The game continues, the Swallows grabbed a flag and less than 10 minutes later the field shifted and turned into a mountainous region. Snow capped the jagged grey mountainous peaks and trees were sparse and few. Dragons flew around circling, a few dove down and plucked up their Isalor or a wolf or other person and would fly away. Every now and then the dragons swooped down and their extra passengers would jump off and roll to stop the impact before getting up and running.
Both teams were playing strategically and it was obvious as to why they were the top two teams last season. It had taken just under an hour for the Swish Swallows to get one of the flags from the Tracture Trampers.
Apparently Vampires and Werewolves are real and go to Drakon academy too, Lark and Ria are still in shock as neither of them knew they existed. Where as most of the other students knew or at least heard stories of them from friends and family.
The tournament continued with the crowd going wild. A few wolves from the Trampers were chasing after either a Vampire or Isalor, it's hard to tell the difference. The vamp being chased was purely playing with the wolves as in a matter of seconds it had disappeared around a mountain, the three wolves stopped in the middle of the path looking around hoping to spot the vamp. Trotting around the mountain in front of them was a light brown wolf with a single white foot, in its mouth was the flag the other three wolves had been chasing. All four wolves howled in success, from high above a dragon flew down landing in front of the four wolves. Handing the flag to the rider each wolf ran off except one, the one who ended up with the flag.
The girl who had gotten off the dragon dropped a handful of clothes in front of the wolf and spun around. In a matter of seconds where the brown wolf with a white paw had been standing was a stark naked female. She had light brown hair with a white streak running through it, she quickly grabbed the clothes and slung the leggings and a sports bra on.
Ria and Lark looked at each other in shock, there truly were werewolves at this academy.
"I think that's proof enough they exist." Ria looks from Lark to the girl. She can't believe they really exist, Lark is wearing an almost identical expression on her face. Both girls watch as the werewolf hops up onto the dragons back behind the rider and they zoom up into the sky. The dragon they mounted was light blue with crystal like spikes running up it's back.
Hah the first years faces when you changed Darlia, idiots. Lark jumps causing Ria and Zim to both jump too, she's hearing things again.
Zim gives Lark a funny look before turning back to the game.
Ria ignores the dragon's voice and looks at Lark curiously, why'd she jump?
"You alright?" Ria looks at Lark in concern. She just nods and flushes red with embarrassment.
The game continues, each team has captured one flag from the opposing team.
Everyone cheers as a mexican wave is started and it moves around the stadium. The group of friends stand up and do the mexican wave before sitting down again. They smile and laugh as the wave keeps going, it goes around a few times before it stops and the focus is on the game again.
A vampire from Tracture Trampers races towards one of the Isalors from the Swallows who is watching a battle of dragons in the sky. Focusing purely on the fight he doesn't notice when the vamp sneaks up. The female vamp moves behind him and bites his neck, a scream rips from the guys throat and he crumples to the ground. All the focus moves from the fight to where the scream came from. Headmaster Jonah calls a pause and all the fighting in the arena stops. Medics rush onto the field with an ice dragon and a few vamps - by the looks of their fangs.
The dragon sprays ice stopping the rogue vamp from running and the extra vamps that ran onto the field hold onto the female that bit the poor dude. The medics rush the dude off the court and the containment vamps drag an angry vamp away too. The crowd goes wild, some yelling that the vamp was wrong while others argue she shouldn't be punished.
Due to school rules however she has to be locked in a holding cell for a while due to the pain she inflicted on another student by drinking their blood unwillingly.
"Let the games continue!" The headmaster calls over the microphone and battles break out across the field.
Both flag carriers in each team are in the process of fighting off a group of students and dragons. Fortunately for both players they escape before they are overpowered and fly away. The rider for the Swallows that carries the flag drops an Isalor into the small patch of woods just as the arena shifts. From the mountainous range a lake with trees surrounding it appears. A few people's heads bob up to the surface of the water while others are already on the dry land. The dragons swing down and collect each of their teammates that are in the water and either continue carrying them or deposit them onto dry land.
