The Owl House was shrouded in darkness, when Yn carefully sneaked past the sleeping Luz, with Scylla on his shoulder and a bag in his hand. The moonlight was the only thing, that softly lit up the room. It fell right onto Yns empty sleeping bag, which made him feel bad; if Luz would've woken up now, she immediatly would have worried again. Probably she would go to Eda or Yuhria, who would've exactly in known where he was.
But even though they forbade him to - because of the Emperor, whose minions were everywhere by now - Yn just had to get out and train. Especially after the disaster at the Coven Day Parade; he let himself get captured and lost control for a short while again. And this scared him, because the last time that happened he went in a rampage against this demon hunters. He didn't want anything like this to happen again.
Slowly he walked down the stairs, panicking each step, that they would crack and wake someone up. But they didn't and Yn and Scylla both sighed in relieve. Before Yn shushed her and Scylla nodded in determination, making him smile brightly.
He continued to sneak through the house, up to the kitchen through which he left the house.
"Where are you going?"
Yn jumped in surprise and let out a little yelp, before turning around, ready to attack, but stopped when he saw that it was only Hooty.
"Hooty!", Yn hissed with a soft glare, "what did I tell you about sneaking up on me? That could've ended badly"
"Sorry", Hooty said seriously apologetic, "but where are you going? I thought Eda and Yuhria didn't allow you to go out at night"
"I need to train", Yn whispered back. He didn't want to wake anyone Up.
"Can't you do it with you Dragon friend?"
"I could, but this time I don't want to train my spirit or magic or the control of my powers", Yn replied, "Nhil told me I need to train my body as well if I want to continue my training for Control. And that's exactly what I am doing"
"But what if Eda and Yuhria find out?" Hooty questioned and Yn sighed. This actually was a good question. What if they did find out? Would they just scold him, or worse? Scylla gave a worried noice and tapped Yn's cheek with her paw.
"I know, Scylla. But they won't, because Hooty won't tell them" Yn looked Hooty directly in the eyes, "right?"
Hooty hummed and looked at Yn through narrowed eyes. "What's in for me?"
"A week's supply of dead rats."
"Deal!" Hooty yelled out and Yn immediatly grabbed him and covered his mouth.
"Hooty!" He hissed. "Quiet!"
"Oh, sorry!", Hooty said and retreated from Yn a little. "I won't tell anyone!"
"Thanks Hooty", Yn whispered with a Smile, "I mean it" Scylla formed into her staff form and Yn sat down on her before flying away towards the forest.
◈◈◈
The cold night wind swept around Yn, ruffling his hair as it lightly nipped at his skin and he smiled. He really loved flying on a staff. At the beginning, when he still had to be with in Eda staff, it was weird but now that he had his own, he loved it. Sitting on the staff and rushing through the air made him happy and sent a tingly feeling through his body. He just felt so...free. And this feeling was everything he ever wanted.
When he heard the familiar rustling of wind rushing through leaves, Yn opened his eyes and saw three people standing there; the best illusionist in the world, the most epic plant track student and his favorite abomination witch.
With a smile Yn landed in front of them. Scylla turned back into her animal form and climbed up his arm to make herself comfortable in his shoulder.
"Hey Guys", Yn said.
"Hey scale boy", Gus called out and they gave eachother a bro first.
"Hey Yn", Willow said with a smile and waved a little.
"Hey", Amity said, holding the letter Yn send her and the other two earlier today. She lifted it and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I have to questions. First; why didn't you just sent us a message? I almost had a heart attack, when I saw Scylla on my bed with this letter"
"Yeah, I find that weird too", Willow agreed with a nod, while Gus just shrugged like he didn't care how the messaged got to him.
"Yeah, Mom doesn't want me to have a scroll. She says it's to dangerous because the Emperor has it out for me and I'd be easier to find if I had one." Yn said with a sigh, forming quotation marks with his fingers.
"Well that makes sense", Amity said and put away the letter. "But now for the second question; what do you want from us?"
"Especially in the middle of the night", Gus added, popping up randomly in front of Yn, who pushed him aside with his claw.
"I skipped my workout for this, so this better be worth it...", Willow said sternly but then smiled.
"Naww, I know you wouldn't hurt me Willow", Yn smirked but quickly changed to a more stern expression. "But to answer you question, Amity, I need you guy's help"
"With what would you need our help", Gus questioned and tilted his head to the side.
"I'm confused too", admitted Amity. "You are strong and smart, so I don't get where you could use the help of all three of us"
"Well, I want to train. It's for my dragon powers", Yn said. "All of you will help me with one thing", He pointed at Willow. "Nhil said to control my dragon powers I need to strengthen my body more. That's where you come in Willow. I need your help to get into shape."
"You got it!" Willow said and flexed her muscles with a determined smile.
"You", Yn pointed at Gus, "will help me train my instinct. I want to learn to differentiate illusions from the original and get a better sense of the world around me"
"Understood", Gus said and appeared next to Yn with a puff of blue smoke "But be warned my friend... To see through my illusons is not an easy task. Not even for you"
"Yn", Amity suddenly interrupted, "didn't Eda and your mom forbade you to go out at night? Luz told me."
"Yes, they did. But that's why they won't find out" Yn replied with a smile. "Which means you can't tell Luz about all this."
"But-"
"I know. You guys promised to have now secrets, but I really need your help. Besides, you still owe me one for when I protected you fron Edrics and Emiras pranks for a week."
Amity sighed. "Alright, but when you get found out...I never helped you."
"Deal!"
"Good, so what do you need me for?" She questioned and tilted her head a little to the side.
"Well, you will help me with my reaction time and overall speed", Yn replied and smiled. "You are the fastest out of us and I think if I train with you, I'll get my speed up in no time"
Amity looked at him for a moment before nodding. "Good, I think we can do that"
"Alright", Yn said smiling, flashing his teeth, "thank you guys."
"No Problem, Yn", Willow said with a smile, "I always wanted to be the one who helped you with something big!"
"Having trained a hybrid with look good on me in the Future", Gus said, "and the people will talk about Augustis Porter, the mighty illusionist who was the teacher of the Most powerful witch on the Boiling Ilses!" He joked, using illusion magic to simulate a crowd of witches and demons, crowding him, while Gus had a satisfied smile on his face.
