Chapter 3: show
Okay Seriously, Just Answer the Freaking Questions!
“Josh! Get up you lazy arse!”
I sat up and yawned. I knew my mum was being sarcastic, but at a time like this, I couldn’t handle it.
“Really? At a time like this, you talk to me casually, as if nothing has happened over the past 24 hours? “
“I’m sorry; I’m just trying to take a bit of the stress away from you by acting normal.”
“Well nothing is normal right now, so please stop trying.”
I got out of bed, picked up the dragon (that was sleeping on the end of the bed, it must have moved overnight) and followed my mum to the main room with the table in the middle, and then down a hallway labelled ‘Kitchen’.
When we got there, Jonas was cooking some eggs and bacon.
I sat down at the table, and Maddie walked in through a different door.
“Oh! Jonas! You’re cooking. What, did your computer break again? Do you have to occupy yourself some other way?”
“Oh shut it Maddie, its Josh’s first morning here, I thought I’d treat him to some of my world famous bacon and eggs.”
“World famous bacon and eggs my arse. Josh, you’re so lucky. Jonas only made enough for you and the dragon, you know, because Jonas doesn’t think of anyone else.”
Jonas glared at Maddie.
‘Maddie called it a dragon too? I’ve got to ask about this.’
“So this is a dragon?”
“Don’t ask now Josh, wait until everyone else is here. Then you can ask all the questions you want.”
One dragon feeding, two fried eggs and some bacon later, everyone else started to enter the room and sit down around the table.
My dad turned to me.
“Okay Josh, it’s time we gave you some answers.”
I mumbled under my breath.
“You can say that again.”
My dad kept talking, obviously not hearing what I had said.
“Where do I start? Hmmm. Ah! So Josh, last night I asked you if you had any idea what that is.”
My dad pointed to the dragon on the word ‘that’.
“Well, what were you going to say?”
“I was going to say dragon.”
‘But it can’t be one.’
“Yes Josh, you are correct.”
‘Wow.’
“But this is the only dragon in existence. You are truly one in seven billion.”
I thought about this statement.
“Isn’t there only seven billion people on the planet though?”
“Yes Josh; that makes you very special, very special indeed.”
“Huh. Wow.”
“I’ll start from the beginning. You ready?”
“Of course.”
“Okay then. Well, all these age old stories of mythical creatures, dragons, phoenixes, unicorns, they were all true. Seriously, I’m not lying.”
My dad was telling the truth. I could tell from the tone of his voice and, well, he doesn’t lie.
“This here is the last of all dragons in the world. The dragons were a powerful race, they kept peace everywhere, but knights were afraid of them, the knights didn’t see anything about the dragons except their tough, powerful, intimidating exterior, so they decided to get rid of the dragons to make the world a better place. The knights slowly killed off the dragons, and they almost went extinct. Only this one remains. But ever since the knights started to kill the dragons, there has been another group of people that sought to stop the knights. We are all that is left of those people. We all joined up for a common reason, to save the dragons.”
“Wow.”
“There’s more. The knights are still around, they just aren’t known as knights anymore, they’re known as The Noistarê. Those are the people that attacked us yesterday.”
“The people that attacked us yesterday and failed.” Added Jonas.
My dad continued, “They want to rid the world of the dragons once and for all, and take over the world. You know, cliché evil organisation stuff. So where were we? Ah yes, the Noistarê. The Noistarê will have a hard time killing this dragon.”
“Why’s that?”
“It is a black dragon, the most powerful dragon out there, but it must get trained before it can learn to master any of the elements it is able to.”
“That sucks.”
“You must be trained too, Josh.”
“That sucks even more.”
“You must be highly trained in many martial arts and must be proficient with many types of non-lethal and lethal weapons before we can wipe out the head of their organization’. He’s cruel, mean, and just plain bad. And in typical cliché fashion, he’s German.”
“What’s his name?”
“Josh.” Maddie spoke, “We know his name, we just, we just can’t pronounce it.”
“Well could you write it down?”
“Sure.” My dad answered.
He grabbed a bit of paper and a pen, and wrote down a name. He handed me the paper, and I looked at the name.
