Mystic Dragon Cadets

Tegan and Sloan sat in the cafeteria surrounded by conversation. Homework loomed infront of them as Tegan took a bite of her snack, it was 1:05 in the afternoon and things were chaotic.

"Lets go play Elementball," said Kiba.

"Whats that?" a boy asked.

Asha said proudly. "A game my brother and I made up."

"We can teach it to you," Kiba said as his green dragon, who was named Iris, jumped around.

A girl hesitated. "We might get chosen for the Macabre Hunt, dont you want to wait for the Alphas?"

"Greenhorns are forbidden," Asha explained while her blue dragon, who was named Bolt, tackled another dragon. "Didn't you read your Mystic Knight Cadet Handbook?"

"I may have skimmed," the girl turned away.

Kiba summoned a baseball and baseball bat made out of earth. "I heard people in my room talking about which Alphas they want and Alpha Melissa is a favorite.

"Didn't she break a Cadet's Leg?" asked the girl.

"Yes. I've seen it," Asha confirmed. "It was ruthless, but it shows how powerful she is."

"This hunt will be madness," Kiba tossed the ball in the air. "And don't worry about that Cadet, Diors are fast healers. I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Hey guys!" Vincent appeared out of nowhere with a smile on his face.

Tegan spat out her muffin.

"You surprised her," Sloan was unfazed by the surprise attack. "Looks like your leg is better?"

Vincent sat down as Xoey jumped in his lap, the red dragon looked very protective of her host. "Thanks for noticing, I mean it sucked but I'm not upset. Oh yea, did you hear that Sir North went on a top-secret mission?"

"No," Tegan regained control. "Thats interesting."

"He did say he could get drafted anytime," Sloan explained. "Anyway, Vincent are you joining the Macabre Hunt?"

"Maybe? I don't know," Vincent shrugged and petted Xoey before she jumped down and growled at him. "My bad, I have to go feed Xoey. See you guys later!"

"Do you think it has anything to do with the Zodiac Nests?" Sloan asked.

"No doubt," Tegan folded her arms. "Its driving me crazy, I want to help stop this.

"Attention!" Headmaster Salazar announced over the loudspeaker. "The Macabre Hunt will now begin and all Alphas can choose a Cadet to take with them."

She collected her homework and rolled her eyes. "Good luck."

An hour later, Tegan dragged a sack of dirty clothes to the laundry room. She knew there were many Alphas at the Academy, but the most popular were Melissa Haze whos element was wind. Freya Corvus whos element was fire, Tyler Spawn whos element was water, Hope Jang whos element was wind, and Mason Cloud whos element was earth.

She dumped the clothes into the washer, dropped in some pods and turned it on. The Academy was like a subway station during rush hour as Cadets ran in all directions. Tegan went to see Melissa first but the line was way too long, so she decided to check out the other Alphas.

Freya's laundry was an easy task, they didn't talk much but she was nice enough. Not all cadets were humble and kissing up to the wrong ones really sucked, the next Alpha she'll be visiting is Hope Jang.

She spotted Hope from a window and quickly made her way towards the front of the Academy. There was a small crowd surrounding him. Jang had spiky black hair, pale skin, hazel eyes, and a missing tooth. He was wearing black plaid pants, a purple polo shirt with the school crest on it, and purple leather boots.

"Hey, Jang!" Tegan called out. "Anything I can do?"

Hope held up a closed fist as a cadet sat across from him. "Now that you ask, I am hungry."

"5," said the girl. "You have 5 marbles."

It took Tegan a second to realize he was talking to her, there was no eye contact. "Sure, I can cook. What would you like?"

"Surprise me," Hope opened his palm to reveal 3 marbles and grinned. "You lost."

Back inside the Academy, Tegan shuffled around the kitchen. Many thoughts crossed her mind as she warmed up leftovers from the fridge, doing all this seemed pointless. This conspiracy was huge and it was hard to keep it a secret. Anyway, the situation must have gotten worse if Sir North had to leave.

Tegan wondered how many Mystic Knights were called for this top secret mission? She's never been inside a Zodiac Nest before, but heard many tall tales. Just then an alarm rang which made Tegan jump outta her skin.

"Omen Alert, Omen Alert! Report to Battle Stations!"

A small group gathered near the battle station altar as Professor Uma appeared from around the corner, she was very calm.

Professor Uma scanned the room for worthy cadets and her choice caught Tegan off guard. "Lisa Salazar, and Asha and Kiba Enez your coming with me!"

15 minutes later, Tegan heard the front door open and loud footsteps. She peeked out the kitchen and saw a tall black man in a hoodie as water dripped off him. 2 dragons shuffled around with curiosity, one was green and the other was blue.

Next to him was a somewhat-smaller person in the same hoodie. The person turned and Tegan was able to see their face. It was a teenage boy with curly blonde hair, tan skin, lots of freckles, he wore black sunglasses, and was holding a white and red cane.

"We would like a room," said the mysterious man.

The Academy manager caught Tegan eavesdropping as she retreated back inside the kitchen. When the guests were gone she walked over to Mr. Snow, he looked like Santa Claus.

"Who were they?" Tegan didn't waste anytime.

Mr. Snow explained. "Mystic Knights."

"I know that much!" she whispered. "I mean what's their names?"

"Principal Salazar wouldn't like that," Mr. Snow looked around. "But I can give you a hint, the man's initials are J.M."

Tegan was lost in thought as she carried Hope's food, she was very conflicted that Asha and Kiba got to go on the Macabre Hunt despite being Greenhorns. The Macabre Season normally lasts one month and Omens pop-up more frequently. All of a sudden she heard faint dragon noises as colors blended together.

