Tyler the Dragon, chapter 2
Hello again!
This is chapter 2 of my story, hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I dont own anything appart from the characters/location I came up with.
Chapter 2: That's what friends are for
It was early in the afternoon when Tyler woke up. Remembering the dream, he sighs. He did dream after that. He dreamt he flew over the forests of Avalar with Deleria at his side. She would glance at him and smile, he would smile back. As soon as the dream begins, it ends. He sighs again. He loves that dream even though its short, he has it a lot. He gets of his bed, stretches like a cat. Then his belly growls. "Oops, guess I'm hungry. Oh yeah, today school starts again." He glances over to the clock on the wall. It's a simple clock, a circle with the numbers on the edge. The background is black while the numbers are white, so are the pointers. It's 9 am in the morning. "Nine am. Hmm."_He looks around his room. _"I'll gather my school stuff later, first food!" He dashes towards his door, opens it, slips out and closes it with a flick of his tail. Casually strolling down the corridor he turns right, towards the mess hall. Some of the dragons he passes nod to him, Tyler nods back of course. They are dragons he goes to class with. As he approaches the mess hall he sees a familiar dragon, and not of the good kind.
"Hey Tyler, what's up!" A dark red male dragon steps in front of Tyler. Tyler sighs and glances at him. "What do you want now Ashe?" Ashe grins. "Nothing, nothing at all 'Blacky'."
Blacky is Tyler's nickname in Ashe's gang, because he is black, unusual for a dragon these days. Ashe's gang are just generally bully's, picking on any smaller dragons that are in their way. Surprisingly, he's alone now.
"You know." Begins Tyler. "That is getting old now Ashe, really. Now, can you get out of the way, your fat ass is blocking it." With that he walks, head high, past the stunned red dragon. Once he's inside the mess hall, Ashe snaps out of it.
"Fat ass heh?" He says to himself. "I'll show you, you little black monster." And he angrily storms off, looking for his buddies.
As Tyler enters the mess hall he looks around, looking for his friends. He sees them in the far corner, happily chatting to each other. He moves over to the queue for food. He only has to wait a few minutes till he can grab his breakfast, 2 slices of ham, 4 slices of beef and 2 slices of lamb. He licks his lips as he starts walking, on his hind legs, plate in his front paws. Arriving at the table one of his friends, Flare, sees him coming.
"Hey Tyler! How have you been buddy?" Flare is a red dragon, skilled in the element of fire. He's 18 years of age. He has black eyes and his 5 horns are sitting on his head in a V shape. Tyler sits down next to Deleria, who is silently playing with her food.
"Not bad Flare, not bad, how about you?" He asks as he picks up a piece of meat and stuffs it down his throat.
"Very good to be honest." Flare grins and puts a paw around the dragoness next to him. "It's official now, Icy and I are a couple." He says happily. The ice dragoness looks away shyly. Her light blue scales represent her icy element, her dark blue eyes flickering over the table from the food to Tyler, back to Flare. Icy's 18 too. Her 2 dark blue horns on her head arching backwards. And then there is Deleria. The albino dragoness, half eating and playing with her food, glances over at Tyler. Tyler catches her eyes. Her lilac eyes reflecting his own. Deleria is the youngest of the group at 16 years. She looks back to her food as she notices Tyler is staring at her, which makes Tyler look away. This is his group of friends. He befriended the young couple a few years ago, not a couple back then. He shoves the last of the food of his plate into his mouth as he hears a familiar voice call his name.
"Tyler!" Tyler looks around and spots his little brother strolling towards him.
"Hey Flash, you are up early." Tyler grins. Flash is usually late for his classes. He is an electric dragon with yellow scales and an orange underbelly. He looks happy, as he always does. His 2 orange horns on top of his head curl towards each other.
"Yeah." He grins too. "I don't know why but I woke up early. Well, I'll see ya around bro!" He turns around and walks to his class mates. He's Tyler's little brother, being 3 years younger than Tyler.
