It's still surreal for Julia to watch Drenar and Nick transform, and Nick makes sure there are no passers-by, deeper in the backyard. There are no sight lines, and he made sure to set a motion sensor by the front yard earlier in the day. Drenar's feathers come out first, while Nick apparently just grows bigger and all his claws come out first. There's a certain randomness of which step kicks off first, and Drenar’s wings come out next, along with the change in his leg structure. He's prepared for it better this time and takes a wide stance. Unlike last time when he hulk-busted his clothes, his long-sleeved shirt and jeans seem to merge and disappear with the change in form. And he's wearing nothing again, and when he realizes it, he scrunches and grabs his tail to hide the indecency.

“Hey Drenar, I didn't realize we were getting a show as an added bonus!” Angela cheers. The scales on his cheeks turned a slightly rose color–it’s utterly fascinating, watching the response, they are not solid armor plating, and there is an organic component to them. “James, give me money.”

“I highly question the ethicality of that, wait a month when he's eighteen.” Angela turns to stare at her brother.

“And you're not bothered at all?”

“I already saw him baring all once before, remember? He does have an impressive physique. Objectively speaking.”

“I’m getting some vibes from you, brother,” she growls. He shrugs. “It’s kind of telling, that you bring this up now after traumatic life events.”

“I like strong personalities.”

“I'm not judging. He does have a certain boldness to him.”

“I can still hear you guys, the ears don't stop working when transforming!” Drenar says while still looking wide-eyed and anxious. “Why does Nick have pants and a shirt, and I don't?” Drenar states with vitriol. Nick ruffles his green and blonde feathers and wears a smug look.

“Mimetic clothing. It's a simple enchantment, most shifters have clothes just like this. Dragons, Kitsune and Wargen and fey. And maybe a few others, there are some pockets of other Kin that aren't as well documented. Or they're just hiding,” he adds as an afterthought.

“Great, fantastic mage culture lesson and I'll gladly listen to more, but could I have some pants, please?!” Drenar anxiously exclaims while avoiding her and Angela's lecherous smiles.

“One second. You're about the same size as me, so…” Nick rummages through a duffel bag he brought with him, and throws what looks like bike shorts and an intricate shirt with openings and straps to accommodate his wings to Drenar. He catches them with a kinetic grab with one claw, another subtle sign he's learning his abilities. Julia reluctantly lets the silver and azure blue bestie get dressed, and he looks much calmer after getting on some clothes. He's still rubbing at his thigh like there's an itch.

“This fabric feels pretty…decent. I thought I'd have less feeling with armor scales.” It’s kind of funny how Drenar runs his fingers across the fabric, testing the texture as if it were foreign to him; usually, he just threw on whatever wasn’t messy. But this was technically all new for him–a new body, different senses, different feelings, a thought that resonates with her.

“It's still organic, still has nerve endings. Besides, that material is mana-infused, it'll be far more durable.” Drenar finishes with a zipper to accommodate his wings, and he lets out a sigh of relief when he tests the motions, it leaves his mobility unhindered. “Looks like it fits well.”

“It kinda does. Thanks. Uh, where do I even buy clothes for a dragon, anyway?”

“Not on Amazon,” Julia mutters. “Hey Nick, what's our long-term plan anyway?”

“Keep off the radar, as best we can. Levine has a team monitoring the Talon's communications. Looks like the mine head collapse caused them to be more cautious. I'm not going anywhere, and I figure you guys will go looking for trouble, regardless of what I say. So I'll at least train you the best I can.”

“If you can't stop them, join them?” Evan says with a twinge of amusement. “Welcome to the Radiant Delvers.”

“We need a way better name than that,” Angela counters. “Evan, you've been in on the whole mage world thing for a few weeks. What can you tell us about Jonaleth?”

“He's a complete fiend is what he is, and he's violent. He might come after me again,” he says warily.

“He didn't do anything today. Hell, it looked like he was being amazingly well-behaved,” Drenar states. “Maybe his ‘handler’ told him to lay low. Our misadventure may have actually bought us some space. They don't want dead kids or burnt houses attracting attention.”

