Ok guys, here's the next chapter! I just want to say thank you to my fans and everyone who supports/enjoys my book. I'm dedicating this chapter to @owlfan because I know she's super excited to read this and I made her cry in my last chapter :) Oh and by the way the pic is of a funny little guy that comes into play later in this chapter. And I put up a cast for a few of the main characters. The video is of Bakura's voice actor. Now without further adieu, chapter 5.....
The next day of school was probably the longest day Ryo could ever remember. He mostly kept to himself, thinking of what he was going to do at training. Usually he was good student that focused on the tasks the teachers would give him, but today he was way too distracted.
He glanced at the clock. 11:30. He frowned in frustration. Three more hours...
It was lunch right now as well as a free period, so people were either eating, socializing, or both. Ryo saw Yugi and the others talking across the room. He didn't feel like joining them because of multiple reasons. One, he was still worried the others hadn't forgiven him for letting Bakura take over him and start the shadow game in Atem's memories. Two, he was afraid to face Yugi after exploding on him yesterday, even though both of them had apologized. And three, he didn't want anything to happen to him. (I.E. turn into a dragon or explode on someone like he did to Yugi) He didn't want to draw any attention.
Although he didn't want to join them, he did still find himself listening in on their conversation. Especially since he was interested to know what they thought of HER.
"So how's she fitting in," Joey asked, leaning back in his chair at the lunch table.
"Fine," Yugi replied. "Actually, she adjusted better than I thought. I thought she'd be overwhelmed but she acted like she already knew everything. Grandpa found that strange..." Yugi thought back to his grandfather's impression of the mysterious girl.
"She's a strange one alright," Solomon Moto decided. "For someone who's from ancient Egypt, she sure knows what she's doing. She's hiding something I can tell. Even though she's a sweet, pretty girl, I'd be careful around her Yugi," he warned. "Secrets are kept for a reason."
Tristan's huff brought Yugi back to reality. "I don't trust her. She's way too nice. She's obviously trying to cover something and I'm not gonna trust her 'till I find out what it is."
"Atem trusts her," Yugi pointed out. "After I told him she beat Bakura's Ring spirit and she fixed the Puzzle, he decided that if she wanted to harm us, she would've done it then. She saved us. Maybe she's telling the truth. Maybe she really is my guardian."
"Yugi's got a point," Tèa said in agreement. "She DID save him. And Atem and Bakura. I think maybe we're all being a little too paranoid."
Joey put his hands behind his head. "She kicked that thief's can. Anyone who can get some hits in on that jerk is a friend of mine."
Tristan raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't it bother you that she has power like that?"
Joey shrugged. "No, not really. If she has the power to beat our most powerful enemy in less than an hour and she passes up a perfectly good time to get rid of three of our friends, she obviously doesn't want to hurt us. I say we give her a chance. THEN we can pass judgement."
Tristan sighed. "Alright, if you guys think so, then so be it. I'll go along with it. But don't say I didn't warn you."
Just then the school bell rang out, signaling the end of the free period. Everyone got up and scrambled to their classes.
The next two hours passed slowly, but passed nonetheless. During the last period, Ryo found himself counting down the minutes, which is something he never did. When that bell rung, he flew out the door of the classroom.
He ran out of the main entrance of the school, and sure enough, Jordyn was there waiting for him. She was wearing a pink frilly tanktop with jean shorts. He smiled and waved happily, but to his dissapointment, she didn't wave back. In fact, she didn't seem to be paying much attention to him. Ryo also noticed that she looked frustrated.
"Hey," he greeted cheerfully.
"Hi," she replied with a hint of bitterness.
Ryo looked at her in surprise. "Is something wrong?"
"Yes," she snapped at him, startling him. "I'm sick of taking credit for something I didn't do."
Ryo raised an eyebrow. "You mean what I told Yugi?"
She crossed her arms. "Yeah. Going around telling everyone and he thinks I'm some sort of hero." She glared angrily at the ground. "I'm not supposed to lie to the Pharaoh, Ryo. It's one of the guardian laws."
"Don't worry about it," Ryo assured her. "You're not lying."
"Ryo, you and I both know I wasn't the one to defeat Bakura."
"I never told Yugi you did. I simply said you made sure he wasn't going to be bothering us, which is true."
"Giving you the power to turn into a you-know-what," she said as a student walked by them, "does not count as "making sure."
"I dunno, you gave me the power to lock him up. Sounds like making sure to me. Yugi just took it like you were the one who beat him. That's not lying."
"Not telling him the truth is lying."
"Just let him think what he wants. What did you want me to tell him? The truth? I thought that's what you said to avoid until I'm trained. Besides, I heard Yugi talking to the others and now because of this, they're willing to trust you now."