Yn rolled his eyes with a smile.
"Well, now that that's settled; where are we doing the Training?", Amity Just threw the question in.
"About that", Yn said with a smirk.
◈◈◈
Yn lead his friends through a wall of thorny bushes into his new hide-out..
"Welcome to my little safe space", He said with a smile and turned around to look back at his friends. The place was bigger now that Yuhrias stuff was out. The only thing he kept was the big tree in the middle.
"Woah", Willow looked around with big eyes and immediatly was drawn towards the flowers that were planted near the Exit.
"Interesting place", Amity said and walked towards a group of small Tables. On each of them stood one little pot filled with abomination goo. "You're still Training your abomination magic?"
"Yeah", Yn nodded and stepped next to her, "I was trying to learn to use it like you do, but, eh, didn't work out", He said with a shrug.
"This is awesome", Gus called out and jumped on a couch. "Why didn't you ever tell us you had such an awesome place for yourself?"
"Because I wanted to keep it to myself. But because of the whole Belos thing, my Plans have changed", Yn replied. His mood quickly changed to a more serious one. "We are literally running right into the worst time of our lives and I don't want to be unprepared"
"Yeah, that's probably the best plan we've had in the past weeks...", Gus agreed and an uncomfortable silence fell over them.
"So...", Amity Said, "Yn. How exactly did you plan to habe these training sessions. You can't train with all of us at once."
"I know", Yn nodded and leaned against the big tree, "That's why I already made a schedule", He said with a smirk and pulled out three papers which he handed to his friends.
"Luz and I have magic training with my mom three days a week - she insisted to do it because she has a dragon artifact as well and Luz just tagged along - and I thought that we could use these days for our training", he explained as he leaned back against the tree with his arms folded in front of his chest.
"On these days Luz normally get's knocked out the moment her head touches her pillow and Eda is old, she goes to sleep early. So it will be easy to sneak out on these days"
"Wow, Yn", Amity said and smirked at him. "That is an unusually big amount of planning you did."
He raised an eyebrow at Amity. "Excuse me? I always have plans"
"Yeah, whatever", Amity said with a chuckle.
"But what about Hooty?", Gus questioned as He looked up from Yns plan. "Isn't he very...talkative?"
Willow nodded in agreement.
"He could destroy everything"
"Nah, don't you worry" Yn said and waved their concerns. "I bribed Hooty with dead rats. So if the others don't Strike a better deal, hooty will keep his mouth shut."
"Alright then", Willow said and determinantly raised her fist, "when do we start with the training?"
"Tomorrow", Yn replied, "tomorrow Luz and I have magical training, so that would be our perfect starting point. But now we all should go back Home and get some sleep"
"Yes! See you tomorrow night, Yn", Gus said and fingergunned Yn as he walked out the hideout backwards.
"Well, see you when it's my turn to train", Willow waved and followed after Gus.
Yn looked after them with a satisfied smile until he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Yn" Amity said before leaving the hideout as well.
Yn sighed. "I do too..."
◈◈◈
When he arrived back at the Owl House, the cool morning wind already began to blow, accompanied by the first rays of sunlight. Which meant he was not getting anymore sleep until the other woke up.
Carefully Yn made his way to the backdoor and froze, when he heard two voices in the kitchen. With quick move, He hid unser the window with Scylla sitting on his head.
They heard the fridge get open and Scylla made a nervous noise. Immediatly Yn took her from his head an hushed her.
When he saw a shadow form on the ground in front of him, Yn pressed himself closer to the wall and waited. When the Shadow disappeared again, Yn stood up and ran around the House.
While he was moving, Scylla formed into her staff form and Yn sat down on it, before flying up to the bathroom window. He carefully peaked inside and when he saw no body in there, he climbed in and Scylla chbahed Back to her palisman form.
In that Moment the bathroom door opened. Yn jumped and looked over to see Yuhria standing there.
"Oh, Yn! Sorry! I didn't realize you were up already", She said but then looked at him suspiciously, "why are you up already, though?"
"Uhm..." Yn scratched his neck nervously, "I...was just excited for todays training, that I couldn't sleep anymore. I wanted to try one of the other Dragon breaths Kathleen mentioned in her diary."
"Well, okay then. Sorry for the disturbance here", Yuhria said and went to close the bathroom door. "But hurry, I need to shower."
When the door was closed again Yn and Scylla let out a relieved sigh and he leaned against a wall before sliding down to the floor. Scylla jumped from his arm to the floor in front of him and hissed.
"Yeah, you're right. That was way to close. We need to be more careful in the future."
Scylla gave an approving sound and then blowed a raspberry, before tilting her head and hissing again.
"Yes, being found out would get me into huge trouble", Yn leaned his head against the wall before standing up with a little groan.
"Let's go downstairs, we shouldn't keep the bathroom occupied for too long"
Scylla nodded and climbed up his leg to his shoulder, where she made it comfortable for herself, causing Yn to smile. He scratched her lightly and left the bathroom.
◈◈◈
When Yn entered the kitchen, Scylla immediatly jumped off his shoulder and climbed onto the table, where she greeted Owlbert with a hiss and Owlberr replied with a hoot.
While Yn walked towards the fridge, he noticed Eda sitting at the table, looking at him with a confused expression. He grabbed an Apple Blood juice pack and closed the fridge with his hip.
"What", he asked and poked the straw into the pack before taking a sip.
"It's weird to see you up to early", Eda sighed and took another sip from her cup. "But that's good. You can do some work for me", she said and put her cup onto the table, before stretching her arms out.
"What", Yn asked and tilted his head. Scylla played with Owlberr and rolled over the table.
"I have some people who want potions from me" Eda replied and stood up, "I was going to delivery them myself, but since you are already awake you can do it for me"
"But I have training today", Yn argued. He really didn't want to play delivery boy for Eda again. He Always got into trouble, when he did.
Like that one time a door tried to eat him. Or that time when a giant demon almost stepped in him or...Well, you get the point.
"Yes, but Luz isn't even up yet and Yuhria will take some time until she ist ready", Eda retorted with a shrug. "And besides, you still owe me something after destroying some of my elixirs weeks ago, when you and King played tag.
