Mystic Dragon Cadets

Messy.

They've been at the Hotel for 2 weeks and it was sad watching the citizens struggle. Even now the collateral damage was still being cleaned up by the Collectors of Dead Station. A note was left on the nightstand as Tegan brushed her teeth, washed her face, and got dressed.

"Tried to wake you! Love Faith and Lisa." Tegan read the note.

Looking at the clock she saw that it was noon-ish & lunch would be starting. Tegan took her room key and left, she had 3 choices, take the stairs, elevator or jump? She chose the ladder since it was the fastest. Patches walked beside her as she strolled around the hotel, it was sunny outside. Exploring San Francisco these past few weeks has been super fun.

They visited the arcade, went shopping, and even got to hang out with their new friend Ward at the Tarot Tavern. She heard laughing as familiar figures ran past her, it was Jen, Lisa, DeMarco, Asha, Vincent, Faith, Kiba, Dean, Nolan, and Elliot. Their outfits screamed they were just in the pool as towels hung around their necks.

"Did you guys commit a crime or something?" Tegan announced and narrowed her eyes. "Your faces look guilty as hell, especially you Lisa."

"Why are you always calling me out?" the Dust Devil smirked. "But yea, your assumption is right. We met some people down at the pool and decided to play volley, obviously things got heated and a fight almost broke out."

"What!" Tegan said.

Lisa matched her tone. "I said almost!"

"She threw a drink at someone," Vincent admitted. "We got out of there after that."

"Nobody flew after us," Asha spoke up. "So, they weren't Dior."

DeMarco looked over his shoulder, surprisingly he had a six pack. "That girl Anastasia who you splashed a drink on, she looks like shes use to getting her way. What if she reports us?"

“Whatever!” Lisa crossed her arms and cursed in mandarin.

Dean flinched at the sudden outburst.

"Society has a love & hate relationship with Diors," Nolan explained as he held his cane with both hands. But luckily, people hate Omens even more. Even if she complains the hotel will let the incident slide as long as no one is dead or put in a hospital."

Kiba seemed distracted.

She noticed Nolan and switched her attention to her friend. "Vincent, what's that attached to your hip?"

"I got this at the party," Vincent held up a well-crafted and not cheap dragon mask. "Pretty sweet right?"

DeMarco repeated the words. "Pretty sweet."

"Well…I'm on my way to lunch since I missed breakfast," Tegan looked at her friends.

Faith dried her wet hair as her different-colored eyes sparkled. "We really did try to wake you up, you were out like a light."

"Good idea," Elliot turned on his heels and made his way towards the eatery.

2 hours later they were escorted outside the hotel and driven to a rural location. The car stopped infront of a large blue circus tent, they all went in and took a seat. 3 men and 2 women emerged from behind the dry erase board. They had small golden crests on their shirts indicating they were official Mystic Knights.

"Glad you could join us this fine afternoon," said the woman. "Hope there's no hangovers from last night's shindig, I'm Shiloh Jenson. The man next to me is Allen Null, next to him is Zia Walker, Wade the T-Rex, and Oliver Mirth."

"Were gonna do a run down of the situation," Wade the T-Rex explained and pointed to a drawing on the board. "There are 4 levels of a Zodiac Nest and each level has an element."

Zia Walker took a marker and drew arrows around a different drawing with the words, "Slay this thing" scribbled in bright red. "These horrible creatures are called Blights…just think of them as sterile zombies."

"You'll have to fight your way through the dungeon until you spot a door," Oliver Mirth continued. "Then you'll be transported to the next level."

Allen Null slammed his hand flat against the board. "At the top you will encounter the Zodiac Beast, and you must defeat it by shattering the gem located somewhere on its body."

"This is kinda off topic and mostly for our fire users," Zia Walker glanced at her fellow Mystic Knights. "Red flames isn't the hottest. I'm sure you learned about the periodic table in school. Anyway, blue fire is the hottest and its possible for some to master. Researchers have concluded that blue flames respond more to strong emotions…so keep that in mind."

There were murmurs in the crowd. Feeling apprehensive about this new information…Tegan cradled Patches. She always had an estranged relationship with her element, but if learning this skill will help she could tolerate it.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” It was a quote from Martin Luther King jr. She knew how dangerous her element was, but fire is still light.