‘Mister Sir Brockwurst Heisengalgherbrouff? What kind of name is that?’
Jonas must have seen the expression on my face, so he talked.
“Yeah, that’s his name.”
That was all a lot of information to take in. I sat there and thought while stroking the dragon. I sat there for what felt like hours before I talked again.
“Why was I able to take out those people last night so easily? Why do I of all people get the dragon? And why did it come to me a couple nights ago?”
“Well Josh, that thing you did last night, you can thank your dragon here. He leant you power to overcome those people and win in the end. It won’t happen all the time; only when you are in a large amount of danger will your dragon lend power to you. You must train to get that powerful.”
“And my other questions?”
“I’m getting to them! Why you were chosen? When you were born, the dragon’s mother came to us to ask us to defeat the Noistarê and return the dragons to their former glory. She was dying and needed someone to raise the all-powerful black dragon, to be its companion and life-long friend. The dragon’s mother took one look at you, touched you on the brow with her snout and that was that. You were chosen from that moment on.”
“And why it came to me…?”
Jonas talked for my dad. “Well, it uh, kinda escaped. Don’t worry; we’ve ramped up security since then.”
“Wow.”
My dad talked again. “And Josh, before you go, what shall you call the dragon?”
“What shall I call him? Hmm…”
One name popped into my head. A very familiar name, but I couldn’t think of where I had heard it before.
“Ezekiel. His name will be Ezekiel.”
“Oh wow, Josh.”
“What did I do Maddie? Did I say something bad?”
“Ezekiel. You said Ezekiel.”
“I don’t-“
“That was the name of the last black dragon that lived; over 700 years ago.”
Then that whisper in my head.
‘Ezekiel…’
‘Yes, your name is Ezekiel.’
‘My name… Ezekiel…’
‘Wait, since when could I talk to you with my mind?’
‘Always you idiot.’
‘Wait, when did you gain the ability to say more than one thing at a time?’
‘I have had this ability since I was born, I just felt like trolling you a bit before you knew.’
‘I think we’re going to get along great Ezekiel.’
‘Me too Josh.’
“So Josh, all good now?”
“Yeah dad, I’m all good.”
“Great! Grab Ezekiel and we’ll start training right away.”
“WHAT?”
“Stop whinging and hurry up.”
“Ugh, fine.”
I picked up Ezekiel and followed my dad back into the main room and down a corridor labelled ‘Training Room’. We were halfway down the hallway when Ezekiel talked to me again.
‘What’s so bad about training Josh?’
‘Just one thing. The ‘training’ part.’
‘Weak little human.’
‘Hey! I’m stronger than you!’
‘We’ll see about that.’
‘What do you mean “we’ll see”?’
Ezekiel didn’t respond.
‘Ezekiel? Ezekiel! Dammit.’
“Josh! Get up you lazy arse!”
I sat up and yawned. I knew my mum was being sarcastic, but at a time like this, I couldn’t handle it.
“Really? At a time like this, you talk to me casually, as if nothing has happened over the past 24 hours? “
“I’m sorry; I’m just trying to take a bit of the stress away from you by acting normal.”
“Well nothing is normal right now, so please stop trying.”
I got out of bed, picked up the dragon (that was sleeping on the end of the bed, it must have moved overnight) and followed my mum to the main room with the table in the middle, and then down a hallway labelled ‘Kitchen’.
When we got there, Jonas was cooking some eggs and bacon.
I sat down at the table, and Maddie walked in through a different door.
“Oh! Jonas! You’re cooking. What, did your computer break again? Do you have to occupy yourself some other way?”
“Oh shut it Maddie, its Josh’s first morning here, I thought I’d treat him to some of my world famous bacon and eggs.”
“World famous bacon and eggs my arse. Josh, you’re so lucky. Jonas only made enough for you and the dragon, you know, because Jonas doesn’t think of anyone else.”
Jonas glared at Maddie.
‘Maddie called it a dragon too? I’ve got to ask about this.’
“So this is a dragon?”
“Don’t ask now Josh, wait until everyone else is here. Then you can ask all the questions you want.”