"First; we didn't play tag. King stole something from me and refused to give it back. And second; I already apologized", Yn growled and crossed his arms, while glaring daggers at Eda, who just looked at him with an unimpressed expression.
"That maybe works in your friends but not on me, you will delivery those potions", She handed him a note and then pointed at a bag at the other end of the room. "Here are my customers and there are the potions", She yawned and walked out the kitchen into the living room.
"You really are unbearable in the morning, Lady!" Yn yelled after her.
"I know. Now get the job done!" Eda yelled back at him and Yn sighed. He looked over to Scylla who proudly marched over the table with Owlbert sitting on her back. Riding her like a knight their stallion. This made Yn smile softly as he watched them. How they played reminded him a little of how he and Luz played back in the human realm, when they were litte.
Yn sighed and went over to the bag of potions, he grabbed it with his claw and, with a grunt, threw it over his shoulder. He summed a quiet tune and went towards the door, where he turned around once more to Look at Scylla and Owlbert.
"Sorry to interrupt you guys", Yn said and the two palismen stopped playing to look at him, "but I need Scylla now"
The two palisman looked at him, then at eachother and both gave a dissapointed noise, before Scylla jumped from the table and walked towards Yn. She climbed up his body and made herself comfortable on his shoulders.
"See ya later, Owlbert", Yn said and as he left the house Scylla lifted one of her paws to wave Owlbert goodbye.
◈◈◈
"I hate working for Eda", Yn muttered as he approached a house in the outskirts of Bonesborough, while Scylla happily struts next to him. He felt like he was watched, while walking around... And he probably was. But he tried to ignored it and just pulled out the little note from Eda, glanced at it and then at the house in front of him. It didn't seem really welcoming, almost like he would get stabbed when he'd get to close.
He glanced down at Scylla who looked up at him, obviously nervous too. But in the end Yn just sighed, took the last few steps and knocked on the door.
A few painfully long minutes nothing happened. No one opened the door and not one single sound rang out from behind the door.
In annoyance Yn glared at the door and knocked again. Only this time a little harder.
A few seconds later he heared something crash and break - probably a vase - before the door was opened.
"uh, hi I-" Yn began but then stopped, when he saw that no one stood there. Confused her tilted his head and looked into the house, until he felt a tug on his leg. He looked down to Scylla having her claw burried in his pants. She looked up at him and then gestured towards the door again. Yn raised his eyebrow and looked back to the door, but this time lowered his gaze to face a small demon. Well, it was more a football sized fur ball with a big eye, stubby legs and arms and a fang, that peeked out of what Yn thought would have to be the mouth.
"You Edalyn's Kid", the furball said. They spoke woth a weirdly muffled lisp. Yn had the feeling that they should shoot around their saliva with every word spoken. But they didn't. Which, if he was honest, weirded him out more than the whole furball appearance.
"Yes", Yn finally replied as he stared down into the furballs eye. Their hair began sticking out wildy in all directions.
"Fûr" The furball said pointing at the bag in Yns Hand.
Yn looked at the furball for a second, before putting the bag in the ground and pulling a bottle from it that was labeled Fûr and handed it to the small demon.
"Here" he said and Fûr took the bottle before immediatly beginning to chug it down. They began to grow in size and soon they were about a foot taller than Yn. Once the bottle was completely empty, Fûr grabbed into their fur and pulled out a pouch of snails.
"Here's your payments", they said with their lisp and closed the door once Yn took the pouch.
He and Scylla looked at eachother, before shrugging and turning around to get to the next customer.
◈◈◈
Yn and Scylla entered an old and decrepit alleyway. Yn stopped and looked around with a raised eyebrow.
"Is this even they right place", He questioned and looked at Eda's note. He furrowed his brows and sighed before walking deeper into the alleyway.
Scylla swiftly climbed up his leg and laid down on his shoulders.
As Yn walked through the alleyway, he heard steps and chuckles behind him. He just sighed and and continued on, ignoring the people who obviously were following him.
If they didn't attack him, he wouldn't do anything to them. But of course they didn't leave him be.
"Hey, boy", a voice yelled behind him. It was a rough and raspy voice. Yn gave a sighed and stopped before turning around to the group of demons that followed him.
"What do you think you're doing all alone in this old space?" A demon with one big horn and scales all over his Body stepped forward. He probably was the Leader.
"I'm working", Yn replied coldly, looking at the group with an unimpressed expression. He turned back around and began to walk again "Now if you excuse me-" But je was stopped by a big hand that laid down on his head. He growled and Scylla hissed at this.
"Not so fast, kid. Mind giving us this bag of your's" the leader Said and nodded his friends to take the potions bag from Yn. But before they could grab it, they got blinded by a huge cloud of light, that suddenly errupted from Yns mouth.
They all screamed and covered their eyes allowing Yn to take a few steps forward. He laid down the bag near a wall and sighed.
"Scylla. Keep an eye out for These, alright? I have to do something", he sighed and turned back to the group of demons, who recovered from the sudden light. He watched as they all turned to looked at him with anger in their face, which made Yn smile.
He flashed them a big, toothy grin and cracked his knuckles as they all drew magic circles.
"Let's do this"
◈◈◈
Yawning Luz made her way down into the kitchen. She was still wearing her pajamas and her hair was still wild, it was obvious that she only woke up.
"Good morning everyone", Luz said as she walked through the door. With tired eyes she looked around to see everyone there except for Yn.
"Good morning Luz", King yelled and climbed up to her head. "How did ya sleep?"
"Morning Luz", Yuhria said with a smile and took a sip from her cup.
"Yeha, hey Kiddo", Eda said, leaning back in her seat.
"Say, where is Yn?" Luz questioned as she went over to the fridge, grabbed a juice pack of Apple blood - she didn't like it, but there wasn't anything Rose and she was thirsty - and turned back to the other.
"He is delivering some potions for me", Eda replied with a shrug. "I would have sent you top but you where asleep"
"Oh", Luz said and took a sip from the Apple blood. She made a grimace but still drank it. "Do you know when he will be back? Because of our training?"
Eda shrugged in response. "He'll be vack whenever he is done with his work."
"Well, if you want, we can already start", Yuhria said with a Smile. "I don't really know how to use the glyphs, but I probably still can help you to use them in more than one ways."
