Flesh and Scale

Chapter 1 New classes and a new life

It was a beautiful day for the town of Branchwood, the birds were chirping, the sun was shining and everybody was in a great mood. Though one person was in a very big hurry and was barreling past people and muttering 'shit, shit, shit! I'm gunna be late for my first day of high school!' thought a young human. His name was Luke Draconis. He was wearing black jeans with a black and blue hoodie that had an emblem that resembled a dragon of it. He wore a pair of blue sneakers and had jet black hair. He also had a necklace of various figures and small stones flailing all over the place while he was running. He had a gentle and caring face and blue eyes that looked like he could see through a person's soul, though sometimes they were just barely covered by his bangs, which he brushed out of the way. He had an average body type, not very skinny or very fat. He was sweating a bit as he started to see the high school 'dammit I knew I should have set an alarm!' he scolded himself. He could see all the other students enter their classroom with their friends and classmates. However this high school was very different from most. Back in 2014 it turns out the government had been in contact with beings from another planet, they were called the Krilnin, they were a species of half animal half human creatures. However knowing the mass panic that would happen if they revealed their secret to the public, they kept it a secret till they figured the time was right. That time came on March 4th 2014 when they revealed their presence to the public. All around the world people were shocked and awed to know aliens had existed, however it wasn't too bad since most people already believed in them. There were a few radical terrorist that tried to fight them and a few religions got destroyed, but in just 5 years the two species started to co-exist much more easily than before, there was still distrust among the humans but other than that things were fine. This school just happened to be part of one of the first cities that accepted the Krilnin and welcomed them into their society. Everywhere he looked there were unique creatures of all shapes and sizes. Here and there a human or two was spotted but there was mostly Krilnin. Luke finally was nearing the entrance, though was trying to hide inside his hoodie because of some of the looks and whispers he could hear around him. He speed walked down the hallway, glancing at a schedule he had in his hands, he looked up his homeroom number and soon found himself inside a classroom literally full of Krilnin's he was shocked a bit, not thinking that he was going to be the only human in his class. He swallowed his nervousness and quickly found a seat just as the bell rang. "Good morning class" everyone stopped talking immediately as a tall well groomed owl stood in front of them "My name is Mrs. nock and I'd like to welcome you to high school and also to a new student who just recently moved to Branchwood". 'Oh no' Luke suddenly thought as he saw the owl look at him "Please say hello to Luke Draconis". Luke saw everyone's head suddenly turn to him. He could feel the blood drain from his face as he looked at everyone "uh h-hi" the owl smiled "Luke why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?" she asked. "Well I just moved from a small town in Maine" the owl nodded at him "oh I used to live there, very beautiful place, where did your family move to know?" Luke's eyes downcast a little "I actually don't live with my family anymore, they decided to emancipate a few months ago" the owl had an apologetic look and seemed to regret a little asking about his family "oh my that's terrible, where are you staying now?" Luke seemed like he wanted to just poof away "I'm currently staying at a hotel in the town for a bit" Luke blushed a bit seeing all the sad and surprised face around him but was brought back to attention when the owl spoke again. "Well I hope things start to get better for you" Luke smiled and thanked her. The owl went back to addressing the class "alright class to start off the year I'm giving you a test to see how much you know already" an eruption of groans filled the classroom as she started handing out the papers. Luke was trying to focus on the test but he had a weird feeling that someone was watching him but simply shrugged it off and focused back on the test.

After a while of greeting's, tests, and discussing the trimester lunch time finally came around. The bell rang and was followed by a horde of students gushing out of class rooms and hurrying off to the cafeteria. Luke was one of the last ones out, deciding to not get killed in the stampede. He carelessly made his way to the cafeteria. While he was walking he noticed a German shepherd that he recognized from math and two other people with him. One of them was a tall beefy lion; the other was a large masculine horse. The three wore what appeared to be jackets with the school's mascot on them which was, surprisingly enough, a knight holding a sword and a shield. Luke started to pick up his pace a bit and so did they. He soon started to almost jog but was quickly caught up to and cornered. "Hmm what do we have here?" asked the German shepherd, smirking a little "It looks like we have another human in school" his friends smirked at seeing what their leader was doing. The canine continued on "that was a really sad story in math class, almost brought a tear to my eye" he leaned in class, Luke was able to smell his breath and tried to lean back "and I hate crying" Luke glanced around looking for any escape route but was devastated to find none. "you know it's dangerous for a small weak human like you in a school with us big Krilnin, so I want you to give me $20 a week for protection, we don't want our human friend here to get hurt now do we boys?". His friends chuckled "not at all Denith we love having humans around" the horse said, crossing his arms. "a-alright I'll give you $20 a week" Luke said, just simply wanting them to go away. The dog smiled "good boy" the canine leaned away and started to walk off with his friends but stopped "oh and one more thing human" he said glancing back at him "tell anyone about this and you won't be around for a long time, understood?" Luke quickly nodded "y-yes I understand" the German shepherd smiled and walked away with his friends. Luke sighed and started making his way to lunch again.