Each member of the Trampers race off into the trees, leaving confused looking Swallows behind. All of a sudden the whole of the Trampers leave the protection of trees and race towards one of the guys from the swallow, he gulps and races towards the cliff behind him. He jumps at the last second and a dragon dives down catching him before he hits the water and flies off.
Cheers erupt from the crowd and he beats his fist into the air. 2 dragons from the trampers give chase each with its rider and another team member. Arrows are being shot from the ground members and from the extra passengers on the dragons. The small brown dragon from the Swallows ducks, dives and swerves to dodge the arrows.
What the hell, so many arrows! The dragon whines causing Ria to chuckle.
The chase continues around the entirety of the arena, the dragons chasing blast water and fire at the earth dragon.
The crowd hollars as the dragons race around. Down below one of the Swallow's Vamps sneaks up behind an unsuspecting lookout. He knocks her out and gently lowers her onto the floor, a few of the wolves from the Swallows shift into human form and knockout a couple more guards before shifting back to wolf form. A dragon roars from near the lake to catch the attention of the Tramper's team members on the ground, they all look over focusing their attention on the dragon. The other two Swallow's dragons are chasing the other two Tramper's dragons through the trees and around the arena.
A werewolf from the Tramper's sneaks up behind one of the Isalor's and leaps. Landing square on his back, the shocked Swallow screams causing chaos from the land. All the Swallows jump from the trees and land on the Tramper's backs. Pinning them to the ground. The last Tramper looks behind him to the the dragon from the centre of the lake approaching, with him distracted a vamp from the Swallows rushes up to him silently and grabs the flag, before he has time to react a whistle blows signalling the end of the tournament.
"Well done to the Swish Swallows, that was a good game apart from the small incident earlier. Can all students please head to the dining hall for the feast? Thank-you!" The headmaster stands up followed by 7 very important looking people. Four adults and three children. The two boys appear to be about the same age as Ria and the girl seems to be a few years younger. From where she's sat it's hard to make out any identifying features. The 7 important looking people follow the Headmaster back to the school's dining hall, slowly allowing the crowd to trickle out and follow.
"Are we going right now?" Logan calls to the group.
"Give me a sec, the dragons usually do a small performance." Kalan responds looking out at the arena.
Ria raises an eyebrow quizzically and turns to the area, right on cue the dragons start using their elements and blast streams and balls of their elements across the sky. The different elements shoot through the sky creating a rainbow of elements.
Ria reaches down and strokes Titan's head affectionately, he'd been sitting there the whole time without complaining or anything.
"Good boy Titan." Ria murmurs to the wolf and continues watching the display. It ends quickly and the group file out, Titan presses against Ria's legs to keep close and the group exits the crowded stadium.
The fresh air is welcomed as the 8 of them walk towards the dining hall.
"So... Werewolves and Vampires... I guess it's kinda cool. I just never would've thought they were real." Lark breaks the silence.
"Same Lark, same." Ria mumbles walking along. The game went for three hours, it only felt like an hour though.
"Who were the important looking people with the headmaster?" Kalan asks looking at the small party.
"Really? You don't know?" Logan looks at everyone bewildered.
"Nope." The whole group says except Zim who croaks a 'I know' quietly.
"They are the royal families, the two ruling families. They aren't related, but the two kings are close so are the sons, or at least when they were young. Supposedly King Alexander's wife, Queen Marcabelle isn't his true mate. Apparently he met his true mate but she was killed because he was in an arranged marriage with the queen." Logan looks ahead thinking, "I don't know how much is true, I've only read it in books. So, King Alexander and his wife have a son, he's in our year if he attends this school. He's quiet and reserved much like the king, he doesn't seem all that interested in being King according to the books. But apparently the queen can't have anymore kids." Logan shrugs.