"He's a good kid, starting to look like you Tyler." He hears Icy say.
"Yeah, he's a good little brother." He turns around and looks at Flare. "So Flare, what are our classes for today?"
Flare raises an eyebrow. "Should you know yourself?"
Tyler laughs. "No, that's why I have you bud." He takes all the empty plates and piles them up on the edge of the table.
Flare sighs and starts thinking. "Well first we have Dragon History, then basic combat, 1 hour free, then 2 hours of elemental training." Deleria blinks a few times, she is surprised he knows their new roster.
"Well done Flare." Tyler chuckles, but then remembers something. "Oh, I have to go to the library for something."
Icy gasped. "You, going to the library, without someone forcing you? Are you feeling okay Tyler?" She reaches over and puts a paw on his head. The group laughs, except for Tyler. He shakes the paw off his head and stands up.
"Yes Icy I'm fine." He grins with a sarcasic overtone. "I'll see you guys later." He grabs the pile of dirty plates and walks off.
"We will be here for a while, see ya later." He hears Flare say to him. Tyler flicks his tail to let them know he heard him.
He walks to the steadily growing pile of dirty plates and places theirs on top. He washes his paws in the water stream and strolls past the ever growing line of dragons waiting to get their breakfast. After exiting the mess hall he turns right, further down the hallway he turns right again. At the end of the corridor he sees the entrance of the library. The library has 3 floors full of bookshelves. The bookshelves on the ground floor contains books used by study only. Books about the history of dragon kind, elemental information and so on, are all on this floor. The second floor of the library has all the books for relaxing, like adventure novels, romance books and so on. The top floor is off limits for students. Only guardians and the temple staff are allowed to enter there. Books containing dark magic are held there, as well as records containing information of every student.
As Tyler enters the library he is greeted by a red scaled dragon.
"Greetings young Tyler." The dragon pads over to the young dragon. That is Volcan, the librarian of the temple. He's an old dragon, his red scales aren't as red as they used to be, but his memory is still sharp. "Can I help you with anything today?"
Tyler looks around. "Yes Volcan. I'm looking for..." He thinks again. "I can't let him know too much yet." Volcan raises an eyebrow. "I'm... looking for a book about dreams. Do you know where I can find one?"
Volcan strokes his chin as he thinks. "Hmm, something about dreams. Let me see." He turns around and walks to the book register, this register contains the location of every book and scroll in the library. "Hang on just a second."
Tyler sits down on his haunches, waiting for Volcan to find what he needs. He sees Volcan flip through the pages, reading a bit, and then flipping some more. Tyler takes a look around the library. A few dragons are sitting on the designated areas, reading for their future school work no doubt.
"Tyler, I think I have found something." Volcan's deep voice gets him back to the task at hand and he jumps to Volcan's side, resting a paw on the register, he peeks over the edge. "Here, there is a book called 'Dreams, nightmare or reality?' It should be a good start for your research." Volcan smiles and
Tyler nods. "Yeah." He says. "That's good, thanks Volcan. Where can I find it?"
Volcan smirks, he loves to help out the young ones. "No thanks needed Tyler, it's part of my job. It's in area D, section 10, row 5."
Tyler bows his head lightly in thanks and trots off into the library. "Let's see, area C... Area D. Here we are." He says to himself. He quickly finds the book and returns to the reading area's here he can get comfy. Sitting down, he opens the book and flips through a few pages and starts reading.
After reading for a few pages he hears someone call his name. "Hey, young Tyler. Reading up on some information for the coming school year?"
Tyler looks up and sees Tremor standing next to him. Tremor is the current Earth Guardian. He has deep green scales and an almost black underbelly. Even though he has black eyes, Tyler can see the kindness in them. "Maybe I should ask the elders? Maybe they can help. There is only so much a book can teach anyway." Tyler thinks as he is considering the option. He goes for it and puts the book down. "Actually Master Tremor, I would like to ask you something, if that's alright."
