The dragon trainers – Chapter 3: Duty and Honor

: Arrived at his designated floor and started walking. Anywhere he went, fellow soldiers would stop to salute him, to which he nodded back. He then approached one of the guards to the mayor’s office, saluted him before walking in, facing the mayor himself. “Mr Goodfellow…”

Scenario: Local Bandle Bar.

The four remaining yordles were sitting, having a bit of a quiet moment at Teemo’s decision related to Zora. Being the afternoon, they were drinking safe stuff, no alcohol.

: “Well… Guess it’s just us four in this…” She said, petting Pix that was sitting on the table.

: “Pretty much.” He responds, taking a sip of his drink afterwards.

: Just goes quiet, slowly petting Riggles, she was still saddened about it, even broken. “It’s just not right…”

: Sighs. “Tristana… If I knew a way to help him, I would have told you and we both would had helped him… But his mind is made up… I don’t even know what got him set up like that? I know he was always on about duty and honor, but this is freaking ridiculous!” He says, now frustrated instead of sad.

: “Guess you’re not up to date with the info in the mothership then…” He says, taking a sip of his own.

: Takes a deep breath, his annoyance worsening. “Heimer… What are you not telling us…?” He says, trying not to look at him.

: “Well, I barely hear the news, but from what I deducted… A big event is happening involving Noxus.”

The news caught the attention of all 3 yordles with Heimer.

: “Noxus? What are those guys up to!?”

: “Apparently they’re attempting to expand their territory… So there has been news of recent invasions towards Piltover. And so far, our colonel has been assigning recon squads to keep them at bay… But there’s so little they can do, even with the upper hand.”

: “Has Teemo tried to do something about it?”

: “So far he’s only been keeping contact with someone to represent Piltover that can… Word by word, ‘put up with us’”.

: “Doesn’t sound good… Any idea who he is?”

: “I do know, in fact…”

Location: Mayor Goodfellow’s office.

Goodfellow: “I suppose you’re aware of why I called you here?”

: “Is he calling me again about last week’s disaster?” He says, rather annoyed.

Goodfellow: “I’m afraid so. I tried delaying the call, so you’d feel more ready, but he’s not in the mood for waiting any longer…”

: “Of course he isn’t…” He says rather sarcastically before sighing. “I’ll think of something…” He nods to a yordle by a computer as he sets up a connection between Bandle and Piltover. Teemo looks at the screen, waiting.

Goodfellow: “I supposed I don’t need to warn you that…”

: “I can’t promise not to be aggressive… He always has a habit of ticking us off.”

Goodfellow: “I know, but they’re our allies… We owe them a lot…”

: “Do we?”

Both the colonel and the mayor exchanged a serious glance before the connection was finally made. Once the connection was stable, on the screen was a familiar grown man with blonde hair. It was Ezreal, except he also had a blond goatee. He didn’t look happy as he stared at Teemo the moment the connection was stable.

: “You’ve been avoiding me…”

: “Whatever gave you that idea?” He said sarcastically.

: “I will just cut to the chase… One of our nearby towns was raided recently by the Noxians under your troop’s jurisdiction. After that, they nearly scrapped the walls of the city before we managed to send them back. That’s about 20 families who just lost their home!”

: “And I remember clearly stating that you wouldn’t move my troops around without some sort of backup plan. I’ve had my men telling me that you moved two squads of yordles to the west side and left nobody else to defend it!”

: “Someone started a fire and we needed every available personnel to escort the citizens out of the burning homes!”

: “And you sent yordles… To burning buildings… Do you even know how quick fur ignites!?”

: “You’re telling me your soldiers aren’t properly trained in case of fire?”

: “You’re blaming me of my soldiers not protecting a village because YOU moved them away from it? Do you even see how ridiculous your accusation is!? Where were your troops even!?”

: “Half dealing with the fire, the other half busy handling your mess from the inside.”

: “Inside… You mean from the comfort of their homes?”

: Smacks his fist against the table, now furious. “Are you accusing me of having guards off duty to their leisure?”

: “If you had to move my own men to do their bidding, yes!”

Longfellow: “Gentlemen, please! Throwing accusations won’t help. Our issue is Noxus and their assaults. We have to figure out a way to stop them from advancing!”

: “I do have a plan, but without the colonel’s collaboration, it won’t happen so easily.”

Longfellow: “What do you have in mind…?”

Location: Local Bandle Bar.

: “Ezreal sounds like more of an pain in the rear since last I remember…”

: “I believe the power came into his head and he won’t stand for failures.”

: “That’s not good… What about of Noxus? You think they’re planning some sort of attack for real?”

