Dragon Conjurer, page 27
“Get ready,” Nala said while she put her hand on my shoulder. “I don’t think you’ll have room for Ky in the cave, Dylan.”
“I needed to exercise the other one anyway.” I lifted my shirt, even though I had no idea if I even needed to lift my shirt to summon the dragon. “Bianxifa.”
The new fire-breathing dragon seemed to roll out of my chest and onto the ground in a flaming ball. Then it unfurled itself and turned to look at me, and its spindly whiskers seemed to wiggle to touch my leg.
“Okay, new buddy,” I whispered and knelt in front of the dragon, “we’ve got a cave troll to fight. The cave is going to be narrow, so I need you to keep the flames down so you don’t barbecue us. Do you understand?”
The red beast bobbed its head, and then it spun around and shuffled deeper into the cave.
“Huh,” Steffi said as we followed behind the dragon. “Ky would’ve stayed at your side.”
“Maybe this one is a little more independent?” I speculated and shrugged. “Just be ready, everyone.”
We only walked for a few minutes before we came into the cave troll’s lair. The cavern was about twenty feet across at its widest and about twelve feet tall. The walls seemed to have been hollowed out by something beating against them until they were the right shape, and the cavern descended into the middle of the room where a dark shape was lying.
It was the troll, and with what little light Steffi’s ball of magic put off, I could see the creature was about as big as a fully-grown elephant but ten times uglier. Its bulbous eyes were closed, and its fanged underbite was open. The monster’s meaty hands were laid over its stomach and clenched into fists, and its skin was dark gray and leathery, like a rhino’s, and covered in old scars.
I had no idea if Steffi created the hologram to look like this, or if AIMM had a troll just like this in its demented monster zoo, but I hoped it wasn’t the latter.
“What’s the plan, boss?” Nick whispered and pressed himself closer to the mouth of the cave. “I don’t see a lot of living plants down here.”
“I see moss on the walls,” I said and pointed across the room. “If you can zip in and out of that patch and keep the monster distracted, then we can get some hits in.”
“What about me?” Nala asked as she crouched down. “I mean, we’re surrounded by rocks. I could fuck him up.”
“I want you to see how much power you can release without getting out of hand.” I got down on one knee next to her and placed a palm on the ground. “I’ve wondered if you can be like Toph and use your connection to the earth to feel vibrations. Want to try that?”
“Oh, hell, yeah, I’m down.” She grinned at me and stood back up. “I’ll work on that while I fling some pebbles at him just to get some hits.”
“Steffi and I can attack as normal,” I added and got back to my feet. “Steff, I know the ceiling is pretty low through here, but I want you to fly around the troll’s head and concentrate your attacks on his stomach and head. Those look like his weak points.”
“What about you?” the fairy girl asked as she cocked her head and extinguished her ball of magic.
“I’ll build my relationship with my new dragon.” I turned to look where I’d last seen the beast, but I couldn’t see anything in the darkness. “Okay, so we’re all going to work on fighting in the dark. Not a bad idea.”
“If you say so, boss,” Nick muttered as the four of us bunched closer together. “I don’t like it, but I trust your call.”
“Steffi, make the first move,” I instructed and licked my lips. “Here we go.”
“Consider it done,” the fairy girl said as her wings brushed against my arm, and another ball of magic manifested in her hands.
Then the cave lit up again, and we got a great view of the troll staring back at us.
“Fuck!” Nick yelped as he disappeared from view and reappeared across the room. “I don’t think we have any more time to plan, boss!”
“Steffi!” I shouted as my dragon suddenly appeared out of the shadows, wrapped itself around my legs, and spat sparks at the troll.
“On it!” The pink-haired fairy lifted off the ground and hovered while she launched her attack at the hideous monster.
“Nala!” I yelled and stepped away from my dragon as it slithered across the floor and headed for the troll.
“I’ll work to keep it distracted!” the dark-eyed beauty called back before she dropped to her knees and bowed her head. Her fists pressed into the ground, and at least a dozen golf ball sized rocks rose out of the ground and flew at the troll’s tough backside.