Tremor smiles and nods. "Sure young Tyler, ask away." Tyler looks around to see if anyone is listening in. Seeing no one, he continues. "Well, I've been having these dreams... "
Tremor interrupts him as another dragon approaches. "Ah Aquaila. Good to see you." Tyler looks to see who Tremor is greeting and sees a blue dragoness with a light blue belly approaching. She strolls over to Tremor.
"Good to see you Tremor." She says with a soft voice. Then she looks at Tyler and smiles. "You too Tyler." Tyler smiles and nods back.
"So Tyler..." Tremor starts. "You were saying?" Tremor looks back at Tyler.
"R...Right. I've been having these dreams." He looks up at Aquaila. She's still smiling.
"What about those dreams Tyler?" He hears Tremor ask.
"They are nightmares. Nightmares were the humans took over Avalar and where us dragons were almost extinct... The ones who survived are pitted against each other in battles." Tyler looks down at the ground. "It looked so real." He sees it all happen before him; Deleria impaled by a spear, the killing blow coming down. He closes his eyes to suppress the tears.
Then he feels a soft paw in his shoulder and Aquaila's soothing voice in his ears. "It's okay Tyler. We all have nightmares." She looks over to Tremor for some helping words.
"Yes Tyler, it's just your imagination, it's not real son." Tremor smiles. Tyler looks up at Aquaila, she smiles again and pats his shoulder, easing his mind. "Now, forget about the nightmare Tyler. You should go back to your friends. It's the last free morning. Go spend time with them." Tyler stands up and thanks the two guardians. He's about to grab the book as Tremor snatches it first. "I will bring it back Tyler, you go to your friends and have a good morning with them." Tyler says his gratitude again and leaves the guardians in the library.
With renewed vigor, Tyler skipps down the hall. "I hope it's really a nightmare. I don't want anything to happen to Deleria." He sighs as he takes a left and enters the mess hall again. "Anyway, better not dwell on it, like the guardians said." He looks to the table they were at earlier and only sees the white dragoness sitting on her own, with her head on the table. "Where is the rest? Why did she not go with them?" He walks over to the table and clears his throat to get her attention. She looks up at the sound.
"Oh hey Tyler, back already?" Tyler takes a seat opposite of Deleria.
"Uh, yeah, had a little talk with the guardians. Why are you here alone though?" Deleria sighs as she sits up.
"Flare and Icy went to the training room to test their elements for the new school year." She looks at Tyler. "And because I am an albino dragon, I'm not allowed in there." She hangs her head in shame.
Tyler raises and eyebrow. "Yeah, that's ridiculous. You are a normal dragon like anyone else." He places a paw on hers. "You can come and watch if you want."
Deleria shyly looks away and retracts her paw. Trusting his judgment, she agrees. "Uhm, yeah okay. I'll come with you."
Tyler smiles widely and stands up. "Come on then. Do you know where it is?" Deleria jumps up and nods.
"Yes, I do." Tyler smiles even wider and bows for her.
"After you." Deleria quickly trots past him and hides her face as she blushes, but Tyler sees it anyway and chuckles, then follows here out of the mess hall. They both take a right, the same way to the library. Before the entrance of the library there is a hall way which leads outside to the training grounds. Deleria's hips sway with every step she makes, her tail swishing behind from left to right. Tyler just can't stop looking at her. The sunlight streams through the windows, glinting off her white scales, creating a dazzling light. As they arrive at the training grounds, Tyler is still staring at her form. Deleria glances at Tyler to see why he is so quiet and sees why. She stares back, into his yellow eyes. They both come back to reality and avert their eyes from each other, Deleria's cheeks grow red again. Tyler stumbles into the training ground, much to his embarrassment. He regains his footing as he walks further, then he notices Deleria isn't coming with him. He turns around and sees Deleria, sitting on her haunches and looking at the floor, just outside the training grounds.
Tyler pads back and sit down in front of her. "Deleria, it's okay." He says. Deleria looks up and locks eyes with him. "You can come in."