"How about the others?" Thalium looks at Logan and then ahead again.
"The other Royal Family is King Vincent and Queen Taylor, their son is the year above and it said he attends this academy. They also have a daughter, Princess Rose, she's 11 years younger then the Prince. I wouldn't be surprised if the son is popular and power hungry. Unlike King Alexander who is loved by the people, King Vincent doesn't seem to be. According to the village where I lived King Vincent is power hungry and not many people like him but King Alexander is kind and treats everyone well." Logan looks at everyone and smiles. "That's what the books say anyway, and what I've heard."
They finish walking in silence as they make their way to the dining hall. Upon entering it's complete chaos.
Students are scurrying around in an attempt to find their seats, labels are spread out to show where people are sitting. Isalors and their Riders are next to each other, and everyone is sat in partial year levels.
Titan presses even closer to Ria and growls at a few people as they walk past or glance at Ria.
They find their seats after five minutes of looking. Ria, Blaze, Lark and Zim are seated at one end of the table and the others are at the other end. Although they are close there is about 5 people in between.
Ria sits down and looks at the menu in front of her, it says that each person gets a small serving of each meal, and dessert after. Jugs are set in the centre of the table each labelled something different.
A few growls quiet down some of the people, presumably the Werewolves while other older students just sit silently probably because they know the rules. A loud clinking comes from the front table and the headmaster stands up. Everyone's attention settles on the Headmaster as he begins speaking.
"Welcome back everyone! Well done to the Swish Swallows who won today's tournament. The food will be handed out soon but first my welcoming speech!" Some of the crowd groans while others roll their eyes.
"So! Welcome back, this is a new year so a new start. This year we will strive to be better and to make the world safer. To the Vampires and Werewolves, in a week, please welcome the new wolves and vampires either into your packs or covens. The Newbies will receive their eggs in a week and a few days. Apologies for the delays, I know it was meant to be today but due to unforeseen circumstances the Egg Keeper has gone away on important business from the Head Council. Please enjoy the year and thank-you!" The crowd sighs collectively except the first years, probably the speech is usually longer?
"Before the meals come out I'd like to welcome you all! Hopefully you enjoy the year, Oh! and I'm King Alexander Shafrone, sorry I forgot to introduce myself." The King chuckles and smiles a genuine smile.
His wife beside him glowers but stands up, "I'm Queen Marcebelle." She fake smiles at the crowd and sits.
"I'm your King, King Vincent Agrem." The second King grins and sits.
"Welcome everyone! I'm Queen Taylor. Have a lovely Year here." The Queen's voice is soft and honest.
"Time for the food!" Waiters come out with trolleys of food, they hand them around and everyone digs in.
Sat beside Ria is a boy maybe a little older than herself with messy black hair and emerald green eyes, opposite him is a girl, dyed blonde hair and thick makeup. Beside her is another girl with a similar style. Next to the black haired dude is another guy, with orange hair and chocolate brown eyes.
"Hey!" Ria smiles at the guy next to her and he completely ignores her. "Hello?" Again he ignores her.
"Isn't he a ray of sunshine?" Ria turns her attention to Blaze who snorts with laughter, receiving a few looks from people nearby.
"Yup so sunny." Lark giggles quietly, "How's the food?" She points her folk at Ria's plate of food.
"It's good just bland..." Ria shrugs, "how bout you guys?"
"It needs some flavour..." Blaze looks at Ria mischievously.
"What's that look?" Zim looks between the pair worried.
"My family may or may not own the most popular restaurant back at our town. The most popular dishes were the ones Blaze and I created ourselves from scratch." Ria chuckles at the memory.
"Our specialty was a ratatouille and lasagna..." Blaze looks down at his plate. "And this maybe one of those two dishes."
Lark and Zim look down in concern as they realise sat in front of them is Ratatouille, to be honest, Lark had been finding it rather bland. It needed some extra flavour.
