Ch. 3. First day on the team
Harley was studying some machines of different types in a shed. There was wide variety of different colors, shapes, and sizes. Sharp, loose, bulky, green, red, blue. Harley or his pokemon couldn't believe how many there were.
"Most of these were as prizes during races," Artha stated.
"So these are gear used by dragons and/or humans for races?" Mightyena asked.
"Pretty much," Kitt answered.
Harley was staring at two kinds of gear in particular. One was red and looked kind of like a rocket. The other was white and looked folded up.
"Hey, yo, what kinda gears are these?" Harley asked, pointing to the red and white gears.
"Those are red thruster gear and white aero gear," Connor answered his question.
"The red thruster gear directs stored heat like a rocket, and is used for mostly gaining incredible speed, and can also be used for lift, stopping, and defense," Parm explained, "White aero gear, on the other hand, goes on the upper body of a dragon and is mostly used for gliding, but can also be used for preventing your opponent from overtaking you. When used together along with stablizer gear, they enable you to fly."
"Thank you for taking five minutes out of my life to explain that," Harley said sarcasticly, rolling his eyes and looking over his shoulder. Parm once again had that offended look on his face. Kitt, and Lance laughed slightly at the comment. Artha just had a smirk on his face.
"You don't have to be so mean to Parmon, just because he explained a few things," Sarina said in Parm's defense.
"Yeah," Artha agreed, "Even if it was another of Parm's ongoing rambling." Parm got that come-on look on his face.
"Sorry. Kinda still tired," Harley stated.
"Apparently," Kitt replied. Harley glared at her.
"Well, let's worry about the gear later," Connor said, "Let's see how your dragons will do in races first."
Later...Penn Stables practice track...
Harley was wearing a blue helmet, pretty standard looking.
"OK, first question..." he trailed off before continuing, "How do these things stay on?" he asked while trying to adjust the helmet. "And do ya'll have anymore?"
"Sorry, but that was the only spare helmet we could find," Connor replied, "And those helmets self-adjust to fit there owner's head comfortably."
"Now, I see," Harley said as his helmet stopped moving. "But this thing looks stupid on me, doesn't it?"
"No," everbody, except for Connor, answered, trying to supress their smiles.
"Thanks. That really helped," Harley said sarcasticly, rolling his eyes. "So, how do I do this?" He looked toward his dragon that already had a blue and teal sattle on.
"Just tell your dragon to mag you into the sattle, Harley," Connor instructed.
"Alright. Mag me, Litening," Blu Litening nodded, then magged him into the sattle.
"Now, grab the handles in front of you," Connor continued, "And place your feet on the back pedals." Harley did as instructed.
"Alright, this feels werid," Harley commented.
"Don't worry, country boy. You'll get used to it," Kitt reassured him.
"Country boy?" Harley questioned. Kitt had a smirk on her face.
"She does that to me and Parm, too," Artha said. Harley just shrugged
"Alright, before we start, I'll run through the controls," Connor started explain to direction the handles should be pointed in order to get certain movements out of the dragon. He even add how the pedals work. "For right now, though, we'll keep it easy and don't worry about which buttons to press, until later," he finished. Harley had a slightly confused look.
"Don't worry it'll take practice," Sarina reassured him.
"Doesn't everything?" Harley muttered.
"Alright, are you ready, Harley?" Connor asked as he took out a stop watch.
"As ready as I'm gonna be I guess," he replied.
"Alright. Ready. Set. Go!" Connor said as he started the watch.
Harley, immediatly, pushed the handles all the way forward and his dragon bolted from the starting line. Harley was glad he at least had a helmet on as the wind rushed passed him.
"Those extremly windy day ain't nothin like this!" Harley yelled over the wind. Litening was used to it, however.
"Harley, remember, you should conserve your dragon's energy," Connor instructed over a screen.
"Woah, never seen anything like this," Harley said mostly to himself, "How am I suppose to know where my dragon's energy is at?"
"You should see it on your control panel, in bars," Parm replied. Sure enough, there was his dragon's energy level. Harley eased back on the controls, and his dragon slowed down a bit. The wind eased up also but it was still blowing by fast.
