Dragons Rising: The Merge: The Rewrite

Faith and Beatricious

Author's Notes:

Not me writing this instead of sleeping.
I just HAD to get this out. My theories are going wild.

~✦ ✧ ✦ ✧~

Even though Arin tried his best to hide it, Lloyd could tell he was getting tired.

"Arin, I can carry you too if you're too tired to walk," Lloyd said as he looked back.

Arin was startled for a bit before replying. "N-no thank you, I'm fine."

"Really?" Lloyd asked. "Your legs are shaking."

"O-oh," Arin stood still and also saw the slight shake in his limbs.

"And holding a dragon for around an hour and walking at the same time will be tiring. Especially if you don't have a lot of stamina."

Arin's face flushed. "Was it that obvious?"

"Well, not too much," Lloyd shifted Sora into a more comfortable position. "I'm always tired after a mission, and I don't think you encountered anything too life-threatening, and you're still a kid. And you look too skinny to have been fed well."

"You got all that just by looking at me?" Arin gasped, his fatigue being replaced by excitement, wonder, and awe. "See, little dragon?"

The dragon let out a tired "mrble"

"This is how amazing the Green Ninja, Lloyd, is! Super strong, super cool, and super observant!"

"I'm not-" Lloyd started, but Arin wasn't paying attention. He started to run-skip along the path. "Hey—wait!" Lloyd ran off to catch up before the two could get into trouble.

Too late. It wasn't very charming. He saw Arin take down two guards, and do some form of spinjitzu, but he tripped on nothing. Literally! It was a flat road with nothing that he could trip on, yet he dropped flat on his face. At least the dragon wiggled out of his hold just in time to not become a pancake.

"Yeah," Lloyd bent down and picked him up. "thought so."

Arin started protesting, but Lloyd only looked at him. He stopped talking.

The dragon flew onto his head, curled up, and started to purr.

Is this a dragon, or a cat? Lloyd thought.

"Just rest," Lloyd said soothingly. "I got it from here."

~✦ ✧ ✦ ✧~

Maybe he needed to take his own advice. After climbing the monastery stairs and putting Arin and Sora into Kai and Nya's beds, he felt as if he had been using a lot of his powers for a long time without stopping. He tried to take the dragon off of his body, but it stubbornly stayed on and started to whimper whenever he pried its claws off. Maybe it was because he was part dragon? But he's more oni than dragon.

But he didn't have time to rest. There was still so much for him to do. And what was he thinking? Bringing two kids—one that has elemental powers that no one has ever heard of, and one that has no elemental powers but can still do spinjitzu—to the monastery? He isn't Master Wu! He doesn't know the first thing about teaching two kids! Is he really going to be teaching them? This kind of stuff is for Master Wu! Or-or any of the ninjas! They know how to teach kids! Hell, they taught him!

These kinds of thoughts plagued him as he sifted through the papers Kai had sent him while he was away. He didn't know how long he had been there, but apparently, the dragon had an internal clock and was starting to get grumpy.