“Crosomer seemed pretty pissed that his guys do stuff like that,” Julia comments. “He's a bastard, but a bastard with standards at least. It makes me hate him a little less. Actually, on that note, I got a better idea. Let's go after Jonaleth.” She has an idea. “Nick, your expertise is tracking, right? Have you tracked Jonaleth?”

“Up until now, I was only aware of his history. He's a Talons agent?” Nick is sparring with Drenar, a series of quick kicks and throws that Drenar adeptly blocks or dodges, but he loses his balance. Nick lunges and sweeps his leg with his tail, and he goes down hard. Julia winces, normally it's just her beating up Drenar in a non-permanent way to keep him well-disciplined.

“He has to be. Smug son of a bitch threatens to kill us, alludes to the ‘new crew' or something. We should surveil him.”

“He's right. Crosomer has other pieces in motion. And we know nothing of his other associates. All I know is that he's looking for some old research of his, his journals, or Volkir’s, or both.”

“Volkir Menrayas? The sage who completely screwed up the world of dragons?” Nick's caught off guard and Drenar lands a series of quick strikes and one impactful kick. Nick rubs gingerly at his torso while Drenar beckons him forth by flexing his claws to come again. “What could he possibly need in old research journals?”

“They're the key to using the device. But they also need a power source, too. We need to deny them both, and buy time to expose them. The books translate the runes on the device, making it controllable without disastrous results. In theory.”

“I'm more concerned someone could just turn the device into a giant bomb. It wiped out a few million dragons, and that is magic that doesn't have a comparison in the world. Where did he find this thing?!” Nick grapples Drenar and lets out a burst of fiery embers at his wrists, but he quickly counters with a kick and tries to wrap a leg with his tail, in a show of adaptation. Nick doesn't fall for it and keeps pressing the attack, pinning Drenar to the ground.

“Hey, you're jarring my train of thought!”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Think and fight, gotta do both, if you want to survive. Again.” Julia can't help but admire Drenar brushing himself off a few dozen times and ignoring the jarring impacts Nick sends his way. He just puts on that sardonic smirk of his and keeps on fighting, even pinning Nick down in the last few rounds.

“Again.”

Nick quickly throws Drenar off balance and he fights with all his might, not letting Nick grab his wings or position him to take a tumble. Each time he's getting knocked down, it takes longer for Nick to keep him down. “Boys, I hope you're not putting this show on just for us,” Julia coos, and breaks Drenar's focus just long enough for him to take a faceplant, with Nick sitting smugly on his back with a knee between his wings. He groans in discomfort. “Oh. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt.”

“You want to step into the ring, Tsundere?” Drenar asks with a hint of ire. She thrusts herself forward to give him a tap on the snout, much to his annoyance.

“Hardly a fair fight, me against a half a metric ton of dragon. I don't want to beat up Nick too badly,” she says with a grin. Nick simply smirks.

“Hey, we've been over this. No boop on the snoot. It's like, special. And Crosomer ruined it. Stole the first boop from Angie,” Drenar adds with a growl.

“Or me.” He spends half a second processing this, then laughs.

“Alright, first off, I didn't know you felt that way, second off, I'm a one lady at a time kind of guy, thirdly, Nick, please get your knee off my back.”

“Technically it's a digitigrade joint. But, okay. I think we've been at this for a while.” Nick helps him up, and they all take a look at the setting sun. Drenar narrows his eyes, and sighs.

“Nothing's going to be the same after this, huh?”

“Would you want to go back to being vanilla and just above average?” Julia poses. He wraps his wings tightly before sitting down, so that he's now more or less at her head height.

“I'd at least have wanted it as a choice, I suppose.”

“They took away our choices, Drenar.” Angela is also looking stoic, and Julia swears she's got the cat-like slit of a pupil in her eyes. Actually, that is the case, and she shudders a little bit, hand going to her chest. “We had a future where we could have just lived normally. Made stupid decisions, made friends, and never had to worry about the underbelly of the entire mage underground movement. A place and people we know virtually nothing about. Except Nick here, he's our guide.” Nick also goes lotus pose on the ground, and she ruffles his feather crest a little. “C’mon, admit it. You haven't had friends at school. Just people you know.”