"We'll that's just great," Jordyn said bitterly. "Now when they find out, they're definately not going to trust me."
Ryo sighed. "If it makes you feel better, I promise I'll take the blame for it when they find out."
Jordyn shook her head. "That won't help. The only reason I'm going along with this is because I'm trying to protect you. That would just defeat the whole purpose." She sighed. "Let's just go. I'll deal with it later."
Ryo nodded and they started off towards the place where they were to train. It took only a few minutes, but they soon arrived at a gated sewer tunnel under a bridge nearby the school.
Jordyn stopped at the sewer gate and looked at Ryo in confusion. "Is this it?"
"I told you it wasn't much. But don't worry, what we're looking for is inside." Ryo squeezed through the spacious bars of the gate then held out his hand to help Jordyn in.
Jordyn took it and Ryo helped her through the bars. Inside, a dark tunnel with no end awaited them. "How do we see where we're going?" she asked.
"There's something you should know about me, Jordyn," he replied as he unzipped his brown backpack. He pulled out a flashlight. "I always come prepared," he smirked. He clicked it on and began leading them through the tunnel.
The tunnel was large enough for them to walk in, but enough for them to stand up straight in. It seemed to have no end, and the farther they entered the harder it was to see. Even with the flashlight.
"So how exactly did you find this place?" Jordyn asked as they trudged through the darkness.
"To be honest, it was an accident," Ryo replied. "It was after the first day I moved here. There was a group of older boys picking on me. It was nothing I wasn't used to at the time after moving so often. But then they decided I needed the "proper Domino High School welcome" which was basically beating me to a pulp. After the first few hits, I managed to get away, so I ran. I ran as fast as I could and as far as I could away from them. That led me here. I got through the bars and ran through this tunnel like a madman. The other kids were too big to fit through the bars, so I was safe. But at the time I just wanted to get as far away from them as I could. So I followed the tunnel, which led me here."
The tunnel had suddenly enlarged and expanded into a black room. Ryo used the flashlight to find the light-switch. When he flipped the switch, the lights flickered on, exposing the room's contents.
The room was at least the size of a warehouse with old electric wires running through the walls and boarded windows, which explained the lack of light. It was definitely a long forgotten room because it had grass growing through the floor and moss and ivy growing on the walls. There was a small stream that was running through the middle of the room, probably from a leakage in the pipelines. There were several tunnels that led out of the room, all lined with rusty old pipelines.
Jordyn looked around in amazement. "Ryo this is incredible."
"That's nothing. Wait 'till you see this," Ryo said as he pulled a lever near the light-switches.
A loud motor moan echoed throughout the halls of the sewers and the roof above them began to open forward like giant doors, revealing the sky-blue of the world outside. Light poured into the rest of the room, revealing a staircase that led up to the roof. As if on cue, a golden butterfly fluttered in from the open roof. It flew around the pair before landing on Ryo's nose, startling him.
Jordyn giggled. "I think you made a friend," she said.
Ryo smiled sheepishly. "I guess so," he replied. He wrinkled his nose. "It kinda tickles."
Jordyn put out her hand and the butterfly flew across to land on her finger. A slight breeze entered the room, and it flew off into the flowers near the stream.
"Ryo, this place is amazing," Jordyn said again. "It's beautiful." she closed her eyes as she let the breeze blow on her.
Ryo watched as it blew through her silky brown hair, the golden highlights gleaming perfectly in the sunlight. "Yeah...beautiful..." he sighed longingly. Jordyn opened her eyes and glanced at him in surprise. Ryo immediately bit his lip and looked away, blushing slightly. "So, um..." he said nervously, trying to change the subject. "Will this work? You know, as a training ground?"
Jordyn nodded. "Yes this will do just fine." She turned to him and smiled. "So, you ready to get started?"
Ryo nodded excitedly and held a thumbs up. "As I'll ever be," he said cheerfully. He closed his eyes and his body illuminated as he switched to the green Earth dragon. He held his head up high and puffed out his chest. "Alright, let's get this thing going. I'm ready for anything!"
The first few minutes of training were setting up for the training. It wasn't really fun, but it had to be done. They moved around blocks of broken stone and poles of wood to clear space. Then they had to set up posts for practice later on. It was grueling work, especially since all they were moving was stone and wood.
But some good did come out of it. Ryo learned that he could use his ram-like horns to pick up and carry large and heavy objects, which made the job much quicker and easier. After about an hour, everything was ready. It was time to begin.
"Alright," Jordyn began. "So there's three things that build a perfectly well-trained dragon: combat, elements, and flying. We're going to start off with combat..."
So over the next few hours, Jordyn taught Ryo several different ways that a dragon could fight with their teeth and talons. Ryo got the form quickly, and when he used it on the stone dummies, he demolished them to rubble. Jordyn was impressed by his strength and skill.
