NOVEL NEXT Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Learning To Fly
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When I got onto the shore, I shook my body vigorously to get all the water off. I then turned my head back and said to everyone "y'all ready to experience the magical feeling of flight?" And with that I got a collectiveshout of ya. Before turning to Jay and saying "so who do you think should go first??". Jay then snapped his head at me and said "you haven't already decided that??" With a questioning tone of voice. I turned my head away before saying "then I'll go first and let the others decide amongst themselves".
I could feel Jays eyes on me as we walked away from the water. I then turned my head around and said to everyone "ok, now that we are on the shore, there will be some rules to avoid injuring oneself" in a confident tone. The teens nodded at this as the kids just stared at me. I then continued "rule one, everyone that is practicing to fly must be facing the water so when you fall you don't get hurt. Rule two, there will be someone on shore that is watching so that they can help if someone does get hurt. And lastly Rule three, no one will fly in the same spot as another to avoid getting hit by each other".
With my rules I got a collective nod and murmurs before I once again said "remember safety comes first, we don't want any angry parents coming after us" with that I got a few chuckles from the teens. "Alright, everyone line up by the water's edge" I said as I moved my head towards the water signaling for them to go.
As they lined up I said "ok, once you have found a spot that you deem acceptable spread out your wings and make sure it's not touching anyone else or even close to". When I said this, most followed my instructions and distanced themselves from others, making a straight line across the shore of black and white. I was giddy and thought -man I've never been in a commanding position before, this feels awesome-. I then turned to Jay and he looked back at me and said "I thought you were going first what happened?".
In response, I said well I was going to go first, but when I was making up the rules on the spot, it didn't feel right for me to go first, I mean, someone had to stay behind and watch everyone, plus I'm kind of tired from swimming" Jay nodded his head at this before turning back at the crowd and saying "yeah I'm tired too. I'm just gonna stay here with you. I'll watch one half and you watch the other?". I nodded my head and said "that sounds like a good idea. I don't think one person can watch all these children by themselves.".
As we sat there, I realize that everyone had stopped moving and was now a dragons wing length and body length apart from each other. I nodded my head at this before shouting "OK everyone, you all ready?". In response, I heard a loud collective yeah from the shore, everyone seems to be in high spirits. I smiled at this, then looked at Jay, he was also smiling, then looked back and said "OK. Y'all are free for takeoff.".
And with that, everyone started flapping their wings and running forward. On the first round, no one made it into the air, they all just ran straight into the water before swimming out. Me and Jay chuckled at this as it just looked like a race for who gets into the water first and in the second round, a child managed to glide into the water, though not for very long. With everyone that managed to glide we would always give them congratulations and shouted their name, making sure they had the right praise and trying to spark more competition between everyone.
It seemed to have been working as for about the next two hours almost no dragon stopped to catch their breath before jumping right back into the air and trying to beat the other record of the last dragon that managed to glide. It was fun to watch as me and Jay began to bet on who would be the next to glide or who would be the next to fall face first into the water. As we watched, and as the third hour continued, one dragon managed to actually fly. It was Novalynn Rose Harper, or to be more specific it was Leilani child.
Novalynn Has bright greenish yellow eyes with a darker grey-black body and dark blue star shaped patterns on her body. She was pretty and absolutely adorable. I then shouted to everyone "and the first that was able to fly is, drum roll, please…NOVALYNN, congratulations to our first successful flyer". Everyone then looked at her with bright eyes before she then fell into the water. Everyone was excited as their motivation to fly was sparked by the successful flight of one of the children.
Everyone with excitement then got back into position and took off into the air successfully gliding before some of them, after a couple of hours, were able to be able to fly as well. One of the teens was one of them, it was Liam as he flew back down and started to brag about his achievements to the other teens before he got smacked in the face, and the others took off into the air once more to try to best their friend.
Me and Jay found this amusing as we continue to watch the whole fiasco. It had been quite a while as everyone had then began to start actually flying and some were even bold enough to try to do circles in the air before falling back into the water. I then looked up into the sky as it then began to dim and then I looked over to the opposite shore and the parents were actually watching. I was shocked at this before. I tapped Jay's head with my paw as he looked at me, I shifted my head towards the opposite end of the shore and said "The parents are out of the meeting".
When Jay looked over, he was also shocked before he said "well, if you think about it, it has been quite a while. I mean look at the sky, it has almost been a whole day" to this, I nodded in agreement before I look back up at the sky and said "maybe we should stop and continue this another time my butt's getting sore from just sitting here". Jay chuckled at this before he said "yeah I think we should call it a day as well". I nodded my head before shouting "OK everyone it's almost time for dinner. We better go back to our families and we can continue this tomorrow" and in response, I heard a collective aaawh.
I chuckled at this before I got up and me and Jay both walked to the waters edge. When we got to the edge we both began to leisurely swim back to the other side, then we heard splashes and when we looked back, we saw the other children diving into the water to follow us. It put a grin on both me and Jay's face as we continue to leisurely swim back to the shore. When we got to the shore, we passed a couple of adults but when the children got to the shore, they ran to their parents talking about their achievements that they made throughout the day.
