Chapter Two:
Scientific Lessons
The morning sun
dawned
over the world, awakening many of its inhabitants. This included Jessie
and
Hanson, who didn’t like it. They eventually had to give in, and began
to
disband their camp (otherwise known as the tent and fire).
During this,
Jessie got
a good look, sun revealing all in full glory, at Hanson.
He wore a white
shirt,
with the sleeves made to look baggy and bunched up. His pants were
brown and
attached by a black belt, which doubled as a sheath holder for his
sword. He
walked in bare, clawed feet, and on the balls of his feet like all
dragons
(they didn’t make shoes for dragons, and besides, they don’t like it in
the
first place). He had a thick, spine-backed tail, which ended in a
forked tip,
not like the normal arrowhead most dragons have, and yellow bands
running up
the underside. His large, bat-like wings, now folded, had dark,
reddish-orange
membranes. His head was as red as his body and snouted. Still young, it
hadn’t
become very long or sharp, and his horns (which began as the ears) were
short
as well. Hanson was also big in the sense he had a very large torso,
barely any
of it body fat, however. It’s large because of the “second stomach,”
the fire
bladder which fueled his flame, Jessie knew, and also because of the
need for
extra muscles to help power his large, strong frame. Hanson was, in
short, a
big dragon. He’s actually a little
attractive, thought Jessie.
When they were
ready to
go, Hanson turned to Jessie.
“Well, shall we
fly?” he
asked. Jessie thought for a moment.
“Yes, but…HOW
will you
carry me? I can’t ride on your back, can I?”
“No, you’re too
big…Ahhh…D’you mind if I carry you again?” He looked like he didn’t
want to.
Jessie sighed.
“No, but I’d
rather
there be another way, of which there obviously isn’t,” she answered.
She went
over to Hanson, who carefully grabbed her around the middle, made sure
he had a
secure hold, spread his wings, and kicked off with great and sudden
force. They
rose to a height nearby the clouds, but just under them, not above.
A bird’s eye
view
stretched out in front of their eyes. The land lay below and they could
see
people walking about, simple little specks. Hanson settled on a widely
circular
glide, flapping every now and again to get back to their height, and
kept an
arm on Jessie while he fumbled in his shirt pocket for something.
“Ah,” he said,
and
withdrew a small, one-magnification telescope. He handed it to Jessie.
“Here,
can you see where he is while I have my arms full? I have excellent
eyesight,
but at this height I can’t see fine details, so I’d use that pocket
scope to
find something specific…Dang, I can’t wait until I’m full-grown,” he
said, and
started to look around.
Nodding, Jessie
looked
around down at the ground with the scope. It was almost an hour before
she
spotted—for certain—the evil ferret.
“Bounty
sighted, 4 o’
clock,” she said, and handed back the scope. Hanson, already looking in
the
general area (he saw a ferret he thought looked familiar, just not for
sure),
took it, looked through, and put it in his pocket.
“That’s him,
all right,”
he said, starting to smile. He held on tighter and dove. In about ten
seconds,
Hanson and a slightly disgruntled Jessie (YOU try hanging in the air
like that
for forever!) were on the ground, facing a very startled
“Great, bounty
hunters?”
he asked in a sinister voice dripping with greed and restrained hatred
for all
things that move.
“I’m the hunter,” began Hanson.
“And I’m the chick you got drunk or whatever so you could
escape while I went off hurting innocents!!” finished Jessie, and she
sped
towards
“YAA-huh?!” she
said,
surprised she missed, then “HOLY—“ as she barely dodged the weapon
swung at
her. “ROOT SHEILD!! ROOT SHEILD!!” she said quickly, and immediately, a
wall of
large roots came out to block the next blow. Jessie then had an idea.
“ROOT
CAGE
“Hey Hanson!!
Hurry,
torch it! I made sure they were dry,” she yelled, and Hanson nodded. He
drew
breath, then shot out a flamethrower on the dried roots. However, a
brief time
after the roots were aflame, the roots were doused thoroughly by a
blast of
water from within.
“Nice try,
but—“ CHOP
went the hand-axe as Jackson (who was a little toasty) chopped the
intact
roots, “—here’s a free Science lesson: water douses fire!” He raised
his axe.
“And, by the way, I find flesh a very fine conductor of electricity!
EAT
LIGHTNING!!” He sent a bolt from the spiked tip of the axe to not only
Jessie
but also Hanson.
The sensation
was
spectacular. They were in so much pain that they couldn’t feel their
fingers…They started to faint…Then, it stopped.
A huge blast of
water
came from nowhere on the tip of the axe, and down onto the rest of
“And water
conducts
electricity a WHOLE lot better!” A grey panther with wild hair, clad in
a white
robe, came falling from the trees above. He had a young voice. “I hope
you know
you’re wanted DOA, right?”
The electricity
stopped,
and
“Hi, my name’s
Evan
Transkate. I’m a monk, and it looked like you needed help,” he said. “I
guess I
did my day’s good deed,” he then
commented, smiling.
Hanson shook
hands and
thanked him. Jessie walked over to
“Yannow, if I
didn’t
believe in honor, I’d slit his throat right now,” she said, glaring.
Evan came
over while Hanson picked up
“Hey, I was in
the area
when he set you off on a rampage with extra-strength Frenzy-Alcohol,
you know.
It wasn’t your fault, the stuff makes people go in a frenzy in
moments,” he
reassured her softly. He knew that she didn’t like what she did, and
she
thought it was her fault; it was in her eyes. Jessie sighed.
“Yeah, I know.
I just
feel responsible, and ashamed. My alignment, Mind, grants me heightened
will,
and the alcohol broke it…” she trailed off, watching Hanson tie up
“Man…I can’t
believe he
was a fellow monk…Disgraceful.” Evan shook his head, ears flattening
slightly;
then he came back to his normal self. “Hey, you two mind if I tag
along? I’ve
got nothing better to do; my monastery said I should go on a ‘spiritual
journey’ or something, so yeah,” he added, ears now upright again.
Hanson had just
finished
tying up his bounty, and he stopped to think. Jessie smiled.
“I don’t mind,
Evan!
What about you, Hanson?” she asked brightly. If he’s on
the team, that means we can actually heal ourselves and
drive off bad spirits and all that! And, I’ll have someone else to talk
to;
he’s so nice… She thought all of this while Hanson was caught in a
open-mouth-to-say-something-then-close-it-again trap before he sighed
in
defeat.
“Sure, he can
come. A
Spirit monk is always useful anyway.” He picked up