: “For some reason, their only interest is in Piltover. But wouldn’t think that their goal in Bandle isn’t one either. Even the soldiers here in Bandle have been on their nerves…”

: “Let’s just hope that Teemo knows what he’s doing…” She says rather worried.

Location: Mayor’s Goodfellow’s office.

: “This better be good. So far, you’ve showed me nothing but distrust…”

: “Won’t be good for you and neither for me. It’s a risk to take. If well pulled off, we might get the upper hand. I propose we assault some of their strongholds, to show that we mean business.”

: “And you ask me why I don’t trust you… You hit the bees and the rest of the hive will come!”

: “We can’t just sit here and wait for a better solution. They’re trying to wage war, I’d say we give it to them.”

: “We? You want to drag my yordles to your suicide plan?” He says, getting rather annoyed now.

: “Yes, and since a good portion of your men are scouts, you might as well find us a way to turn things around.”

: Smacks his hand against a nearby table. “Alright, I’ve had enough of this! So far you’ve been taking charge of the whole situation, I’ve gave you loyal men for the needs of defending your city, instead you just move them around like headless chickens…”

Goodfellow: “Colonel…”

: “Meanwhile, you still give that excuse of having no available men, but last I check, Piltover is the city of progress! What has stopped you from making an army of robots that could do a better job defending the city!?”

: Goes quiet for a moment, seeing how far would he take it.

Goodfellow: “Colonel.”

: “Because from the past times I’ve seen that city, I’ve seen more money put in making the rich people comfortable as long as the walls stand. Nice use of it, uh!?”

Goodfellow: “Colonel!”

It came to an impasse. Teemo was fed up with Ezreal’s lack of proper logic. But oddly, Ez didn’t seem to burst out to him.

: “The noxians asked for a deal…”

*His sentence was a showstopper… The enemy… That has been conquering many territories… Tried to bargain with Piltover?”

: “The fact I suggested this plan was to test your loyalty… And I can see that I won’t be getting much. So the Noxians proposed a deal that made me think… If I turn you yordles in… They’ll spare Piltover… And instead focus their attention towards your city. This includes any info on weak points they can abuse to reach your city.”

Ezreals serious look proved that he wasn’t kidding. Both Teemo and Goodfellow were in a silent shock.

Goodfellow: “You didn’t take it, did you?”

: “I’m tempted to… I’m sick of seeing them storming the city every time I look out the window. You guys are making it easier to give in… However… I can be a reasonable man… So here’s what I’m gonna do… I’m going to give your colonel 24 hours to decide if he’s willing to collaborate with me or not… If he does, I’ll refuse it… If he doesn’t… I’m taking it…”

The whole thing went dead quiet… Ezreal was really willing to betray the yordles that helped him just for peace and quiet.

: “You’re a madman! You’re trying to send my people to their graves either way!” He was furious with his blackmail.

: “That may be true, but at least I’m trying to solve my problem… All I see you doing is sitting around, caring more of your people ‘in the comfort of your home’. Bet if you went back into the field, that would be a fresh reminder of how the world really is, uh?” He said, verbally stabbing Teemo with his last sentence.

: Had his fist clenched in frustration, tempted to actually beat up Ez if he was near him.

: “24 hours… Not another second of delay… I hope I made myself clear.”

Before anyone could respond, he shut off the transmission, leaving Teemo, the mayor and a few yordles that were working on the transmission in dead silence. All eyes were on Teemo as he felt himself angry at what just happened.

Goodfellow: “Teemo.”

: Nearly snapped. “Do we still owe him? He just blackmailed us into selling us out unless I send half our troops to their demise! Only thing I get to choose is how they die!”

Goodfellow: “You know I don’t like it either… But we have to take a stand… We need Piltover’s collaboration… We have to help him for better and for worse… Teemo… I advise for you to go home and think this through… I’ll try to stand by you if you refuse to help them as well… I trust your judgement. I just pray it’s the right one.”

: His anger faded as he saw that even after his reckless behavior, the man in charge of Bandle still had hopes for him. Feeling himself down, he turned around and slowly walked off.

On his way out of the room, the other yordles just looked at him worried. The rest of the mothership that saw him in his state shared a near similar expression. They just hoped that their colonel could come up with an answer.

Location: Local Bandle Bar.

The four yordles were having a fun time.

: “So when Riggles found that fish, that somehow slipped inside of her backpack, he immediately went to get it, and caused Tristana to fall into the mud!”

Rumble, Lulu and Heimer were laughing at the story, Tristana obviously wasn’t too amused, but couldn’t help but smile at the good times.

: “Yeah yeah, at least it was mud. Imagine if it was worse…”

: “Hey, Mud is used for spa treatments, Riggles just wanted to treat you nice!”

