Could you help me with this?” May turned her attention up at Derek, a smile wriggling onto her lips, and her eyes lit up. She laughed good-naturedly, poking him in the leg. Pippin merely looked up at him with a lopsided grin, one ear falling to the side. “It’s Macari, but that was one of the most brilliant name mistakes I’ve ever heard.” She grinned brightly at him, and Pippin chirped up at her, “I should call you that~” He spoke without any seriousness, but grinned nonetheless.

“Oh, ah, I’m not really that good with archery, I just had a friend back home who was great, and showed me a bit about what to do. I think that was more of a lucky shot, but hey, I made it! Anyway, I think you’re too tensed up, you should relax a bit more, and keep your elbow straight.” She smiled softly to herself, remembering how Kennedy would always have to correct her about that. She felt she did him proud today, and she returned her attention back up at Derek, her eyes bright and friendly.

Suddenly, her head shifted quickly to the side as she heard a loud ’thump’ and took in the sight of Drew rolling along the ground. Her eyes widened in surprise, a flash of worry blossoming, before Loki picked up the boy before he damaged himself too badly. His face was beet red, and Minxy tried to keep the frown of worry on her face, but was struggling not to smile. If she did, it would probably make the boy feel bad, even though she hardly ever made fun of anyone unless it was light teasing.

“Are… are you okay, Drew?” She asked, clearing her throat a bit to rid herself of any higher pitched tones because of the laugh that threatened to make itself known. He then looked up at the Asian boy, remarking on what May had already notified him about, but offering him a tissue this time.

Speaking of the Asian kid, he had been giving her a funny look, which turned slightly irritable, which made her uncomfortable, she didn’t think she came across as mocking. She turned to Pip with a questioning gaze, and he simply shrugged, ”Ah, don’t worry about it!” He offered with a reassuring grin, patting her shins happily.

He seemed to then look down at Drew, and just stare at him for a few moments, before taking the offered tissue and dabbing at his eye. "Thank you, my trials in the fairy forest had nearly escaped my mind. If you ask, I'll tell you all about it." May blinked at him, one eye squinting just slightly, ”Ah, he seems a little high on his horse there….” She thought at Pippin with a look of slight despair on her face, such things didn’t really bother her normally, but he seemed to make her a bit uncomfortable.

"Hello, nice to meet you, my name is JJ." She blinked, smiling once again as he introduced himself, ”Maybe it’s just a bad first impression.” Pip smiled up at her, echoing her thoughts. “What are your names?" Minx rested back on one hand, looking up at him. “Macari May.” She spoke lightly, a grin on her face as she patted Pippin with her free hand.

Pippin suddenly jumped up a bit, tilting his head up to look at May with big eyes, patting at her leg to get her attention. “We should go train!” He said, his tail wiggling a bit, “I kinda wanna go see what this ‘Special Abilities’ place looks like!” He bounced up and down just slightly, not actually leaving the ground as he did so.

Macari got up from her seated position, brushing off the back of her legs and such, before putting her hands on her hips brightly, as if accepting a new adventure. “Sounds like a good idea to me! Anyone wanna join us?” She glanced at the faces around her, waiting for their answers with a nice smile.

”….I’m. so sorry,” his cheeks became flushed at the horrible name mistake he had done. He felt like the shittiest guy in the world. He should have known, he should have known! No one names their friggin kid MACARONI! He ran his fingers through his hair irritably, Kirk had been right. If he had focused more on getting to know them, he would have figured out at least one of them had some talent sooner. Still, even with his rudeness, she addressed him kindly and smiled. She paid no mind to it, and her and her companion appeared too actually like the nickname. He felt something he hadn’t felt in a long time, warmness. The warmness of an August afternoon. Back in Dark Hallows, it was all about being rough and tough love. She reminded him too much of….

He tossed that thought away in the trash can before it could even finish.

” Oh, ah, I’m not really that good with archery, I just had a friend back home who was great, and showed me a bit about what to do. I think that was more of a lucky shot, but hey, I made it! Anyway, I think you’re too tensed up; you should relax a bit more, and keep your elbow straight.” she replied sweetly. Derek stood in silence, before saying

”Thanks,” and turned his back to her and took up the bow and arrow again. As he straightened his elbow and relaxed he felt that he needed to say more to her. Like he owed her something, you know?