Both him and his dragon were about to come to the first bend. Connor's instructions on the pedals played over in Harley's mind. 'It's just like controlin an airplane' he thought. He applied pressure on the left pedal and his dragon got a few yards away from the inner curve.
"Woah, look at that," Lance pointed out.
"He must be using the pedals," Parm said.
Harley began hugging the inner edge of the track from there. Awhile later he finish the track. Litening panted slightly.
"Hmm, 1 minute 28 seconds," Connor said impressed.
"It ain't that hard," Harley stated, "It's just like controlin an airplane."
"You fly?" Kitt asked.
"Yeah, all the time since 12," Harley said proudly. Blu Litening growled.
"Once a week," Harley corrected himself. Mightyena cleared his throat.
"Once a month."
<Pikaaa> Pikachu said dryly. (note: phrases in these '<>' mean the pokemon, that can't speak human language, talked)
"Three times," Harley said with his head low. Kitt, Artha, Lance laughed. Harley gave them a death stare.
"Alright, alright, that's enough," Connor said, "Harley bring your Airow over here, and let's see how he does."
Awhile later, Harley had got back to the starting line, this on Airow.
"1 minute 28 seconds?" Connor raised an eyebrow.
"Why did you get the same time for both dragons?" Lance asked.
"Slowed down abit," Harley replied, shrugging.
"Well, I guess we'll take a break," Connor said, "Why don't you kids show Harley around."
"Sure," Artha said, "Come on, we should probably get some gear for you."
Later...At a gear shop...
"Hey, how about this one!" Sarina held up a foldable dark purple staff with black marking.
"Nah, not into purple," Harley commented.
"What about this one," Parm held up a green staff. Harley made a noise similar to a game show buzzer.
"Sorry, try again," he said afterwards. Parm had that offended look, again.
"Hey, how come your always being a jerk to Parm?" Artha asked.
"Will you get off back, man," Harley retorded. Artha got that look, now. "Sorry, man. Still tired you know," Harley apologized scratching the back of his neck.
"Alright, I guess," Artha had a confused look still. 'Guess he didn't get any sleep.' Harley, then yawned. A loud growl could be heard all of a sudden, making everybody jumped slightly. Parm, however, flew up and nearly touched the ceiling.
"What was that?" Kitt asked.
"That's Mightyena's cry," Harley answered.
They walked quickly to an aisle where the cry came from. There sitting down with a foldable staff in his mouth was Harley's Mightyena. Pedro was standing next him.
"I think you'll like this one, boss," Pedro said.
"I hope he didn't slobber on it," Kitt said with a disgusted look on her face. Mightyena growled at her. Harley took the staff out of the wolf's mouth. It was blue with white markings and had a light blue thunder bolt marking spiraling down the staff.
"Nice," Artha commented. Everyone nodded in agreement. Harley then petted Mightyena.
"It looks like a staff the members of the Inner Order would have," Sarina pointed out.
"Who is the Inner Order?" Harley asked. Pikachu and the other two pokemon obviously wanted to know the same thing.
"We'll tell you later," Artha said "Right now let's head back to the stables. Everyone agree, then Harley walked up to the cashier. Along the way he spotted a helmet that looked similar to a baseball helmet, that was purple and gold.
'Just like the colors of the Lakers' Harley thought as he picked it up. He brought it, with the staff, and a comm-link, to the cashier.
"Will that be all, sir?" He asked. Harley nodded. "Alright, that'll be 28 drakals."
"What...the hell is a drakal?" Harley asked.
"Here, I'll pay for that," Parm said as he paid the guy.
"Hey, yo, I owe yo one, man," Harley said, "Guess I oughtta stop being a jerk to you."
When they walked out of the store, Kitt commented.
"That helmet looks pretty weird, Harley."
"Hey if you don't like the Lakers that your own opinion," Harley said.
"Who are the Lakers?" Artha asked. The rest of the crew wanted to know that, too.