"One more thing before you're dismissed," Shiloh Jenson said. "If you manage to kill the Zodiac Beast, run! Get out of there as fast as you can."

30 minutes later they were taken to an area with yellow caution tape, 5 white tents, and looming infront of them was a giant egg. As they approached the first level of the Nest was earth, the second level was Ice, the third level was fire, and the top level was wind.

DeMarco made a strange and hilarious noise as he stared.

"What a pain," said Lisa.

"Woah!" Vincent took another step forward. "That defies the laws of physics."

Jonah Maverickson spoke. "Good luck everyone and remember to be on guard!"

They climbed the dark stone stairs as Vincent pulled up beside her. He was wearing cargo shorts, black boots, a black and green shirt with a white arrow stabbing through a heart, and the words Heartbreaker in white script. Vincent gave Tegan a goofy grin that was brimming with kindness.

"Hey Tegan I'll watch your back," Vincent whispered and tugged on his dragon mask. "Be there in case you pass out, which is pretty scary."

Tegan held back tears. "Thanks."

Nolan pushed open the earth door and went in. The inside looked like an Amazon jungle and what creeped Tegan out the most was how silent everything was. Not even bugs were buzzing. She walked ahead and felt her foot sink into a muddy puddle, after freeing herself a pair of glowing eyes bubbled to the surface. More and more Blights came out of the ground and attacked.

Tegan summoned her fire sword as the Blight slithered out from the ground. It really did look like a corpse, but without the rotting smell. Flames shot from her hand cutting off the Blight's arm. She plunged the sword into its mouth as her fire made the Blight's head explode.

"Theres the door!" said a voice in the crowd.

Sure enough there was a glowing blue door in sight as Elliot unleashed a beam of wind, that got rid of the remaining Blights as they stumbled through the chilly door. Tegan felt her perspective shift like she had vertigo, when she regained her balance she realized the landscape changed from a Jungle to a Polar Ice Cap.

"Ha! This is cool," Asha was the first to scope out the new terrain. It looked like her friend was gliding, thats when she noticed the frozen skates on her feet.

Something shimmered as Asha was throw into the open air, luckily, her Native American friend was very skilled as she landed gracefully. Everyone advanced as Blights made from ice started to siege. Her friend Vincent summoned a fire axe and sliced 3 Blights turning them into water, Dean rode by on a giant spike and collided into a pile of frozen zombies.

Tegan slammed her fire shield against a Blight's chest and slashed the kneecaps of another. It was kinda hard not to slip, a few cadets already slid across the ice and was able to stop once they used their wings. Patches spoke inside her head and thats when Tegan looked up just in time for a Blight to land on her.

The Blight had 8 arms as it dug its claws into her flesh, she felt flames radiate over her as two of the Blight's arms melted. Tegan could see the outline of a bright red door in the distance. Another Blight appeared and grabbed her leg, but suddenly she felt tired as her eyes fluttered shut.

When she woke someone was calling her name, for a second she thought it was Sloan but than the face became clearer. It was Vincent, his clothes were burned with a few holes. She noticed that the group was smaller and that some had injuries. Looking at herself she saw that her pants were ripped, her arm was bleeding, and her left cheek felt swollen.

"What happened?" Tegan muttered. "How long was I out?"

"Longer than usual," said a voice. "But then again I'm not a doctor." Tilting her head she recognized Nolan. He wore a dark denim hoodie, a camo shirt with a cat holding a switchblade in its mouth, denim shorts, and black and gold sneakers. Dark sunglasses rested on top of his curly blonde head, his gold eyes blazed as he spun his cane, and pinned to his shirt was a golden crest.

Tegan didn't notice that last year when ParadoxBourne and the blind Dragon Prince visited the Academy. Which means Nolan must've been promoted to Mystic Knight recently.

"6 minutes. That's how long you were unconscious," said Vincent. "We made it through the ice and fire levels, now we have to face the Zodiac Beast."

"I'll take it from here Vincent," Nolan adjusted his dark sunglasses.

Very carefully Vincent put her down. "You seem fine now, I was planning on helping the people we left behind."

