Mystic Dragon Cadets

KABOOM!

Dark storm clouds raged in the sky as Tegan slashed at the Omen. It was like a scene out of a horror movie as her friends fought like champs. The front yard of the Academy looked more like a dirt road now, Omens were coming from all directions as thunder boomed again.

Tegan summoned flames. "We got this guys!"

Up ahead Lisa stood with her back towards her, but what weirded her out more was the blood puddle under her friend's feet.

Lisa seemed frozen in place as she sprinted over. "You okay?"

When the rebellious Dust Devil turned around Tegan's heart sank, Lisa's eyes were gone and replaced with darkness. The skin on the left side of her face was gone, revealing bone as blood dripped from her fingertips.

"Its okay," Lisa gurgled. "Join us Tegan."

Tegan back up and hit something, she twisted around to see a Latino boy in a blue snapback. His eyes were dark, empty sinkholes, and below his beating heart was exposed.

"Can't save everyone," gurgled Dean.

She was surrounded by zombie-look-alikes of her friends as they circled her. Behind her earth, fire, wind and water mixed to create an Omen of pure insanity as it crashed into the Academy.

Tegan woke with a wince and looked around, across from her Asha was staring with a cup in her hand. DeMarco was standing next to them holding a plate of pancakes. He had on dark jeans, and a purple, white, and black shirt with words: Your Friendly Neighborhood, Ace. She was pretty sure that was short for, Asexual. Back at the Academy a lot of people were open-minded, there was lots of P.D.A. and shenanigans.

"A nightmare?" Asha's voice dripped with concern.

"Um yea," Tegan sat up as sunlight kissed her face awake.

DeMarco plopped the stack in front of her. "Hope your not scared of pancakes."

Tegan poured syrup over her stack and dug into her breakfast, fruit and powdered sugar was sprinkled on top. They been traveling for a week and so far things were peaceful, except for the occasional Omen sightings and shift changes. Cadets ran up and down the train, some deep in conversation and others playing games.

"So want to talk about it?" Asha offered.

Tegan looked up thoughtfully. "Not really, but thanks for asking."

"Fatality Queen" Asha continued the conversation. "Tell me about the nickname, does it mean you have a high kill count?"

"Hardly," Tegan laughed with no humor. "I have Narcolepsy and I'm most likely to die a dishonorable death."

"Thats depressing," Asha admitted.

Tegan stuffed a piece of fruit in her mouth. "Yea, no kidding."

Just then there was announcement. "Were taking a short-cut through a forest."

It happened quickly as the train went a little dark, flashes of sunlight whipped past like they were going through a subway tunnel. Tegan' s eyes darted around nervously at the scene. All she saw was tall shadows out the window, the trees and the grass were all black.

"This isn't just any forest," Tegan began. "Its a dead forrest."

"Hmm," said Asha. "You know The City Of Ember is known for its unstable wildfires."

She was happy Asha couldn't see the expression on her face. But if she had to guess her face probably looks pale like she'd seen a ghost. In a way she had, a horrible memory of her burning a beautiful forest to the ground when she was younger. Tegan told nobody about that incident and when the news found out, everyone thought an Omen did it.

In a blink, the dead forest was gone as a mediocre landscape took its place. Tegan sat back in her seat as Asha rummaged through her backpack, she was happy the cadet was distracted. Patches appeared and cuddled on top of her, it was their secret after all and not even Sloan knew about that.

Not even 5 minutes after, Tegan noticed a blue blob in the distance as they got closer there was another announcement that confirmed her suspicions.

"Attention Cadets!" the announcement echoed. "There is a water Omen in our path, I need a team of 3."

Tegan got up and quickly changed into some black plaid overalls, plain red T-shirt, and red uniform sneakers. Vincent appeared next to her in a green hoodie that had tic-tac-toe on it, black shorts, and green sneakers. The last cadet was a tan boy with short black hair, intense grey eyes, a purple crop top, leather jacket, a ring on both middle fingers, purple uniform sneakers, and a skirt.

She recognize this kid too, his name was Elliot and he was friends with Faith. The first time they met they were talking about trading cards in the Dragon Lounge.

"Lets go team," Vincent gave a goofy smile.

Tegan opened one of the train doors, she grabbed the ladder and started climbing towards the roof. When she reached the top she was almost knocked down by the wind, fortunately, she was able to keep her balance and focus on the Omen before jumping.

"Can I ask?" Tegan gestured.

Elliot grinned. "I know I was pretty shy when we first met and sure. I'm Non-binary and my pronouns are he/they."

"So you wear boys and girls clothes?" Vincent concluded.

Elliot eyed Vincent. "Gender non-conforming and it means I don't follow gender-norms. Just so you know I'm very comfortable in my skin. If I see something I like I wear it without hesitation and that has nothing to do with one's sexual orientation. I am attracted to girls, for your information."

They flew towards the water Omen as it tried to swap them out the sky, Tegan and Vincent summoned their fire weapons and started hacking away at the monster. She saw Elliot was about to unleash a whirlwind when the Omen launched a ball of water at the train.

