Dragon conjurer 5, p.20
Dragon Conjurer 5, page 20
“Oh, me, too!” Steffi smiled and bounced into the girl’s room without another word.
“Good idea.” Nala followed the fairy-girl into the bathroom and tugged Elisabeth in behind her. “We’ll just be a minute.”
I could feel Doppelganger’s impatience at another interruption as he took a deep breath, and Kitsune murmured something quietly to himself in Japanese that made the thicker dude almost smirk.
“Do not be rude, you were both as excited when we were named,” Wisp chided them under her breath as I followed Nick into the men’s room.
We changed quickly into our new uniforms and returned to find the three overly serious Japanese cadets stood exactly where we had left them.
“Are we ready?” Kitsune asked.
“Yep.” Steffi nodded cheerfully.
Doppelganger marched in front of us and walked right into the first empty training space. He started tapping at the simulation computer before the rest of us had even made it all the way into the room.
Steffi leaned inconspicuously over the Japanese cadet’s shoulder as he programmed in the scenario.
“What have you selected?” Kitsune asked.
“An Akugyo,” the stern-faced guy answered.
“Good choice.” Wisp nodded as she tightened the laces on her boots.
“What’s an Akugyo?” Elisabeth asked as she pulled her long coppery hair into a tight bun at the back of her head.
Nala and Steffi instinctually turned to me for the answer, but it was Kitsune who explained.
“An Akugyo is a Japanese yokai similar to the ancient Greek legends of mermaids,” the narrow speedster said. “They have been known to capsize entire ships and feast on the flesh of the sailors. Some breathe fire, and others are more fish-like. The one Doppelganger has chosen will have large horns on its head and has been said to ensnare entire fishing boats in its fins.”
“Neat,” Nick said with a cocked eyebrow.
“I have programmed a sandy beach for this session,” Doppelganger said matter-of-factly. “It will begin now.”
We all nodded and left the control room to head into the holographic training area, and the sky had already turned bright as a holographic sun formed above. The rays glinted off the gently rippling water of the seashore that sprawled out a hundred yards ahead of us, and the sandy beach sprawled in every direction as far as we could see.
Nala smirked as her feet started to sink into the loosely-shifting sand, and a second later, she rose up on firmer platforms of her own creation.
“Nice,” I praised the earth bender.
“Thanks.” The dark beauty smirked as she tested her sand-skates by riding them like rollerblades in a circle around the group.
Ronin’s full figure was bathed in white astral light as her Samurai armor fell into place, and she formed a wakizashi blade in her right hand.
Steffi fluttered her golden wings out behind her and hovered into the air, and Wisp waved her hands smoothly in the air and gathered a small rain cloud between her palms.
Phoenix’s upper body glowed in bright orange light as his astral flames licked along his fingertips, and he lifted up above the sandy beach to hover beside my fairy-girl.
Elisabeth shifted her body into an enormous black bird, and I smirked and wondered if the three-legged crow had been an inspiration for her shift today.
Nick frowned for a moment as he looked around and found there were very few plants on the newly formed beach. Then he glanced back at me as if to ask what he should do now.
“Bianxifa,” I said, and Beyblade appeared before us in a flash of orange-red light. I gazed up at the beautiful beast and told him in my mind to go with Nick.
The scaly red dragon crouched low enough in the sand for the blond nymph to hop up on his back and take a seat on the ridge of his spine.
“Thanks, man.” Nick grinned and pulled his dart gun from his belt. “Come on, Beyblade, let’s get airborne.”
The fire dragon puffed a cloud of hot air and lifted my best friend easily into the expanded sky of the training room.
At that moment, the gently splashing waves in the distance began to churn violently, and a whirlpool formed as the water chopped and crashed on the beach.
“Here we go,” I announced. “Everybody get ready.”
We continued to move toward the thrashing of the water, but then we stopped in our tracks when an Akugyo rose up out of the water.