“So, you're offering friendship, for your chance at artwork?” He proposes. She laughs and smacks his shoulder. A gesture Julia would have thought she'd share with Drenar.

“Oh, that's a request. Totally optional. Nah, I mean, you teach us, we learn to defend ourselves, go find Crosomer, and put him out of business.”

“Yeah, that last part has me worried. The response from the higher-ups has been remarkably muted. They're busy putting fires out elsewhere, it's like the Talons decided to come crawling out of the woodwork this week, and with the minehead totally destroyed, it'll be weeks or even months before we can dig down. Even magic has some practical limits,” he says with a head tilt towards her.

“So, what, we’re supposed to do nothing?” James says. He looks anxious at that notion. “They know who we are, man. There could be consequences. Like them coming to our house and merking us, or our families.”

“Like hell I’d let that happen, between me and Levine,” Nick said sternly while digging into the browning grass with a claw. “No. It's time to throw out the playbook because the Talons did, too. They had help for that mine operation. Tons of funding. Too much. Alarm bells weren't raised. Or they were and were silenced.” The implied suggestion is concerning to Julia.

“So, what next?” Drenar asks. “We have some leads. We should do something. Me and Julia and Angela do have some training, otherwise we'd be flat-out dead by now.”

“Shouldn’t we focus on just not getting killed?” Evan says with rising ire. “You are so quick to try and play being a hero, man. History is littered with dead heroes.”

“Evan, I’m no hero. But if this is just the start, and we do nothing, the Talons will try to turn everyone who is Awakening into soldiers, or unwitting pawns. And we're likely to see far worse before the end.” Evan slumps lightly at this. “Plus, Jonaleth might come a’knocking, and I’d prefer a solution that doesn’t involve trading blows or worse."

“Well, you've got my back Drenar. You always will. But you gotta let the ladies take the lead. It's like, an unwritten rule,” Julia says in a playful tone.

“Heh. With your silver tongue, that might not be a bad idea.”

Evan balks at this. Loudly. “So, all of you are so stupid to think we're just about to take out an entire cult and short-circuit their plans? There's no scenario of this where you don't all come home as corpses, Drenar. We lost mom and dad. I would lose my mind if I lost you guys, and I'm no fighter.”

“Then be a support role. Not everyone has to fight. The military has ten guys backing up every single soldier,” Drenar explains.

“Still sounds like you're trying to play the hero. That ain't healthy.”

“Look, at the end of the day, we come home alive. And I have a couple of ideas.” He nods to Julia. “We've got a plan that we cooked up.”

“Oh Gaia, we’re letting Julia present?” Evan gasps. “You yanked a tooth out of my shoulder to drive a point home, then grinned about it like you got a crackerjack prize out of a box!”

“It was exciting to prove you were a dragon,” she replies smoothly. Nick grimaces at this.

“This is how you found out?”

“Well, I fried a microwave first. The dragon was coming out of the bag eventually. Plus he healed,” she adds unapologetically.

“Utter menace,” Evan exhales.

“It means she likes you,” Drenar says. “Alright, the plan then.”

“I think I know where Jonaleth is getting his intel on who's changing. The mural. I think it's enchanted to detect new drakensouls and half-dragons. It's a theory, because he was hanging out there every time I walked by. Leering. A couple of people walked by it and it was like they saw something. Which means, he's now our primary lead. Nick, thoughts?” She redirects.

“Hang on. We didn’t see anything,” Drenar interjects.

“We weren’t Awakened yet." Julia's statement gets Nicks attention, and he snaps his fingers.

"Actually that’s a good point. Maybe it needs a secondary trigger?” Nick proposes. He spends a few seconds thinking it over. “If it's triggering on newly Awakened people, it's possible I would have missed it on my first check. It's clever. Can't believe the school hasn't taken it down yet, I think something is going on there that smells rotten. And I got that feeling when Jonaleth wasn't kicked out for any number of misdeeds,” he adds in a moment of contempt. “The priority is to make sure you guys stay safe, first. We aren't going into this half-arsed like you guys did.”

Julia grins widely at this. “Oh, well, looky here, I think he's on board! Double-O Dragon has joined the party!”

“We are gonna die,” James sighs in resignation.