Dragon Conjurer 2, page 16
This was like anime cuisine heaven.
“Oh, hell, yeah,” Nick muttered as he rubbed his hands together and practically salivated over the plate in front of him. “I’m ready for this meal.”
Before I could pick up my chopsticks and dig in, though, a meaty fist slammed into the table beside me. I followed the arm up to Dragon, and I met his glare with an even look.
He was just like Bruce, so I had to treat him like the bully he was. That was all.
“This isn’t over, American,” the bully growled and clenched his fists even tighter. “You think you can come here and take my girl away? You thought wrong. We’re going to fight, and I don’t care how. You’ll get a taste of my fire breath!”
Oh, come on. I’d just gotten to the Academy, and I already had a rival?
Talk about déjà vu.
Chapter Eleven
“Listen,” I said to Dragon as he edged his way in between my seat and Ronin’s place at the table. “I just got here, and I don’t exactly want to start fighting when I’m here to help foster peaceful relations between our Academies. If you have a problem with me, we can settle this like civil adults, and not like kids on a school playground.”
“Whatever,” the bully growled as he pounded his fist into the table hard enough to make my chopsticks bounce off my napkin. “Stay away from my girl. You’re too American to understand, but you’ll see one day.”
After he left, four of us started to look around the table at each other, but Ronin kept her head down like she was ashamed.
“What the fuck is that guy’s problem?” I scoffed and went back to eating the delicious food set out in front of me. “It’s not like I came in here and demanded the two of you be added to our team. That’s on the Headmistress.”
“Well,” Phoenix started, “Ronin and I come from a really rich family here in Japan. We grew up next to Dragon and his family, and there was a long-standing agreement that Dragon and Ronin would be married one day.”
“Arranged marriage?” Nala snorted and looked around the table. “Do they still make you do that even here in MAJK?”
“No, I was getting to that.” The astral-powered dude lifted some noodles into his mouth and slurped silently while we waited for him to continue talking. “After I was first brought here, and Ronin was taken shortly after, the Headmistress told our families no arranged marriage would be condoned under MAJK’s roof. There is, of course, no problem with us dating other cadets, as long as we’re professional about things when the time comes.”
“Obviously, that’s the same at AIMM,” Nick joked as he pointed his chopsticks at Nala and me. “I mean, look at those two.”
“Shut up.” I smirked and glanced at the beauty beside me. “Can you blame me for wanting this?”
“I know I can’t,” Nala purred as she rubbed my arm. “You know Nick’s just teasing, cutie. Don’t let him get you down.”
I caught Ronin staring at us again, but this time, I noticed she was studying Nala’s hand on my arm intensely. She didn’t seem to be shocked by Nala and me flirting with each other, but maybe she was curious about it?
I couldn’t be sure with her. Ronin was an enigma I would have to figure out later.
“Anyway,” Phoenix continued after swallowing another bite of noodles. “The Headmistress told our families Ronin would be allowed to choose if she wanted to marry Dragon, and our families consented to that. After all, we are part of MAJK now and not a part of normal society. The rules that apply outside these walls have no meaning here.”
“So, Dragon hasn’t realized it’s supposed to be Ronin’s choice?” I questioned and cocked an eyebrow at Phoenix. “Does he think his power gives him the right to harass her into doing what he wants?”
“We are the same rank,” the girl next to me finally spoke up, but she did not once look up from her plate. “He and I are both Named, so he has no real power over me.”
“What she said,” her twin brother added. “That doesn’t stop him from trying, though. It’s why we usually keep ourselves busy when we are worried he will show up.”
“He sounds like a grade-A prick,” the nymph scoffed and shoveled some more tempura into his mouth. “We already told you about Bruce, right?”
“Yes, you mentioned him.” The Japanese dude took a drink from his glass of water and rolled his shoulders a little while he sat up straighter. “He is similar to Dragon, right?”
“Even down to a similar power,” Nala added with a nod. “You said Dragon breathes fire?”