Chapter 12
The Akugyo was such an odd-looking creature. It was beautiful in a hideous kind of way, with a large fish-like body and a human face, and two curled, white horns sprang out of the monster’s forehead. Its scales were a lovely gold and white pattern that reminded me vaguely of Goldie’s pearlescent hide, but instead of scales up top, this monster had long, flowing hair.
Then I heard an eager chuckle beside me, and I glanced at Doppelganger and found he had started to quickly shift into the monstrous shape of the horned Japanese yokai.
The thickly-muscled guy’s slicked-back hair shifted into long, flowing locks, and two huge curling horns grew out of his forehead. The single mole on his cheek disappeared in a slightly scaly texture as his legs morphed into a single huge fish tail that slapped softly on the damp sand beneath us.
He looked up at me with eerily translucent eyes and nodded once before he slithered away on the loose sand toward the shore.
I lingered toward the back of the group as we approached the Akugyo at the edge of the water. Steffi and Phoenix reached the amphibious beast at the exact moment a second yokai sprung up out of the water about twenty yards to the left.
“Great,” Nick murmured from the back of my fire dragon. “There’s two?”
“Did you think I would program only one?” Doppelganger asked with a genuine smirk. “That would have been far too easy.”
One of the Akugyo splashed its fins violently in the churning waves and spewed saltwater high into the air at us.
Wisp threw up her hands and did her best to catch the mist and reshape it into a fog to give us a little cover. The salt from the seawater fell to the sand below like a tiny hailstorm as the Japanese girl caught most of the spray. The forceful splash that made it past her splattered against a thin wall of sand that Nala had thrown up.
Then the second Akugyo started to splash its way over to us.
“Guys, split up,” I called out from the back of the group. “Divide and conquer.”
“Very well,” Doppelganger replied as he charged forward at the first sea monster.
“Phoenix, Wisp, Ronin, Nala, go with Doppelganger,” I called out.
I was curious to see how Wisp and Nala’s powers could work together, and I knew the earth-bending girl had wanted to explore her ability to sense the Japanese cadet’s mist through the earth. I also knew Ronin and Phoenix always worked together, and I figured there was no sense in breaking up such a unified team.
“We’re on it,” Nick shouted as he turned Beyblade to the left to halt the advance of the second yokai.
“Elisabeth, Kitsune, Steffi,” I called out and pointed after my fire dragon. “Go with Nick.”
“Right.” Steffi nodded.
Kitsune raced off and reached the Akugyo first, and he began to speed in circles around the aquatic beast to churn up a spray of water that unbalanced the creature.
“Exokyzo,” I summoned Ky, and he appeared in a flash of chilly blue light beside me. “Let’s get a better viewpoint.”
My ice dragon appeared to nod his big scaly head at me, and then I hopped onto his back, and he took off into the air. I silently instructed him to fly high enough overhead that the Akugyo’s attacks would fall short of his scaly hide, but not so high that I couldn’t see what was going on below. Ky obeyed my thoughts perfectly, and I couldn’t help the huge grin that spread across my face.
“I want to get a better feel for how the cadets all work together,” I murmured quietly to my scaly companion.
Ky settled into a monitoring, circular flight path around the perimeter of the fight as my team and the Japanese cadets got to it.
Wisp lifted a thick fog up around her team’s target as Nala shaped golf ball-sized chunks of rock out of the beach sand and started to throw them with all her strength at the hideous yokai’s fins.
Doppelganger’s monstrous body waded into the waters in front of the real Akugyo, and he lashed out at it with his own fins. The slap of his fish tail on the surface sent a harsh spray of seawater up at the yokai’s face, but this did nothing but piss it off.
Then Ronin charged at the beast with her wakizashi drawn, but the fishy beast dodged out of the way with as much grace as a dolphin despite its large size.
At that point, Nala began to send her small stones flying at the Akugyo’s scaly body, but the monster deflected most of them with its enormous tail.
“Try making them sharper,” Wisp suggested to Nala as she formed a fresh fog around the hideously beautiful creature.
“Right.” Nala nodded and shifted her hands to shape her balls into more aggressive projectiles.
