Part 19


“Ugh,” groaned Luke waking up on the floor surrounded by tons of other dragons and tons of food scraps. There were even a couple dragons on top of him and one that was under him, hugging him tightly in his sleep. “That was some party. I wish I knew what happened.”

Pushing the dragons on him off and slipping free of the clingy one, Luke carefully got to his feet and tried his best to remember. Licking his chops, he started to recall the food he ate, the tons upon tons of it. He let out a belch just thinking about it and gave his gut a pat suddenly realizing it felt even bigger and rounder than it had prior. His coat strained against it and it looked like he was already in need of a new one.

“At least I survived my first wild dragon party,” thought Luke looking around once more at the countless number of dragons around him that looked completely stuffed and out cold from it. “Looks like we’ve got plenty of casualties, though I hope that is just fatigue. Rubbing against his gut, he jumped when he felt something move beneath his coat and start squirming around. “What the hell?!?”

Looking down, Luke was not sure what to expect as he felt something climbing up his body, grabbing his moobs and poking its way through the neckhole. Then he saw the familiar back of Drag’s head as he let out a yawn. “Morning,” he mumbled eyes still closed.

“M-Morning,” stuttered Luke. “Dr-Drag? What are you doing in there?”

Yawning again, Drag managed to turn to see some of Luke’s chubby face. “Oh, hi, Luke. Uh, I’m not sure how I ended up in here. Last thing I remember was getting sleepy and looking for a warm, quiet place to curl up in. Heh, guess this was it.”

“Glad you were able to get some Z’s,” chuckled Luke unzipping his coat to let Drag slip out. Luke gave a little chuckle seeing Drag also gained a fairly chubbier gut from the party as well. “Looks like you enjoyed yourself quite a lot too.”

“Looks like it,” giggled Drag.

“Oh, good,” Taylor said squeezing his bloated Dragonite body out of Luke’s room as he munched up some pizza that had managed to make it through to the end of the party. “You’re awake. I was a bit worried you’d be ready to sleep for a year after this party.” He flexed the claws in one hand while stuffing a pizza slice into his maw with the other. After he swallowed it he continued to speak. “It isn’t a pleasant experience awakening a dragon prepared to sleep a long time and I mean that for the sleeper.”

“I take it I don’t wanna know any more than that,” gulped Luke.

“No you don’t,” grinned Taylor walking over the bodies of several dragons without any hesitation as he made his way over to Luke and Drag.

“Uh, wouldn’t it be better to try stepping around them rather than on them?” suggested Drag. “Uh, if you can find some floor to stand on, that is.”

“They aren’t going to be waking up for quite some time,” he answered. “They could be hit by a train and they’d probably still be asleep for nine months if not the full year they likely are to.”

“Makes me even more worried at what you’d have had to do to wake me up then,” gulped Luke.

“Well, be glad you are awake then,” Taylor told him. “Cause it’s time for your training and it’ll be the hardest training you’ll have to endure yet.” He then looked down at Drag. “And I’ve got an extra special job for you too, lil pup.”

“Hey! I’m no p-” Drag started to protest.

“Lil pup,” Taylor repeated again placing a paw on Drag’s head and applying just enough pressure on him to make him feel uncomfortable and make him whimper. He took out a marker and held it out for Drag to take. “Now use this marker and draw on all these dragons’ faces. Shouldn’t take you more than a few hours.” Drag took the marker and Taylor removed his paw. “Good, pup.” Turning back to Luke, he waved him to follow. “Let’s go now, Luke.”

Carefully following after Taylor, Luke looked back at Drag as he started to hesitantly draw on the first, nearest dragon to him, putting swirls on his cheeks and a monobrow. “Did you have to be so mean to Drag and have him draw on all these dragons’ faces?”

“You know I do what I want no matter what,” Taylor told him. “Besides, it’s what they get for sleeping so long and they’ll all get a big laugh out of it when they do finally wake up.”

“Speaking of sleep, were you up the entire time?” asked Luke.

“Dragons don’t need sleep so long as they don’t run out of energy,” Taylor explained. “And with all the stuff to do around here why would you want to sleep for a year?”

“Sleeping is nice too,” commented Luke. “It’s nice and relaxing after doing a lot.”

“It’s a waste of time for me,” he scoffed and handed Luke some pizza. “Eat up. You won’t have time to sleep before your test so you’ll need to have lots of energy.” A bit worried, but one never to turn down food, Luke munched up the pizza.


“Uh, where are we now?” asked Luke looking around at a new area of the Dragon Horde. It was a large open area that seemed to resemble the Roman Colosseum, though built at an even greater scale. In the distance, Luke could see several other groups of dragons locked in combat with one another, battling with swords, shields, axes, or some other sort of weapon or just their claws, fangs, horns, and fists. In some of the battles it looked to be a free-for-all, but there was also one that had three dragons around his and Taylor’s size teamed up against a dragon that looked at least two stories tall. Luke watched, trembling a bit at the sight of such brutal fighting. He saw two of the smaller dragons charge at the larger one with heavy swords in arm and struck at its body with all their might, but their attacks only bounced off and allowed the huge beast to swat them against the ground with its paws like they were bugs. The remaining dragon was quick to run up to his flattered conrades with a huge backpack on. He took it off and searched around inside, pulling out a couple of bottles with a blue-hued liquid inside. Removing the corks from the bottles, he poured the liquid into their maws and within a few seconds they were up on their feet to battle once more.