“He does, and in all sorts of different colors.” Phoenix shoved his plate away from his place in front of him and leaned forward on his elbows.
“Well, Bruce has the ability to create and manipulate fire,” I murmured as I finished up my food and pushed my plate away. “He’s fought me once, and I kicked his ass handedly, but he’s still bitter about the fight. Thinks it wasn’t fair or something.”
“It sounds like you are a prodigy.” The astral-powered dude across the table smirked. “I think our doctors are going to have a lot of fun examining you.”
“Yeah, I just love being poked and prodded,” I chuckled.
Ever since I’d arrived at AIMM, Dr. Hastings and her posse had begged me to be their Dragon Conjurer guinea pig, and I’d agreed because I knew I would be helping them. In the last week alone, I’d been poked by needles, passed through MRIs, X-rayed, CAT scanned, weighed, measured, and everything in between. The doctors even tested my allergies for whatever reason, but AIMM added some money to my stipend to compensate me for my troubles, so I couldn’t complain.
It also helped that Dr. Hastings was the one touching my body throughout all the tests.
“Don’t worry,” Phoenix assured me as he waved his hands in front of him. “Our scientists won’t go crazy on you. They won’t draw crazy amounts of blood or make you read off charts. All we want to know is if there is a way to predict who will become a Conjurer.”
“What do you mean?” Nala asked while she propped her elbows up on the table. “Like you can genetically predict who is more inclined to develop a certain power?”
“Something like that, yes.” The Japanese dude smiled at the dark beauty. “We’re wondering if there is a way to track magic users through DNA. It’s already been proven that twins will develop similar powers, regardless if the twins are identical or not.”
“More than once?” I asked. “No offense, but I didn’t know if MAJK has seen this several times before.”
“Every set of twins brought to MAJK have developed similar powers,” he explained and laced his fingers together while he talked. “I don’t take offense to it, but I will explain what I mean. We’ve had seven different sets of twins, identical and fraternal, brought to MAJK over the last few decades, and each of those twins came in at different times but developed a similar set of powers. Ronin and I were brought in a year apart, because I developed my powers a year before she did. We were separated for that year, but she learned how to wrangle her powers on her own before she was brought to MAJK after me.”
“Interesting,” Nick muttered as he rubbed his chin with his hand. “Do other siblings develop powers the same way?”
“Why do you ask?” The astral-powered guy cocked his head to one side and put his folded hands down on the table.
“I have two little brothers, and I just wanted to know if there was a chance they’d develop the same powers I did.” The nymph dropped his gaze down to the table like he was thinking hard about something.
“I haven’t seen any evidence to suggest only siblings of a magic user ever develop powers of their own.” Phoenix pursed his lips. “Of course, there is a chance, but here, I haven’t seen any little siblings following in their older brother or sister’s footsteps. Only twins.”
“Would you want your brothers to be like you, Nick?” I asked as I leaned toward him a little. “I mean, this life is awesome, but it’s also dangerous.”
“Yeah, that’s why I hope they stay where they are.” The blond dude looked up and shrugged his shoulders. “I know they’d love to be like me, but I don’t think they’re cut out for this life. Hell, sometimes I don’t think I’m even cut out for it.”
“Don’t talk like that, Nick.” Nala rubbed his arm gently and grinned at him. “Come on, don’t be sad. How can you be sad when we’re here in Japan? We’re going to get to learn so much about their culture firsthand. We’ll get to take down Asian monsters and meet new people. How cool is that?”
“Actually, yeah.” The nymph grinned at our smallest teammate and nodded his head once in her direction. “You’re one hundred percent right. This is the coolest fucking thing to happen to me since I got my powers. I should be soaking it up.”
“Well, speaking of soaking it up,” Phoenix began, “why don’t Ronin and I take you around the campus while Dylan reports to our doctors?”
