Dragons in Disguise

Chapter 6: Dragons? Are you serious? (Andy)

Andy stared at the campfire, one benefit of having Mum and Dad, and their aunt and Uncle, not know where the treehouses were located, was the fact that they couldn't randomly come and 'check on them.' Aka, make sure they were being safe etc. etc. Their parents probably wouldn't be thrilled to know that their underage kids had an awesome campfire going, and they definitely wouldn't be real impressed with the fact that Andy and Mark had 'liberated,' a small stash of Mum's favourite chocolate to make s'mores, but they'd done it anyway so what the heck.

Everyone was talking and laughing when Andy saw a flash of silver out of the corner of his eye. 'What on earth?' He turned around to face it and a low growl came out of the bushes in that direction. Andy suddenly stood up, grabbed the bucket that he'd put beside that fire earlier, and tossed its watery contents on their awesome campfire. Cries of anger rose from the others, until Andy hissed, "there's something big in the bushes that growls. I think we need to go up to HQ, (The meeting hut.) Now." The urgency in his tone made the others jump to their feet, however, before they could take so much as a single step, there was a total of seven thuds and the Dragon Nerds found themselves surrounded... by dragons ironically enough.

For a moment, everything was dead silent, then Grace whispered, "Woah." "Understatement of a lifetime," Mark muttered, and Andy silently agreed. Both groups eyed each other off for a moment, before one of the dragons stepped forward, and said, in perfect Human, "Relax, we're not going to eat you." There were several gasps of shock from the Dragon Nerds upon hearing the dragons speak their language. Andy looked closer and noticed that there was one dragon from each tribe. 'Wonder why they're here?'

The SeaWing spoke, "You're probably wondering why we're here, so here's the deal..." The SeaWing, whose name turned out to be Current, explained that they needed a vessel in which to store their essence, in order to save the very existence of dragons. Apparently, scavengers were a good idea, which sounded dubious to Andy, considering the fact that the scavengers were the ones doing the killing in the first place. "So," Joy started, "You're here to choose one of us? How is that fair?" "It's not," the SandWing said, "that's why we're choosing one of you each. If you agree of course."

They paused for a moment as this sunk in... and then, "You what!?" "What does that mean?" "How? And why?" The questions came at high speed, and it was several minutes before the dragons could explain. Dragonkind was dying, that much was obvious. The dragons had no guarantee that they'd even have anyone left by the end of the year. Their only solution seemed to be to transfer their essence, their souls essentially, into another living thing, so that if the scavengers declared peace, those with the essence could tell the dragons it was safe to come home again.

"So, we've been watching you for a few months now." "Why?" asked David. "Because you are pretty much the only people left who actually care about us," the SkyWing explained. "But still," this time it was Andy who spoke, "Why us?" The MudWing smiled at him, and Andy realized that he was looking at the last of his kind. "Because you're not afraid to stand up for what you believe in." He pointed at the three girls, whose scars from the fight with Robert were clearly visible, "Your scars are testament to that." "Do you accept this?" The question was addressed to all the kids, and one by one, they nodded. The SandWing spoke up, "Then let us begin." She walked over to Joy, "I am Heatstroke of the SandWings, and this is my choice." Joy looked at the SandWing in awe, but Andy quickly forgot about that when the MudWing came over to him and declared, "I am Marshfly of the MudWings, and this is my choice."

Andy went through the rest of the choosing part in a sort of happy daze, overjoyed that his favourite dragon chose him. He was dimly aware of Acacia the RainWing choosing Grace, Blizzard the IceWing choosing Mark. Current chose Ann, Peak, the SkyWing chose Alex, and the NightWing, whose name was Ashflare, chose David. When all the dragons stood in front of their choice, Acacia told the kids to reach up and touch their dragon's forehead. Then, the dragons touched the kid's foreheads with their snouts, this, Acacia explained, would transfer power, and amplify some of their natural abilities. It would also grant some abilities that were definitely not natural. Once this happened, Blizzard explained that they would get some physical changes, and if anyone knew about them, they could not tell anyone in any way unless the Dragon Nerds told them, 'I give you permission to share.'

The dragons stepped back, and Andy felt a massive rush of energy and was aware of the dragons fading into nothing, right where they stood, before his legs buckled beneath him and he knew no more.