"I'll be back, which way do you think the kitchen is?" Ria stands up and looks around. Everyone is too busy eating to notice her.
Zim points in the direction where the waiters enter and exit.
"Stay Titan." Ria commands the wolf before sneaking off towards the kitchen.
She pushes through the swinging doors quietly and spots multiple workers standing around cooking, the head chef is yelling commands to the workers as he mixes a sauce on the stove. Looking around Ria spots what looks like a pantry and heads over.
In school she wasn't much of a trouble maker... ok maybe a bit, but she never harmed anyone. She also rarely got in that much trouble, just a little.
She sneaks over to the pantry and goes inside finding herself face to face with a well stocked pantry. Rows of spices, herbs and other bits and pieces are stacked in front of her. Gingerly she grabs a few herbs and some olive oil. Exiting the pantry she comes face to face with the head chef.
o-o
"What's taking her so long? She's been gone for ages!" Lark complains looking at her plate of ratatouille sadly. She was looking forward to seeing how Blaze and Ria spruced it up.
"Probably just trying to find the pantry?" The unsure voice of Blaze pipes up.
"I'm going to go check, don't draw attention over here." Lark glares at Blaze before leaving. She makes it to the kitchen without being caught, upon entering she hears a few grunts and then moans. Worried, Lark races inside to find the workers crowded around Ria with a plate of Ratatouille in her hands.
"Ria! You're alright!" Lark looks between the workers and Ria.
"Yea, I spruced up the dish and they wanted to taste it..." Ria smiles at Lark giving her a 'I'll explain later' look.
"Oh ok..." lark mumbles.
"This is really good Ria, like really good. Here take some of the ingredients and fix yours and your friends ones." The head chef hands a few bottles to Ria. She smiles appreciatively and accepts the ingredients.
"Just leave them on the bench where you are sitting before you go." The guy smiles warmly at Ria and she turns to walk away before stopping and turning around quickly.
"Do you have an off cuts of meat? My wolf is whining and bugging everyone..." Ria smiles hopefully at the Chef.
He nods and saunters away, returning with a bone wrapped in newspaper.
"Thank-you! I think I'll take you up on the offer to come down in my spare time and help out. I gotta go before the teachers get suspicious." Ria laughs and waves to everyone before leaving with Lark.
"So? That went well..." Lark trails off unsure as to what exactly happened.
Ria just laughs, "I was in the pantry when the head chef found me, I explained what I was doing to spruce up the dish," Ria shrugs nonchalantly. "He wanted to try it, so you saw the rest." She beams at Lark and waltzes over to the table.
"Sorry that took so long, I kinda got caught. The Chef appreciated the honesty about the blandness of the dish though." Ria smiles aat Blaze who looks concerned. "I'm not in trouble, he actually asked me to come back to help out."
Blaze gapes and Zim stays silent. "Titan. Want a bone?"
"How'd you get that?" Blaze looks amazed at the bone wrapped in paper.
"The chef gave it to me... I swear I didn't steal it, it was left over." Ria laughs and looks at Lark.
"Yeah I saw him give it to her." Lark backs her up quickly.
Titan glares at Ria for teasing him with the bone and wacks her leg to gain Ria's attention.
Laughing Ria looks from her friends to the wolf pup. "Sit, paw, drop. Good boy!" She rubs Titan's head and gives him the bone. He munches down on the bone ignoring everyone.
Quickly Ria and Blaze assemble the ratatouille into how they make it. "So?" The pair look at Lark and Zim nervously.
"This is sooo good." Zim applauds shovelling the food into her mouth. Lark just nods doing the same. Lark looks up noticing Ria laugh and dig into her food but doesn't miss the sneer aimed at Ria from the boy with the black hair beside her.
o-o
What does everyone think?
Does the tournament sound fun? What you take part? I think I would!
Enjoy,
- Brax Xx