One dragon feeding, two fried eggs and some bacon later, everyone else started to enter the room and sit down around the table.
My dad turned to me.
“Okay Josh, it’s time we gave you some answers.”
I mumbled under my breath.
“You can say that again.”
My dad kept talking, obviously not hearing what I had said.
“Where do I start? Hmmm. Ah! So Josh, last night I asked you if you had any idea what that is.”
My dad pointed to the dragon on the word ‘that’.
“Well, what were you going to say?”
“I was going to say dragon.”
‘But it can’t be one.’
“Yes Josh, you are correct.”
‘Wow.’
“But this is the only dragon in existence. You are truly one in seven billion.”
I thought about this statement.
“Isn’t there only seven billion people on the planet though?”
“Yes Josh; that makes you very special, very special indeed.”
“Huh. Wow.”
“I’ll start from the beginning. You ready?”
“Of course.”
“Okay then. Well, all these age old stories of mythical creatures, dragons, phoenixes, unicorns, they were all true. Seriously, I’m not lying.”
My dad was telling the truth. I could tell from the tone of his voice and, well, he doesn’t lie.
“This here is the last of all dragons in the world. The dragons were a powerful race, they kept peace everywhere, but knights were afraid of them, the knights didn’t see anything about the dragons except their tough, powerful, intimidating exterior, so they decided to get rid of the dragons to make the world a better place. The knights slowly killed off the dragons, and they almost went extinct. Only this one remains. But ever since the knights started to kill the dragons, there has been another group of people that sought to stop the knights. We are all that is left of those people. We all joined up for a common reason, to save the dragons.”
“Wow.”
“There’s more. The knights are still around, they just aren’t known as knights anymore, they’re known as The Noistarê. Those are the people that attacked us yesterday.”
“The people that attacked us yesterday and failed.” Added Jonas.
My dad continued, “They want to rid the world of the dragons once and for all, and take over the world. You know, cliché evil organisation stuff. So where were we? Ah yes, the Noistarê. The Noistarê will have a hard time killing this dragon.”
“Why’s that?”
“It is a black dragon, the most powerful dragon out there, but it must get trained before it can learn to master any of the elements it is able to.”
“That sucks.”
“You must be trained too, Josh.”
“That sucks even more.”
“You must be highly trained in many martial arts and must be proficient with many types of non-lethal and lethal weapons before we can wipe out the head of their organization’. He’s cruel, mean, and just plain bad. And in typical cliché fashion, he’s German.”
“What’s his name?”
“Josh.” Maddie spoke, “We know his name, we just, we just can’t pronounce it.”
“Well could you write it down?”
“Sure.” My dad answered.
He grabbed a bit of paper and a pen, and wrote down a name. He handed me the paper, and I looked at the name.
‘Mister Sir Brockwurst Heisengalgherbrouff? What kind of name is that?’
Jonas must have seen the expression on my face, so he talked.
“Yeah, that’s his name.”
That was all a lot of information to take in. I sat there and thought while stroking the dragon. I sat there for what felt like hours before I talked again.
“Why was I able to take out those people last night so easily? Why do I of all people get the dragon? And why did it come to me a couple nights ago?”
“Well Josh, that thing you did last night, you can thank your dragon here. He leant you power to overcome those people and win in the end. It won’t happen all the time; only when you are in a large amount of danger will your dragon lend power to you. You must train to get that powerful.”
“And my other questions?”
“I’m getting to them! Why you were chosen? When you were born, the dragon’s mother came to us to ask us to defeat the Noistarê and return the dragons to their former glory. She was dying and needed someone to raise the all-powerful black dragon, to be its companion and life-long friend. The dragon’s mother took one look at you, touched you on the brow with her snout and that was that. You were chosen from that moment on.”
“And why it came to me…?”
Jonas talked for my dad. “Well, it uh, kinda escaped. Don’t worry; we’ve ramped up security since then.”
“Wow.”
My dad talked again. “And Josh, before you go, what shall you call the dragon?”
“What shall I call him? Hmm…”
One name popped into my head. A very familiar name, but I couldn’t think of where I had heard it before.