"A basketball team," Harley replied as he put the Comm-link on his right wrist. "So, how do ya'll work this thing?"
On a roof not to far, Justine and Blarre were looking for the kid Moordryd couldn't deal with. Justine was using her binoculars. The crew was just about to leave when Justine nodded. Blarre then fired five rounds of Orange Implosion Gear towards the crew. Just as Harley got into his sattle, his eyes go wide, and at the same time his pupils quickly go from round to slits, then back. He turns to see the implosion gear heading for them.
"SPLIT UP!!" he yells as he gets his dragon to move. Confused, the crew turns their separate directions and run just as the gear hits the ground, causing a series of small explosions.
"What in the Magna Draconis was that?" Artha asked.
"It looked like Implosion Gear," Parm answerd.
"But where did it come from?" Sarina asked.
"Yeah, and how did you know it was coming, country boy," Kitt asked, suspicious.
"Uh," was all Harley's answer before their dragon's and started to growl, confusing everyone.
"So, you must be Harley," said an icy voice. Everyone looked to see were the voice was coming from. Two girls, one dark -haired, the one with white-hair, and their dragon jumped down from a nearby roof. Parm jumped behind a nearby streetlight.
[Really spells confidence doesn't he?] Mightyena said to Pedro. (note: phrases in these '[]' mean all creatures are talking to eachother
"Well if it isn't Justine and Blarre," Kitt said angrilly.
"What are you doing here?" Sarina asked.
"Let me guess. Word sent you to do what Moordryd couldn't." Artha smirked.
"Shut up, stable brat, if you know what's good for you," Justine threatened.
"Guessin ya'll are good friends, huh?" Harley asked sarcasticly.
"What do you two want anyway, Justine?" Artha asked.
"Oh, just to deal with your newest crew member," Justine smiled evily.
"Your cruel," Kitt growled.
"Hah, please I'm not gonna fight some girls," Harley laughed. The rest of the crew looked at him. He was pretty confident, despite the fact it was fake. "Plus, if your related to Moordryd," he continued, pointing to Justine, "Ya might as well go home." He hoped it would be enough to make her turn around and walk off.
"I am nothing like my pathetic cousin," she snapped making Harley's smile disappear, "And from what I am hearing your to much of a coward to except my...challenge." She smirked stressing challenge. Harley's eyes went wide.
"Yo, what's the word ya'll say when something's goin wrong?" Harley asked.
"Scales?" Kitt replied.
"Huh," Harley said, "I'll use that later. But for right now..." He trailed off.
"DAAAAAAAAAAMN!!!" Harley sook his fists in the air causing him to sake.
"You don't need to swear," Sarina stated.
"Yeah, and what's the big deal?" Artha asked, "Didn't you say you were gonna walk away?"
"Well, I had intentions on that, but, I can't walk away from a trainer battle," Harley said upset. Everyone gave him a confused look.
Ch. 4. Of Dragons and mice
Harley was in a wide forward stance opposite to Blarre and Justine, about 30-40 feet. His arms were up, one in directly in front the other behind but not directly. Justine was standing with her hand's on her hips, while Blarre just stood there. Justine's dragon stood in front of her, slightly to the right. Her dragon was a quadraped, had a dark gray color with large dark red patches. Blarre's dragon was standing to her left, a quadreped, also, black over a pale purple. Both dragon's were growling often, their heads facing foward, and their bodies off to one side. Harley's Pikachu was standing, his forepaws in front of him and a ready-to-go look, in front of him, slightly to the right, also.
"Harley are you sure you want to do this?" Sarina asked.
"Yeah, your Pikachu doesn't have a great advantage, height or strengthwise looks like." Artha stated. Pikachu turned and growled at him.
"It's not the strength I'm worried about," Harley said, "Pikachu can hold his own, but I'm more worried about what these dragon can do, you know. And I can't turn my back on a trainer battle."
"Well, at least let me help you," Artha said.
"Can you do that?" Kitt asked.
"Yeah, actually," Harley replied.