Probably one of the perks of being an Earth dragon, she thought to herself.
The next form of combat he was taught was through his tail. This was a bit more difficult because Ryo still wasn't used to even having one. But after a long drawn-out process he learned the basics of combat with his tail club. It wasn't long after that that he discovered the sharpened could be used as a kind of blade as well. Using a staff of wood, Jordyn was able to duel him almost identically to an actual sword fight.
After using many different techniques, Jordyn that Ryo learned best by instinct. His dragon side seemed to know what it had to do when it was placed in certain situations. She noticed this mainly in the fighting situations. When she attacked him in certain ways, he'd pull moves that she'd never taught him or dodge in a way she hadn't thought of. She found it quite impressive. He was definitely a powerful warrior.
Ryo bashed another stone dummy with another combo she taught him. "Alright! I got this!" he exclaimed excitedly. "There's not a combo I can't learn," he boasted proudly.
"Alright mr. fantastic," Jordyn called from the stairway. "Meet me upstairs, you've got something else you need to learn before we can move on."
The dragon nodded and transformed back into his human form. Ryo ran up the stairs to the roof. When he got there, Jordyn was staring out into the canyons before them. The sewer area had led outside of the city, into the wilderness that was miles away.
On the roof was a rusty metal balcony that extended a few yards from the actual building. Below it was thousands of miles of abyss in the canyon.
"The view is amazing up here," Ryo noted. "I've only been up here a couple of times and it was at night. I've never seen it during the day."
"Yeah views are always better up high in the air," Jordyn sighed. "Which reminds me, you ready to learn your next skill?"
Ryo pretended to salute her. "Yes ma'am," he replied. He transformed into his dragon.
"Good. Because this one's gonna be pretty simple." She smiled and pointed at his wings. "It's time you learned how to use those things."
Ryo's eyes widened. "Wait, you mean fly?" He glanced at the abyss below them. "From here?"
Jordyn nodded. "Yeah, this is a perfect place for you to start. All you've got to do is jump, then spread out your wings and boom! You're flying!"
The dragon gulped. "J-jump?" he stammered.
"Just remember to flap every so often otherwise you'll just glide to the ground. The harder you flap, the higher you'll go. You'll get it when you're up there. You're a dragon after all, it'll come naturally." Jordyn noticed that he was nervous. "Oh come on, you're not scared are you?" she teased.
The dragon snorted. "No! I just think that this is a pretty high risk for a beginner."
Jordyn folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Most dragons are taught as hatchlings. And they're shoved off."
"Well, I'm not 'most dragons'. I'm new at this whole dragon thing and I...well...sorta maybe have a tiny fear of heights," he admitted.
Jordyn giggled. "A dragon who's afraid of heights? That's a new one."
"Look, I'm sorry but I can't do this. Fighting is one thing, but throwing myself off a cliff hoping I'll figure out how to fly is another thing entirely."
"Ryo, come on, you can't be a baby about this. Man-up. Or should I say, dragon-up," she said with a smile. "Just trust your instincts and you'll know what to do."
The dragon stepped forward onto the balcony, and it creaked loudly. It started to bend under his weight. Ryo stepped back in fright when he heard the sound. He sook his head.
"No, I'm not going to do this. I can't. I'll be killed!"
Jordyn walked in front of him and glared at him angrily. "Ryo, you're a 300 pound dragon with scales and bones like steel. You're built to handle anything. Not to mention u have wings, Ryo! You can't-won't fail at something you're built to do. Stop letting your fear control you. You signed up for this, and you're going to do it whether you like it or not."
"You never said anything about me having to commit SUICIDE! Look I'm sorry Jordyn, but I'm perfectly happy on the ground."
"This is part of your training. You have to do it in order to move on. You said yourself that you want to be the best dragon you can possibly be. This is part of the deal." She turned around and sighed. "But if you want, we can try again later when you're ready." She walked on to the balcony. It creaked as she walked to the rail.
She leaned over the rail and sighed heavily. Ryo turned away in shame. As he turned away to leave, a loud shriek sounded and the balcony jerked forward. Jordyn yelped as the force knocked her off her feet.
The dragon whirled around to see the balcony behind him slowly slipping off the wall of the building. He glanced at the bolts holding the balcony down. They were literally hanging on by one screw, which was shaking wildly, about to pop out. "The balcony's breaking!" he realized. Jordyn's eyes widened, and not a moment later the bolt popped out and the balcony fell into the canyon.
"Jordyn!!" Without thinking, the dragon dived after the falling girl. He pressed his wings to his sides instinctively, and it sped up his plunge. He caught up to her as the ground was rapidly becoming visible. He wrapped his arms around her and opened his wings, pulling up just above the ground.
