A Book of Turtlejou Oneshots

Count on You

Normal dragon universe

   "Turtle?"

   A small, yet jubilant, RainWing stood near the entrance of one of the sleeping caves of Jade Mountain Academy. She heard a small grunt in response.

   "Turtle! Turtle! Turtle! I need you for a few heartbeats, come on!"

   "Just a few more minutes, Kinkajou..."

   Kinkajou had no choice but to stand at the entrance. In all honestly, however, standing was the opposite of what she was doing. The young RainWing bounced about, impatiently waiting for the SeaWing prince to come out.

   The dragon in question, however, was hurriedly trying to make sure he was ready for the day. Turtle never wore any jewelry, except for his skyfire armband, but he didn't want to be seen with loose dirt on his nose or seaweed in his scales. Not in front of his crush.

   After he met his requirements to go outside, he stepped out of his cave, then crumpled to the ground as Kinkajou tackled him. "W-what was that for?!" Turtle sputtered.

   "Nothing! Just excited. But boy, do you take a long time to come out. You don't even have anything on," she shrugged, stepping back to let Turtle get up. Kinkajou squinted at him for a moment, and Turtle felt a small pinch on his ear. "And also..."

   Turtle looked confused. "You had a piece of moss on your ear," she explained, holding up the strand of moss and tossing it aside. The SeaWing wanted to find a pile of sand and bury himself in it forever.

   "So what did you need me for?" Turtle asked, changing the subject. He spread his wings out a little, catching the cool, dry, wind of the caves. It felt unfamiliar compared to the noisy, humid sea breeze he grew up with, though every day Turtle felt more at rest at his school.

   "I need your help with a research project for Tsunami! It's about battle training, or whatever, but I totally forgot all the stances and moves and it's due tommorow!" Kinkajou yelped, shaking Turtle's shoulders, "You know how your sister acts when a student blanks! I really want to live!"

   Turtle freed himself from the hyper RainWing's grasp and shook himself. "A research scroll? That doesn't sound like Tsunami."

   "Oh, I forgot to mention that we actually need to demonstrate the battle tactics on the scroll we wrote," Kinkajou shrugged.

   Turtle let out an internal groan. Typical Tsunami, he thought, an exasperated smile creeping up on his snout. "Alright, I'll help you, calm down. Meet me at the prey center."

   The SeaWing could barely finish his sentence before Kinkajou barreled through the caves, her boundless energy surging through her. Turtle grinned at the thought of spending the afternoon with the dragon of his dreams.

__________

   "Alright, next move is a duck, roll, and scratch!" Turtle called out, reading the moves Kinkajou had written on the scroll in her scraggly handwriting.

   Her scales turning red with pretend-anger, the RainWing bent low and rolled across the stone floor, only to jump back up on her hind legs and slice the air with her claws. "Rawr to you, Invisible Opponent! Did I do it right, Turtle?"

   "I think you did great!" he exclaimed, catching Tsunami's look of approval from a few hallways down where she was walking by. A couple of students-- Thrush and Changbai?-- were on her tail, looking guilty.

   Kinkajou beamed at Turtle, her scales returning to their usual yellow and pink. Her chest heaved heavily, sweat beading her scales. "What's the next move?" she asked, determined to keep going.

   "We're nearly done. Now you have to... throw a pineapple? You totally did this, didn't you?" Turtle laughed, pointing to a bullet point on the scroll.

   "Sure I did! It's useful in the rainforest... and in the prey center!" Kinkajou reappeared with a pineapple from the fruit section of the prey center and sliced it open, tossing it to Turtle. He fumbled with the unexpected throw and managed to catch it at an awkward position.

   "Thank the moons! I thought you'd never stop training!" he said, biting a small piece of the fruit. "Not so bad after all..." Turtle mumbled.

   The RainWing nudged his wing with her tail. "What did I tell you? Life in the jungle is the best! And, thank you, Turtle, for helping out. I can always count on you!"

   "No problem," he replied, flustered at the praise. "Although you weren't too happy about the love spell incident," he added.

   Kinkajou let out a yawn pushing her half-eaten fruit away from her. "Fighting invisible opponents all day is hard," she muttered lazily.

   "Wow, the Great Kinkajou finally loses her energy! Get the medics! Call Queen Glory! This is--"

   Turtle was cut off by the sound of light snoring and a weight on his chest. Kinkajou's warm breath hit his green scales, making him freeze. Turtle soon smiled warmly at Kinkajou so peaceful.

   He wrapped his wings around her protectively, shielding her from the noise of the school. I'll stay here just a bit longer until Kinkajou wakes up, he thought, not daring to speak and break the moment.

   Maybe Tsunami needs to assign more training projects... Turtle thought half-sarcastically.

__________

And with that, I am outta here! 842 words in the box at 3 AM!

Till next time!

~Juliet