Dragon Friends Fly High
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Slowly, the teen pulled his knees into his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs. He rocked back and forth a little, basking in the relative silence around him, the sunshine, the warmth of the rock beneath him, and the general tranquility. His name was Davage, and right now he was loving his new house. He hadn't liked the move itself. Sure it was only a couple of hours away from his old house, but it was still too far for him to visit most of his old friends. Still, he loved being on hillsides, and his backyard went right up into a canyon. It wasn't huge, he could get to the top in about eight minutes, but it was still fun just poking around and exploring. His head jerked up as a loud screech sounded overhead. A hawk was dive-bombing and attacking another smaller bird, probably over territory. A gust updraft forced his light brown hair to go flying all over the place. He usually kept it pretty short and spiked it, but it was starting to get long again. It was probably time for another haircut.
He hopped off his perch on the boulder and grabbed a stick he'd found previously. There was something about carrying a stick that was so appealing whenever he was clambering around in nature. The rough bark scratched against his skin as he practiced his twirls. Of course if this were a real broad sword the weight would be completely different, as well as the grip, the aerodynamics... But he wasn't going to bring his sword into the canyon. It was a rather bizarre idea now that he entertained it.
Half an hour later he was still trailing his way away from home. The canyon followed the closest main street, mission something road. He hadn't been paying attention to anything on their move to this house, it was late and he'd been tired. Now he was regretting that, he didn't have an idea where anything was. As he was approaching a corner on the trail, a gray-furred blur rushed around the corner and came at him. Davage game a small yelp of surprise, immediately jumping back. At first he thought it was a coyote, but as the animal got closer he realized it was just a dog. It was a little smaller than a Labrador, but he had no idea what species it was.
"Hey buddy." Davage said, kneeling down to let the dog smell his hand. It had a collar, definitely belonged to someone. The dog gave a small satisfied woof and licked Davage's hand, tail wagging cheerily as if to say 'Hey, I like you!'
A brown-haired boy came bolting around the corner, calling "Jack you stupid dog!.." The dog turned its attention from Davage and ran over to the other boy with another woof. "I know you know your way around, but can't you just stay close by?" The teenager bent down to scratch Jack behind the ears. The dog gazed at his owner with adoring eyes. Chuckling, the boy looked up and noticed Davage for the first time. "Oh, hey! Uh... Sorry, my dog likes to break away from me all the time... I'm Jake by the way." He appeared friendly enough, but made no move to offer a hand to shake. "I'm Davage.. I just moved in near here." He added, seeing the way Jake was giving him the once-over. He was glad he was introducing himself verbally, anyone reading a nametag or something similar always pronounced his name wrong.
"Oh really?" Jake's face brightened up a little, "That's awesome. There's a few kids around this neighborhood but you know, like... Well they're just not close to my age. Sixteen by the way."
"Fifteen and a half." Davage responded. If this worked out, it'd be great knowing someone in the neighborhood who was his own age. "Do you go to the district school?"
"Yeah." Jake said. "My house is that awful looking gray one down there. I tried a couple different, like, private or charter schools before. I just like lots of people."
"Ok, I'm just like a six minute walk away from you. Y'know the beige house with the one palm tree in front?" Davage said.
"Oh yeah. The people who lived in that house were okay. I never really talked to them but weren't the sort that played loud music at midnight. Anyway, Jack and I probably better get on with our walk... If you want I can drop by later, or if not I guess I'll just end up seeing you at school on Monday."
"Um... Ok, I don't really think I'm going anywhere..." Davage said. A lie, he KNEW he wasn't going anywhere. He didn't know where anything was in this county, nor did he have any reason to go anywhere.
"Cool. See ya. C'mon Jack!" The dog barked and began running ahead, pausing every couple of feet to stop and look for his master, who was striding quickly behind. Davage watched them go for a bit, before continuing his own exploration of the canyon.
Fifteen minutes later, Davage found himself on top of another rock, stopping to enjoy the breeze. It was a rather hot day for only the middle of spring, but then he was pretty far down in southern California now. He was sweating decently, and a little thirsty. He'd probably turn around and head back after he was done here. Surveying the canyon, a sudden glinting caught his eye from beneath another boulder farther down the canyon. Curious, he hopped off his rock.
Almost instantly, the glint was no longer visible. His curiosity was definitely aroused now. He strode the 20 second walk to the other boulder. He couldn't exactly see anything, but... Turning and looking at the boulder he'd previously been sitting on top of, he could see a small circle of light being projected onto the stone. Keeping his eye on that circle, Davage began moving around slightly, until it disappeared. He spun a one-eighty and began searching. There were almost no cracks in the rocks, so his eyes moved to beneath the rock. It took him a few seconds, but then he found the source.
He reached under the rock, and closed his hand around a cool smooth surface, and pulled it out. In his hand, now lay a small green gem. Whether it was real or fake, he had no idea, but it was definitely pretty. Maybe he could give it to his mom, mother's day was coming up soon. He held it up to the light, watching the sunlight dance inside the gem.
A drop of cool liquid onto his arm momentarily distracted him. Davage used his other arm to wipe it off, attention back to the gem. Well, he was probably getting dehydrated, it might be a good idea to head back home. Let's see... His eyes skimmed the canyon. Ah, there was the trail. He dropped the gem into his pocket and started hiking back up.