No, I don’t know Kirk said.

Shut up.. Derek had groaned in his head and rolled his head. He could hear the faint noise of a chuckle in the background.

”You know, Macari, You aren’t half bad….” he spoke softly, almost as if he was embarrassed to say something so kind to someone. Sure, his only focus was revenge so he might come off as someone-

With a stick up their ass Kirk injected. Derek took a deep breathe.

Who was cold, he continued. However, he did have a sense of civilly and respect to the people he would be fighting along side with. Everyone here would be helping him get his revenge, whether he liked it or not. It wasn’t just him he had to work on; he would have to help others too if no one else would.

Are you going to shoot? Or not? Kirk questioned.

Oh..right Kirk snapped back into reality and peered through his pin. After aiming, and sure that it would go head on into the bull-eyes, he released the arrow. And it hit. The. Bulls. Eye. Half of his mouth curved up into a grin of pleasure. Yes!

“Sounds like a good idea to me! Anyone wanna join us?” Macari asked. Derek glanced over his shoulder at the three. Somehow, their conversation had progressed into a hang-out session while his mind had been off into who knows where. He scratched his nose, and responded only because it had been Macari who asked.

”I’ll stick here. I want to do some more training with this.” he raised the bow up slightly, to bring attention to it. He wanted to feel that joy of accomplishment again. And again. And again!

“Are… are you okay, Drew?”Macari asked, and Drew didn't glanced up from the intense stare he was giving to the grass in front of him to give her an appreciative smile.

"N-n-no actually, I think my w-wounds are fatal." He said sarcastically, surprising himself. Then he threw another mental party. He felt comfortable around these people- he'd made something akin to a joke. On the first day he'd barely even met them. This was good! Maybe the academy would offer him a new social start after all!
The boy had stopped giving him a look and took the tissues from Drews hand, cleaning the goo from his face.
"Thank you, my trials in the fairy forest had nearly escaped my mind. If you ask, I'll tell you all about it."

Drew beamed at the thank you, but his smile faded as he pondered this. Did that mean he wanted them to ask? Or was that a way of saying he didn't feel like explaining unless he or Macari wanted to hear? He wiped at the dirt irritating his face with the back of his hand, like a cat. He seems rather formal too.... Do I know him from somewhere!?
Before he could mull over it, the Asian was extending his hand and Drew shook it, careful not to overdo it like he had with Macari.
"Hello, nice to meet you, my name is JJ. What are your names?"
"Macari May,"

JJ? Now that was definitely familiar, especially paired with the face. He ignored it,

"I'm Drew," He pointed a finger upward where Loki loomed overhead. "Th-that's Loki," Satans spirit animal. He added mentally. Loki snorted in response to the thought and Drew cowered away from the noise. The phooka's mental connection to the boy served to transfer his extreme amusement, something the Phooka was feeling for and more since meeting Drew.
"I don't see whats so funy...oh... I was going to try to stop the mental abuse.... sorry Loki."
"Heheh, What is a spirit animal?"
"Er... Kind of a form of companion I suppose,"
"But I am your companion?"
"Never mind Loki,"

Drew refocused as May's companion hopped excitedly about Special Abilities. For companions then? Drew glanced up at Loki from the corner of his eye. He wondered what types of things the phooka could do. Again came that amusement.
The teen whacked the phooka in the hairy leg, ignoring his fear in slight annoyance. He didn't like being laughed at. He'd been laughed at enough in life.
"Loki stop!"
The phooka laughed heartily and Drew punched him again, not minding that he was now yelling outloud. (Though his noodle arms caused hardly a feeling to Loki). He rolled his eyes, crawling over to sit next to JJ and Macari's companion Pippin.
"G-go away." He said stubbornly to Loki as Macari stood up,

“Sounds like a good idea to me! Anyone wanna join us?”

Drew paused for a moment, thinking. He'd like to stay with these people, since he knew them now. But would special abilities mean he'd have to work with Loki? He was a bit annoyed at the beast. He seemed to find amusement in everything Drew did, which just made the human feel incompetent and foolhardy.