Tegan was aware of Vincent's tight grip on her hand as his eyes darted back and forth across the windy room. Her friend looked like he was ready to bolt, but was trying to hide this fact. Any sane person would rather deal with the zombies than the big bad boss.

"Sounds great," Teagan hyped him up since they were both fire resistant. "Go help our friends."

Vincent didn't even hesitate as he retreated and flung himself through the door of fire. She noticed some familiar faces like Faith, Dean, Asha, Jen, and DeMarco.

"Do we just walk?" Dean asked. "I mean its wind, wouldn't we just float?"

"Aerial combat seems like a better choice," Jen said.

"Um...more importantly," Faith spoke slowly. "Does anyone see the Zodiac Beast?"

All they saw was small tornados and felt gusts of wind, below and above them was a thick fog. Tegan summoned her wings and flew into battle, her friends followed cautiously. Something whipped through the air as she saw DeMarco collide into a tornado, flames exploded as the whirlwind died.

Asha helped the goth kid who looked like he was about to puke, his pale face turned a light shade of green. Thats when she noticed the figure above them, it was a giant goldfish.

"The Zodiac Beast is a Koi?" Asha mused. "I was expecting something more frightening."

A fire arrow soared and bounced off the Zodiac's tail, the person responsible was Faith as she summoned more arrows.

"Dont underestimate this thing!" Faith hissed. "I'm not losing my life over a fish, thats an embarrassing way to die."

They all muttered in agreement. Nolan summoned twin snakes made out of ice and attacked. The Koi spat wind, but it did nothing to Nolan's creatures as they slammed into the beast and shattered. Large pieces of ice were flung in all directions, because of this Tegan had to light herself on fire to avoid taking a second nap.

"Watch out!" said DeMarco as he threw a huge fire fishing net over the Koi. The windy goldfish thrashed as it jerked the emo cadet around. Another gust of wind happened as Tegan slashed it with her sword.

Tegan heard Dean talking with Asha nearby. "Lets try and locate the gem."

A bolder whizzed past her head and crashed into the Zodiac Beast, she heard Asha and Dean yelling very colorful curse words.

"Sorry!" Jen hovered near a small tornado as she summoned another bolder.

The Koi flew with such recklessness and speed it knocked Faith out the sky, she would have landed in a tornado if Tegan didn't catch her. A strong wind snapped the air as DeMarco let out a muffled scream and lost his grip on the fire net. He put some distance between him and the Zodiac Beast. Tegan saw that his shirt was ripped and a huge purple bruise was on his stomach. Dean and Asha flew towards them, they looked jumpy but otherwise okay.

"We found it!" Asha turned and stood beside her.

"Where?" Nolan's golden eyes glinted with conviction.

Dean pointed. "On top of the head."

"I'll handel this," Nolan spoke with a smile on his face.

"No!" Tegan declared. "I have a better idea, Faith and I will attack the goldfish. I'm tired of all the flying ice."

Faith had no complaints as she followed her towards the Zodiac Beast, they decided to circle the Koi. Several flames pounded the goldfish as Faith blocked wind attacks with her fire shield. The wind fish did something weird as it flipped and slammed its tail into Faith. She was too hopeful thinking her cadet friend could block that attack.

Everyone saw Faith disappear into the thick fog as Tegan summoned her shield and sword. Glaring at the beast she quickly stabbed at the gem, it broke and the koi vanished. The Zodiac Nest started to rumble like a freaking earthquake.

"Ugh, that sucked!" Faith reappeared & shivered. "It felt like quicksand."

"We have to get out of here!" Nolan gestured urgently with his red and white cane.

"I have a plan," Tegan explained. "DeMarco and Faith, I need you to blast flames into the ceiling to burn away the fog."

They all summoned an inferno as the fog glowed red, stirred, and evaporated. Sunlight erupted over them as she breathed in fresh air.

"Come on!" Tegan flew out the Nest and soared over the groundsite.

Cadets were flying outta the crumbling Zodiac Nest as each element crashed on top of each other. When they landed it was a wreck, dirt was piled up, black branches and burned bushes poked out as ice covered some areas.

"Thank goodness," Jonah Maverickson jogged up to them.