Deleria shakes her head. "No. What if the guardians find out?"
Tyler smiles and places a paw on her shoulder. "But they won't, not on this hour."
Deleria looks back in Tyler's eyes. "Hmm, he does have a point, the guardians never come here this early." Deleria thinks, then she noticed Tyler still has his paw on her shoulder. "His paw is warm... Why is he sticking his neck out for me? An albino dragon? " She looks back at Tyler and sees the pleading in his eyes, she instantly knows it. "Well, here goes, I'll do this for Tyler, I owe him that much." She thinks to herself then nods. Tyler sighs in relief, stands up and matches back to a training ring, Deleria follows behind obediently. The training ring is a wooden, with sand in it, about 40 meters wide. The combatants enter the ring, then Tyler puts up an elemental absorbing shield to prevent elemental attacks from leaving the ring.
Tyler sits down and looks at Flare and Icy battle each other, elements flying skyward, absorbed by the shield so it's perfectly safe outside the ring. Deleria sits down next to Tyler and they stare at the battle.
"Thank you." Deleria says softly. "You should not risk yourself for me..." Deleria looks away.
Tyler glances at her, then places a paw on her paw. Instantly Deleria looks back at him. "You are my friend Deleria, that's what friends are for." He smiles and walks over to an empty ring.
"He is a nice guy." She looks at him, blushing. Averting her eyes, she looks at Flare and Icy, who are in a heated battle, elements flying everywhere and are absorbed by the shield. "My friends..." She smiles and strolls to Tyler. Deleria sighs as she lays a few feet away from the arena Tyler is fighting in.
He's been fighting dummies for the last 30 minutes. Watching him is fun, but somewhere, Deleria wants to battle too. As an albino dragon, she is considered inferior to normal dragons, so never received any kind of combat training. Tyler dodges another swipe from a dummy and burns it to a crisp. Ever so often he glances to Deleria and sees she is watching him. He wonders what's going on in her head. Tyler decides to take a break and stops the magic that makes the dummies move.
He walks over to the white dragoness and lies down. "So, what do you think?"
She looks over to him. "Well, I don't know anything about battles but it looked pretty good to me." She smiles to him. Tyler nods and looks at Flare and Icy, they are taking a break too and are cuddled up together, resting their bodies. He looks away awkwardly as if his eyes like he saw something he wasn't allowed to see. "I should ask him now, now!" Deleria thinks to herself. "So, Tyler, can you... where did you learn to fight like that?" Deleria mentally slaps herself. "No you dolt, ask him if he wants to teach you!"
_ _
Tyler looks at Deleria, raising an eyebrow. "That's an odd question." He thinks. "Well... most of it I've learned myself. I had to fend for myself you know, I lost track of my family after our den burned down during the Great Forest Fire." He grows silent as he thinks about the bad times.
Deleria nudges him with her snout. "I'm sorry to hear." She looks at him with sad eyes. Tyler blushes and smiles "...N-no worries, everything is fine, I found them again, we found a home to stay, and..." He trails off.
"And what?" Deleria asks.
"And everything is fine." He smiles at her, she smiles back. They lay in silence for a while, Flare and Icy are fighting again, but this time against hordes of dummies.
Then Tyler gets an idea. "Hey Deleria, I know you didn't get any combat training because you are... 'different'." Deleria looks away at the mentioning of that word. "But," Tyler continues. "If you want, I can teach you some paw-to-paw combat."
Deleria instantly brightens up at this. "R-Really? You would do that? For me?" She asks, a little uncertain.
"Yes of course, we are friends after all." Tyler says, stretching like a cat. Deleria's eyes wonder around Tyler's body, eventually moving over his private area, averting her eyes instantly.
"But... But what if we get caught? We'll be in even greater trouble." She takes a step back as she starts to get second thoughts.
Tyler looks at her again and raises his eye brows. "Don't worry about that, I got it all covered. Come on, this will be fun." He dashes off to a training arena.