“Launch another bout of flames!” I ordered my dragon and pointed at the troll.
It was hard not to feel like a Pokémon trainer, but I didn’t care because I felt pretty badass.
The dragon obeyed my command and blasted the leathery monster’s feet with a jet of red-hot fire. The flames lit the cave up, and the troll’s screams echoed through the room.
“He’s a loud motherfucker!” Nick shouted from across the room as he made a leap at the troll’s head and bounced off it like the monster was made of rubber. “Can we take him down before he makes us all go deaf?”
“Working on it!” Steffi cried out as she zipped through the air over the creature’s head and focused her attacks on its eyes and mouth. “Nick, give me your hand!”
“Have an idea?” The nymph blinked out of sight for a moment and then reappeared behind the troll. He reached his hand up, and Steffi grabbed him by the wrist and lifted him off the ground.
“When… I let you go,” she strained as she flew him around the room, “drive a kick into his left eye.”
“Smart thinking, Steff!” I yelled and pumped my fist. “Nala, give them some cover!”
“Got it!” my smallest teammate shouted and shot a single stone as big as a grapefruit at the fork in the troll’s legs.
The monster roared as the rock made impact, and I found myself clenching my knees together with sympathy pains.
“Low blow, Pipsqueak!” Nick cackled as Steffi got him into position. “But it’s a great cover!”
“Do it!” the fairy cried out, and then she flung Nick straight toward the monster’s head.
The nymph dude sailed through the air like a human javelin with his heel aimed right at the troll’s eye. The flight only took seconds, and Nick’s foot made direct contact with the monster’s eye socket.
The roars got even louder, but I was too excited to see the troll reel back in pain to even care.
“Fuck, yeah!” Nala screamed and chucked another grapefruit-sized rock at the monster’s stomach. “I could feel that!”
“Let’s finish him off!” I ordered and snapped my fingers. “Dragon, use Flame Wheel!”
Like a snake trying to eat its own tail, the Chinese dragon bit the end of its tail and erupted into a fiery ring of pain. It rolled straight at the troll and slammed into the monster’s lower stomach, and the scaly beast spun upward until it rolled all the way up the troll’s torso and smacked into its chin.
“Hell, yeah!” Nick shouted as he ran around the edge of the room and met back up with me. “Tear him up, dragon dude!”
While Steffi landed by my side, we watched as my new dragon friend torched the troll’s face with a stream of white flames.
But before we could watch the troll dissolve into a satisfying pile of pixels, the cave disappeared around us, and we were suddenly standing in the middle of the training room.
“What the fuck?” I murmured and looked around while the dragon returned to my side.
“What gives?” Nala asked as she got to her feet. “That’s never happened before.”
Before the rest of us could speculate any further, a klaxon alarm began blaring, and red lights started flashing.
“All cadets,” Burkhard’s voice blasted over hidden speakers, “report to the cafeteria. This is not a drill.”
“Whatever they’re planning, shit’s about to hit the fan,” Nick mumbled and put his hands on his hips.
What were we about to step into?
Chapter Seventeen
I expected the news to be followed by chaos similar to the panic in High School of the Dead, complete with titties and asses bouncing in the pandemonium, but instead, all of the cadets filed into the halls in a calm and orderly fashion. Everyone gathered in the narrow entryway and waited their turn for the elevator, but it was so cramped in here, I didn’t like it one bit.
“Move it or lose it!” Nick shouted as we finally smushed our way into the crowd. “Hey, we don’t have forever!”
“Nick, we have to hurry to the front,” I grunted while I got bumped around. “I don’t think shouting is going to help.”
“You know what would help?” The nymph spun around and fixed me with an emerald stare. “Summoning your dragons to scare everyone into parting like the Red Sea.”
“Not a bad idea,” Nala mused and shoved another girl off her. “It’s better than being trampled.”
“Alright,” I muttered and rolled my neck. “Exokyzo! Bianxifa!”