This time all four laughed as they kept drinking. Night slowly falling, the alcoholic beverage was now allowed to be sold. Tristana decided to be the designated caretaker and Heimer didn’t fancy the stuff. Lulu and Rumble however didn’t skip on chugging a few glasses down.

: “Alright, I think that’s enough for tonight. Heimer, sorry to ask this, but could you help me take them to Teemo’s house? Best if we take them there for the night, as well as making company.”

: “Of course. I’ll be glad to assist you.”

As Tristana and Heimer took a drunk Rumble and Lulu, who were still making jokes to Tristana’s expenses, they eventually came to Teemo’s house, but for some reason, his door was open already before they knocked. They slowly walked in, cautious.

: “Teemo? You in here?”

There was no response, which worried both Tristana and Heimer. They put their drunken friends on Teemo’s couch as Tristana started looking for any clues for his whereabouts. Starting by looking through the house. After a few minutes, Tristana gathered with the others.

: “I can’t find him anywhere…”

: “I found this note on a table, I believe it reports his whereabouts.”

Tristana read the note in Teemo’s handwriting. It said “To anyone reading this, I’m at the roof of the tallest hotel in Bandle…” Somehow, Tristana got even more worried about it.

: “I better go check on him… Take care of those two, alright?”

: “Make haste!”

She nods and leaves Teemo’s house, on the way to the hotel, she can’t stop thinking of what is going through his mind. Several minutes later, she found herself climbing lots of stairs until she reached the rooftops. Took her a short while, but she did notice Teemo sitting at one edge of the building. Worried, she slowly approached him.

: “Teemo…?”

: Didn’t respond at first, but then he answered. “Do you remember… When we were younger… And I told you in training what I wanted to do in life? Before we got drafted to different parts of the military?”

: Was still worried, so she just stood a fair distance from Teemo, just in case. “Yeah… I remember us back then… We were clueless of the world out there, but that didn’t stop you from being a scout… You said that you wanted to change the world for the better and hopefully make yordles and other beings co-exist as one. Have our people accepted in any part of the world… You even had a glimmer of pride on your face.” He couldn’t help but chuckle at that last remark.

: Didn’t respond to her last remark, further worrying her. “Do you think I ever had a chance to accomplish that…? Did you believe I was ever able to succeed?”

: Felt like she knew where this was going, but kept calm, hoping it didn’t go that way… “I won’t lie… I knew such a thing would be hard… With how things happened between yordles and humans and such… But I deeply believed that with enough hard work, anything would be possible. So when you told me your dream. I placed my hands on your shoulders and wished you luck… With a smile.” She smiles, hoping she’d return the favor.

: Didn’t turn, again giving them a moment of silence before continuing. “I don’t think I can continue this, Tristana… My job, my career… Several years for nothing…”

: Shook her head. “Don’t say that Teemo, you’ve always been good at your job! You can still accomplish your dream! You can make the people of Bandle happy with how well you’re doing!” She smiled, now starting to pray he’d turn finally.

The wind started picking up, only thing killing the silence of the rooftop.

: “Piltover told us that they were willing to throw us to the wolves in exchange of the Noxian’s protection.”

That caused all the happiness in Tristana’s heart and mind to vanish, all of it replaced with horror and fear. She couldn’t believe what he was saying.

: “I wasn’t able to protect their precious city their way, so they believe that the only way to solve the problem is by sending our soldiers to war… They gave me two choices… Either I did that… And lose too many good men to them WITH the Piltover’s support… Or I refused, and they’d take our lives and city WITHOUT the Piltover’s support…”

: Started to see why he was upset, even herself could feel the stress in his mind immediately just by imagining the scenario.

: “Instead of following my dream and join yordles with many humans out there… Instead I did the opposite, and made our little allies hate us and see us as useless… I single handily caused our people to end up alienated from the ones that barely trusted us… Worse of all… I just caused our people to be doomed to die… Either in Noxian lands… Or in ours…”

The whole thing gave shivers to Tristana’s body. Even what seemed like a paradise of a city that grew up… She could look around and immediately imagine an army of noxians slaughtering her friends and family.

: “And it’s all my fault… I stopped being the yordle I once was… What people cheered for… And I just can’t take it anymore…”

It was the moment of truth. As he said those words, Teemo slowly got up, standing up on the edge of the roof. Tristana had one chance to say something… ANYTHING that would stop him from what he had in mind!

: “T-teemo, p-please… Don’t do anything that you might regret… I beg you!!!” She says, hoping she’d reach out for him.

: Didn’t even allow Tristana to look at him in the eyes. “I’m sorry, but I just have to quit…” He then dropped down the roof.

: Immediately held her head, screaming in panic! “TEEEEEEEEEMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

TO BE CONTINUED…