I turned my attention to the other group to see how they were doing.
Steffi hovered high overhead and blasted beams of golden energy down at the Japanese yokai, but they seemed to have little impact on the aquatic monster’s tough scales. I could see Steffi start to get irritated by the lack of impact her attack had, and I shaped my hands around my mouth to call out to her.
“Try a denser attack, Steff,” I hollered.
The pink-haired girl nodded once and held her orb of golden light for a long moment as she focused all her attention between her hands. Then Steffi blasted the beam down at the Akugyo, and this time, it punched so forcefully into the beast’s gut that it let out a whoosh of breath, and its eerie eyes glazed over for a second.
“Great job,” I called to my fairy-girl.
“Thanks!” Steffi smiled.
Elisabeth’s black-feathered form fluttered heavily around the beast’s head as she clawed at the Akugyo’s face. Her sharp talons grasped a chunk of the sea demon’s long hair and ripped it clear out of the beast’s scalp.
The Akugyo shrieked out in rage and reached to grab hold of Elisabeth’s bird foot, but the French shapeshifter flew out of its reach just in time.
Nick circled low over the beast on Beyblade’s back and aimed his gun at the creature’s scaly torso.
“Watch out!” Steffi cried suddenly as she flung up her energy shield in front of herself.
A burst of intense flame shot out of the Akugyo’s mouth and licked at Beyblade’s tail, and he whipped around to veer away from the sea monster below.
“Shit!” Nick cried as he held on tight to my fire dragon with his thighs. “These things breath fire?”
“Did we forget to mention this?” Kitsune almost laughed as he zoomed past the beast and sprayed sea water up into its face to distract it.
“Uh, yeah, kinda,” Nick grumbled as he righted himself on Beyblade’s back.
“Kitsune,” I called down to the speedster. “Keep it distracted.”
The narrow Japanese cadet nodded once before he zipped forward and circled stupid-fast around the fish-monster’s tail. He ran so quickly that he bounded right over the surface and splashed sea water up onto the Akugyo’s face.
Elisabeth soared away from the yokai and landed on the beach, and the shapeshifter’s body was still for a second before she shifted into a large, black panther. Then Elisabeth stalked slowly back to the water while the Akugyo was distracted by Kitsune’s splashing water attacks. She creeped up near the fishy tail of the creature before she launched herself at the Akugyo’s tail, and then she ripped through its fins with her sharp teeth.
The Akugyo cried out in pain and rage as large sections of its tail fins were shredded by Elisabeth’s teeth and claws.
I smiled to myself and directed Ky back over to check on the other team.
Nala’s sharp stone attacks had ripped holes through the Akugyo’s fins in several areas, but the creature had caught on to the manner of the assault and begun to blast its fire breath out at the rocks to knock them away.
Wisp continued to raise as much fog as she could to inhibit the creature’s visibility of the team while Phoenix sent a blast of fire down from above that singed the creature’s long hair.
Doppelganger stood a few feet away from the sea monster and looked almost like he was about to throw up, and I furrowed my brow in confusion. Then the Japanese dude let out a small fire from his mouth, and he slapped his fins on the water’s surface and moved toward the real Akugyo.
The yokai screamed in defiance as it slapped out with its own huge tail and sent buckets of water up at the shapeshifting guy’s face.
Doppelganger spluttered and coughed as his body shifted back into his human form, and he stumbled up to the beach. His black hair was dripping wet as he bent forward and coughed to clear the salt water from his throat and lungs.
Apparently, his shapeshifting powers were more superficial than I’d thought and did not run deep enough to alter his insides to protect him from the elements that the real yokai lived in.
“Are you okay?” I asked as the Japanese guy gave a last shuddering cough and spat sea water out on the sandy beach.
“Yes,” Doppelganger answered as he took a deep breath. “I am fine.”
“Wisp, concentrate your fog as thick around the Akugyo’s face as you can,” I instructed.
“Hai,” Wisp called back as she furrowed her brow in concentration. Then she laid out a fog so thick, it looked like I could reach out and grab hold of it.