One right after the other, Ky and the new elemental dragon emerged from my body in two equally radiant bursts of light. Ky hovered over the crowds as best he could in the tight hallway, and the new dragon crawled toward the elevator.
In front of us, cadets murmured, yelled, and pressed themselves against the wall as they stared wide-eyed at my dragons, which left a perfect route for us.
“Thanks, buds,” I said as we ran to the elevator. “I really owe you one.”
I called the dragons to return to me just as we stepped onto the elevator, and the four of us pressed into the crowd already inside before the doors shut and we headed to the cafeteria.
“Fuck, this is insane,” Nick muttered and shook his head. “It’s fucking crazy.”
“I know,” Nala agreed quietly, and she scooted over until she was pressed up against my side. “This isn’t the end of the world, is it? I mean, it can’t be.”
“I don’t think the monsters are ready to destroy everything yet,” I said and put a hand on her shoulder. “We’re just hearing about this, right? I’d imagine it’ll take a while to actually destroy everything.”
“I hope you’re right, Dylan,” Steffi murmured while she wrapped her arm around my waist. “I don’t want to face the end of the world yet.”
“Come on, guys.” I put my arms over Steffi and Nala’s shoulders and looked at my own teammates. “We’ve faced a lot together. We’re going to be fine.”
The elevator slid open, and we stepped off first. Nick held his arm in front of the door to allow everyone else to get off before he pulled his arm out and sent the elevator back to the training room floor.
“What do you think’s going to happen?” Nala asked as we stepped into the cafeteria. The smallest member of our team pressed herself into my open side again, like she was getting claustrophobic from all the warm bodies inside the dining hall.
There were several dozen other cadets inside, as well as half a dozen guards posted at regular intervals around the room, and everyone was staring at the blank screen hanging from the ceiling.
“I hope Burkhard gives us an assignment,” Nick answered while we slid into our seats at an empty table. “I want to help stop whatever it is coming our way. I think we can do a lot of damage. We know what we’re doing anyway.”
“I’m sure he’ll send us out there,” Steffi sighed and propped her thin elbows on top of the table. “We’re the strongest team AIMM has. They wouldn’t dare bench us.”
As more and more cadets trickled into the room, I looked around to get a better read on how everyone was feeling. It was easy to tell how my team was taking this, since they told me, but the rest of the cadets were a mystery. We knew what was going on because we told Burkhard what we learned out in the field, but I doubted the information we gave him was common knowledge, so it would be interesting to see how everyone else was handling it.
Some teams were huddled close together with their heads down and arms crossed. They seemed to be lost in debate or thought, and they were oblivious to the world around them.
Others were standing up, taking wide stances, and shaking their heads like this was no big deal. Those teams didn’t seem to think this was a problem, like they could handle whatever it was, but I doubted they’d know what to do when the bomb got dropped.
Bruce’s team was one of the cocky groups, and the bully and I made eye contact from across the room. I was glad my uniform covered my chest tattoo, so if he didn’t see the new dragon downstairs, he wouldn’t know about it yet.
“He’s not going to bother you,” Steffi whispered as she laid her thin hand on my arm. “He wouldn’t dream of doing anything when guards are watching.”
“He’d be stupid to try,” Nala snorted as she smirked up at me. “Dylan would just kick his ass again.”
“Yeah, but I don’t think he’s going to leave me alone in the future,” I muttered as I turned to look at the girls next to me, but as soon as my gaze made contact with their honey-colored and ebony eyes, I forgot about Bruce.
Funny how looking into a sexy woman’s eyes could make a guy forget about his problems.
Finally, the room was filled to capacity, and two Agent Smiths moved to stand in front of the door to keep it from being opened again.
All of the tables were occupied, so a lot of teams were standing together in small semicircles. I was glad we’d gotten to the cafeteria when we did, so we wouldn’t have to stand up while the announcement was made.
Then the screen blinked on, and Headmaster Burkhard came into view. He was sitting at his desk as usual, but his face looked grimmer than I’d ever seen it before. The lines around his eyes and mouth had doubled, and his normally sharp eyes were just as sober as the rest of him.
