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Chapter 6 - ShowDown 6

"I'm Rajahni and the blond over there decided his name was Sirius," Rajahni introduced, dark eyes scanning him. His expression narrowed as he recognized the royal vibe that dripped off his elegant black and purple clothes.

"No offense but that is a literal child" Sirius said. 

"Do you want to tell them or should I?" Malleus asked after a bit of hesitation. 

"Oh please, I insist," Obsidian smiled.

Malleus closed his eyes and straightened his posture as best he could; following it, an unsettling shift in the air thickened. Leo, the Rajahni, Iram and Sirius, watched as his body rapidly grew, aging itself to a familiar adolescent form. 

In this form he stood taller than the others present. And... Sirius looked mildly curious about his appearance.

"I am Malleus Draconia, Crown Prince of Briar Valley. Up till this day I've been rendered dormant as I'm currently unable to fulfill my proper responsibilities.," 

Leo narrowed his eyes. 'That visage and voice...'

"There's some complications, it appears my… grandmother has somewhat thwarted my current state which has put me off balance." Malleus suddenly seemed out of breath and slumped against Obsidian who seemed all too happy to support him.

After he stopped speaking his body shrank back down to its tween form.

"Are you okay?" A disembodied voice asked. 

Malleus panted heavily reclining in the cecaelia's tentacles. "I just woke up from a five year nap," 

"Coma-" Sirius cut in.

"-Nap and I tried using heavy magic immediately after, my body in this form isn't quite adjusted to the rapid shift. I'm a little unused to the magic usage."

"But you can handle it in your adult form right?" The disembodied voice persisted.

"Of course," he answered. Then finally seemed to do a double take. "Who is that talking?" 

"It's me, Stratigós the UND3RWOR1D K1NG!" The voice exclaimed from the tablet.

Malleus blinked at the tablet blankly.

"Stratigós is responsible for most of us coming together." Obsidian added gently.

"I wouldn't have been able to find you -or know of your existence without him,"

Malleus blinked and nodded in understanding. Then a thought occurred to him.

"Ah!" Malleus lit up, "I want a nickname too!"

Iram couldn't help but think he was kind of adorable when he started floating and used his tail to act as a makeshift chair, using it to keep him off the ground as he maintained a sitting position.

"Malleus Draconia is too recognizable," he remarked.

They all felt a shiver run down their spines but didn't understand why. Obsidian smiled and pushed back some of Malleus's bangs back into place. 

"But we didn't recognize your name at all," Sirius pointed out.

Malleus stopped and stoof completely still.

"I just want to fit in with you guys," he pouted. Rajahni looked away, feeling oddly guilty. 

"I still want one... But if you think I don't need it..." He hesitated. "Hmmmm" his eyelashes fluttered.

"I like lizard," Leo cut in watching Malleus's tail move.

"Liz - How dare you!? I am a dragon! Dragon! I don't do that tongue thing," Malleus scoffed and flicked out his fork tongue. 

"You just did," Sirius remarked.

"You're not beating the lizard claim little bro," Leo grinned pushing back the bangs so that Malleus's forehead was visible yet again. He pouted.

"I'm a dragon...." He protested weakly.

"I'll read up on this while everyone else plays," Iram Mille Noctes said sitting in the shade of a tree.

"You stole a book from the Draconia Library!?" Malleus sounded impressed 

"No...! Of course not!" Iram refuted."L-Leo did I'm just taking the opportunity to learn. It's an atlas after all," he defended.

Malleus smiled.

"What about the name Dragomir for the time being?" Rajahni offered patiently.

Malleus looked pleased by this, if his tail swishing was anything to go by.

"That's my new name now!"

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Iram mille Noctes snorted and summoned a black flamingo shaped golf club. Twirling it a little, he charged forward knocking aside several of Dragomir's pawns.

"Rajahni move a space to the right and take out Dragomir's Rook!" He commanded.

Rajahni didn't move.

"Are you the leader or am I ?" Leo asked raising an eyebrow.

"I am! It's just that Rajahni is almost as lazy as Leo!" Iram Mille Noctes fumed ignoring Leo's glare at his comment.

Rajahni rolled his eyes. 

"I disagree," he huffed. To punctuate his statement he threw a Bishop chess piece.

"Well well I see your game has escalated." Obsidian noted. 

Dragomir put on the 'pity me' face,"Leo's taken all my pieces to his side!" True enough his side of the board was... Lacking. 

Leo cursed. "Dammit" 

Dragomir looked at Obsidian.

"Well, since I can't leave until the game is over, how about I assist?" Obsidian offered.

'Looks like 'mommy' fills the role of the replacement queen.' Leo thought, biting back a sneer.

"Let's get lunch after this," he sighed.

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"It reads, Arnasen will never be loved by a woman," 

"It doesn't actually say that," Arnasen defended.

"The cookie has spoken," his friend said in as formal of a tone as he could muster.

"I'm not tall enough to reach the other end of the table!" A child's voice whined.

The guys froze. "A kid?"

"Really? What is on this end of the table that you want to reach?" A disconcertingly patient adult male's voice responded.

"You are," the child replied. 

"I see, then come sit over here," 

All three guys had impish grins on their faces. Craning their heads they turned in the direction of the voices and saw a beautiful figure who had to be the parent. Only contradiction was that they couldn't tell if it was a man or woman. 

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"What a funny language," Dragomir remarked. 

Iram looked at him, snickered and tapped his shoulder. 