Luz thought for a moment but then nodded with a smile.
"That'd be nice!"
◈◈◈
Yn dusted off his hand and looked down at the group of demons. They all were pretty beat up; one had his hair burned off, another a bleeding wound in his cheek and another a black eye. But sadly Yn was'n unfazed either. He had a wound on his arm and face, his clothes had burn holes and his leg got hurt, when he tried to dodge one of the attacks.
But that didn't matter anymore. Those demons wouldn't interfere with his work anymore. Or atleast that's what he thought, because when He looked closer at one, he noticed a little note on the inside of his jacket. When He looked closer, he noticed that it said Pete. Which made him giggle a bit, but then ge looked at Eda's note and noticed that one of the customers was called Pete.
"Ah Shit", Yn said and went to the bag, grabbed a potion labeled Pete and walked back to the demons.
"Pete, are you a customer of Edalyn?"
"Yes", the demon replied weakly and Yn sighed, throwing the potion onto him, before just taking a pouch of Snails from him.
He sighed, turned around and grabbed the bag of potions before looking at the note again and walking away from the alleyway.
◈◈◈
"This is the last one", Yn said as he looked at Eda's note. He looked more worn down than earlier. Twigs and leaves were in his hair and his clothes were full with dirt. Yn wanted to finish Thai job as soon as possible, but when he read the name on the note he raised an eyebrow.
"Park", he questioned, "isn't that Willows last name?"
Scylla hissed happily by the mentioning of Willow, which made Yn smile.
"Alright. Ready to delivery that last Option?" He asked and Scylla gave an approving noise, while nodding hastily. Yn patted her softly and approached Willows house. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Only one second later Willows voice rang out from behind the door.
"Coming!"
A moment the door opened with Willow standing there in her training attire and her hair was tied up into a simple bun. Her expression turned from a smile, to a confused one, when she saw Yn. She tilted her head and looked at him through narrowed eyes.
"What are you doing here?"
"Doing some work for Eda...again", Yn replied and grabbed the last bottle from the bag labeled Park and handed it to Willow.
"Oh, playing delivery boy", Willow asked with a chuckle as she took the bottle and handed Yn a pouch of snails.
"Yeah, Eda's too lazy to do her own work", Yn complained and but the pouch away.
"But say, why are you ordering potions from Eda?"
"It's just a little something for my plants", Willow replied with a shrug and put the bottle on a nearby shelf.
"Huh", Yn made and a short silence fell between the two, but Yn immediatly broke it.
"Well, I should get home. Luz probably already is awake, and we have training today. See ya"
"Okay, Bye!" Willow said with a smiled as Yn turned around and walked away.
◈◈◈
When Yn set foot in front of the Owl House, he almost got hit by an ice spear flying his way. With a surprised yelp he dropped the bag, that now was filled with snails, and used his claw to destroy the spear. With a surprised expression he looked into the direction it came from and saw Luz standing there, frozen in place with a nervous smile on her face. She carefully lifted one hand and softly waved at him.
"This girl", Yn grumbled and rolled his eyes as he walked towards the door, kicked it Open and threw in the bag. "EDA!", He yelled, "YOUR MONEY IS IN THE LIVING ROOM!" And with that He slammed the door close and turned around to Luz and Yuhria, who looked at him with surprised expression.
"What happened to you", Luz asked and walked towards him. Sweat was rolling down her forehead and her hair was tied up. She wore a simple tanktop and joggers.
"Had some problems with a group of Eda's customers", Yn simply replied with a shrug and then raised and eyebrow at Luz.
"Already training, eh?"
"Yeah, we didn't want to wait for you", Yuhria said, also stepping towards Yn.
"And I already made some progress", Luz said proudly and put her hands to her hips as a smiled formed in her face.
"I've seen", Yn said and looked at Luz with an unimpressed look and she nervously rubbed the back of her head.
"Sorry 'bout that", she said giggling.
"Anyways, you told me that you wanted to try a new breath attack", Yuhria said and crossed her arms, "which is it?"
"Scylla, would you?" He asked and his palisman hissed in response before running into the house. A moment later she reappeared with Kathleens diary in her mouth.
"Thank you", he said and grabbed it, after she climbed up to his shoulder. He opened it to a page he marked with a small post it. Luz and Yuhria came closer to take a look inside the diary as well; the page Yn opened Had an illustration of a female Hybrid, probably Kathleen herself, with several small notes next to it. But Yn's attention laid in the middle of the illustration.
"It's less a completely new breath and more like...a combination", he pointed at the Illustration. Kathleen drew an empty part in the middle of the body in which she put a whirl of blue and Red.
"Kathleen wrote that she saw dragons use two breaths at the same time and that it had to be possible for a hybrid as well."
"Interesting", Yuhria said and put a hand to her chin. "And what combination do you want to try?"
"I want to combine fire and rock", Yn replied and smiled self assured.
"But you can't use the Rock breath yet", Luz argued and Yn nodded.
"You're right. But that's what this training is for, isn't it?" He asked with a toothy grin.
◈◈◈
Luz came out of the house, holding a tray with several cups of Apple Blood and some cut fruits. She currently was taking a break from Training, since she started earlier then Yn, and decided that she could prepare some snacks.
The cups rattled, when she put the tray on the floor. She sat down next to him and began to watch Yn train... Well, He actually was just standing around with eyes closed, and breathed in and out deeply. She watched his chest move up and down as he breathed and eyed him a little.
She got used to his appearance and it was weird. Not this dragon stuff, but whenever she looked at a picture of Yn before he turned, she felt like she wasn't looking at him. This dragon form was now normal for her. His one orange eye and the scales, he hid with his concealment stone, made his face normal. And claw, well it was just his other arm for her now. It was normal just like... Wait, what was that? Behind Yn, just above his butt, something was twitching. It resembled a tail, but she wasn't able to fully see it. It was flickering in and out of existence. As if it couldn't decide wether it wanted to be there or not.
But as fast as the flickering tail appeared, it disappeared again and as she looked up, to her scaly best friend, Yn opened his mouth wide and...only breathed out smoke before coughing violantly.
While Yuhria went to Yn and checked if he was okay, Luz grabbed a cup of Apple Blood and went over to him.