“Can I go with him?” Nala asked and patted my forearm gently. “I can always see the grounds later. I think he should have a familiar face in the labs with him, and maybe I can be a translator.”
“Thanks, Nal, you’re awfully sweet,” I commented and waved one hand in front of me. “If you don’t mind putting your tour off until later, then I’d like to have you up there with me while they’re experimenting on me. I’ll make it up to you somehow.”
“Deal.” The dark beauty smiled at me as we followed Phoenix to the dish drop-off and out of the cafeteria.
“I’ll show you where you’re going, Dylan,” our guide said as the five of us piled onto the elevator to head up. “Don’t worry, the scientists all speak good English, although if you have Nala with you, that wouldn’t be a problem.”
“Just take my best friend out for a good time while I’m gone,” I responded as I watched the numbers tick by on the display above the door. “Maybe I’ll catch up with you three later.”
“Sure,” the nymph piped up and patted me on the shoulder. “I’ll be sure not to enjoy myself too much without you.”
“You’d better not.” I looked over my shoulder and grinned at my best friend.
“Because being such a smooth criminal with the ladies is such a burden,” he laughed. “Being the most powerful fucking cadet in our Academy is so awful, just because you have to put up with some needles and geeks who never see the light of day, is it?”
“Okay, touché, man.” I grinned and brushed his hand off my shoulder. “You know what I meant, but I get the point. ”
“That’s the spirit.” The nymph bumped me in the arm as the elevator doors opened, and the five of us stepped out.
“Ronin, stay here with Nick,” Phoenix instructed his sister while Nala and I stood close together. “I’ll be back shortly.”
His twin only gave him a nod and leaned against the wall next to the elevator.
I could only imagine how awkward Nick was going to feel since he couldn’t chat Ronin up.
The three of us walked down the halls toward the labs, and I couldn’t help myself when I slipped my hand into Nala’s and gave her fingers a hard squeeze. At least I had Nala with me. Her presence at my side made it easier for me to head down the halls behind Phoenix since I didn’t have to be too tough by myself. I could be tough, but I liked being able to be a little more like myself around the dark beauty holding my hand.
“Alright, we’re here,” the Japanese dude said as he stopped outside a plain white door with a Japanese letter on it. “Best of luck to you, Dylan. We’ll see you again soon.”
“Yeah, catch you later,” I replied as our guide walked away. “Thanks for showing us the way.”
“Alright, let’s go,” Nala instructed as she took me by the arm and led me into the room.
Once we were inside, I could see nothing but stark white walls, floors, and lab coats. Everything about this room screamed “sterility,” and I was suddenly aware of the fact that I hadn’t showered since this morning, and we’d already fought a monster before we got here.
There was a padded chair that looked like it was from a dentist’s office in the center of this room, and around the dark blue chair were a couple of crisp white desks. Beside the chair was a smaller metal seat, which I hoped Nala could sit in while these guys did their experiments on me.
“Ah, yes, Mr. Cooper,” one of the men in bright lab coats said as he approached us. He was smaller than me, with narrow shoulders and a weak chin, and he held a syringe in his gloved hands. “Please, have a seat.”
“Just tell me you’re not going to be knocking me out for any of this,” I said and walked to the chair in the middle of the room so I could take a seat. “I also brought my teammate with me, so I hope that’s okay.”
“That is no problem,” a second scientist added while the dark-skinned beauty took her place in the chair beside mine. “We encourage you to do what you can to get comfortable while we conduct our experiments.”
“How long is this going to take?” I leaned back in the chair and stared at the popcorn ceiling. “Am I going to have to swap rooms at any point in this process?”
“Oh, no,” the first man assured me while he tied a purple strip of rubber around my left bicep. “We will do a general overview of different tests, and while we do, we will have one of our doctors asking you some questions about your powers. Where you first summoned a dragon, how you summon them when you need them to fight, what you noticed about the dragons when you first summoned them, and so on.”
“Sounds like it’s going to be pretty thorough,” I said as I got comfortable in the chair, or as comfortable as anybody could get in a chair when they were about to be stuck with a needle.