"Elliot defend the train while we take care of this thing!" Tegan yelled.

Nothing more had to be said as Elliot soared towards the train just in time to block the water with their whirlwind.

"They really are smarter," Vincent noted. "They don't have one-track minds anymore."

"Gotta kill this thing fast," Tegan looks back as the train gets closer and closer.

Vincent blurted out. "Lets do a Kamehameha Wave!"

"Um... that's a anime reference," Tegan said. "Hows that gonna help?"

"We go on either sides of it and unleash an inferno," Vincent explained.

Tegan and Vincent dodged the monster's assault as Elliot deflected projectiles away from the train. "Sounds like a great plan!"

They summoned a tornado of fire and flung it at opposite sides of the Omen, sizzling steam manifested before the creature exploded. She smiled and gave Vincent a high-five when suddenly they were attacked by a rain shower. The rain was lukewarm and ended just as quickly as it started, when Tegan opened her eyes the train had dashed ahead of them as water dripped from their clothes. Tegan and Vincent both looked at each other and laughed before catching up to the train.

An hour later they arrived in The City Of Ember, otherwise known as California. They stopped infront of a large building where a man and woman stood.

"Welcome to the Rainbow Lotus Hotel!" said the man. "I'm Rico Dare and this is Gina Tyr."

They were separated into groups according to gender, Tegan wasn't tired after all that travelling and she had to say the suite was pretty nice. She was roomed with Lisa and Faith.

"We should go sightseeing!" Lisa explained.

"I'm up for an adventure," Faith agreed looking at Tegan hopefully.

Tegan shrugged. "Not a bad plan."

"Okay then," Lisa smirked.

After leaving their suite they bumped into DeMarco, Vincent, Asha, Dean, Jen, Kiba, and Elliot in the hallway.

"You guys planning on exploring, too?" Dean asked.

"Totally," grinned Tegan as she opened a nearby window.

"Wow," Kiba hopped onto the ledge and glanced down. "Great minds think alike."

"Be careful!" Jen's words of wisdom fell on deaf ears when Kiba jumped.

Lisa tumbled over laughing. "I like his method."

When Lisa finally stopped laughing the rest of them followed Kiba's example and fell. The city looked colorful, more colorful than Old New York which had a dark academia style. After getting drenched by the rain shower, Tegan changed into ripped denim shorts, a rock band graphic-t, colorful high-top sneakers, and an oversize denim hoodie.

"Hey look!" Vincent pointed to the famous Golden Gate Bridge. He was wearing a green and black striped long-sleeve shirt, baggy jeans, and leather boots.

They landed in an area with lots of restaurants and small shops. A bunch of people lingered in the street as a shopkeeper pulled out green, purple, and gold jester decoration. Looking up Tegan noticed some words on a flag: Mardi Gras.

DeMarco was the first to speak. "I think there's an event happening tonight."

"Your not wrong," said a voice. A pale kid with spikey red hair, green eyes, a white shirt, black puffy vest-jacket, black shorts, white sneakers, and glasses stood infront of them carrying a box. "Welcome to Cali. We always party before a big battle, this year it falls on a holiday."

"Oh," said Tegan.

"My names Ward Hakura and you must be Cadets from that school up in Lullaby City," the redheaded boy examined. "Am I right?"

"You are," Lisa crossed her arms but she was clearly checking Ward out.

"Sweet, nailed it!" Ward smiled. "I was gonna say the school in Canada or the school in Japan."

"Can you tell us about this event tonight?" Vincent asked.

"Sure," Ward adjusts the box in his hands. "But first I gotta get this wine to my sibling, I can explain and show you around later."

They walked for about 5 minutes, until Ward stopped at a sophisticated restaurant with a flashy name. Written in gold wood was Tarot Tavern.

"I love it," Asha said. "You work here?"

"We own it," Ward explains. "Before we go inside my sibling is Genderfluid. Juniper could be my sister or brother...it depends."

Tegan heard Elliot squeal a little before entering the eatery, the place wasn't that crowded at the moment as a person hung a decoration. The person was wearing a stylish cardigan, a fancy but comfortable dress, an orange pin-button, and orange sneakers.

Ward smiled again. "Shes my sister today, but that might change if she switches to a green button."

Juniper spotted them. "Hey mink, your finally back with the wine...and you brought friends. By the way, my pronouns are she/her."

"Mink?" Lisa raised an eyebrow in a teasing way.

Ward groaned. "Its a nickname, an annoying nickname."

"Anyway put that wine in the back so it can get chill," Juniper gestured with her thumb. "This place is going to be swamped tonight."

When Ward disappeared Juniper was analyzing them, Tegan felt like an exotic wonder of the world as Ward's sister rested her chin on her hand.

"You must be here to get rid of Blood Angel Mountain," Juniper spoke with reluctance.

"Excuse me?" Jen said.

