Tree Dragons (Chapter)

 Chapter 6

 Tree Dragons

 In an hour, they were back at the academy. “Today’s lesson is over; this is your free time now to do whatever you want to do.”

 “I wonder what our second lesson is going to be,” Vithiriod said.

 “Me too,” Kochishimaru said.

 “I hope it’ll be cool.” Vithiriod said.

 Then, a man entered the field. Behind him was a chariot pulled by a little dragon. “That’s a dragon!” Kochishimaru and Vithiriod both shouted excitedly.

 Behind the chariot, came more chariots. The new chariots were tied to the chariot in front of them by a chain.

 After all the chariots had arrived, the dragon swung his tail rapidly and took the chain off of it, and sat down quietly (don’t mistake this for sitting down on a bench, he was on the ground).

 The students all gathered around. The chariots had food stocked in it.

 Mothero came in the field and shouted: “Here’s the food, now eat as much as you want, for tomorrow we will have a lesson that requires a lot of energy and thinking. So be healthy!”

 Everybody picked up a plate and started putting food on their trays. Kochishimaru picked up some fried potatoes and a bowl of soup. Vithiriod picked up 5 chicken sandwiches, 7 potato sandwiches, and 2 sandwiches that had chicken and potato in them. Kochishimaru was shocked by his appetite.

 They sat down near each other on a bench very close to the dragon. Then Vithiriod and Kochishimaru remembered that there was a dragon in the field. Vithiriod quickly took out a tiny book from his pocket, and a magnifying glass from the other pocket. On the tiny book it said:

 DRAGON ENCYCLOPEDIA (SMALL VERSION)

 “An encyclopedia carried in his pocket!?” Kochishimaru exclaimed.

 Vithiriod began to look up this dragon, but he was just reading all the pages one by one, for he didn’t know the name of this dragon.”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> Then all of a sudden, a hand closed the book. “There’s no need to do that.” Mothero said. “We have the big version in the library. Plus we are going to study in class, plus I’m going to talk about this dragon right now.”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “Okay.” Vithiriod said. In his mind he was saying: “AWESOME! They even have a library!” Although, you could tell he was excited because of his face.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “Everybody, listen!” Mothero shouted. They all looked at Mothero. “I will now tell you about this kind of dragon!”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “It is called a Tree Dragon. The Tree Dragon lives in tall trees, I will show you later trees with Tree Dragons living in them. Anyway, the Tree Dragon will make a nest in the tree, just like a bird, and it will also put its eggs there. Now these Tree Dragons can’t fly well, and they love to climb. Usually, a family of Tree Dragons captures a tree a whole tree as their home. They like having a big place to be able to do anything they want to do freely, which is why they capture a whole tree. They are also very friendly dragons; they don’t have any dangerous abilities. So families of tree dragons love to become friends and share trees with their neighbors in the forest. Especially the children, they love playing with their peers. Their favorite game is a climbing race. They start from the lowest branch, and start climbing up to the top. Since they normally can’t fly well, it is a special thing to do for them. So they also play a game where they try to see if they can fly up to the top of the tree without holding any branches. Because of this, we have set an area where we have a lot of trees, to allow the Tree Dragons that we use for chariots and stuff, to rest at. They also love humans who treat them well, so they like to help us. The children like to play with the humans. So you can spend time with them if you like. I will show you guys the place where we have put them tomorrow.”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> As soon he said “tomorrow”, students started shouting one by one:

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “Please, Master Mothero, show us today!”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “Please!”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “Please!”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> Every student wanted to see the innocent dragons now.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> Alright,” Mothero said. “But first, let me finish my explanation.”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> The students calmed down and started listening again.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “Now as you see, this Tree Dragon over here, I named him Hojiko(Note: Hojiko means Wing Determination), was pulling the chariot by flying. He really likes to do this job because it’s good training on his flying skills. He wants to fly well and continues working hard for it, which is why I named him Hojiko. Now, follow me, I will show you the Tree Dragon Area!”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “Yeah!” Everybody exclaimed.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> Mothero turned around and told the Tree Dragon that was pulling the chariot: “You may go now.”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> The dragon wailed and flew away with some difficulty.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “Okay, let’s go!” Mothero shouted.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> In 5 minutes they arrived at the southern part of a small forest. There was a green Tree Dragon on the first tree, and the moment it saw them, it screamed to the other dragons that were deep in the forest.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “What was that for?” Kochishimaru asked.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “It reported that there are visitors.” Mothero replied. “Remember when I said they are friendly and like humans.”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> More dragons started appearing and a small brown one jumped down to the ground. It looked like a child, and it stared at the students with wide eyes.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> Then Kochishimaru saw two other children dragons climbing a tree from branch to branch. It seemed like the climbing race that Mothero explained.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “This brown dragon here,” Mothero started speaking. “Is Ashiyon (Note: Ashiyon means “Shy Eye”).”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “Ashiyon is a very shy dragon, but loves to play with humans. How about you try to do a climbing race with him”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “Humans climbing trees?!” 1/3 of the class exclaimed.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “Yup,” Mothero said. “Thesukio, how about you go first.”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> No!  Thesukio thought, but he didn’t want people to think he was a coward. “Sure, it’s a piece of cake.” He said proudly.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> He ran and jumped up as high as he could, and grabbed the first branch. Ashiyon reached his tail out to the lowest branch, and raised himself up. Thesukio fell down to the ground immediately.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “Kochishimaru,” Mothero said. “You go next.”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> Kochishimaru grabbed the same branch that Thesukio grabbed, and raised himself up to the top of the branch. Ashiyon jumped to the second branch and grabbed it with his tail. He pinched the trunk with his claws and continued climbing with that process. “No fair!” Kochishimaru cried.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> Kochishimaru jumped up from branch to branch and caught up with Ashiyon. Kochishimaru was grabbing branches and raising himself up, while Ashiyon was just climbing it by pinching his claws through the trunk.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> After a minute, the two of them were almost at the top. “Now,” Mothero said. “Let’s see who wins.”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> It was a tie! The two were on the very top of the tree, and Ashiyon stroked Kochishimaru’s forehead with his nose. “Come down now!” Mothero shouted.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “Okay!” Kochishimaru replied.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> In 2 minutes he was back.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> Now, the dragons were all having fun with each other and some were coming down to see every student. Some of the children were flying from tree to tree, playing tag.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> The students were following Mothero for half an hour, and finally, they stopped. There was a wrinkled Tree Dragon on a low branch. It had a white beard, point downwards, just like a goatee. On his left hand, he carried a gunbai.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “now, I must explain that Tree Dragons have tribes. Each tribe has a king, this one here is the king of this Tree Dragon Tribe. His name is Gunbaimoro(Note: Gunbaimoro means “Gunbai Mouth”). He’s mute, so he uses a gunbai to communicate.”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> Interesting  Vithiriod thought.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “Now, you know about this place well, so our tour is over.” Mothero said.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> In half an hour, they were back at the field. “Okay, I’m leaving now.” Mothero said. “If you need me, I will be in room 1.” He disappeared.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> Kochishimaru and Vithiriod went back to eating.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “That was awesome!” Vithiriod exclaimed.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “I know!” Kochishimaru said.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> The sky was getting dark.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “Huh? What time is it?” Kochishimaru said.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> You looked at the clock; it was eight o’clock. “How come you need a clock to know what time it is?” Vithiriod asked.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “What do you mean?” Kochishimaru asked.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “I always count the seconds,” Vithiriod said. “The moment I wake up, I look at the hour, minute and second; then I start counting the seconds all day long to know what time it is without a single glance at the clock.”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt">'' He’s crazy! '' Kochishimaru thought.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “Now that it’s eight o’clock,” Vithiriod started speaking again. “Stand up and let’s sleep!”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt">'' What?! '' Kochishimaru thought. '' He wants to sleep at eight o’clock. ''

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “  Just kidding!” Vithiriod said. “I always sleep at midnight!”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt">'' What?! '' Kochishimaru thought. '' Is this really Vithiriod? ''

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt"> “Just kidding!” Vithiriod said. “We should go to sleep now!”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt 195.75pt">'' Bumper! '' Kochishimaru thought.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt 195.75pt"> “Just kidding!” Vithiriod said. “I sleep at nine-thirty.”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt 195.75pt">'' Now that’s more human-like! '' Kochishimaru thought.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 159.75pt 195.75pt"> After an hour and a half, they went to sleep.