“Nala, can you give Ronin some cover fire as she goes in for another attack?” I asked.
“I can do that.” The curly-haired girl answered and formed several hand-sized stones into the shape of spear heads.
“Ro, tear up its fins, and take it down a notch,” I said as Ky circled back around again. “You guys got this.”
The Samurai warrior extended her astral wakizashi toward the creature’s thrashing fins, and it tried to swim out of the blinding fog, but Wisp was determined and maintained a thick haze around the yokai’s head. Then Ronin’s astral blade as she sliced into the monster’s tail fins, and the sound of the Japanese monster’s shrieks followed me as Ky and I soared back over to check on the other team.
Steffi blasted bolts of golden energy down at the second Akugyo’s head and torso as Kitsune raced back and forth. They managed to keep the sea creature’s attention while panther-Elisabeth crouched low in the thrashing waters. Then the French shapeshifter tore at the monster’s fins with her sharp claws and ripped them to shreds, but the beast was strong and managed to stay mostly upright in the shallow waters.
“Nick, can you get a shot in?” I asked as Ky fell into line beside Beyblade.
“I can’t get a clear shot with everyone else there.” Nick shook his head in frustration. “But when they try to clear out to make room for me, the Akugyo lashes out at them before I can take it down.”
“Right.” I frowned at the predicament as I tried to think of a good solution for my team.
“This beast is being especially troublesome,” Kitsune observed as the sound of the other sea creature’s screams came from twenty yards away.
I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see Ronin’s blade pierce through the simulated Akugyo’s heart and destroy it.
The yokai’s monstrous body glowed bright white for a split second until the entire beast burst apart into a million pixels that disappeared into the splashing waves.
The Japanese warrior smiled with stoic satisfaction, and her twin brother let out a short cheer.
Nala and Wisp clapped their hands briefly, and even Doppelganger nodded with an impressed look on his stern face.
“Hell yeah, Ronin!” I called out. “That was badass!”
“Yes, it was,” Ronin agreed, and she kept a completely calm expression on her face, but then her cheeks turned pink just the tiniest bit. “Thank you, Dylan.”
I smirked to myself as Ky landed gracefully on the sandy beach nearby the remaining Akugyo, and the creature let out a fresh burst of fire from its mouth.
“Elisabeth, get back!” I yelled.
Elisabeth quickly pounced with all the force of her feline legs and managed to leap out of the way of the flames just in time to escape the worst of it. The glossy black fur on her back smoldered a tiny bit as she landed back on the beach a good eight feet away from the sea monster. The French girl shifted back into her human form and glared with irritation at the fish monster.
“This beast is irritatingly obstinate,” Doppelganger pointed out as he and the rest of his team walked over to observe the others.
“Yeah, it sure is,” Steffi agreed with a huff as she blasted another flurry of energy bolts down at the beast’s face. They landed like soft punches, and the beast’s face looked swollen from the flurry of attacks, but it was nothing the Akugyo couldn’t handle.
“Tell me, Dragon Conjurer.” Doppelganger looked up at me where I sat on Ky’s back. “How would you handle this beast?”
“Oh, I mean--”
“Go on,” Steffi giggled. “Show them what you bring to the team, Dylan.”
I sighed at my fairy-girl’s completely cocky smile, and Nala and Elisabeth were even looking a bit smug now that it was my turn to step up. I’d intended to observe and take notes for this one, but the way my girls got so prideful about my powers really was one of the cutest things about them. I’d never seen a group of girls look so fucking confident about a guy’s abilities, and they crossed their arms and cocked their hips like I’d already won this fight.
So, I decided to humor them a bit today.
“Trylle frem,” I said with a smirk. “Everybody onto dry sand, now.”
My team and the Japanese cadets didn’t hesitate to move away from the water, and with a cracking flash of indigo lightning, my storm dragon blasted into existence on the beach.
Then Thor roared his heart out, and spindly zaps of lightning shot out of his nostrils and jaws while everyone clapped their hands over their ears.