"Here, you should drink something", she said with a smile. Yn immediatly took the cup and chugged down the Apple blood, before letting out a relieved sigh.
"Alright! Next try", Yn said, pumping his fists into the air and Luz looked at him with a surprised expression, before smiling
"Yes!", She called and pulled out a stack of glyphs. "I am totally ready!"
◈◈◈
Yn had an uncomfortable feeling of fullness in his throat, as he stood there, breathing in and out deeply. He felt the cool air entering through his nose, filling up his lungs and leaving through a small opening between his lips. He took in every sound and smell around him. He felt every nip the wind took at his skin, but he still concentrated on his breathing, until the feeling of fullness got stronger.
He took one last breath, opened is eyes and breathed out. A small rock left through his lips and expanded into a bigger one, before breaking as it made contact with the ground. He looked down at the pieces and blinked a little.
"Woo! Yn you did it", Luz suddenly cheered behind him. Yn turned around to look at her and Yuhria. Pieces of Luz's hair were on fire and the ground around her and Yuhria we're covered in ice and vines. It seemed that they had a fun Training Session behind him.
"Yes, I did", Yn replied and looked back at the pieces of the rock he just spit out. This was weird, but now he was certain; the rock breath was like Boulder Heave from Dark Souls 3. With the only difference, that this might actually be usdeful.
He turned back around to Luz and Yuhria and an icy missile came out of nowhere, striking him square in the face. He could feel the cold, wet snow seeping into his clothes, the chill seeping into his bones. The impact was sharp, stinging, and caught him completely off guard. He was momentarily stunned, his mind racing as he tried to process what had just happened. The world around him seemed to slow down as he wiped the snow from his eyes, his anger growing as he realized he had just been hit by a snowball. Through narrowed eyes he looked at Luz, who looked at him with a sly grin, holding up several ice glyphs.
"Huh, looks like your reflexes could use some work, Yn", She said teasingly. Yuhria looked at them and took some step backwards.
"No, it just-" but before he could end his sentence, another snowball hit him right in the face. He wiped the snow away, growled and then Smiled.
"Oh now you've done it", He said and traced two spell circles. Two big, could Balls of small dropped into his hands.
"Be ready to get destroyed now", He charged forward and Luz's Smile turned into laughter as she turned around and dashed away.
◈◈◈
Rubbing his hair with a towel, Yn came into his room, only to find Luz already sleeping deeply. He smiled at this and laid down on his own sleeping bag. Since the Coven Day Parade, Yuhria checked up on Yn and Luz before going to bed, so he had to trick her into thinking he was sleeping, before He could sneak out and meet up with Gus.
He pulled up his blanket to his chin, rolled onto his side and closed his eyes, when he heard steps coming towards the door. It opened with a creak and let light into the room. Yn had to fight the urge to shut his eyes tighter. That would've just showed Yuhria, that he was still awake. So ze just laid there, his eyes softly closed and his breathing soft.
Come on, go, Yn thought as he felt Yuhrias gaze laying on him, before she softly whispered;
"Goodnight", and the door closed once again. He still laid there for a moment, waiting until the sound Yuhrias footsteps was far enough away. Once they were, he swiftly stood up, grabbed his bag and put Kathleens diary into it.
"Come Scylla", he whispered to his palisman, who was laying next to his pillow. Her head perked Up and she looked at him for a moment before standing up and climbing up to his shoulder. He smiled and walked to the window, carefully opening it. He was about to climb out, when he heard Luz groaning behind him. He tensed up carefully looked back, but luckily she was just turning in her sleep. He and Scylla sighed in relieve and He climbed out the window, before jumping from the roof.
"Alright", Yn said and Scylla formed into her staff form. He sat down on it and flew away, dropping a dead mouse at the front door for hooty.
◈◈◈
"Sooo", Gus said as he and Yn entered into Yns Secret hideout, "how exactly do you plan on doing this training thing? I get, that you want to sharpen your instincts but we don't really have that much to work with in here."
"That's not a probleme just give me some things a have to look through", Yn said with a dismissive wave of His claw and Gus smirked at him and pulled out a coin.
"Alright, we start with something simple", the master illusionist said as he and Yn stepped opposite from eachother. He duplicated the coins multiple times and explained: "I'll mix them up and you have to find which is the real one"
Yn nodded and Scylla jumped onto a nearby table. Gus put his hand together shook and mixed the coins in them, before letting them just drop onto the desk. All of the coins sounded, fell and looked liked the original. Yn put his claw to his chin and thought for a moment. Of them looked exactly the same. He narrowed his eyes and finally pointed at one.
"That's the one"
"Nope, sorry", Gus said and traced a spell circle, making the coin Yn pointed at disappear. "Better Luck next time"
Yn narrowed his eyes at Gus, looked at the coins and pointed at another. But that one disappeared too. He pointed at another one and it dissappeared. He growled and felt how he grew frustrated. He pointed at another one and...it disappeared.
"That's it!" Yn yelled and slammed it claw on the table. All the illusion coins disappear with a poof of blue smoke, leaving the real one, which jumped from the impact.
"Well, that's one way of doing it", Gus said and put his hands behind his back. "But not the way we're looking for Yn. Sometimes attacking wildly and hoping to hit the real one won't be helpful for you"
Yn glared and Gus, who gulped and took a few steps back. Yn sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"You're right. I'm sorry", he said and smiled softly "My dragon part let's get angry way faster that I should"
"Oh, it's okay", Gus said and put a hand in Yns shoulder.
"But I think we have to have to give you a crash course on illusion magic before continuing our training."
"Understood", Yn said with a nod. "I'll be in your care, teach", he saluted and he and Gus began laughing.
◈◈◈
It was still dark when Yn and Gus left Yn's not-so-secret-anymore Secret hideout. Yn still had time to get home and a little sleep. Something he didn't get last night, which made him reasonably tired.
"So, next to train you is Amity, right?", Gus asked as he and Yn walked through the forest. It was quiet and only the rustling of the leaved in the wind and the cracking adn breaking twigs below them was heard.
"Yes", Yn replied, "and then it's Willows turn." He yawned and Scylla turned into her staff form.
"I'll see you next time Gus", Yn sat down on Scylla and flew away, giving Gus a quick wave.