“Ezekiel. His name will be Ezekiel.”
“Oh wow, Josh.”
“What did I do Maddie? Did I say something bad?”
“Ezekiel. You said Ezekiel.”
“I don’t-“
“That was the name of the last black dragon that lived; over 700 years ago.”
Then that whisper in my head.
‘Ezekiel…’
‘Yes, your name is Ezekiel.’
‘My name… Ezekiel…’
‘Wait, since when could I talk to you with my mind?’
‘Always you idiot.’
‘Wait, when did you gain the ability to say more than one thing at a time?’
‘I have had this ability since I was born, I just felt like trolling you a bit before you knew.’
‘I think we’re going to get along great Ezekiel.’
‘Me too Josh.’
“So Josh, all good now?”
“Yeah dad, I’m all good.”
“Great! Grab Ezekiel and we’ll start training right away.”
“WHAT?”
“Stop whinging and hurry up.”
“Ugh, fine.”
I picked up Ezekiel and followed my dad back into the main room and down a corridor labelled ‘Training Room’. We were halfway down the hallway when Ezekiel talked to me again.
‘What’s so bad about training Josh?’
‘Just one thing. The ‘training’ part.’
‘Weak little human.’
‘Hey! I’m stronger than you!’
‘We’ll see about that.’
‘What do you mean “we’ll see”?’
Ezekiel didn’t respond.
‘Ezekiel? Ezekiel! Dammit.’
Chapter 4: show
Training, Training and Guess What? More Training
“Ow! My patella!”
I grabbed my knee and fell to the ground.
“Get up you weakling, that was hardly a hit.”
“Well it still hurt!”
I sat down on the floor, clutching my knee. There’s sweat dripping off of my face and my muscles are refusing to work at all.
“C’mon Josh, get back up!”
My dad walks over to me and offers a hand. I grab it, and he lifts me back up.
“Can we stop now dad?”
I slightly sway, feeling dizzy and a little dehydrated.
“Well Josh, we have been at it for eight hours straight. Hmmm, no. We can’t stop.”
My expression turned from one of pain to one of horror.
“I have two weeks left to train you enough to become powerful enough against The Noistarê, and in the six weeks we’ve been training, you haven’t improved much. You’re stronger than what you were before, but still not half as strong as what you should be by now.”
I had been training. Not just combat with my dad, but tech stuff with Jonas and weapons with John. I had gone far beyond Jonas’ and John’s expectations in their fields of expertise, but I was still lacking in one area, combat.
“Yeah I know dad, I’m trying my best.”
‘That’s rubbish Josh.’
And Ezekiel? Honestly, he had been training harder than me. He had also grown in six weeks to roughly the size of a very large dog. Or a small horse.
‘I know Ez; I’ve just got to train harder, work harder.’
‘No Josh. You’re fine. You are as powerful as you should be. You just aren’t putting effort into it. Just try a little will you?’
‘Fine.’
‘You don’t sound so confident.’
‘Fine Ez, I’ll try harder.’
“So Josh, one more spar?”
My aching body parts, my sweaty everything, I tried to ignore it, and I answered my dad.
“Yeah, sure. Why not?”
Taking what Ezekiel had said into account, I somehow found energy from some place deep inside wherever energy is stored, and faced my dad for another spar.
“Dad, go a little bit harder on me.”
“Are you sure? You haven’t been able to hit me when I was-”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
We bowed, and my dad said the word to commence the fight.
I raised my fists up to my face in defence, and my dad did the same.
We circled around each other, before I lazily threw a punch at my dad’s face.
He blocked it of course.
Ezekiel was watching from the side.
‘You call that putting in effort Josh? I know rabbits that could beat you in a fight.’
‘Yeah, because you know a rabbit that can outsmart a bullet.’
With my right side open, my dad went to punch me in the solar plexus, but amazingly I blocked it.
I blocked it!
I hadn’t done that in, well, in forever.
“Good Josh, you’re actually reacting at a normal speed for once.”
‘Oh shut up dad.’