"Well, I've come this far, can't disappoint him now." Deleria says to herself as she follows him. "Alright then, tell me what to do, 'Master'." Deleria giggles. Tyler chuckles and gets into position. "Okay, I'll teach you the basics first.
In the other training arena Flare and Icy are taking a break again. "Phew, it's hard against these dummies." Flare moans.
Icy rubs against him. "Aww, is my poor fire dragon tired?" She asks teasingly. Flare chuckles and pecks her on the cheek. She giggles and looks at their 2 friends. Tyler is teaching Deleria how to fight.
"They work good together don't they?" Icy asks.
"Yeah." Flare gets up from his spot, making Icy almost fall over.
"They do. Talking about work, one last round?" He gets into his fighting position. Icy shakes her head. "Don't you ever learn? You can't win against me Flare, deal with it."
The red dragon smiles widely. "Come and get me then." He taunts. Icy growls and pounces on Flare as they grapple each other on the ground like a couple of playful puppies.
Just as the couple starts their last sparring match, Tyler taught Deleria the basics.
"Okay Deleria. I personally like this move. It's a summersault, while using your tail to tear up an enemy. It goes like this." He presses a button and a dummy appears from the ground. The dummy isn't moving as Tyler stands opposite from of it. "Now, look at me." Deleria nods as she sits down. She can see his muscles tense under his skin. Tyler leaps into the air, doing a backflip while using his tail blade to splinter the dummy, ripping it in too.
"Wow, that was awesome. But I doubt I can do that." Tyler chuckles and blushes a little.
"Thank you, and don't worry, ill guide you through it." He orders Deleria to stand opposite to him, but far enough they won't get hurt. "Okay, watch me." He performs the move again, but he tries to go as slow as possible, using his wings to keep aloft in midair. She nods as Tyler lands. She tenses her muscles as they propel her into the air, she lands on her rear.
"Ouch." She barks. "Didn't know it would hurt this much."
Tyler walks over to her. "Are you okay Deleria?" The white dragoness nods and gets on her paws again.
"Okay, first lets practice the jumping. Look how high I jump." He tenses and jumps up, just higher than the dummies head and lands perfectly. "Okay, now you." He says to her as she wiggle her rump back and forth like a cat about to pounce and she jumps, going higher than last time, almost as high as the dummies head. She almost manages to land on all fours, albeit almost falling over.
"Steady there. You did good, give it one more try." Deleria huffs as she jumps again, now jumping as high as Tyler did, and she nails the landing too. "Well done!"
He smiles as she poses with one paw in the air. "Okay now for part 2 of the move: the flip." He stands next to Deleria. "Okay jump with me. 3... 2 ... 1" Tyler jumps in unison with Deleria. Tyler nail the flip, Deleria falls on her rear again.
She sighs as she gets on her paws. "Hmm, okay, we got to do this differently." He thinks for a moment. "Well, I guess I could stand right next to you and guide your body with my mine... but I understand if that's not what you want." He sits down as he starts thinking. Deleria wants to learn this move, if only to please Tyler he taught someone something, even if it's only an albino dragon.
"Do it." She says. Tyler looks up. "Wait you mean...." Deleria nods. "Oh... okay then." Tyler moves over to her, touching her flank with his. Her skin is warm, the touch giving him tingles inside. He's never been so close to her before, only in his dreams. He swallows as he tries to fight the growing throbbing in his crotch. He focuses on helping her, which helps a bit.
"Oh... okay Deleria, follow my body." She can feel his body tense up, she does the same. They jump in perfect sync. Tyler helps her with flipping, she does the flip perfectly and they both land on all fours, but Deleria falls to the ground with a huff. Tyler is still stunned from the touch, the throbbing downstairs slowly going away.
"Wow, I did it. I did the flip. He did come close but... I kind of liked it. It felt... different." She gets on her paws and looks at Tyler, who is clearly blushing from the pretty intimate contact. Deleria giggles. "Thanks again Tyler, for teaching me."