“Like what you see?” asked Taylor putting an arm over Luke’s neck. “These are real warrior dragons. Dragons like these come out here every day to hone their skills and live a life of battle.”

“It’s nice to fantasize about the fighting and the glory of victory,” commented Luke as he looked at another group of dragons hacking and slashing away at one another. They had blood dripping from wounds on their body, though from how tough their scaley hides were it was hardly comparable if they had been human. Luke could also see their bodies were covered over with quite a large number of scars, a likely testament to just how much these dragons have battled. “But I don’t know if I’d like to fight unless I really had to.”

“Well, you’re in luck,” reminded Taylor. “Cause you’ll have to fight against Abyss and what better place to train for it than the place where you’ll actually be fighting him?”

“I have to fight him here?” gulped Luke looking around and the danger lurking not too far away was feeling ever more real to him.

“You will and you’ll have this entire arena to do it in. I imagine that the seats will likely be filled with dragons eager to watch. After all, the fate of button borns could very well be affected by the outcome.”

“But it’s just a simple test, right?” Luke worried. “I mean it’s not like we’re fighting for real or anything.”

“Since it is just a test the dragons typically treat it more like sparring so it is rare that anyone gets hurt beyond some bruises and a few scratches,” explained Taylor taking his arm off Luke and taking a few steps away before facing him again. “And I don’t think there’s ever been a death in one ever, but this is Abyss we’re talking about and I don’t find it likely that he’ll go easy on you just because it’s a test. I doubt he’d outright kill you, but making you suffer and beg for mercy might be his ultimate goal. Just don’t forget that dragons don’t have the same laws as humans do. There is no law against killing so he could kill you with few consequences to himself and probably none that would concern him in the slightest. If you’re going to want to pass this test then you’re going to have to learn to fight, if for nothing else than to stall for time. You’ve only got to manage for five minutes, but it’ll be the longest five minutes of your life.”

“I suppose I can run away from him for five minutes if it comes to that,” commented Luke.

“You think that’s the solution?” questioned Taylor as he crossed his arms. “Let’s see if you can keep away from me for that long. Just start running and see how long it’ll take for me to catch you.”

“O-okay,” he nodded nervously and turned to run. Luke then took off with all the might his heavy frame could muster, but he barely managed two steps before he felt a crushing pain on the end of his tail and he couldn’t run forward. He lost his balance and fell face first to the ground.

“This is why you can’t run away,” Taylor told Luke as he removed his foot from Luke’s tail and gripped the bruised end with his claws, giving it a tight squeeze to aggravate the pain Luke was feeling from when he stomped on it. “When you turn away from your opponent your tail is exposed and just like that they can catch you and you’re dead.”

“Couldn’t you have just told me this would happen,” groaned Luke not having fun with this at all.

“I am not here to give you the answers,” Taylor told him. “I can train you, but fighting can only be mastered through experience. Let your aches and pains be etched into your mind so you know what to avoid doing to avoid such pains again. Now get back to your feet and face me like a real dragon.” Letting go of Luke’s tail, he waited with little patience as he tapped his foot on the ground and watched the Wind Dragon slowly pick himself up. Luke sniffled a bit and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. Seeing this didn’t make Taylor any happier. “I don’t wanna see any sniveling either,” he snapped. “You were probably too old for that kind of behavior as a human and you are a disgrace to all dragons if you do that as you are now. If you truly wish to be a dragon then show that you have some pride and a backbone!”

Taking a few deep breaths, Luke calmed himself down and wiped his face clean. “Ok, I’m ready! What’s next?”

“Better,” nodded Taylor. “Now that you know running will lead to death I’m going to show you how to fight. Actually, I’m going to show you how to not get your oversized dragon behind beaten mercilessly. By the time we’re done here you will probably downright hate me for what I’m putting your through if you don’t hate me already. Just let that anger you have be your power.”

“I don’t hate you,” Luke told him.

“Don’t hate me?” questioned Taylor before he laughed. “Don’t make me laugh. You can’t possibly not hate me after everything I’ve done to you. I’m forceful, aggressive, and I’m mainly doing this to make sure you don’t make things more difficult around here for me. I live just for myself and just use anyone else for my own benefit or cause it amuses me. There. I’ve just given you ample reasons to hate me and I’m not making any of that up.”

“You can admit all that stuff,” commented Luke. “And I can’t deny that it’s all probably true, but you are helping me and you’ve been doing that since we first met in your own way. You helped me with my initiation and helped me get settled into my room and you’re even helping me out now. I don’t know why you are the way you are, but I honestly think you do care to help me and not just for yourself.”

Turning his head to spit, the Dragonite then turned to Luke once more. “Think whatever you want. Just so long as it motivates you. Now, for this trial no weapons are allowed save for claws, fists, horns, etcetera. Basically, you only come in here with your body and clothes if you choose to wear them. If you have any magical abilities or have learned to use your magical breath then you can use those too.”