Lisa walked over with her arm in a sling and smiled. "You live."

"You all need medical attention," Nolan's eyes turned white as he summoned his dragon: Muse. "Follow me."

Tegan saw the familiar white tents before glancing at the destroyed Zodiac Nest. "Has anyone seen Vincent?"

All the injured should be in the tents...but if not," Sir Jonah trailed off.

A cold feeling washed over her as people in white stomped towards the wreckage holding gurneys. Tegan recognized them as Cadaver Collectors. All the people who worked at a Dead Station were similar to plague doctors, they wore crow masks and had the number 13 stitched in black on their uniforms.

"Hey, no!" Lisa snapped and put a hand on Tegan's shoulder. "Turn off freak out mode, I'm sure Vincent is in one of the healing tents."

Dean said helpfully. "I counted 5 of those."

"Yea," she took a deep breath and fiddled with the jewelry in her hair. "Alright."

The next few days weren't alright as Tegan wore a black dress with traces of white. She stood infront of a shrine and looked at each photo until she locked eyes with Vincent. There was a photo of him from the party a few nights before, his festive dragon mask hung around his neck, and Xoey was a stone statue by his side. Patches whimpered for his fallen friend and bowed his head as a sign of respect. She on the other hand was feeling nothing but guilt, survivors guilt.

An hour later, everyone was preparing to leave San Francisco. That was her first funeral ever and it sucked...so many emotions and it hurt more since she considered Vincent a true friend. She heard a voice as Ward jogged up next to her followed by his sister who was holding a Polaroid camera.

"Hey. I'm coming with!" Ward said without smiling.

"What?" Tegan was confused.

There was a small rumble as a bush of flowers bloomed right infront of her, she saw that each rose was a different color. Tegan noticed Ward wiggling his hand. He was a Dior too?

"Its my fault," Juniper admitted. "He wanted to help, but I made him stay."

"She gave me permission to travel with you guys," Ward explained. "Since our parent's death, shes been very protective over me."

Tegan gave a weak smile. "Well, welcome to the team."

Juniper walked up and handed her the camera. "Take this, I can tell you have a eye for detail."

"Oh! Thank you," Tegan took the Polaroid.

Juniper got out a photo and Tegan's eyes teared up, it was a photo of Vincent with a heartfelt caption underneath. She took the picture and noticed Juniper squirm. Ward's older sibling switched her orange button for a green button. Juniper was now a boy as he tied his long dark hair into a pony tail, he turned and hugged the little mink.

"See you soon brother," Ward hugged Juniper. "I love you."

30 minutes later, they were on the train leaving The City Of Ember behind. Tegan walked through the aisle and stopped at a booth where Vincent's dowsing rods laid. She picked them up and decided to adopt them as a keepsake, that's when she heard crying and noticed Jen in a empty booth across from her.

"Our next destination is the Island Of Stars!" the announcement said.

"Hey," Tegan said.

Jen looked livid, but then her expression softened. "Hey Tegan."

"Were you and Vincent close?" Tegan spoke. "He use to hang out with Sloan and I a lot, we were friends."

"Ummm," Jen spoke low as she touched her face. "We were boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Really?" Tegan smiled.

"Shut up," Jen's face was red. "Thats why we didn't tell anyone, I hate being teased. It was last year when Vincent and I started dating."

Tegan started to laugh. "You know, when Vincent was with us during the race he had a run-in with some very hungry birds. They followed him around until he finally surrender his sandwhich."

Jen tried to hide her grin before she burst out laughing.

Their lighthearted conversation was cut-short when slamming and yelling came from behind them.

“What's going on, now?” Tegan turned as cadets hovered around two figures.

One person was in an oversized black raincoat as tears ran down their face. The woman was easier to identify, she had hazel skin, long black hair, glasses, and was holding a white bouquet. Her outfit was a leather jacket, a Victorian blouse, striped pants, and stylish leather boots.

She was bewildered and amazed. "That's Nikita "KiKi" Moon, otherwise, known as Artemis the Goddess of the Hunt."

Another loud announcement got everyone's attention. "Everyone brace for impact!"

Tegan gazed out the window just in time to see the ocean as the train lurched and plummeted off the cliff.