Late Afternoon - Late Spring : Home

“Haah..” -This is gonna suck..- As I walked down the hallway, I changed to my humanoid form and desperately tried to think of a way to beat Father.

-How am I gonna do this..- I walked outside while rubbing my head. -I guess I'll actually hav..- My thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of something huge coming at me from behind.

-WHAT THE?!- I instantly threw myself to the ground, barely dodging the massive tail.

-THAT'S NOT FAIR!- "CAN’T YOU GO EAS-" As I turned over, I saw a massive dragon foot falling towards me.

In that split second, my instinct took over and threw a punch into the side of the foot.

*Bang-CRUNCH*

Barely managing to redirect the stomp, I took the opening to create distance.

Turning back to him, I saw Father standing on newly shattered ground. -Is he seriously trying to kill me?!-

Leaning down a bit, I tried to slow my heart rate. -I need to calm down..-

But Father wasn’t going to give me a chance and dashed at me, throwing a heavy kick.

*Wooshhh*

I barely dodged again, but it's not like he'd give me time to breathe.

The next thing I knew, I saw his mouth open towards me with an orange flame growing in his mouth. -SH*T!-

*Psshhh-FWOOSH* *Crackle-Fwooooosh*

I blasted thruster magic to get away from it, managing to launch myself into the air just before the ground got covered in an orange blaze. -This psycho..-

While I was falling towards the ground, my stomach was met with his tail. *Crrraack*

*FWOOSH*

The instant before I hit the ground, I used thrusters to blast myself across the clearing to make more distance.

-Sh*t..- My ribs were broken, but my heart rate had calmed and my mind had cleared. -I have a slight speed advantage.. It's possible..-

Although only barely, I was more nimble and quicker than him. It wasn't much, but I was going to have to abuse that difference if I wanted to have a chance. -I just need to throw him off his rhythm..-

*Wooshhh*

Charging at me again, he tried to bite me. -It's a feint..- My gut told me he'd swipe his leg at me.

*Psshh-FWOOSH*

Abusing the mobility given by my thrusters, I dodged his attack and channeled my momentum into a punch to his chest.

*WHAM*

My goal was to knock his breath out but it felt as if I just punched a steel wall. -OW!- The force from my punch channeled back into me and further cracked my ribs.

While I was stunned, Father grabbed me with his tail and hurled me into the forest.

*Wham* *CRACK*

The tree I hit was blown apart and splintered.

Without knowing it, a smile started to creep onto my face. -You think that'll stop me?!-

I sprang out from the splintered tree and dashed towards him at full speed.

As I got close, he tried to bite me, but this time I jumped up onto his head and held onto his horns. -Try this!-

*FWWWOOOOSH* *CRUNCH*

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I used my thruster magic to slam his head into the ground with excessive force.

The ground shattered into a spiderweb as I drove his face into the ground, but while I was distracted, he pulled his tail around and slammed it into me.

*CRACK*

“UGH!” Although I got my hands up in time, they both broke under the force of his tail.

*CRRUNNCHH* *crumble*

Without time to even think, I was launched all the way across the opening and into the mountainside.

Although his attack broke my hands and knocked my breath out, I was still smiling. -It's possible!-

As I cranked up my thrusters again, the stone mountainside behind me instantly melted and I was launched back towards Father.

*FWOOOSH*

"I think that's enough!" Mother's voice filled my ears as I braced myself to hit Father.

-Oh come on!- I got ready to slow down when I saw a massive rock flying at my face. -WHAT?!-

In the split second I had to react, I made a steel cylinder and shot it through the stone.

*CRACK-Crruuncchh*

The cylinder completely blew apart the stone, but the debris continued flying at me.

*Fwip*

With a wave of my hand, I used wind magic to slice through the debris.

-If he can attack after Mother called it off, so can I!-

I swiftly moved my foot over his nose but before I could do anything, a white foot appeared next to his face. -Huh?-

*CRACK* *Cr-cr-cr-cr-cr-cr-crack*

Mothers kick slammed into his cheek and launched him back into the forest, plowing through several trees before slowing down.

I froze from awe as Mother's wing moved up and caught me.

“Are you alright sweetie?” Her face was covered in worry.

“Uh.. yeah.. I think so.” I was too awestruck to respond properly.