“Magic?” asked Luke. “I was never taught any of that stuff and what is magical breath?”

“Nor do you have time for me to try to teach you any magic,” Taylor explained. “Magic is learned upon reaching Horn Rank and as for Magic Breath, that’s not till Breath Rank.”

“Then you don’t have Magic Breath either,” Luke recalled that Taylor was only at Horn Rank.

“It’s not something to dwell on right now,” Taylor reminded Luke. “We need to get you trained and I have to teach you to fight. Now take a stance like this.” Taylor placed his hands on his knees and then took one huge step to one side with one leg and another to the other side with his other leg to widen the crouching stance he was now in.

A bit awkwardly, Luke did the same almost losing his balance and falling on his butt in the process. “Isn’t this like a sumo stance?” asked Luke looking at how much Taylor looked like a sumo wrestler the way he was squatting, especially with how fat his body was.

“Well, you certainly have the body of a sumo now,” Taylor pointed out making Luke blush at the realization of just how fat he must have been even by dragon standards now. “This will probably be the most effective fighting I can teach you since you’ve got all that weight at your disposal. The key here is to keep your legs rooted to the ground and strike at your opponent with powerful arm thrusts and grappling. Come over here and I’ll demonstrate.”

“Um, okay,” Luke agreed as he tried to remain in his squatting stance as he waddled a couple yards towards Taylor. Along the way he had to tug at his pants as he was developing a wedging from this awkward waddling. “Feels weird to move like this.”

“You’ll have plenty of time to get used to it,” Taylor stated as he demonstrated. “Standing like that gives you a lower center of gravity so it will make it harder for you to be knocked over. Now, when you attack, you hold your palm flat like this, bend your elbow and twist your body to put your attacking arm back while you keep your other arm forward for defense. When you strike, you push forward with your legs while twisting your body back forward and extending your arm out. Doing this will put a tremendous amount of power into your attack. Even against a dragon like Abyss it’s sure to hit hard, but at the same time it comes at the risk of throwing off your balance if you miss and leaving you quite vulnerable. You will have to practice regaining your balance quickly after using this in order for it to be viable in the fight, but, for now, let’s see what you’ve got.”

“You mean, you want me to use it?” asked Luke doing just as Taylor had done and got into his striking stance.

“That looks right, now attack me with all your might,” he instructed. “I’ll let you hit me some don’t hold back. I need to see just what you are capable of.”

“If you say so,” gulped Luke hoping this wasn’t a mistake. With all the might he could muster, Luke unleashed his attack and hit Taylor square in the chest. The force of the attack was enough to lift the Dragonite off his feet and send him flying helplessly backwards, quite a distance, before he hit the ground and slid backwards some more. “A-Are you okay?!?” cried Luke falling flat on his face, losing his footing from the attack. He hurried to pick himself up and run over to Taylor who was getting up and dusting himself off. “Y-you said to hit you with everything I had… r-right?”

“I did,” he nodded spitting on the ground before looking at Luke. To the fatty Wind Dragon’s surprise, he wasn’t pissed at him, but grinning and placed a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “And that was excellent. You might just be able to make it out of this in one piece yet.”

“Oh, that’s the most relieving thing you’ve told me yet,” Luke breathed happily.

“Now, time to get back to work,” added Taylor holding out his arm.

“Let’s do this,” agreed Luke holding out his arm to shake the one Taylor held out. At least, that’s what he had assumed Taylor had intended before he grabbed Luke’s forearm and gripped his shoulder tightly. Then in a very fluid motion he uprooted Luke from the ground and sent him flying with a throw even further than Luke had hit Taylor just a moment ago. He landed upside down, surprised that it didn’t hurt as bad as he had expected it to, thanks to his thick coat and draconic body.

“Glad you are so motivated,” Taylor grinned. “That there was a grapple using the opponent’s shoulder and forearm to gain leverage on them. I’ll let you try that one out on me next and then I’ve got a few more to show you after that. Once you’ve see all the moves then we can get down to the real training and then I can stop going easy on you and really help push your limits.”

“Just how long do we have to do this for again?” worried Luke more than ever now.

“Non stop till about an hour before the trial,” answered Taylor. “You’ll use that time to eat and restore your energy. Now come over here and throw me like I threw you.”

Wiping his forehead, Luke could feel himself already starting to perspire. His body temperature was also rising from the insulated coat along with the tension he was feeling and the training. It was a strange, yet enjoyable sensation and somehow even in spite of his fears he was actually somehow finding this enjoyable. With a little smile, he approached Taylor and grabbed his forearm and shoulder just as he had demonstrated on him. “I don’t hate you,” Luke told him. “But I think I am starting to enjoy this.” Gritting his teeth as he drew upon his strength, Luke managed to find the power to lift Taylor off the ground and send him flying with a throw. Taylor hit the ground with a mighty thud, landing on his back and looked up at the glass ceiling above. Taylor smiled a bit and remained quietly on his back for a short moment.

“I think I’m starting to really like you too,” he admitted to himself.

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