“”I’ll stick here. I want to do some more training with this.”

Drew sighed. Derek seemed to be staying then. The blond didn't seem to talk much, at least not to him. But he felt rude leaving him alone. He'd wait until JJ answered then- he didn't know if Derek would even take kindly to Drew hanging around.
So, with an annoyed look at satans pet, Drew also stood up, brushing more grass off himself. He'd collected quite a bit from his tumble.

"I g-guess I should g-go to found out more about phhhooka's." He said with a nervous smile to the girl. Did she even want him along? The invite was probably more towards the other boys.It usually was after all.
Anyway, the teenfigured he should at least get something accomplished before classes. He doubted he'd be able to pull back the bow strings on those bows, or lift any sword, so focusing on Loki seemed a good enough way to go.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Trista gave a pained smile to Angel, thankful for his concern. The boy seemed a little awkward thought, glancing around and not making eye contact. Then again they had just met, one couldn't expect him to be completely comfortable around her, especially since she just collapsed for what he could know was no reason at all. She suddenly felt a little guilty, it was just a little pain. Did she really have to collapse?

FWOOM! FWOOM! Bright flares of heat and light caught Trista's eye. Woah! That's awesome! Solara was a boss! The girl was expertly dodging and parrying balls of fire with grace and speed. Something that Trista knew she lacked. For some reason she had always been a slight klutz and always managed to blame it on her hight, but now it seem that excuse had just been torn up and tossed out the window.

"Ooooh." She heard Angel coo. While she had to agree, it didn't help her self esteem at the moment. "Maybe we should go to her for sword help, eh?" To this Trista's thoughts decided to make a fork in the road. One took the road No! That girl will catch his eye, besides she never really accepted your apology, I mean really nag nag nag the other said Oh, hush! The girl really does have impressive skills and it can't hurt to learn. Trista decided to take the higher rout and nodded.

"Yeah, might help to make sure I don't make a fool of myself." She laughed. It would be silly to start something again. She wanted to, but she had enough drama for today and-she didn't think she would ever say this-honestly just wanted to train. Solara finished her exercise and many, including Angel, began to clap. Trista gave the impressive show its dues in her own personal awe.

"I'm going to have to practice and train hard, I feel incompetent compared to her." Angel noted. That was very true. Now that she thought about it she was grossly unprepared for this. What would her dad think if he came and she was still waddling around like a duck? Though she knew her fate probably did not lie in swords, she did spot a few other things that might work better. "Do you think we should keep trying to work this out, or you think this free period will be over soon?"

Trista blinked, not quite sure how to answer. Angel seemed suited to sword, especially that claymore he had been using, but at the same time she didn't want to separate off and go on her own. She was actually enjoying training with Angel. So even though the pole weapons at the other end of the field caught her eye, she decided to give that Rapier another go. "I don't know when Draconem is going to end this, I assume in time for dinner. But for now," she took back the Rapier with a motioning glance to Solara. "Lets go see what we can learn."



"Death, means a person or thing is gone forever. They are never coming back." Kirks words had only just reached his ears when his entire being turned cold. A harsh cold that burned and froze his innards. His mother, had she... had she made the slithery voice...die? Made a thing like him and her be gone forever and ever. Something about that was big. He didn't see completely why, but whatever it was made him cringe. If thats what fighting was then he didn't want to do it. "And that will happen to your Ryder, if you don't learn how to fight." No! He didn't want Saga to die! They just met, and Saga was his companion!

A foggy but new idea began to form out of the ice that held BlueJay's heart. To fight, for the ones you love. The thought hurt the dragon's head.

"Boy, I will teach you the first lesson of fighting, if you wish," Kirk said.

BlueJay couldn't think, he just knew what his answer was. "Yes."

Fresh green leaves of a new season fluttered down to the ground, and were picked up by the wind the next second. It wuthered through them, giving Kirk a refreshing cool down for his fur and skin. He always enjoyed a nice breeze. While waiting for the feathery bird to respond, he bickered back and forth some smart remarks at his Companion. The young man reminded Kirk much of himself, especially when he was younger. Inexperienced, serious, and lonely.