By the time he arrived at lunch practically all the tables were filled up. He quickly grabbed his food and just started to wander about searching for a table. He noticed something odd about the cafeteria; it seemed like the Krilnin's bunched together in groups of their same type. The canines sat with the canines, the avians sat with the avians. It was almost like the groups of humans he had at his old school. "Hey, over here!" Luke stopped and looked around for the voice "hey you! Yeah you the human, there's a seat over here if you want" Luke and his heart did flip inside his chest. Just a few tables away from him was the most beautiful dragon he had ever seen. The scaled beauty had dark blue scales and a gorgeous set of matching wings. The dragon had mesmerizing emerald eyes and a set of nice shiny teeth. Luke snapped out of his day dream and looked around him "who me?" The dragon smiled and chuckled "yes you come sit over here we've got some room" Luke blushed a little but went over to the table and sat down, thanking the dragon. "It's no problem, my names Runix, Runix Celesti" Luke smiled "nice to meet you Runix my names Luke Draconis". The dragon nodded "well Luke I'd like for you to meet some of my friends he gestured at the other 6 people at the table. There was a bunny, a cat, a wolf, and a naga. But when Luke looked at the last two people he gasped. One of the two was a flamedramon and the other was a tyranitar. Apparently some rare, few Krilnin look a lot like famous figures, which funnily enough is where people got those ideas in the first place. He snapped out of his shock as he heard Runix continue. "The bunny is named Sarah" The bunny had white fur and simply wore a nice looking green shirt and some jeans "Hi" she said cheerily. "The cat is Rynera" This cat intimidated him a bit though. She wore big ripped, black, baggy pants and a red tank top, her fur was a mix of black, brown, and what he guessed was dyed red hair as well. She also had a set of amber eyes that could almost see through him. She gave Luke a toothy grin "sup". Runix moved on "The wolf is Mike" Mike grinned; he had beautiful silvery fur and piercing brown eyes. He wore a nice looking button up with a white T-shirt underneath and nice looking freshly washed jeans "nice to meet you" he said and stuck his paw out. Luke shook it and thanked him. "The naga is named Gerin" Luke looked at the lovely creature. No clothes would ever fit his species so they were allowed to go places without them. He had a green and brown pattern on him and had his clawed hands wrapped around 'wait....is that a Gameboy color?' Luke suddenly realized and was slightly impressed. His coils were stacked behind him and almost blocked the path behind him. The snake-like creature smiled at him "hello Luke". Luke smiled and greeted the reptile back. "the flamedramon I-" the flamedramon suddenly interjected "I don't need you to introduce" he said with a devious grin "my name is Rex, Rex flamebright , the most awesome flamedramon you'll ever meet!" he boasted, standing up and putting a clawed foot on the seat. He had on his armor like all his kind but he also had a big pair of red and blue flamed head phones around his neck that were playing some sort of techno song. Luke giggled a little seeing the blue reptiles actions and Runix just rolled his eyes "yeah sure whatever, and the last one is Zanuck" he said motioning toward the huge tyranitar. Luke knew some Krilnin kept their original names instead of their earth translation. Like the flamedramon, tyranitar didn't have clothes that fit them either however he did have a laptop satchel on his shoulder. The tyranitar was drawing on a sketch pad and looked up at his name and noticed the human sitting there "oh hello, sorry I didn't notice you" Luke greeted him back and said it was alright. "sssay aren't you the one that said you live alone?" Gerin suddenly asked which caught everyone's attention "your living alone?" repeated Rynera, shocked a bit. "y-yeah my parents emancipated me" he said shakily, knowing the next question was the one he dreaded. "why?" asked Zanuck. Luke started to get more nervous "b-because they found I was...well that I was...well that I was gay" silence overtook the table, making Luke even more nervous. "that's it?" Rex finally said, as if it was nothing. "your parents really kicked you out because you were gay?" Mike said with a hint of disbelief. "ugh! Some people are just complete assholes!" Sarah said angrily. Runix looked at him with a concerned look" where are you staying now?" he asked. "well currently I'm staying at a hotel right now". For a moment Luke could have sworn everyone at the table all looked at each other. "well Luke if you want you can stay with us for a bit, we're part of a program from our world that lets us live on earth with each other. They give us our own house and rooms and everything, it's like a foreign exchange student thing but permanent". Runix said, a new gleam appearing in his eye. "Luke's jaw almost hit the table with surprise, this was one of the best offers of his life! "uh a-are you sure? I wouldn't want to be a bother to you guys". Rex suddenly came up from behind him and hugged him which made Luke jump and blush in surprise "nonsense! You won't be a burden at all will he guys?" everyone shook their heads "no Luke don't be silly your absolutely welcome to come live with us" Rynera said happily. "he doesn't have a choice because I won't accept no for an answer" Rex snickered and let him go. Luke, still blushing from the sudden hug, smiled "a-alright I'll stay with you guys for a bit" Everyone smiled and looked extremely happy "I can teach you some good music" said Rynera almost jumping with excitement. "I can make sure your grades stay up and that you keep up on school" Sarah said, thinking she finally had a pupil to tutor. "I can show you how to be awesome and strong!" exclaimed Rex, taking his foot-on-the-bench stance again with determination in his eyes. "I could ssshow you how to be an exxxpert at video games" said Gerin, happy to have another person to play games with. "and I can show you how to draw really good" said tyranitar smiling because he found someone to share his art and techniques with. Luke smiled and looked up at Runix "I guess I'll be staying for a little bit more than a while then" Runix smiled "heh with these guys you'll barely be left alone for more than five minutes" he joked. Luke smiled and looked back on day. He made a few new bullies, but also gained seven great new friends and a new home, he closed his eyes for his moment. 'Looks like things are getting better' he thought in pure joy. However he didn't notice a certain German shepherd overhear his conversation and how he was relishing his newfound information.