"OK, then. Come on Beau," Artha said. Beau nodded while grunting. He then jumped in front of Artha, and side-stepped alittle to the left. Artha was in a shorter forward stance. His arms were up, as well, one at his side, the other in front.
"Are you ready?" Justine asked, "Good. Then we will started first," she had a sinister smile. "Electrocon, destroy that mouse!" Her dragon roared, then, quickly, charged forward and sent Pikachu flying with a powerful tail slam, causing Artha, Kitt, Sarina, Parm, the dragons, and any other nearby watchers to flinch.
"Holy!" Harley exclaimed as he reacted to Pikachu flying behind him and rolled as he landed.
"Conchusun, Attack," Blarre commanded monotonously. Conchusun rammed Beau, who stayed on all fours, and skidded back from the impact, then shook it off.
"Woah!" Artha exclaimed quickly as he reacted to Beau getting hurt. "You alright, boy?" Beau grunted and nodded.
"Pikachu, you alright?" he asked, looking over his shoulder. Pikachu struggled to get up, then shook himself off. He replied with his cry, signaling that he was alright, despite the fact his breathing became labored. Harley gritted his teeth. 'This dragon is hella faster than I thought,' he thought. He then remembered that Connor told him that dragons can ran up to 200 mph. 'I gotta be on my toes.'
Pikachu had ran back to his original spot on his four legs. Beau followed, as well as, Electrocon and Conchusun, also. 'He's a Black Psi-class, so he must be a dark type,' Harley thought.
"I have no idea how to do this," Artha said, trying to keep cool.
"Just call off a move, man," Harley instructed.
"But I don't know what Beau can use." Harley thought for a moment.
"Electrocon, attack that mouse, again," she commanded. The dragon, once again, charged foward. Pikachu this time saw it coming and jumped over Electrocon's tail.
'It's a Psi-class dragon, so it must be a dark-type," Harley thought. "Alright, Pikachu, Brick Break." A brief light shined around Pikachu's hand as he made a fist. Then he ran toward Electrocon, jumped up, and started coming towards the dragon's head. Justine and her dragon smirked. Electrocon dodged the attack. Pikachu gasped. Harley cursed under his breath.
"Electrocon!"
"Conchusun,"
ATTACK!" they both commanded, though Justine's was more easily heard. Then, both dragons shoulder charged Pikachu and Beau. Pikachu cried out in pain and grunted as it landed. Beau, this time flew back and landed on his side. Everyone flinched, again.
"HOOOOOOHHH!!!" both Artha and Harley exclaimed. Pikachu got up weakly. Beau got up slowly, then shook off.
"You appearently underestimated me, did you not?" Justine asked, tauntingly, causing Harley to grit his teeth, again. Sparks flew over Electrocon, causing the dragon to twitch alittle. "Scales," Justine cursed under her breath.
"What happened to her dragon?" Kitt asked.
"I've read that Pikachu's have an ability to cause paralysis when the opponent comes in to contact," Parm explained, "It's called Static I believe."
"Man what does he do all day?" Harley whispered to Artha, who just shrugged, "Your right, Parm, but it barley helps," He spoke louder, "Hopefully We'll get lucky."
"Well, your luck has just ran out stable brat," Justine spoke threateningly, "For all of you!" Parm to hide behind Cyrano. "Electrocon, Hyper Beam," she commanded, "Finish that little pest!"
"Hyper Beam?" Sarina asked worridly.
"It's the one of the few most powerful attacks," Mightyena explained.
"Conchusun, attack," Blarre spoke monotonously, again. Both dragons deeply inhaled as they began to charge power.
"Oh, man. If we get blasted, it's over," Harley said.
"It's that bad?" Artha asked worriedly. Harley nodded.
Both of their minds was racing on what to do. Pikachu and Beau were breathing heavily, and Pikachu was trembling just as badly. Beau's side were he landed was red. They were charging up for what seemed like long time, appearently wanting to finish this battle permanently. It seemed over...
Until something hit Artha.
"Harley you still haven't told me which move to use!" Artha yelled, snapping Harley back to reality.
"Oh, yeah," Harley said.