The teens two did not have parents, so they just followed us as we went to the fish pile they had now been eaten somewhat by the adults. I chuckled at this before I snuck a few fish and Jay did the same before I laid next to the pile with Jay on my right as we ate the few fish we snagged. When the teens got here, they also took a few fish and sat around the giant pile of fish as we all began to eat in silence. The winners of the fish hunting competition didn't seem to mind as everyone then began to talk about their achievements throughout the day.
They talked about how far they flew and how big a splash they made, always trying to beat one another, who got the best splash or longest flight. It was entertaining to listen to before Jay let out a yawn. I looked his way before I then got up, spread my wings and laid on my side and said "Jay, it's time to go to bed come here" and with this Jay obediently got up from his spot and walked over onto my wing membrane before laying on my leg and letting me wrap him back up. I smiled at this before I laid my head back on the ground and close my eyes as the sun disappeared over the tree lines and mountains in the distance.
When the sun rose to the sky, I was surprisingly the first one awake. -Everyone else seemed to have been exhausted from yesterday- I thought, as I looked at the surrounding adults that had their children wrapped up in their wings and their lovers or husbands wrapped around themselves. I smiled at this before I slowly opened my wings from their cocoon like shape and looked at Jay as he slowly began to roll out of the tightly and close space. This time I didn't aggressively tap his head, but just let him lay there as I look at the sun that was just barely peeping over the mountains edge.
-it's beautiful- I thought, as I stared at the rising sun and the receding darkness. I then felt Jay began to stir in his sleep as I looked back at him and he began to shiver -right the wind- I thought, as I moved my wing from above and shield with him from it. The wind was cold and crisp, and I could even see my breath as I blew out from my mouth. -it is cold- I thought, as I looked back up at the sky before closing my eyes and breathing in the crisp cold air.
I stayed like this for quite some time before I saw the adult stir from their sleep and wake up as they woke up their children and their partners. I smiled at this before I then began to rapidly tap Jay's head and said wake up sleepyhead, It's time to go to flight school". Jay growned at this and said "I don't wanna go to school" in a childlike manner as he moved his arms over the top of his head to cover his eyes. I chuckled and said "you sure you don't wanna learn how to fly?" And with that Jay shot his eyes open and said "right we can fly, can't we" in an excited tone as he jumped up from my wing membrane and slowly jogged over to the water's edge.
You could tell from the way he moved that he was excited as I too, folded my wings back to my body and walked over to the water's edge. As we drink from the water I then realized that the teens were still asleep. I've been turned around, jogged over to where they were and slapped them all on the head with my tail wile saying "it's time for flight school get up". The teens had a similar response to Jay that they to tried to cover themselves with any part of their body, be it their tail or their feet.
I chuckled at this before I continued to slap them with my tail until they all got up, groggily and tiredly before we all made our way back to the pond. After we gathered everyone and the adults decided to join as they thought it was essential to be able to use any part of their body as we might encounter danger along the way to find a home. We all then leisurely began to swim to the other side of the shore. As we got there, we again decided who would stay. I'm sure to watch out for any trouble that might occur. The adults decided to take on this role as they would take turns having three adults watch at all times.
I nodded at this and got into my position as everyone knew the rules and knew to be safe to avoid injury. Me and Jay were next to each other as we spread out our wings to make sure we were wings length, and dragons length away from each other. I smiled at Jay as he smiled back at me before we heard one of the three adults say "you may now start your flight" and with that everyone took off. It took a very long time before ether me or Jay could get off the ground but we did manage it. Jay was able to get off the ground first.
It took the whole day for everyone to be able to fly, some children were even better than their parents as they would fly circles around them. When me and Jay were able to comfortably takeoff and land on the ground we began to play in the sky. We joined the other children in playing tag in the sky and everyone ended up joining, even the adults. It was entertaining and fun to say the least as we all began to adjust and fly through the sky. This game helped us improve our flying skills as everyone tried their hardest not to get tagged.
Every time I was tagged, I would chase after Jay before I would snag him with all 4 of my feet and fly around with him before tossing him into the air and watch as he struggle to find his balance before hitting the water below. And with that he would chase after me before he would turn and tag an unsuspecting dragon before continuing to chase after me. The game went on like this for quite a while before everyone started to notice how visibly tired each other were.
The adults then called off the game as everyone began to fly back down to the opposite shore of where we started to practice flying. As I landed, I then looked at the sky and realized that the sun was already setting. I was amazed at how fast time flew when you were having fun. I then began to creep around looking for Jay so I could snag him into my bear hug again. As I creeped around, I soon noticed that he was not on the ground and when I was about to look up, I was tackled from above. We rolled for some time before I stopped on my back and my tail slapped the ground.
It was Jay, he sneak attacked me from above. I grin at this before I tightly hugged him with all four of my feet then wrapped him up with my wings before rolling onto my side and again just laying there. Jay began to struggle as he tried to break free from his enclose once again. "You ain't getting out of this" I said in a laughing voice as I smiled, before laying my head back on the ground. I then began looking at the dragons around me that were snacking on fish and going to bed. -right fish- I thought before I released Jay and looked at him as he jumped up and ran away from me.
I smiled at this before I got up, dove into the water and caught us some fish before coming back as we ate dinner and I again wrapped him up and we went to sleep. The rest of the night was uneventful as we slept through the night with no snoring dragon in sight.
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