“Hey, at least I’m here,” the dark beauty next to me whispered as she rubbed her hand across Ky’s tattoo.
“And I’m glad you are,” I chuckled and rubbed her hand with my own before the scientist with the syringe put my arm back in place so he could stick that needle in me.
“Sorry about this,” the Japanese man apologized while he drew my blood.
“It’s fine.” I closed my eyes and made myself get comfortable because I knew I’d have to get more than one vial drawn. “It would be cool if these tests led us to more knowledge about magic and monsters.”
“Yeah, and you’re getting a lot of compensation,” Nala giggled and squeezed my hand. “I mean, you settled for a lot of money when you came aboard, and they’re giving you even more for the tests.”
“And I met you, right?” I opened my eyes and smiled at my gorgeous teammate sitting next to me, and I was more than a little grateful to have her presence in the room with me while these guys did their work.
“That’s all the blood I think we’ll need,” the first scientist finally said as he set the tenth vial aside. “Do you happen to know your blood type right off the top of your head, Mr. Cooper?”
I couldn’t believe they needed that much, even if it wasn’t a lot in the grand scheme of things.
“Yeah, I’m AB negative,” I responded. “I found out after I went to a college blood drive last year. Figured I would donate.”
“Just as we suspected,” the second scientist in the room said as he took the vials from his partner and set them on one of the tables nearby. “So far, every student we have brought in has had anything but AB negative blood. We believe there might be something to do with an individual’s blood type and the nature of the powers they will develop.”
“So, are you saying everyone who has AB negative blood could be a Conjurer?” I sat up in my chair and followed the second guy around the room with my gaze. “That would be like, what, less than one percent of the world’s population, right?”
“It’s not just about blood type, though,” Nala added as she put her free hand under her chin. “I’m A positive, the most common blood type in the world, so what does a magic user’s blood type have to do with anything?”
“We have no way of knowing,” the first scientist admitted while he took the rubber off my bicep, and the feeling in my arm started to come back. “We are operating under the assumption that Conjurers are all AB negative, seeing as they are the rarest form of magic user and possess the rarest blood type, but we have limited data, and so we cannot put forth anything more than a hypothesis at this point.”
“When our student ambassador went to Russia,” the second man continued, “we’d hoped RMA would allow us to draw their Conjurer’s blood to sample, but their leaders refused to even entertain the idea for more than a moment. We wish they’d been more considerate, but we speculated they would be… less than cooperative.”
“So, how do you have this hypothesis if I’m the first and only Dragon Conjurer you’ve tested?” I questioned. “No offense, of course.”
“Mr. Cooper, we encourage your questions,” the first man said with a wide smile. He reminded me of the kind-hearted masters in kung fu movies, and even though he’d just taken about a cup of my blood, I couldn’t help but feel comforted by his grin. “We enjoy it when our cadets pose questions to us. It means they are paying attention.”
“We have this hypothesis because we’ve seen about two thousand different magic users come through our doors since the beginning of MAJK.” The second scientist ran his hand over his silky hair, and then he rubbed his palm against his stubbly jaw. “Out of those two thousand, only three of them have ever had AB negative blood. The first two were elemental Conjurers, from more than a generation ago.”
“You are the third Conjurer,” the first one finished as he pressed a sterile wipe into the crook of my elbow. “So, even though we have very little evidence to support our theory, that very same lack of proof has done a lot to help solidify our estimate.”
“Glad to be of help.” I grinned at the two men and leaned back in my chair just a little bit more. “So, you guys don’t know any more about the dragons, do you?”
“I wish we could offer some more proof, but we’ve never been able to observe dragons out in the wild.” The second scientist moved around the lab again, and this time, he grabbed a few more instruments like what looked like a thermometer and a blood pressure cuff. “Then again, we already know very little about monsters as a whole, so we have no way of knowing where they come from, either.”