"ATTACK," Blarre and Justine yelled. The dragons blasted a large, bright beam from their mouths and combined making a large beam.
"EVERYBODY, DUCK!!!" Artha yelled. Beau and Pikachu dodged it at the last second. Artha and Harley jumped out of the way a second after, followed by the rest of the crew and their dragons. Cyrano got burned, however, and roared in pain. The beam kept going down the street. It went though a building about two blocks down. and continued through it. The beam then shrank and disappeared leaving a large burn mark down the street. People from the building that got blasted looked through the hole down the street from. Everybody around and on the battle field had their arms shielding their faces since their was so much dust kicked up from the blast.
"It's over," Justine smiled evilly as she and Blarre moved their hands away. The dust cleared revealing that Beau and Pikachu were still standing, and weren't panting as much.
"Scales!" Justine exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Artha cheered. The crew and everybody else watching was cheering also.
"Thas what I'm talkin' about!" Harley exclaimed, "Alright, Artha, call out Dragon Breath," he instructed. Artha nodded.
"Alright, Beau you heard him," Artha said, "Dragon Breath, and hit both them!" Beau then inhaled deeply.
"Electrocon, attack that dragon quickly," Justine commanded but he didn't move.
"Your dragon's need to recharge after that Hyper Beam for sure," Harley smirked. Justine gritted her teeth.
Beau breathed out a bright colored breath, shaking his head from side to side as he did so. It looked similar to what you would see when it was very cold. It made contact with both Conchusun and Electrocon, causing both dragons to wince at the smell.
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt and aim for it's mouth!" Harley commanded. Justine had a shooked and confused look on her face. Pikachu had a smirked as it jumped from leg to leg, in place, and his cheeks began to spark. His expression became angry as he let a battle cry, firing a bolt from himself to the dragon's still open mouth. Electrocon's eyes became wide as the bolt hit, which caused it to twitch violently. When Pikachu stopped, the dragon shook alittle and was now panting heavily.
"WOAH!!" Artha exclaimed.
"That bolt looks like it really hurt him!" Sarina stated.
"BOO-YAH!" Harley yelled, "Now, Pikachu, Iron Tail!" Pikachu's tail turned a metalic, silver color. Pikachu, then, ran torward the dragon.
"Electrocon, attack, NOW!" She commanded, desprately, but the dragon twitched as sparks, once again, flew over it's body. Justine growled in irritation. Pikachu, then, jumped up and spun around. Pikachu's tail landed near the back of the dragon's lower jaw, causing it to roar in pain. "NO!" Justine yelled. Electrocon stumbled alittle bit, then lifting his head, he roard and fell over on his side, with his head hitting the ground soon after. His eyes were closed and his mouth was open letting the tongue roll out.
"Beau finish Conchusun with..." Artha trailed off looking towards Harley for what to do next.
"Extremespeed," He muttered.
"Extremespeed!" Beau movements then became alittle blurred as he backed up a couple steps. Then he quickly charged forward and tackled Blarre's dragon, sending it skidding back. Conchusun fainted the same way as Electrocon. Blarre said nothing. Everybody began cheering
"Alright, Artha and Harley," Parm, Kitt, and Sarina cheered. All their dragons roared.
"Wait to go, boss," Pedro complimented. Mightyena nodded.
"Yeah!" Harley threw his fist up, across, in front of him, and brought it back. "What now, girly!" Then he threw the same fist straight up and brought it back again. He pointed to her saying, "You don't know me!"
"Alright we won!" Artha exclaimed as he brought his fist and threw it in the air, "that went better than I expected,"
"UUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH" Justine roared as she stomped her foot in frustation, then, shook her fist. "I WILL NOT LOSE TO A GOOD GUY, AGAIN!" She yelled. She then took out a purple-colored, grenade-like device.
"What the hell..." Harley began to ask, when Parm interrupted by yelling...
"DISRUPTOR MINE!!!" Justine activated it, and tossed it towards the Penn Crew. Harley, then, took out his newly bought staff and extended it.
"HARLEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Kitt yelled. Harley swung the staff like a baseball bat, making contact and sent it back towards Justine. Her eyes went wide as Blarre stepped out of the way. The next thing that happened was an small explosion and a purple flash, causing everyone to hold their arms up, attempting to block it. When the flash disappeared, everyone blinked their eyes a few times. When their vision came back, they saw Justine unconcious against a wall.
"Wow, that was close," Sarina said breathing sigh of relief. Everyone then looked at Blarre, seeing if she would do anything next. They stood there for awhile, receiving a blank stare from her. Finally, she turned to her dragon and walked over to her. She knelt down and put her hand on the dragon's head. Shee opened her eyes halfway and looked at her rider. Conchushun got up weakly, nearly falling back down on the ground a few times. When she was up, she magged Blarre into the sattle. Blarre gave the crew one final, blank stare, then took off down the opposite way of the street, leaving the Penn Crew confused.
"That was weird," Artha commented.
"Well, I'm surpised as to why that the disruptor mine did not explode on contact?" Parm said, scratching his head. Harley's eyes went wide, and he turned to face Parm.
"Yo, that thing would of exploded when I hit it?" he asked. The rest of the crew nodded their heads. "Oh, man, did I get lucky," he said, 'It won't last though,'
"Boy, what a day, huh?" Artha asked.
"Yeah, I guess," Harley said uneasly.
"Are you alright?" Kitt asked.
"Yeah, I'm cool," Harley lied, "Let's just head back to the stables,"
"But, what do we do about Justine?" Artha asked.
"Nothing," Kitt said dryly, earning her a confused look from everybody, "She's gone," Kitt pointed in their direction. Sure enough, when they turned to where she was, no one was their. Even her dragon was gone. All that was there, was the Penn Crew, their dragons, and lots of people and their dragons walking by as if noting happened.
"I think we should go," Artha said monotonously. Everyone nodded in agreement and where magged on to their respective dragon's and left.
Later... Dragon Eyes Lair...
Moordryd was sitting with his dragon, who was sleeping. Word told him that their are items for times like this, so Moordryd told Cain to get it. Cain came back with the item awhile later.
"Here's that Paralyze Heal, Moordryd," Cain hand him the healing item.
Alright, you can go." Cain, then, left as Moodryd turned and sprayed it on Desepchun, who opened her eyes when she felt the spray. "It's alright, girl. Just get some rest." Desepchun, then, closed her eyes. Moordryd brushed the dragon's head when he felt something wried. Moordryd turned about face, quickly. He saw Swayy standing their hands behind her back, staring at her feet.
"Swayy? What are you doing here?"
"Well..." she was trying to find the right words, "I was just wondering what was wrong with your dragon?" Moordryd raised his part of his eyebrow.
"Um, she was just paralyzed," Moordryd asked confused.
"Oh, well, that's good to hear," she smiled alitte. There was a silence.
"Well, I'm gonna turn in," Swayy finally said, "'Night, Moordryd." She began to leave.
"Swayy wait," Moordryd said. Swayy stopped and turned around.
"If you want, you can stay with me," he said, scratching his neck. "A-and help me watch my dragon," he quickly added. Swayy smiled and nodded. Moordryd lied on his dragon, and Swayy joined him. Desepchun was awake, but to tired to care. Just, then they heared a thud and quickly got up to see what it was. It was Justine, stomping in angrilly and gumbling, as Electrocon trudged weakly behind her. Blarre walked by and her dragon looked weak also. Moordryd took an opportunity.
"So, Justine, how did it go?" Moordryd asked, smirking.
"Let me guess, you lost horibbly," Swayy joined in.
"SHUT UP!!" Justine yelled. They ducked out of the way of a flying pale. Justine and Blarre put their dragon in their stable, and, after awhile, Blarre came out and disappeared into the hall. Justine came out a while later and went to the stairs. She disappeared, but her stomping and gumbling could still be heard. Both Moordryd and Swayy snickered, then whet back to lying on Desepchun. Soon, they both asleep, with Moordryd's arm wrapped around Swayy.