Patches launched a fireball at her as she hit it back, her fire dragon smacked the inferno with his tail as Tegan tried to spike it. She missed and it collided with the curtains setting it ablaze. Panic boiled inside her as she ran over and clapped on the curtains. It didn't burn her and Tegan was lucky the flames went out, she quickly dragged a potted plant over to hide the damage.

"Come on Patches," Tegan walked into the kitchen. "Time for dinner!"

5 minutes later, her mother entered the house with her father as her older brother came down the stairs to greet their parents. Tegan noticed her mother was looking better thanks to all those doctor appointments. She watched her mother hug her father and her brother August, it made her feel shy as she hovered outside the kitchen. That's when her mother saw her and their eyes met.

"My little Firecracker," her mother came over and hugged her.

"Hey...Hey...Hey!"

Tegan pushed herself up as she sat on the floor, all the food was ruined as pieces of glass were scattered everywhere. Infront of her Hope Jang crouched next to her as he picked up the pieces.

"Are you okay?" Hope asked. "You were taking awhile, so I came looking for you."

She scooped up pieces of plate and food before dropping them on the try. "I'm sorry about this."

"No worries," Hope took some napkins and wiped up the juice. "Since you were M.I.A, someone else brought me food. I can handle this…maybe you should go to the nurse?"

Tegan left after that because these collapses always happened at the worst moments. Maybe she still had a chance? At least she won't pass out during the Hunt tonight.

"Yikes," said a voice. "I saw the whole thing and it wasn't pretty."

She looked up and noticed Melissa sitting on the upstairs balcony with her wings spread wide.

"Nope!" Tegan held up her hands. "I don't wanna hear any jokes, I'm not in the mood."

"So cranky," Melissa titled her head. "Maybe you need a good night's sleep?"

"Haha," she said sarcastically. "Your so funny."

"Just so you know Freya and Hope ain't going to pick you," Melissa explained.

Tegan crossed her arms. "How do you know that?"

"Because that death rumour of yours," Melissa paused before speaking. "Freya isn't really that nice, she pretends to be. She only hangs out with people she deems worthy, a real princess. And Hope is super sweet but way too superstitious, he doesn't want you dying on his watch."

"Thanks for telling me," Tegan sighed. "Maybe I can convince Mason or Tyler?"

"Or I can take you," Melissa shrugged.

"Me? You wanna take me on The Macabre Hunt?" Tegan was confused. "Is this a joke?

"No," said Melissa. "Lisa says your cool and you only collapse once a day, right? That means we'll have nothing to worry about."

"Your serious," Tegan finally relaxed.

"I am," Melissa hung upside down. "But if you don't want to I have plenty of other cadets to ask..."

"No!" Tegan blurted out. "I accept."

“Later that night, they sat in a big oak tree and spied over the city. Tegan adjusted the body camera on her chest and made sure the red light was recording. She signaled to Melissa. "I'm ready."

"Hello. I'm Melissa Haze and I'm an Alpha at Timber Moon Mystic Force Academy," Melissa introduced. "My talent is wind. The cadet I chose for the Macabre Hunt is Tegan Thorne, shes an Omega at the Academy and her talent is fire."

They flew over New York searching for anything strange and hostile, moonlight snuck in through massive holes in the clouds. The landscape was beautifully eerie as lanterns decorated the city. Seeing all the lights reminded her of Las Vegas, otherwise known as The Grove Of Magic.

Thats when they heard a loud boom as an old billboard tumbled over, it was an earth Omen. As Tegan got closer she realized they crossed over to the country. The monster gurgled as it rampaged but luckily there weren't any houses nearby.

Melissa dodged a spike coming out the ground and zig-zagged past obstacles. She kept up with the Alpha but just barely as something blinded her, a massive hole of moonlight glowed over them.

"MOOO! NEY!" Cows and horses were running for their life as the Omen swatted at them.

"Up ahead!" Tegan called to Melissa.

In the distance a large farmhouse stood on a small hill with a white and blue old-fashioned fence. Tegan saw a glimpse before it happened, rock spikes slammed into a red barn completely destroying it. She blocked her face as splinters exploded everywhere, animal sounds echoed somewhere behind them.

"Stay close!" Melissa grabbed her arm and summoned a bow and arrow out of wind. "I'm gonna teach big boy some manners."

The hazardous creature had its sights set on the farm house as Melissa fired a wind arrow, it collided with the shoulder getting its attention. Melissa fired 3 more arrows and each one hit somewhere different, one arrow punched the eye, the other hit the leg, and the final arrow slashed the chest.

Tegan flew higher into the night sky to get a better scope of the farmhouse and the earth Omen. A sharp gust of wind shot out and cut off the monster's arm, Melissa held a wind spear in her hand.

"I think you made it angry," she soared next to her.

"Too bad," Melissa smiled and summoned a weird-looking cannon. "Time for the grand finale."

Tegan watched Melissa launch a category 5 ball of wind into the Omen's stomach, for a minute nothing happened and then the monster exploded.

"Everyone in the house is safe," Melissa gazed at the body cam.

"Great job," Tegan said. "Is it over?"

"Hmm...the minimum requirement is 1 Omen and the maximum is 3," Melissa explained. “We could double check."

Just then a bright explosion lit up the night sky as they stared at the giant Fire Omen. Tegan's good vibes crumbled like the creature they just killed.

"Crap!" Melissa summoned a weapon. "It's near the city."