"The Zodiac Nest," Juniper sat on a stool. "Theres a dark history about it but I'll spare you the nightmares. What I really want to know is are you coming to the party tonight?"

"Maybe," Tegan said and was discreetly punched in the arm by Lisa.

"What my friend means is yes," Lisa gave her an up-to-no-good-smirk.

"Never been to a Mardi Gras party before," Dean grinned as he adjusted his blue and black jersey and snapback. "I'm excited, can you tell us more about it?"

Before Juniper could continue Ward returned dressed in black suspenders that cut off at the ankles, black sneakers with purple laces, a white and purple Legend Of Zelda Graphic-T, and a purple beanie. Tegan thought Ward looked like a hipster and he pulled it off well.

"Mr. Tour guide at your service," Ward bowed.

The afternoon air smelled of sweets and spices as they wandered around the colorful city, people waved as kids wore dragon masks. Tegan and her friends was told about the briefing from ParadoxBourne, but not in great detail. This will be her first time stepping inside a Zodiac Nest and the thought made her super nervous.

Ward spread his hands. "Mardi Gras is a big celebration with floats, games, food and Jazz music!"

"I love spicy food," Dean nodded.

"Games huh?" Kiba whistled. "Thats right up our alley, sis."

Tegan smiled. "Music is my forte."

"Mine too!" Ward twisted and walked backwards. "I play guitar."

"Uhh...I mean I listen to music and I know about the fundamentals and history," Tegan explained and tilted her head. "I can't play a single instrument."

"So, whos your favorite band or artist?" Ward continued the conversation without missing a beat.

Tegan glanced at Lisa who looked a little jealous, but answered anyway. "Blue Dandelion."

"Their in my top 10," Ward said. "You guys wanna check out the arcade?"

"Arcade?" Vincent looked interested. "Arcades shut down long ago, you have one?"

"Unofficially," Ward admitted.

They were taken to an abandoned nightclub as Ward picked the lock. When they entered dim lights were already on as someone poked out from behind a machine. The person was an African American girl with glossy dark skin, pink eyes that were probably fake contacts, long blackish-brown hair, and was wearing a Unicorn onesie.

"Gabrielle!" Ward rushed over and hugged the eccentric girl.

"Woah!" Gabrielle stumbled. "I almost skewed you with this screwdriver, idiot."

Ward checked himself and smirked. "Don't be like that, you'll be lonely without me."

"I have several other annoyances...thank you very much," Gabrielle rolled her eyes and gazed at them. "Who's your friends? As you can see were not open yet."

"There here to take out Blood Angel Mountain," Ward informs.

"Ohhhhhh," the girl with the very cool eyes said. "I heard about you guys, but that still doesn't explain why you brought them here."

Ward pretended to look hurt. "I wanted to show them our cool findings."

"Hey there," said Asha stepping forward. "My brother Kiba and I love games, so couldn't pass this up."

Vincent raised his hand like he wanted to ask a teacher a question which was ridiculous since Gabrielle looked around their age. "I would like to know the backstory like where you found these old machines?"

"So many questions that I dont have time for," Gabrielle waved her hand but she smiled a little. "You can stay, just don't touch Donkey Kong and Pac-man. I'm still trying to fix them along with Street Fighter here, but the rest are perfect to play."

"I'm an expert at fixing things," Dean offered. "Maybe I can help?"

Gabrielle gave Dean a thumbs-up and smiled softly. "To get the games working crank the handel 5 times on the side, its similar to a Jack-In-The-Box."

Tegan walked around followed by Faith, Jen, DeMarco and Elliot. She stopped at a machine that had the words Space Invaders written in bright green and blue. Just like Gabrielle said there was a handle and she cranked it, when she was done her arm felt tired as the old Arcade game zapped to life.

Later that night, the streets were lit up and filled with Jazz music. Tegan and her friends were chilling inside the Tarot Tavern as people danced, ate, and got drunk.

She had colorful beads around her neck, some paint on her face, and was wearing new fingerless gloves in her favorite color: Indigo. They were in a booth eating, drinking and listening to stories told by Jonah Maverickson and Nolan. Nurse Soren was having a good time as she sat next to Miss Sinclair who was enjoying dessert.

"I really liked the parade," Nurse Soren grabbed her mug and took a sip. "I've been to Mardi Gras before and the food is much better in New Orleans."

Tegan smiled and gazed into the crowd. She saw Ward's sibling engaging in multiple conversations in the distance. Juniper's hair was pulled into a ponytail, she had on a black sweater with a green fancy dress shirt sticking out, patchwork denim jeans, high black leather boots, and a green button pinned to her shirt.

It took her less than a minute to correct herself, not she...he. At some point during their sightseeing Juniper had turned into Ward's brother with the pronouns being he/him.

Tegan noticed Elliot talking with Juniper and looking happy, she hadn't known Elliot that long but she could tell he was bashful yet defiant.

Out the corner of her eye she saw an Omen rise as the music switched from slow to berserk. What made everyone freeze was the sudden screeching of the Calamity Tower as it glowed.