But I can't blame him... he thought to himself after losing everything dear to you, your emotions just shut down so you can endure the pain everyday. It's hard enough just to breathe, or even sleep at night

Kirk couldn't remember the last time Derek and he had a good sleep. On their journey to Ryder Academy, they'd often go days without sleep only to find themselves collapsing from lack-of-sleep. They never slept, unless forced to by their bodies. None of them wanted to face what would haunt them in their dreams...The unconscious mind never lied.

”Yes.” he blurted out, probably by instinct. Kirk brought his slit eyes down.

”Alright,” he got up, stretching like every cat does. He curved his back in and then stuck his butt out. After shaking his fur, he roared fiercely and leaped over Bluejay, making a straight bee-line to his Ryder. No words could describe the excitement Kirk felt when the Asains eyes shot open in shock like a worried prey. The monstrous sized tiger pressed his paws against his torso and pushed him down onto the ground, baring his teeth with a growl. ”Fight me, or he dies.” Takeshi lay under him, trapped, squished and straining for air. He clawed at the tigers hand to no avail. The woman next to him almost lunged at him…until Saga did something that surprised even Kirk.







”No, Aya.” he gasped, barely scraping out enough air. He threw his hand out, signaling for her to stop. ”Let….him….” he returned to his previous action of pointless pulling and ripping at the tigers paws, he stood no chance. Here was a feline that was twice his size and weighted more then 300 pounds or possibly even more. How was he going to get out of this? Bluejay was too small, would he be able to stop him? Would he die here? Draconem had said that companions felt everything he did, and they would never have another companion. Would Bluejay die if he himself did? He didn't want that! He clenched his eyes shut, damn it, he couldn't protect his family. And he couldn't even protect his own companion.



Shit! Shit! SHIT!



The rims of his eyes were starting to go black, and his face slowly began to merge into the color of light purple. He could hardly lift up his arms, it was as if gravity was magnetizing his hands to the ground. He winced. Attempting to steal small breathes worsened his taste. The slight bits of air he could get were only teasers and was sending the inside of his body into a fit. Raising his chest for breath was nearly impossible, everytime he tried the tiger pressed down harder. Pushing more force onto him each time, at this rate his ribs would-

Crack!



”AH!” he hazed, his voice cracking. Was this it?



Bluejay…….Bluejay……Bluejay!






What the hell was going on!? Her brother. Near death. Before her eyes. Dragon. Cat. She didn’t want this! Everything was moving by too fast, and her first instict was to lunge at the feline with all she had. Put it into a head lock and threaten to snap it's neck if it dared to pain her brother any more. Seriously, what was her brother doing? Why was he telling her to stop? He would surely die! Her breathing grew heavy quickly, her shoulders rising up and down in fast paces. Breathe in through her nostrils. Out through the mouth. Again. Repeat. Again. Repeat. また。また。また。また。また。また。また!　なんだよ?　如何?　 如何?　 如何?　鬼!　サガ!　



The guilt she felt for having the ability to breathe right now could not be expressed. It should be her there, she was tougher then him. She could take it. Stop!Think calmly, her mind was running so wild that her thoughts went back into her natural language. She knew her brother, why would he think something like this was ok? She backed up and Estabel came to her side, rubbing her head against Ayas cheek as she usually did to calm the young, fragile girl down. Usually, Takeshi would run away from every single thing that was associated with fighting. It was hard enough just to keep him in martial arts long enough so he could learn how to block. Why did he have to pretend to be strong right now? 馬鹿!　馬鹿!　馬鹿!　



”AH!” he yelped. Hazing and coughing, his skin tone changing. She clenched onto Estabels mane and shut her eyes tightly. Biting her lip, a small tear filtered down her cheek from her left eye. She shouldn't cry! Everything was going to be ok....Everything would work out alright...right?



”Isn't that enough Kirk? Please, stop!” Estabel begged, the fear of her human companion was transmitting into Estabels emotions. She was scared, she was scared she would be all alone in this world. Her only source of happiness in her entire life was in pain and possibly on the verge of dieing. Estabel didn't understand why, that if Aya loved her brother so much, why wasn't she going against his wishes?