“He doesn’t look good,” I murmured to my team. “Whatever he’s about to say can’t be any better.”
“Good morning, AIMM cadets,” Burkhard’s voice echoed over the speakers in the room. “Early yesterday morning, we received a report from Japan’s Academy, where they informed us of a devastating tsunami and earthquake striking their coast and causing billions of dollars of damages. They sent their teams to investigate, and they discovered what appears to be monsters working together.”
In Burkhard’s silent pause, the cafeteria erupted in scared murmurs, like a buzz of a million little bugs starting to flap their wings at once.
“Shortly after Japan sent this report to us,” Burkhard continued, and the chatter died down, “we received news of wildfires spreading throughout northern California’s hillsides, and we dispatched one of our teams to stop the imps causing the damage. Of course, the team was successful, but they reported an unusual activity from the imps. It seems the little devils were only one part of a plan: to launch simultaneous attacks around the world and cripple humanity.”
Once again, the cadets started to gossip, but this time, it was loud enough for me to hear parts of the chatter.
“This can’t be true,” one girl said as she shook her green head. “It just can’t be!”
“You think we’re going to die?” one Blue-ranked boy whispered and drew his arms into his side. “I don’t want to die.”
“That plan has been set in motion,” the headmaster continued as if he didn’t know how much of a bomb he’d dropped on the school. “There is a Category Five hurricane moving toward Florida as we speak, and there seems to be no sign of it slowing down once it makes landfall. At the same time, a massive dust storm has kicked up in the Midwest, and it’s heading straight for Iowa. Lastly, seismic activity from Japan’s earthquake has been detected heading straight for the West Coast. We suspect it’s more than just aftershocks, though, and we will need a team to go out there and stop it before it’s too late.”
“Which do you think we’ll get?” Nala asked and looked away from the screen. “I hope it’s the earthquake. All too easy with my powers.”
“I want the dust storm,” I said and tried not to think about how I had no plan for stopping it. “I’m from the Midwest.”
“My vote’s on earthquake,” Nick sighed and crossed his arms. “Sounds like the most foliage is out there.”
“I don’t want to vote,” Steffi murmured and pressed her forehead into her arms on the table. “They’re all horrible.”
“I am dispatching Bruce Olsen’s team to the West Coast,” Burkhard said without ever looking away from the camera. “Report to Bay Seven immediately.”
“Yeah!” Johnny’s voice yelled as the four bullies pushed their way through the crowds and toward the door.
“I want Natalie Tyler’s team in the Midwest,” the headmaster continued. “Report to Bay Nine.”
The green-haired girl tossed her head and motioned for her three teammates to go with her. They left the cafeteria in silence, with only their squeaky shoes making noise when they walked through the door.
“Lastly, I want Dylan Cooper’s team to handle the situation in Florida.” The Kingpin lookalike blinked for the first time and folded his hands together. “Report to Bay Two.”
“Fuck,” Nick sighed as we got up and left the cafeteria. “How am I supposed to fight in Florida?”
“There are plenty of trees there,” I explained as my hands clenched and unclenched.
I couldn’t believe this was it. This was our biggest mission ever, and I didn’t have the first clue about how we’d handle this. I only hoped we had a long flight so I could work out the details.
“I guess that’s true.” The nymph pushed his blond hair out of his face and behind the pointy tip of his ear. “But the fight in Florida seems like it’s going to be way worse than the fights anywhere else.”
“I’m sure it will be,” Steffi murmured as she lifted her chin. “They wouldn’t send us otherwise.”
We loaded onto the elevator and headed down to the hangar. It was quiet inside, with only the floors beeping by to keep us from being totally silent.
Our previous missions hadn’t seemed too dark, but maybe it was because we were called into an assembly and told how dangerous this was by our leaders. Maybe it was because we’d seen how bad things could get and wondered how they could become any worse, and now things were so much worse. I had no idea why this mission felt different, but I knew I didn’t like it.