Tyler stumbles back and sits down. "Yeah... Yeah, no problem." He looks away shyly, Deleria does the same. Her eyes move around the area, stopping at the exit.
Her eyes widen as she sees an all too familiar red dragon come into view. "Uhm Tyler, we are in trouble." She whispers. The red dragon looks around the training grounds and spots the white dragoness, his face turns into an evil grin. Then he sees who's sitting opposite to her. "Oooh they are in trouble now." The red dragon thinks mischievously.
Right as the dragon turns around, so does Tyler, to see what got Deleria so nervous. He sees a red dragon disappear. "Ashe. Dammit, we have to go Deleria!" He dashes to the exit, with Deleria close behind. "Okay Deleria, follow me and stay close." She nods as they sneak out of the training grounds.
Flare and Icy watch helplessly as they try to get away. "Good luck you two, may the guardians have mercy on you if they find you." Icy says, softly. Flare only nods.
Deleria and Tyler take a right, back to the mess hall, as soon as possible. However, they are stopped just outside of the training grounds by Magmar, one of the Guardians. Magmar is a big fire dragon, towering over Tyler and Deleria. He's the current fire guardian, his scales are light red while his belly is an almost burgundy. His red eyes don't look happy. Tyler can see Ashe behind him, grinning victoriously.
"I told you, you are not allowed to go into the training grounds." His voice rumbles as he speaks. Deleria looks to the ground ashamed. "I'm afraid I have to punish you for this." Deleria nods in defeat while Ashe's grin grows by the minute.
Tyler looks at Magmar, then at Deleria. He shakes his head and takes a stand in front of Deleria. "No." He says. "I asked her to come in. I fully take the blame."
Deleria looks up at these words. "You don't have to that! Not for me."
Tyler looks at her with a smile. "We are friends Deleria, and we look out for each other." He turns his gaze back to Magmar.
"Why is he doing this? He's getting himself into a heap of trouble. And for who? For me, a useless albino dragoness." Deleria pounders to herself. She looks at Tyler in front of her. "He's really my friend. Thanks Tyler, I mean it." Tyler waits for Magmar's verdict. The big dragon sighs and comes to a conclusion.
"Alright." He starts. "I can't give you the punishment Tyler, so you will share it. However, I need to think about this. For now, both of you go to your rooms until school starts." Deleria hangs her head low as she turns around and slowly walks off.
"Tyler, can I speak with you for a moment." Magmar frowns. Deleria looks back to Tyler, who was watching her walk off. She can see his eyes say: Don't worry, I'll be fine. She nods, as does he. Deleria dashes the rest of the way to her room, almost crying. "Why did he do it!? Why did he get himself in so much trouble! All for me. I hate my life..." With that she crashes on her bed and sobs softly to herself.
"Tyler, what where you two doing in there?" Magmar barks with a serious face.
"I was teaching her some paw-to-paw combat, that's all." He answers and sees the guardian's face harden.
"She is forbidden from learning anything even remotely combat-related." Tyler gets angry.
"Why not!?" He yells.
"Because she is an albino, inferior to the rest of us." Magmar shouts plainly.
"How does that matter! And who are you to make these rules! She's a dragon, like the rest of us and should be treated with respect!" Tyler yells back, getting really enraged. His dark element starts swirling around him.
Magmar backs away, he knows what black dragons can do when they are angry. "Calm down Tyler, please, they are the rules."
Tyler snarls. "NO! You made the rules and I'm sick of them, I'm sick of seeing her treated like this!" He begins to float above Magmar's head, the dark energy almost blowing Ashe over.
Tyler spreads his wings and takes off like an arrow down the hall. "Who the hell do they think they are! She's a dragon, she deserves the same respect as the rest of us. I will make an end to this, I swear Deleria."
He knows he's in trouble, but he has to protect her, somehow it feels like the right thing. And that's precisely what he's going to do.
I hope it is too everyone's liking, please leave a comment.
See ya next monday!
-Tycser