My culture...Esta...My trust...I have to listen...and have faith

“Macari May.” The girl said, her voice light as she petted her jackalope. Her companion started to jump a bit,looking at Macari May with big eyes that JJ thought was to plead with her over something,and started patting her leg to get her attention.
"I'm Drew," the dirty boy on the ground said, pointing a finger upward where his satanic companion was. "Th-that's Loki."
Loki.How fitting. He noticed how Drew stuttered as he mentioned Loki, and safely assumed Drew was scared at him.
He leaned down towards Drew,whispering, "Honestly,your companion scares me. A lot.He's pretty much the incarnation of the devil." He grinned to show he was joking around.
“We should go train!” Macari May's jackalope said, his tail wiggling a bit, “I kinda wanna go see what this ‘Special Abilities’ place looks like!” He bounced up and down just slightly, as if rocking on his heels.
Macari May got up and brushed off the dirt from her pants and such, and then said brightly,
“Sounds like a good idea to me! Anyone wanna join us?” She glanced at the boys, waiting for their responses with an expectant smile.

Hm...I have studied much about companions, especially about their magical capabilities. Maybe I can make friends with these people if they are impressed by my knowledge.
"Loki stop!" Drew shouted, punching his Phooka, and JJ didn't know why. Must be that stupid connection.
Are you embarrassed that now I can read your every thought and emotion?So when someone points a sword at you and you shriek in terror on the inside, I can laugh?,Gladiator thought.
JJ threw a grimace at him. Yes. he admitted grudgingly. Loki went to go sit next to JJ and the jackalope. His very presence sent JJ on end.

“I’ll stick here. I want to do some more training with this.” Some guy next to them said, and JJ thought he wasn't even paying attention to the group. JJ had observed him arguing with people earlier, but didn't know he was still part of the scene. He had thought the guy just wanted to be some kind of loner,and he didn't introduce himself either.

Drew seemed to sigh at this, and then got up to try to brush some of the grass stains.
"You really are going to need some major cleaning up later." JJ offered.
He thought Drew and Macari May were good people and he'd like to be friends with them, so he decided to go with them.

"I'd love to accompany you actually", he said to Macari May,smiled, and then pointed behind him to the phoenix.
"That is Gladiator, by the way, my companion." The phoenix's feathers puffed out at this and they seemed to blaze in the sun.

"I g-guess I should g-go to found out more about phhhooka's." Drew said with a nervous smile, and JJ had to shake his head,grinning, at the skinny boy's hesitation and stutter. Rather endearing it was.

"Well then, I guess we are off then!", he said enthusiastically. He was way more excited for magic training than,say,shooting an arrow at a target.

Suddenly, in the corner of his eye, he saw the two girls from earlier, and a third girl, chatting excitedly as they looked at him. He turned around and waved at them, a good-natured smile on his face, and the girls shrieked.
Well, I guess some things never change.
What is going on?Do you know those girls, JJ? Gladiator asked, and JJ shook his head,grinning.
No, but they know me, he responded as the group of girls approached him, and their expressions brimmed with excitement. JJ loved that he had so many fans, and their reactions to seeing him. Maybe he'd hang out with these girls as well.
"J...J..", some girl stuttered, and the other girls pushed her towards him.
JJ chuckled, and put his hands on her shoulders to steady her. She looked giddy.
"C..can we t..t..take a picture with you?", the blonde whispered.
"Of course." he responded, and her friends yelled again, taking out their phones and going to pose with him.
As they took pictures with him, they chatted endlessly, and JJ was relieved there was some familiarity in all of this Ryder stuff.
"I just loved Butterfly Kiss, I bought the deluxe and the premium album and-"
"We ordered some of your shirts too-"
"I didn't know you were coming here, it's just a dream-"
He laughed as they put their phones away, and hugged each of them.
"Thank you," he said as he looked in the girls' eyes,"Not just for buying my album, but for this moment right now."
The girls shouted again, and waved to him as they left. And JJ truly was thankful,because he loved his fans.