He got back on the gravelly path, absentmindedly scratching at his left arm. His mom was probably going to be pretty excited that he'd met someone his own age. He didn't really want either of their hopes getting too high, though. Maybe he and Jake wouldn't get along. Maybe they didn't have the same interests. "And maybe you're just worrying too much." Davage said out loud to himself. Dangit, and now both of his arms were itching like crazy and –
He paused, although the itchy feelings didn't subside. He brought his arm up to his face and studied it, slowly running his fingers over it. A patch of skin seemed to be darker than the rest, and under his fingers it felt cool, more firm, and smoother. As Davage continued to look, the discoloration began to spread slowly over his arm, as well as changing into a sickly green color. "The heck?..." Davage said, shaking his arm around a little. The discoloration was on both arms now, and it continued to spread and deepen into a green color. Davage poked it, a little fearfully with one hand, it felt like... Like... "Scales..." Davage whispered.
No sooner had he said the word, his metamorphosis accelerated. His arms were screaming in itchy agony as his skin hardened into scales. The changes spread down into his hands which became hard and scaly as well. Davage was more than slightly alarmed by now, as his shoulders became green scaly armor, but he tried to think rationally, and stay calm. Well, as best as he could in such an absurd situation. He'd read transform stories before, it looked like such a thing was happening to him now. There was nothing he could do to stop it, so all he could do was pray the changes wouldn't affect his mind as well.
So he watched himself change, his only noises being an occasional grunt of pain. It didn't hurt like hell as his neck began to lengthen and the scales spread down beyond his torso, but it wasn't the most comfortable thing either. He could feel his whole body growing, and he quickly scrambled out of his clothes, and stood there half scaly half naked. Spines began growing out of his back, and he was thankful he'd thought to take off his clothes. His neck elongated further, and his spine began to lengthen as well. Soon it felt like he was being pulled in two directions, as a serpentine tail began to slither its way out of his lower back. His neck finally stopped lengthening and Davage looked around a bit, testing out the way his movements felt. His mouth and nose started to push out into a snout, and his teeth grew as well, becoming razor-sharp.
His tail finished growing and the changes spread down to his legs. His feet changed into claws and became digitigrade. His legs stretched longer and grew thicker with muscle along with his arms. He had to be at least 10 feet tall now, even if he was still standing on two feet tall. He felt his changes beginning to slow down, and he dropped to four legs, just to see what it was like. His tail thwacked a bush almost to death as he did so. Davage muttered something about extra appendages.
He stopped his movement and craned his neck to look back at himself. All the changes seemed to have stopped. He took a tentative step forward, than immediately let loose with a loud roar of pain. His fire breath shot up into the air. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was berating himself for being so conspicuous, but right now all he could focus on was the horrible pain in his upper back. None of the changes had hurt so much as this. Two more appendages were slowly crawling out of his shoulder blades. Stretching, growing, expanding... And it hurt like crazy. He clamped his teeth together, growling through them. His claws were leaving huge scars in the dirt, as he tried to last his way through the pain.
It didn't actually last too much longer, the pain subsided within a few seconds. Davage knew without even turning to look, that he'd sprouted wings. He was breathing heavily, what did he do now? He had to get somewhere where he couldn't be seen, the last thing he wanted was to be locked up as some government deal. He could worry about the how's, the why's, all the other questions later. He turned around, and gave a little jump of surprise. There, staring at him with an incredulous look of awe on his face, was Jake, Jack by his side. "Hey Jack, go home." Jake said to his dog, removing the leash. "I'll follow soon." Jack gave a slightly dejected look but obediently began trotting towards Jake's house.
"Uh..." Davage said. Oh wow, his voice still worked. Well, that was a convenience, but what was he supposed to say, 'I can explain?' He had no idea what the heck was even going on. His mind was still racing with thoughts, and how other worries such as 'Can Jake keep a secret? Will he tell? What does he think of me NOW?' were added to the mix. Jake's face kept its incredulous look, but his agape mouth broke into a huge grin. "Dude." He said holding up an arm rapidly morphing into gray scales. "This summer is going to be awesome."
For Jake, some weeks after seeing his friend Davage transforming in front of him, he discovered that he too helded this exclusive ability of too transforming into a dragon so he for the start begin to think in blue flames enveloping all his body, then as waiting this only command he was suddenly enveloped in blue flames. The first thing to happen was his clothes were burned off. Next, his entire body was covered in midnight blue scales and his pinky and big toes retracted into his feet as his three remaining toes grew much larger, a large black claw forming on the end of each of them. The same transformation happened to his arms except he kept all five of his fingers, although each now had a large black claw on its end. His muscles also enlarged and his whole body grew bigger.
His face stretched out into a draconic muzzle, his normal human teeth morphing into sharp, predatory ones as his hair burned off from the fire. His pupils turned to slits while his piercing blue eyes got even more vibrant as they moved to the side of his head, though still angled forward enough to give him binocular vision. His ears disappeared as well as his ear holes and in place of them was ear fins that were much more sensitive to sound than human ears, while his tongue got longer and forked at the end. From his tail bone, a large appendage sprouted. It grew until it was five feet long and was a fully formed tail. Two large arms sprouted from his back, each growing incredibly long fingers. A thin membrane of the same midnight colour formed between them, giving him fully fledged wings. Spikes grew out of his back, starting from the back of his head and going all the way to the tip of his tail. The spikes glowed a bright blue. Finally, two horns sprouted from his head, coloured the same black as his claws at the base and transitioning to the glowing blue of his spikes at the tip. The fire then dissipated.