Jordyn, who had her eyes closed the whole time, opened them to see the ground disappearing below her as they rose. She hugged the dragon's neck tightly to feel secure.
Ryo glanced down at her with worried eyes. "Are you alright?" he asked as he flapped his wings to stay aloft in the air.
She nodded. "Just a bit shaken." She glanced at the ground again before smirking and saying, "You do know you're flying right now, right?"
"I'm trying not to think about it," he replied as he too glanced at the ground below. "But it's not really as bad as I thought."
"Trust me, it's not that bad. And it gets better. Have you tried gliding yet?"
"Only to pull up. I'm just trying to get back up." He tensed as he looked down again.
"You need to relax," Jordyn told him. Just close your eyes and glide. It'll be fine."
Ryo hesitated before sighing and closing his eyes. He spread out his wings and began to glide. It took a moment before before he finally opened his eyes. But instead of terror and fear overflowing him as he expected, he was overwhelmed with joy and a sense of freedom.
"This, this is incredible!" Ryo exclaimed. "The wind, the view, everything. It's great!" He veered sharply to both sides, experimenting the limits. He even did a couple of flips and a corkscrew before Jordyn spoke up.
"Ok, let's not make the passenger puke please," Jordyn said as she shook her head to clear the dizziness.
"Oops, sorry I forgot," Ryo apologized. "But you were right Jordyn, this is the most wonderful thing I've ever experienced! I feel completely free, like I'm-"
"Untouchable," Jordyn finished for him. "I know, it's great isn't it? Like nothing you've ever felt. No one can touch you up here, you can escape the world and all your problems just by soaring through the clouds."
Ryo glanced down at her in surprise as she spoke his words. She seems to know the feeling pretty well, he noted. Has she done this before? "Yeah, exactly. It gives you a whole new perspective up here. Makes you realize how insignificant you are."
Jordyn shook her head. "No, it's just the opposite. It makes you realize HOW significant we all are. Look at the forest and the canyons, then at the city. That's how significant people are. Domino City was once just another part of this wilderness, but because a few people thought it'd be a nice place to live, its changed into a huge city filled with thousands of people. That's how significant we are. We can change anything in the world if we wanted to. We may seem like nothing, but in all reality we're all significant. Everything we do affects the world in some way. It's just up to us how we choose to affect it."
"Huh, I never really thought about it that way," the dragon replied. "I always thought people were nothing unless you did something with more people. That without a group we can't accomplish anything."
Jordyn looked away sadly. "I wish that were true sometimes," she said grimly. "But it's not. Look at how much you've accomplished on your own. I wouldn't call that insignificant. You'd be surprised what one dragon can do."
"True, but I have you to help me. So I'm not really alone. Not anymore," he said cheerfully.
Jordyn cracked a smile. "Alright, let's head back then. The sun's starting to go down."
The dragon nodded and flew back over to building. But as he neared it his eyes widened. "Wait a second!" he said in alarm as he sped towards the building.
Jordyn looked at him in confusion. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know how to-" He was cut off as they tumbled onto the ground through the open roof. Ryo wrapped his wings around Jordyn protectively as they hit land and skidded a few feet before coming to a halt just in front of the stream.
"-land," he finished in a groan as he unwrapped his wings and changed back to a human in exhaustion. He had landed on his back and the force had thrown Jordyn forward. It had caused her to land on his chest and their noses to touch. Both of them blushed as they stared into each other's eyes for a moment.
Jordyn finally sat up, but remained where she was as the golden butterfly from before landed on Ryo's nose.
"Really? Again?" Ryo asked in annoyance. He waved it away.
Jordyn smiled. "That little guy really likes you." Her expression changed as she said, "Thanks, by the way. For saving me, I mean. That was really brave of you."
Ryo blushed and scratched the back of his head nervously. "Oh, it was nothing. Just helping out a friend."
Jordyn blinked in surprise. "Friend?"
"Yeah, I'd consider you as my friend," Ryo said nervously. "I-is that okay?"
"Yeah, it's fine. Just," she looked away, lost in thought. I haven't been called that in a long time." She moved away from him.
Ryo sat up. "Well that's a shame, 'cause you make a great friend," he said sweetly.
Jordyn smiled in response. "Thanks Ryo. That means a lot. And for the record I consider you as a great friend too. Even if you can't land on your own four feet," she teased.
"Hey!" Ryo pretended to look offended. "I prefer my landings to be original," he said as he stood up.
Jordyn stood up as well. "I think the better term is clumsy," she said playfully.
"Ok well next time I'll ride in your arms and you can land us as a dragon," he replied jokingly. "Or maybe I can get tips from that butterfly."
"Now that I'd like to see," she laughed.