I aimed a kick at my dad’s ribs, but he blocked and went to counter by grabbing my leg, which I used to my advantage. I jumped up and used my free leg to kick him in the other side of his torso, sending us both crashing to the ground.
‘Well done Josh.’
“That was a lot better Josh; I see you’re putting in some effort.”
“Yeah dad, I thought putting a little effort in would do something.”
“When did you figure that out? Idiot. Okay Josh, get up, we’ll go again.”
“But I thought-“
“Nope! We’re sparring again.”
We untangled ourselves from each other; stood up, faced each other, bowed and my dad said the commencing word.
Before waiting for me to attack first, my dad went straight in with a couple kicks, one to the left of my torso, one to the right.
I blocked, and countered. This time however, I faked a kick at his groin and instead whacked him over the head. While he was dazed, I grabbed his right arm, pulled it up around his back, kicked the back of his knee, making him fall and forcing him to the ground. I pinned his legs in place with my knees, and pushed his face into the training mat.
“Held.”
I let go of my dad, and we got up.
“Okay Josh that was one opponent, but how about three?”
“What?”
‘Hehe Josh, you’re screwed.’
‘Gee, thanks for the words of encouragement.’
‘Thanks, I do try my best.’
‘Yeah, best joke I’ve heard all day.’
“JONAS! JOHN! GET IN HERE!”
After my dad yelled out, he faced me.
“You ready Josh? If you can beat us without so much as a bruise, you’re more than ready. You get so much as a flicked ear, it’s more training.”
‘You can do it Josh!’
‘You sure? I don’t think-‘
‘I’m sure.’
“Yeah, I think I’m ready.”
‘You can do this Josh, I feel the power in you, and you just have to try.’
‘Thanks Ez.’
‘No problem.’
John and Jonas walked through the door.
“Now Josh, John and Jonas are at the same level as me when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. Are you sure you’re ready for all three of us?”
“Yeah, just say the word whenever you’re all ready.”
I faced Jonas, John and my dad, and we all bowed.
My dad said the word.
Before I could even think about thinking about attacking, Jonas leapt at me with a flying kick to the face. I ducked and grabbed his leg that was airborne above me which caused him to crash to the ground.
John came at me from behind, supposedly to knock me down with a kick to the back of my legs, but he missed as I somehow did a backflip on the spot.
Yeah, a backflip.
I hadn’t done one of those before, but I just did without prior training. I can’t describe it. It was just instinct. I landed behind John, knocking him down. As he fell, he landed badly on his wrist. He stood himself up and walked out holding his limp right hand in his left one, saying it wasn’t my fault.
‘Well, one down two to go. How’s that Ez?’
‘Meh. I can still do better.’
‘Well you are a dragon.’
The next few things I did were a blur.
A kick here, a punch there, a hadouken over in the corner, an accidental fireball, kamehameha wave at the moon.
In the end, I was left standing, untouched, while Jonas and my dad were lying face-down, groaning.
The smoke from the fireball reached the fire system and the sprinklers turned on.
‘Nice one Josh.’
‘Is that meant to be sincere or sarcastic Ez?’
‘A little of both.’
“Okay Josh, I think you’re good now.”
“Go get mum or Maddie will ya Josh? I’m feeling a bit sore.”
Jonas and my dad were talking slowly, wincing every time they spoke a word.
***
“Hey guys, I’m sorry for all the damage and pain I caused you.”
“Ah it’s not your fault Josh, you did well.”
John was lying down with a bandage around his right wrist.
“Yeah Josh, don’t worry ‘bout me, I’m fine.”
Jonas was sitting in a chair.
“That was very good Josh. You’re more than ready to face The Noistarê when the time arises. For now, two more weeks of training. But, it will be reduced to about one hour a day with each of us. And that hadouken? Very good, even I can’t do one of those. I knew you were ready.”
“Then why did you tell me I wasn’t?”
“I had to tell you something to motivate you.”
“Actually, it was Ez who motivated me.”
“Ah! Even better! Well Josh, I suppose you’d best get to bed. You’ve had a long day, and you’d probably like a whole heap of sleep right now.”
I was feeling very tired.