◈◈◈
When Yn arrived back at the Owl House it luckily still was dark outside. He flew up to his and Luz room, climbed in through the window and stretched himself with a yawn.
"Man, I'm destroyed", he muttered, "pulling an unplanned all nighter and then work and train maybe wasn't the best idea..." He changed into his pajamas and Scylla made herself comfortable next to his pillow.
Yn smiled tiredly at her and laid down on his sleeping bag, drifting off to sleep in a matter of seconds.
◈◈◈
"There you finally are", Amity said, when Yn came running towards her. She was waiting for almost thirty minutes now and if he took longer, she would have gone back home. Which, if she was honestly, she would rather so, then have a reaching session in the middle of the night. But she already agreed to it, so she had no other choice but to help.
"Yes, sorry", Yn said. He was covered in a bit of dirt and his hair stood up into every direction. He looked like he was hit by a lightnibg spell.
"What happened to you?" Amity asked, tilting her head to the side.
"Well", Yn lifted his claw and rubbed the back of his head. Amity watched him and wondered, how he never hurt himself with that thing. He atleast should have a few scars from accidentally hurting himself with it, "today's training was not really successfull", he chuckled. "I am trying to learn a new breath attack and I blew up."
"A new breath attack", Amity asked. While talking she and Yn started to walked towards His Secret hideout.
"Yeah, I wanna combine fire and stone breath to make Magma breath or something", Yn replied and seemed to quickly notice Amitys questioning look, because he pulled out Kathleens Diary and opened it to a marked Page.
"Here, she wrote, that it probably had to be possible and left a few instructions. It's just weird, that she never wrote down if she managed to do it or not."
"Maybe she just forgot", Amity said and shrugged as they entered Yns secret hideout. She still couldn't belibe that he had something like that. She understood why, they are very useful, but that he had one still was weird for her.
"Maybe. But it wouldn't make much sense...", Yn said and put the diary Back into his bag. "But it doesn't matter. We're here to train" He said with a determined look.
Amity nodded. "Right. I'm here to help you with your reaction and Overall speed, right? How do you want to do this?"
"Well, I thought we start by you attacking me and I have to dodge and I have to catch you, while you use everything at your disposal to evade me."
"Alright", Amity said, "Sounds easy enough for both of us"
"Yes, and when we do this regularly, I'm sure it'll actually give me the progress I want to have!"
◈◈◈
"Get ready then", Amity said, traced a spell circle and... Was she smirking? Yn gulped and suddenly felt lile this wasn't a good idea...like at all.
"Think fast!" Amity warned and the next moment, Yn felt a sharp pain in his face. He stumbled backwards, his hand instinctively flying to his face to assess the pain. The felt the warm blood trickling out his nose and the stinging sensation spreading though his skin.
"What the fuck was that", Yn yelled, blood running down his chin.
"I told you to think fast", Amity said with a shrug and let the abomination goop float around the room.
"I swear to god, you're way sweeter when Luz is near us", Yn growled and Amity smirked.
"I know", she simply said. "But now let's continued your training", She said and Yn growled deeply before dashing towards here, only to get hit by a wave of abomination goo.
◈◈◈
Yn breathed heavily, his body covered with abomination goo.
"You know", he said in between pants, "getting to you is much harder, when I'm trying to hurt you." Amity looked down at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Are you talking about our sparring? I would've beat you if Bump wouldn't have interrupted us, you know" She said with a teasing.
Yn snorted. "You wish", he said, "I would have totally defeated you if we had more time."
"Yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night, scaly", Amity said and reached out a hand to Yn, helping him Up after he grabbed it. "But I have to get back Home now. Edric and Emira can only hold mom off for so Long"
"Alright", Yn said with a nod and together they left the hideout. Scylla formed into her staff and Yn sat down on her.
"Tell the twins I said hi", He said before flying away with a wave.
◈◈◈
Yn was about to climb into his room, when he heard the door open and swiftly hid unter windows. He took Scylla from his head and pressed her to his chest, when he heard Kings voice.
"Hm..Yn, Luz", The small demon said tiredly, "can I sleep with you guys?"
Yn and Scylla looked at eachother, before Yn peeked into the room, to see King standing there, rubbing his eyes. The small demon let out a yawn and just walked over to Luz's sleeping bag, laying down at her feet.
Yn sighed in relieve and waited until King was snoring, to climb into the room.
"Phew" he said quietly as he got ready to get to bed, but stopped, when He heard Kings voice again.
"Yn", the small demon said, looking up at the teen, "why are you covered in that purple goo?"
"I...uhm... Hooty scared me and I attacked him...?" Yn stammered nervously. King stared at him for a moment through narrowed eyes, but then shrugged.
"Okay", he said and went back to sleep.
Yn and Scylla sighed and he finished getting ready for bed before laying down in his sleeping back.
"Next up is training with Willow", Yn muttered and put his hands between his pillow and head. Scylla yawned and went to lay down on his chest. With a smile, Yn patted her head softly before looking at the ceiling.
"But now I should go to sleep..."
◈◈◈
"What is all that", Yn asked, as he looked at all the items Willow brought into his hideout. There were several weights, resistance bands and several other equipments. As he looked at the stuff, he suddenly knew how Willow got so strong that she could easily hold him back, when he wanted to beat up Bosha back at the grudgeby match.
"My equipment", Willow said proudly and put her hands, balled up into fists, to her hips.
"Our training will be completely without magic, because the best way to strengthen your body is to actually use it", she explained, "Figured, you body is a bit different because of the whole dragon stuff going on, but I guess the rule still applies Here" she shrugged.
"I know that but... I thought you had mother Secret, I guess", Yn said with a shrug.
"Nope" Willow said, "just a lot of hard work and sweating."
Yn sighed and looked at all the Equipment. He picked up one of the weights and actually struggled to do it. He blinked in confusion. Looked at the weight, then over at Willow and then at his hands.
"Huh, that's actually a new one"
"No, those are just magical. They Sense your strength, when you touch them and get then get heavier based on it", Willow said as she picked up another weight, but didn't seem to have any problems with it.
"But I have some normal ones to. You can differentiate them by a small blue dot I put on the magical ones."
"Alright, alright", Yn said as he put down the weight again.