“Hooh.. thank the heavens.” She wore a look of relief as she gently set me on the ground. Turning towards the forest, she shot Father a look of contempt. "Why were you taking that even remotely seriously?!"

Father's face was covered in guilt. "If I didn't, he wouldn't have actually had a challenge."

“That doesn't allow you to nearly kill him and even try to hit him after I said to stop!”

"S..sorry." Father was clearly guilty, but something about it didn't sit right with Mother.

Her anger steadily became more obvious. “Don't give me that sh*t… You were just too jealous and envious of your own son to let him win or let it end as a draw.” Mother looked like she was going to beat Father into the ground.

Father looked so guilty he didn't even know how to respond.

“I felt the same sh*t you did, but instead of falling victim to it like you, I instead felt proud.” Mother gave him a look of disdain. “Our son will become one of, if not the strongest dragon to ever exist, and here you are nearly ruining that for the sake of your stupid pride.”

Quickly catching on to what was happening, I changed back to my dragon form and walked over to Mother. “I'm fine for the most part, Mother. Can you try to look past his mistake for now? I think we both just got too absorbed into the fight… Plus.. if he went easy on me, it wouldn't have been as fun..” Although I didn't lie, the main reason I stepped in was to stop their fight. -It hurts to watch..-

Mother quickly caught onto my intentions and calmed down. “Haah.. sorry sweetie..” She leaned over and rubbed her cheek on mine.

Suddenly remembering what started everything, I looked over at Father. "So, Father. Do I pass your test?"

"Ah right, I nearly forgot about that. You passed easily." He tried to force an uncomfortable smile.

"Well, in that case, I'm going to go lay down and start healing..” I glanced towards Mother as I walked past, her agitation was still clear. “I can't really blame him for getting absorbed in the fight, so.. at least don't punish him too harshly..”

“Haah.. alright..” Mother reluctantly gave in.

Continuing past her, I walked up to the outside of the cave and laid down. -Thankfully these injuries shouldn't take too long to heal in my dragon form..-

As I got ready to close my eyes and fall asleep, Ilios darted out of the cave and started licking me.

"I'm fine, I'm fine.." Even though I tried to motion that I was fine, he didn't stop licking me.

-Arent ancient Fenrir supposed to be like.. gods? Why does Ilios act like a golden retriever?- Although I was curious, I wasn't complaining. Ilios acting like a puppy was incredibly cute after all.

After petting Ilios for a while, Father walked up behind me. "We don't have much time before we are going to make our trip so be sure to heal up."

"Ah right, what about Ilios? He can come along, right?" Ilios managed to brighten my mood and make me forget about Mother and Father's fight.

"Of course! Why wouldn't he?"

"Well I just don't know how he can get into the city.." -He's huge.. there is no way they'd let him through the gate..-

"He can use transformation magic to make himself smaller, so there shouldn't be any issues."

-Excuse me?- I turned to Ilios. "Can you actually shrink down?"

Ilios quickly nodded his head before a white light exuded from him.

Once the light cleared he had shrunk down to around 1.25 meters, still very big for a dog, but it should be enough.

"Wait, so does that mean I can change my size too?"

"Well yes you can control your size and age, you just can't go bigger or older than your full size and it's fairly useless."

-Simple enough..- "Well, since we have that figured out, what all do I need to do before we leave?"

"Be sure to eat a lot.. humanoid food is quite expensive when you have the appetite that we dragons do."

Although he seemed to be joking, it got me thinking. -I wonder what the cuisine is like in this world...- My expectations were honestly at rock bottom since, from what Mother had taught me over the last month, the kingdoms were barely into the middle ages.

-As long as it's ‘alright’, I'll be happy..- Although I loved food, to me, most of it was either terrible, ‘alright’, or absolutely heavenly with very little in between.

While I was lost in my thoughts, Mother walked up behind Father. "Well in that case, how about we have a family meal? It's been a while since we’ve had one, and I have a surprise prepared.”

I couldn't help but feel like the way she said it was ominous, but it made me curious. “That's fine with me.”

“In that case, I'll go catch a good bison for you." Mother flashed an excited smile before quickly leaping into the air and flying into the forest.

-What kind of surprise will it be..-