“Okay. Goodnight guys.”
A synchronised response came from John, Jonas and dad.
“Goodnight Josh.”
I turned and walked out the door, to the main room and then down the hallway labelled ‘Quarters’. My room was room 9. It was quite a large room, with a big comfy bed right in the middle for me, and something that looked like an over-sized dog bed.
‘C’mon Ez, I know you’re feeling tired too.’
‘How’d you know?’
‘I’ve started to feel your emotions, it’s weird, I couldn’t before, but now I can.’
‘You really are getting stronger. Your dad is a good trainer.’
‘Yeah, he is. A good trainer and a good father.’
I hopped into bed, and Ez got comfy in his dragon-bed.
‘Goodnight Ez.’
‘Goodnight Josh.’
“Ow! My patella!”
I grabbed my knee and fell to the ground.
“Get up you weakling, that was hardly a hit.”
“Well it still hurt!”
I sat down on the floor, clutching my knee. There’s sweat dripping off of my face and my muscles are refusing to work at all.
“C’mon Josh, get back up!”
My dad walks over to me and offers a hand. I grab it, and he lifts me back up.
“Can we stop now dad?”
I slightly sway, feeling dizzy and a little dehydrated.
“Well Josh, we have been at it for eight hours straight. Hmmm, no. We can’t stop.”
My expression turned from one of pain to one of horror.
“I have two weeks left to train you enough to become powerful enough against The Noistarê, and in the six weeks we’ve been training, you haven’t improved much. You’re stronger than what you were before, but still not half as strong as what you should be by now.”
I had been training. Not just combat with my dad, but tech stuff with Jonas and weapons with John. I had gone far beyond Jonas’ and John’s expectations in their fields of expertise, but I was still lacking in one area, combat.
“Yeah I know dad, I’m trying my best.”
‘That’s rubbish Josh.’
And Ezekiel? Honestly, he had been training harder than me. He had also grown in six weeks to roughly the size of a very large dog. Or a small horse.
‘I know Ez; I’ve just got to train harder, work harder.’
‘No Josh. You’re fine. You are as powerful as you should be. You just aren’t putting effort into it. Just try a little will you?’
‘Fine.’
‘You don’t sound so confident.’
‘Fine Ez, I’ll try harder.’
“So Josh, one more spar?”
My aching body parts, my sweaty everything, I tried to ignore it, and I answered my dad.
“Yeah, sure. Why not?”
Taking what Ezekiel had said into account, I somehow found energy from some place deep inside wherever energy is stored, and faced my dad for another spar.
“Dad, go a little bit harder on me.”
“Are you sure? You haven’t been able to hit me when I was-”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
We bowed, and my dad said the word to commence the fight.
I raised my fists up to my face in defence, and my dad did the same.
We circled around each other, before I lazily threw a punch at my dad’s face.
He blocked it of course.
Ezekiel was watching from the side.
‘You call that putting in effort Josh? I know rabbits that could beat you in a fight.’
‘Yeah, because you know a rabbit that can outsmart a bullet.’
With my right side open, my dad went to punch me in the solar plexus, but amazingly I blocked it.
I blocked it!
I hadn’t done that in, well, in forever.
“Good Josh, you’re actually reacting at a normal speed for once.”
‘Oh shut up dad.’
I aimed a kick at my dad’s ribs, but he blocked and went to counter by grabbing my leg, which I used to my advantage. I jumped up and used my free leg to kick him in the other side of his torso, sending us both crashing to the ground.
‘Well done Josh.’
“That was a lot better Josh; I see you’re putting in some effort.”
“Yeah dad, I thought putting a little effort in would do something.”
“When did you figure that out? Idiot. Okay Josh, get up, we’ll go again.”
“But I thought-“
“Nope! We’re sparring again.”
We untangled ourselves from each other; stood up, faced each other, bowed and my dad said the commencing word.
Before waiting for me to attack first, my dad went straight in with a couple kicks, one to the left of my torso, one to the right.