"How do we start?"
"By warming up", Willow replied, putting her weight. "If you don't warm up properly, you will only hurt yourself and we don't want that. And you don't need that."
"Yeah, that's true", Yn said rubbing the back of his neck. He remembered, when he tried working out back home during summer break and the full week he couldn't move properly afterwards, because he was an Idiot and didn't warm up at all.
"So, how to we do it", he ask punching his fist into his claw.
◈◈◈
Yn was sitting on one of the benches and tried to lift the weights, which he did, but only by using a lot of strength, while Willow next to him did this without any big troubles. He looked at her with a mixture of confusion and jealousy. Even though she worked out longer and more than him, he felt like he should be the one doing all this with easy. But he didn't. And that somehow made him feel bad. But it gave him more motivation to take this serious.
◈◈◈
"My whole body hurts...", Yn complained, sitting on the ground, while Willow giggled next to him. She seemed like she wasn't effected from the training at all. She wasn't sweating much and her breathing was mostly still normal. He looked at the ground, tried to catch his breath. Willow let him do everything. From running around, to lifting weights to jumping jacks. Everything.
And now he was here. On the ground swearing and panting as his body was burning up.... Suddenly, he
felt a cold, damp sensation against
the back of his neck. Startled, he
whipped around to see Willow standing there with a grin, holding a chilled drink against her own chin.
"Whoa, what are you doing?" Yn
exclaimed, taken aback by the sudden
shock of cold. Willow chuckled, still holding the drink against Yn's skin
"Thought you could use a little pick-me-up after that workout. I could tell, that you were pushing yourself."
Yn rubbed the back of his neck, still trying to shake of the cold. It seemed like not even the scales changed his sensitivity there.
"Okay, but...warn me next time"
Willow handed over the drink, still grinning.
"Or maybe next time, you just don't leave your neck exposed like this. But you have to admit, it feels pretty good."
"Whatever", Yn said and playfully rolled his eyes as he took a sip from his drink, feeling the cold liquid soothe his throat. He couldn't help but smile at Willows behavior. They laughed as Willow sat down next to him. They both used this short moment to relax after their work-out.
◈◈◈
"Well then. See ya", Yn said with a tired wave as he sat down on his staff, Willow did the same thing next to him.
"Yep, see you the next time we try to get you in shape", she joked halfheartedly.
Yn rolled his eyes.
"Bye, Willow", he said and flew away.
◈◈◈
Back home he just fell down into the bed without changing out of his clothes. He was just to tired.
◈◈◈
Yn and Luz were standing in front of the Owl House, staring down eachother. Luz was holding a few glyphs, while Yn just glared at her. It has been three and a half weeks since he started to have his secret training with Amity, Gus and Willow. And it really started to pay-off. Especially the work-outs with Willow; he had become a bit more buff and overall well built, which wasn't that much noticeable right now, because he was wearing a hoodie.
He still didn't tell anyone about his secret training and if he was honest, he planned on keeping it that way. Though even Scylla started to urge him to tell Luz and co... But he needed to do this.
"Are you ready", Yuhrias voice rang out. She stood at the front door of the Owl House, next to Eda, King and Hooty, who all gathered to see this little sparring between Luz and Yn.
"Of course", Luz said with a smirk. It took some, well a lot, of convincing, but now Luz seemed to get into the fighting mindset. You see, she really didn't want to fight with Yn, even though it was just a sparring match, but Yn managed to convince her. And now they were here.
"Ready", Yn replied smirking back at his best friend. He balled his hands into fists and kept an eye out for every move Luz could make.
"Alright, then... Go!" Yuhria said, and Luz immediatly activated an ice glyph, shooting a spear at Yn.
He dodged and dashed forward with his claw ready to attack. But before he could hit her, a wall of ice formed in front of him. He could hear vines growing and jumped backwards, seconds before they shot out from behind the ice wall. He smiled. His training really paid off.
Again, he dashed forward, put this time he jumped over the wall and shot a rock at Luz.
She yelped and jumped to the side to dodge. While she did, she threw glyphs on the ground, where Yn would land. He saw it and used a wind spell to catapult himself away from the glyphs. He landed and smirked at Luz.
But she just smirked back at him. Yn tilted his head in confusion and only barely managed to dodge the flame pillar that shot out from underneath him. He jumped back, stumbled as he landed and shook his head to extinguish the hair that caught on fire.
"Oh, she is good", he muttered and felt a pat on his back.
"You're not Bad yourself", Luz said and became visible next to him.
"I forgot the invisibility", Yn deadpanned and wanted to punch at Luz. But was stopped, when vines wrapped around his body, making him immobile. At least for a moment.
◈◈◈
Luz stepped in front of Yn, as the vines that wrappers around him shot into the ground. She smiled at him and hyped herself up.
"You did it Luz", she whispered to herself and began to do a little victory dance. She stopped, when she heard something rip behind her and the gasps from Yuhria, Eda, King and Hooty. Quickly she turned around to Yn, to see him rip himself free with...only his strength? He didn't use any spell or weird magic breath. He just broke free and then stood there breathing heavily.
"We're not done yet, Lu", Yn said with a smile. Behind him, she could see a faint twitching tail and on his head she could see two faint horns again. This became for frequent over the last weeks.
She made herself ready to continue fighting. But then Eda's voice rang out.
"Aright Kids. That's enough", Luz looked over to them and saw, that Eda, King and Hooty looked at them worriedly, while Yuhria looked more shocked.
She followed where Yuhria was looking and... Like she thought. She looked directly at Yn.
"Okay", Luz called back.
"Come Yn. Calm down and let us eat something okay?"
Yn looked at her and at that moment she felt something that felt like a mixture of fear and.. intrigue? She really wanted to know how he would look in his full hybrid form.. but only when he has control over it.
Yn took a few deep breaths and the tail and horns disappeares completely again. And then he smiled at her.
"Okay", he said with a smiled and together they went over to the others.
"You've gotten better", he complimented her.
"You too", Luz gave back.
"Even though you still need to do more than the basic stuff", Yn then teased.
"Oh, shut up", Luz said after a chuckle. "It's not that easy to be more creative, when you fight against a literal dragon-human-witch hybrid thing", she softly nudged him.