Oh,wait,what am I doing right now?
He turned back to who he hoped were his new Ryder friends, and smiled sheepishly, running his hand over the back of his head.
"Sorry I delayed us. Shall we go?"

Reechi’s tail curled up and then unfurled, then curled up once more. She could tell Saga felt pleased with her being on him, and that in turn further pleased Reechi. She grinned very happily, all previous unease forgotten, and she climbed down his back from his shoulder just a bit, to about his shoulder blade, and then shifted upwards to lounge over his shoulder. Her hind legs rested against his back, while her stomach laid against his shoulder itself, the rest of her splayed over the upper part of his chest.

She tilted her head up to watch Bluejay and Kirk, as she learned was his name, and perked her ears up to listen more easily. Kirk had by then caught little Bluejay, patting at his head before releasing him, and then he began to make a quick explanation of what a fight was, sort of. Bluejay sat there, listening to Kirk, and remained in the same position for a little while, unmoving. Reeps tilted her head to the side, curiosity written on her face, wondering just what the dragon was thinking at that moment.

Suddenly, a bunch of questions, and a few comments, spewed forth from his mouth, aimed right at the tiger’s face. Reeperchi could feel Saga’s form rumble just a bit as he laughed, and her attention was grabbed by the closer voices of he and his sister as they spoke just a bit to each other. Saga seemed to be lost in thought for a bit, and she watched his face for awhile before Kirk’s rich voice reached her ears once more, and she turned her head back to him. He was just explaining death to Bluejay, and finished with the blunt bit of, ”And that will happen to your Ryder, if you don’t learn how to fight.” Reechi’s eyes narrowed slightly, ’Well, that was a bit harsh.’ She frowned, and then Kirk told the small dragon he would teach him the first lesson in fighting if he wanted.

Bluejay’s answer was swift, and a yes. Reechi’s head perked up, interested to see what the tiger had planned for the little dragon. After confirming, Kirk simply stretched, and all seemed well and good for that moment. However, a fierce roar broke through the tiger’s maw, and he suddenly leapt over the dragon, and he kept going. Straight towards Saga and herself. Her eyes widened in shock and fear as the large animal reared up and forced Saga to the ground, taking her with him, and Kirk pinned him there. Reechi was trapped under his shoulder, a loud whine of pain squeezing past her vocals. ’Idiot, what are you doing!?’ Her thoughts were frantic, and she seriously questioned the sanity of that tiger right there and then.

”Fight me, or he dies.” It was one, simple rule, that was completely ridiculous. How could Bluejay possibly force the tiger off of them when Kirk seemed so content to strangle the both of them right there? Reechi struggled underneath Saga, her panic crystal clear before her real worry became Saga.

The Asian forcibly told his sister not to help, and that only baffled Reechi more. ’Does he seriously want to tempt death?!’ The tiger seemed to put more pressure if Saga tried to struggle, and that apparently also meant trying to breath. Reechi had turned her head to look at the boy’s face, and quickly realized the shades were all wrong, and purple didn’t look good on him right now. Reechi was able to breathe with a little trouble, but Saga was crushing her just a bit, ’How am I supposed to get out of this one!?’

Her eyes were wide, her breath frantic, her heart beating way faster than it should, and her thoughts reeling. Suddenly she heard a loud crack, and everything seemed to freeze within her. But it certainly didn’t stay that way. Her mind was clear now, and the only thing that seemed to remain was… pure fury.

Her pupils narrowed to mere slits, and her body wracked with held emotions, her mouth set in a fierce line, and she slowly turned her head to look up at Kirk. The air surrounding the group seemed to grow immediately heavier and gained a bit of negatively charged atoms to it. Static ran through it, and it could certainly cause the reaction of hair standing up on the back of your neck. Reechi’s own fur now parted and flickered up like spikes, and her eyes gained a yellowish tint to them from the electricity. Her maw parted, and sharp rows of teeth were displayed. Some were hooked backwards, others were jagged, and one thing was for sure, they definitely didn’t seem to have been there before.

She suddenly strained against Saga’s shoulder, forcing her neck as far as it would go to reach Kirk. She just managed to reach a nice size of his chin, and she clamped her mouth down on the flesh, a determined look 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.