I blocked, and countered. This time however, I faked a kick at his groin and instead whacked him over the head. While he was dazed, I grabbed his right arm, pulled it up around his back, kicked the back of his knee, making him fall and forcing him to the ground. I pinned his legs in place with my knees, and pushed his face into the training mat.
“Held.”
I let go of my dad, and we got up.
“Okay Josh that was one opponent, but how about three?”
“What?”
‘Hehe Josh, you’re screwed.’
‘Gee, thanks for the words of encouragement.’
‘Thanks, I do try my best.’
‘Yeah, best joke I’ve heard all day.’
“JONAS! JOHN! GET IN HERE!”
After my dad yelled out, he faced me.
“You ready Josh? If you can beat us without so much as a bruise, you’re more than ready. You get so much as a flicked ear, it’s more training.”
‘You can do it Josh!’
‘You sure? I don’t think-‘
‘I’m sure.’
“Yeah, I think I’m ready.”
‘You can do this Josh, I feel the power in you, and you just have to try.’
‘Thanks Ez.’
‘No problem.’
John and Jonas walked through the door.
“Now Josh, John and Jonas are at the same level as me when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. Are you sure you’re ready for all three of us?”
“Yeah, just say the word whenever you’re all ready.”
I faced Jonas, John and my dad, and we all bowed.
My dad said the word.
Before I could even think about thinking about attacking, Jonas leapt at me with a flying kick to the face. I ducked and grabbed his leg that was airborne above me which caused him to crash to the ground.
John came at me from behind, supposedly to knock me down with a kick to the back of my legs, but he missed as I somehow did a backflip on the spot.
Yeah, a backflip.
I hadn’t done one of those before, but I just did without prior training. I can’t describe it. It was just instinct. I landed behind John, knocking him down. As he fell, he landed badly on his wrist. He stood himself up and walked out holding his limp right hand in his left one, saying it wasn’t my fault.
‘Well, one down two to go. How’s that Ez?’
‘Meh. I can still do better.’
‘Well you are a dragon.’
The next few things I did were a blur.
A kick here, a punch there, a hadouken over in the corner, an accidental fireball, kamehameha wave at the moon.
In the end, I was left standing, untouched, while Jonas and my dad were lying face-down, groaning.
The smoke from the fireball reached the fire system and the sprinklers turned on.
‘Nice one Josh.’
‘Is that meant to be sincere or sarcastic Ez?’
‘A little of both.’
“Okay Josh, I think you’re good now.”
“Go get mum or Maddie will ya Josh? I’m feeling a bit sore.”
Jonas and my dad were talking slowly, wincing every time they spoke a word.
***
“Hey guys, I’m sorry for all the damage and pain I caused you.”
“Ah it’s not your fault Josh, you did well.”
John was lying down with a bandage around his right wrist.
“Yeah Josh, don’t worry ‘bout me, I’m fine.”
Jonas was sitting in a chair.
“That was very good Josh. You’re more than ready to face The Noistarê when the time arises. For now, two more weeks of training. But, it will be reduced to about one hour a day with each of us. And that hadouken? Very good, even I can’t do one of those. I knew you were ready.”
“Then why did you tell me I wasn’t?”
“I had to tell you something to motivate you.”
“Actually, it was Ez who motivated me.”
“Ah! Even better! Well Josh, I suppose you’d best get to bed. You’ve had a long day, and you’d probably like a whole heap of sleep right now.”
I was feeling very tired.
“Okay. Goodnight guys.”
A synchronised response came from John, Jonas and dad.
“Goodnight Josh.”
I turned and walked out the door, to the main room and then down the hallway labelled ‘Quarters’. My room was room 9. It was quite a large room, with a big comfy bed right in the middle for me, and something that looked like an over-sized dog bed.
‘C’mon Ez, I know you’re feeling tired too.’
‘How’d you know?’
‘I’ve started to feel your emotions, it’s weird, I couldn’t before, but now I can.’
‘You really are getting stronger. Your dad is a good trainer.’
‘Yeah, he is. A good trainer and a good father.’
I hopped into bed, and Ez got comfy in his dragon-bed.
‘Goodnight Ez.’
‘Goodnight Josh.’
Because I felt like putting two up.
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