"Touché, Luz, Touché", Yn said chuckl7ng as they went inside the house.
◈◈◈
Scylla was sitting on Yns head, as he got ready for tonight's training session. He put on his shoes, grabbed his bag and went to climb out the window. Then he jumped from the roof, Scylla formed into her staff and Yn sat down on it mid-air.
"Let's go", he said smiling and flew towards the forest.
When he arrived in the forest and got off Scylla get looked around in confusion. Normally Amity, would wait around and not go into his hideout by herself. But maybe she decided to do it differently this time?
He looked at Scylla who, in her palisman form, sat on his shoulder. But she just looked back at him and seem just as confused as him.
He sighed and walked into his hide-out, where actually found Amity. She was at standing a desk and seemed to have already waited for him.
"Ah, hey Amity!"
"Hey there, Yn", Amity said with a slight wave and smile.
"You ready for tonight's training", Yn asked with an excited smiled, but he grew suspicious, when Amitys face dropped.
"You're not training tonight"* he heard Eda's voice behind him.
Yn flinched, tensed up and turned around to see Eda, Luz, Yuhria, King, Willow and Gus standing there.
"Wait, what are you-"
"We told them", Amity confessed behind Yn.
"Wait, when?" He asked.
"I did it after our first session", Amity Said.
"I did it last week", Willow said.
"I was with Willow when she told them" Gus said.
"Really guys", Yn asked. He felt.. betrayed and clenched his fists.
"Now don't you worry and get to angry, kiddo", Eda said calmly. Yn looked at her and she was smiling at him.
"You're not in trouble", Yuhria said.
"Yeah, we know where you're coming from and why you're doing it", Luz said.
Yn blinked in confusion and tilted his head to the side. He wasn't in trouble?
"Then why are you guys here?"
"To tell you to stop playing the lone wolf...or dragon in this case", King said. He was sitting in Luz's head.
"Lone wolf", Yn questioned. "I'm not playing lone wolf... I am just training so I am not a liability to any of you."
"You don't have to lie Yn", Luz said and held up Yn's diary. His eyes widened in shock and he felt a waved of anger rushing over him.
"Where did you get this?"
"Scylla gave it to us", Yuhria said, "and she showed us wich page to read." She nodded at Luz, who opened the diary and began to read;
"The Emperor seems to get more beloved and powerful each day. And now he showed his face to earn more sympathy and following... If this goes on, I don't know how I should stop him. Especially since he isn't the only one I have to stop. There are Tabitha - even though she seems to.. change? -, Ellan and then whatever else the Emperor has up his sleeves. I just have a really bad feeling, so I need to get my powers under control and I need to protect them all. No I will protect them."
"God damnit Scylla", Yn muttered, but his palisman only jumped from his shoulder and walked over to the others. She sat down in front of them and looked up at him with a stern expression.
"Why do you think that you need to do this alone, Yn?" Yuhria asked and stepped forward to him. Her expression was soft and Yn didn't dared to looked into the face.
"Because..." Yn took a deep breath. "Because I am the only one of us the Emperor actively sends out people to look for and I feel like I only am a danger to everyone because of that, and my non-existent control over my powers..." He was surprised by himself. Normally he would've lied or had just not told them. But now, he just told the truth about how he feels... Why's that?
"Yn", Eda said and stepped forward as well. She put a hand on his shoulder and he immediately felt a wave of comfort. "I know how you feel, at least with your powers, and do you know what I learned because of you and Luz? That I don't have to live through this alone. And just like I did with you, Luz and King, you have people have people wo would be more than happy to help you."
"She's right, you know", Amity said as she stepped next to Luz.
"Yeah", Luz said, "if you would've just told us, we would've totally helped you out properly. Right guys?"
"Yeah", Willow, Gus and King called out.
"You see", Yuhria said and out a hand in Yns other shoulder. "Other people would kill to have friends like that. And you have them right here. So let them, and us", she gestured to herself and Eda, "help you out, alright?"
Yn looked at them with wide eyes, before noticing that his vision became blurry.
"Heh, thanks guys", Yn said and pulled Eda and Yuhria into a hug, before casting a spell, to pull the other into it as well.
"I promise that I will ask for help a little more... And that I won't try to face the dangers alone... No matter what the Emperor has planned"
"That's what we like to hear", Yuhria said smiling.
"Yeah, you're finally starting to learn the lesson you teached me", Eda teased as she ruffled his hair.
"Thank you guys. Really", Yn said and pulled everyone closer to him. He just enjoyed this little moment.
◈◈◈
Emperor Belos stepped into the portal room, but walked right past the portal. He had his hands behind his back and completely ditched the mask. Now that everyone saw his face, he had no reason to hide anymore.
"What's taking everything so long", a voice suddenly called out to him. Without even flinching he turned around and looked directly to where the voice came from. There were two glowing eyes in the dark shadows. And the heavy breathing of the creature was accompanied by growling.
"You wanted to have this done a long time ago, Belos", the voice said.
"Now you need to be a little more patient Aeonia. As soon as I have what I need, you will get your true from back", the shadow twitched as Belos spoke and the eyes narrowed at him. But Belos stayed unfazed.
"I know how important your form was to you"
"Alright", the shadow growled and moved into a corner.
"But be warned Emperor" there was mockery on the shadows voice, "if you try anything dumb, you will feel the wrath of the Dragon Queen Aeonia."
"Oh, don't you worry", Belos said wirh a smile and turned around. He noticed a faint Scarlet glow in the other corner of the room, but ignored it. And with a satisfied look he left the room.
◈◈◈
Dragon Queen?, Tabitha thought as she peeked into the corner, that huge shadow was laying dormant now. She clutched her Dragon Artifact and looked down at it through narrowed eyes.
What does the Emperor want with a Dragon...? Wasn't he the one you hunted them?
She continued to look at the artifact.
We have to talk Flayre...
◈◈◈
Yes! With a little more than 10k words this chapter is finally done. You can't imagine how much work this was. Between getting Yn and Luz a little stronger, having a little look at Yns character at the end and the little tease for something new - that I should've done earlier tbh - I really fought with myself to get this done, haha
PS; I want you guys to give me a list of all the Things you like and dislike in this Story. So I can Work on them!