"Oh--" Dragomir flushed and turned the menu so it wasn't upside down. 

"I think I'll have strawberry syrup on mine," Iram mille Noctes decided up from his school book. 

Stratigós snorted behind his tablet.

 "Id like blueberry syrup on mine please," He remarked.

The waitress turned to Rajahni, briefly he looked spaced out like he hadn't been listening. 

"Maple syrup," he exhaled and rested his head on the table. 

"That's so boring! Get blueberry like I did!" Dragomir waved a plastic straw around.

The waitress tried for a gentle smile. "Will that be all? Surely you boys want a refreshing drink...?" 

"They will have orange juice," Sirius snatched the straw from Dragomir who pouted.

"I don't want you poking someone's eyes out." Sirius remarked. Dragomir smiled wryly and pointedly made the napkins fold themselves into shapes via magic.

Iram closed his book. "According to our Atlas, the place we want to get to is about a week's trip away."

Rajahni looked interested, "what place?"

"The place we remember," Iram remarked.

Dragomir looked confused for a moment and then looked enthusiastic.

"Oh yes. Nigh- I mean that..!" He exclaimed vaguely.

"I'm not tall enough to reach the other end of the table!" Dragomir abruptly whined.

"Really? What is on this end of the table that you want to reach?" Obsidian raised an eyebrow.

"You are," Dragomir replied, oddly he decided to keep his voice calm but his face looked teary and distraught. 

"I see, then come sit over here," Obsidian relented.

"Obsidian aren't you going to eat anything?"

Obsidian suppressed a glare at Iram mille Noctes. 

"Yes?" He asked, while taking back the coffee cup. Malleus tensed up clearly disliking the taste. He scrunched his face and tried to force himself to swallow it. Leo downed all the remaining coffee. 

"I have to go to the bathroom," he responded. 

Dragomir just pouted. Never again was he drinking it. 

As an adul- adolescent he didn't mind. But for some reason his child form's taste buds found it unpleasant.

"Oh? Alright let's go," Obsidian looked surprised.

Instead they stepped outside. Iram Mille Noctes narrowed his expression. "Something is suspicious... Like an energy watching us... But I can't discern anything about them." 

Obsidian scanned the trees. "I suspect Leo also noticed it but can't do anything until they approach."

Let's go back inside," Iram folders his arms and leveled a glare in a 'that way direction '.

"They have great figures for women with kids," 

"You sure they're women?" Arnasen asked.

At that moment a figure they hadn't really noticed, a lion beastman turned and looked at them.

"On second thought.... I'm staying away from them," all three guys shuddered from the intense stare.

"Leo... Something wrong?" Dragomir asked innocently.

Leo smiled wryly. "Nah ... Just keep eating,"

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"I loathe spiders, they are a monstrosity," Rajahni seethed. He'd walked under a tree with a spider and immediately set it on fire. By the time they calmed him down the tree had lost three branches.

Obsidian sighed. "Because they have eight legs?" 

"No, because they are insects," he spat darkly.

Obsidian paused, "actually spiders are arachnids, belonging to the same branch as scorpions–" he started.

"They belong dead!" He roared as the flames conjured in his hands. 

"Not again -" Leo grumbled. No one was really in a rush and it wasn't as though they had a home to go to... Perhaps they should work on that.

It when they were almost out of the city that they were approached.

"Shouldn't you be in school?" A man asked.

Leo was about to ask why that was his business but a noise from Stratigós' tablet distracted him.

"Should I?" He asked innocently. "For the longest time I never went, does it matter?"

" We can take him to school of course!" Sirius smiled, overly nicely. Obsidian cringed.

The man smiled politely and walked away. 

"I suppose a day at school would be helpful," Iram remarked.

"What!?" Dragomir yelled.

"Yes school seems familiar. We should be in school. I think," Sirius remarked.

Dragomir blinked owlishly at them. "Eh..!?"

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The next morning Dragomir was solely getting dressed for school. Though he was pretty sure the others had mixed ideas on what school actually was if his paint splattered tie was anything to guess from.

The easiest part was allowing the magic to make Dragomir's clothes resemble a proper school uniform and make his draconic features disappear.

"Now, make nice with the other kids unless you have to kick the other kids' butt," Obsidian commented as he ate breakfast.

"But I don't want to kick the other kids butt," Dragomir remarked simply. He wondered where was anyone getting all this food as he ate a bowl of oatmeal.

On the other hand it was the nicest looking bowl of oatmeal he'd had in ages. At least, unlike Lilia's he could still tell it was oatmeal and list all the fruit in it.

"Yeah you say that now, but don't be afraid to throw hands when the time comes," Leo added.

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"An old friend has informed me that my investments have run off, breaking Free of their confines..." A figure hidden by shadow remarked, looking at an enormous monitor of sorts. The monitor displayed various moments the Overblot versions of Leo and Rajahni had still been under watch. Showing them breaking things with formidable strength even though the magic should have been restrained due to the collars on their necks. 

"We can't have them running off. And I certainly don't want to make unnecessary enemies."

"Beatrix summon the girls," the voice ordered.

Have them track down the Overblot misfits. And bring them where they belong. Bring them home."

An auburn haired woman nodded and spoke into an old fashioned telephone.

"Hello Adora, The Doctor has a mission for you and your companions. Bring Dianthe, Emani, Lán Fú, and ... You may also bring Aini but tell her not to get too reckless with her unique magic,". certainly don't want to make unnecessary enemies." 

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