The dragon trainers – Chapter 4: The yordle heart

: Started running towards the edge, still not believing that Teemo would have tried to commit suicide! Her mind was flooded with the worse thoughts and fears, and now that they came true, she began to lament not being able to do save him! (Please don’t take him away! Please tell me this is just a bad taste joke! Oh Kindred, don’t take him! Please! I beg you! He’s not a bad person! He’s just misunderstood, misguided and… Not here…?)

Tristana stood over the end of the roof and looked down to find… Nothing… No mass group of people, no body… In fact, it looked like they were just walking like nothing happened… She thought that he’d held on to one of the lower levels, but she triple checked every floor to still find nothing. She was confused… Then she got pushed!

: Once she felt herself falling, her heart raced and time seemed to slow down. A thousand questions were going on her mind… “Who would have pushed her? Did Teemo do it? Why would he?” and so on… But with little time, she chose to close her eyes, she was scared… That it would be it… That for some reason she’d never know… Her life would end… She started counting… (One Mississippi… Two Mississippi… Three Mississippi…) She didn’t know why, but the act of counting made it feel better… Calm her a bit before her last moment… But for some reason… (Eight Mississippi…?) There was no way it would take her 8 seconds to hit the bottom… She slowly opened her eyes and then it hit her… She wasn’t falling… She was flying! “Wha…?”

???: “Gotcha!”

: She slowly turned her head around and saw that the one holding her was… Teemo! And over Teemo was Zora! “Wha… How… Wh…”

From the whole thing, I think the creepiest part is that Teemo was smiling at the whole thing, but it wasn’t his natural smile, it seemed… Broken… After a while, they landed on a hill, just close to the city. Tristana was carefully dropped safely on the ground, Teemo dropped off of Zora afterwards.

: Panted really hard. She just got the worse scare that anyone would ever have. Even Fiddlesticks would have a hard time beating it! Frustrated, she turned towards Teemo. “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?”

: Didn’t respond at first, but when he turned, there it was again… The creepy broken smile he had before. “You had the right idea… I should had left!”

: “What?” She was truly confused as she started listening to Zora.

Zora: Was done flying, so she stood on a nearby rock, watching the two yordles.

: “That’s why you left, right? No more responsibilities? No more worries? You and Lulu had the time of your life and I stuck here like a moron thinking that persisting would get me anywhere!” He gave a creepy laugh. “Raising dragons and not give a damn about the world! That’s what I should have done! How could I have been so blind?”

: Just stood there as she watched Teemo lose his mind. The stress from work took a toll on him. She didn’t know what to say.

: “I already doomed our people to their graves… There’s nothing I can do to avoid it… No matter what I try, I always fail! And now I will be nothing but a dark memory to Bandle.” He seemed even to let out a few tears in his psychotic laugh.

: Has had enough, and with pure anger on her face, he punched Teemo so hard on the jaw that he ended up backing up against a tree. And then smacked him against said tree again. She wasn’t her happy self again. She was outraged at his last few sentences!

: The beating finally woke him out of his trance as he looked with fear toward Tristana. He thought for a moment that she would actually kill him for what just happened. “I’m… I’m sorry… I-I don’t know what came over me…”

The silence was deadly at this point, that even Zora felt uncomfortable. Tristana was dead furious about Teemo and his behavior and now she had him afraid and sorry. To Teemo’s surprise, she leaned over his chest… And cried. Teemo didn’t dare to move.

: “You’re so stupid sometimes, Teemo! How could you even think such a thing!?”

: Didn’t say a word, feeling terrible as well.

: Raised her head to make eye contact with him, she was still in tears. “How could you even think of turning your back on the people of Bandle!? They’re your family! Each and every one of them! From the youngest newborn child to the oldest resident! They all supported you from the moment you showed into the world up to this day! And you plan to just give up on them without even letting them know how to help you!”

: Kept the eye contact. “What else can I do…? I’ve hit my limit… I feel that anything else I do in life, I’ll just ruin things for the others…”

: Shakes her head. “Maybe, but they deserve to know what happened! This is what I hate about you, Teemo! You always keep everyone in the dark! When you’re sad, you hide! When you’re angry, you hide! When you’re afraid, you hide! Not just from what caused it, but from the people that care and want to help you! NOBODY CAN HELP YOU IF YOU KEEP HIDING IN THE DARK LIKE THIS!!!”

The tension was so high that Zora could have sworn she just cut it by accident with one of her claws.

: Takes a deep breath, her tears stopped and her anger slowly subsided. She speaks calmly now. “Teemo… Do you remember Ms. Wilma?”

: Closed his eyes. He knew her very well and wished they could speak of anything but that. “Please don’t…”

: “DO YOU… Remember her?”

: Sighed. “Yeah… She was my teacher when I was a really young yordle…”

: “You remember when you met her?”

: “I was afraid, my mother wanted me to go out, make friends and learn about the world. When I arrived… She was the first person I saw… And she greeted me with a soft smile… It was reassuring, helped me learn to trust strangers…”

: She pauses for a moment before asking the next question. “Do you remember the week when she was diagnosed with a terminal disease and was bedridden in the hospital?”

: The question was a showstopper for him. At this point, he felt hurt for having to remember that all over again. “I was already an adult, long past her teaching age group…”

: “What did you do when you found that out?” She says, gripping his shoulders.

: “Tristana, please…” He was close to bursting into tears.

: “ANSWER ME!” She said, not happy to do this, but she had to make him confront his memories.

: “I ran! I asked for an assignment! ANY assignment to get me out of Bandle, so I didn’t have to see her die!” He started crying. “She was so nice to me and Kindred already planned to take her life away! I couldn’t stand it! I didn’t want to show pity for her! She deserved a better fate and instead she got cursed with something that not even I can control!” Was now sobbing on Tristana’s shoulder. The memory pained over him and burned his heart from what he did.

: “But we both know that I didn’t let you, don’t you?” She said, patting his back. “I asked HQ to cancel your assignment, and I personally DRAGGED you to the hospital to see her. Do you ever question why would I bother so much for a friend? Even if it’s one that tried to hurt someone?”

: Sniffed and shook his head. “No… I never did… I was afraid that you were judging me in disgust…”

: “I’ll admit… I was disappointed when you tried that… But you have to understand, Teemo… The true reason I did this… The reason why I did all of this… Is the same reason you worked hard in life… Is because you and me… We have the heart of a yordle.” She says, now smiling.

: Was confused, but let her explain.

: “We yordles were made in this world to care after each other. It’s a biological fact that no matter how much we try, we can’t ignore it. I won’t lie… Sadly there are examples of yordles deserting us for the worse… Those sadly lost their mind and thus let their hearts fall into the darkness… But the yordles that still remain strong. The ones in the city all have the same hearts. And they all had them to care for you, even to the very end. Don’t you see, Teemo? Everyone in Bandle cares for you. You just have to let them show it.” Her smiled broadened a bit.

: Still a bit confused. “But… I just lead them to…”

: Had to interrupt him. “They will fight for the best of Bandle if they have to! You just have to do what you think that’s right, just remember… Whatever you pick… The city will follow your decision. They look up to you. You just have to remember to look down to the ones that helped you get up there.”

: Thinks about it, cleans the tears out of his face and then nods.

: “And Teemo…?”

: He looked up at her.

: “Ms. Wilma asked me to take you to her… You were her favorite student. And she’d die happy knowing you came to visit. That’s why I dragged you. You shouldn’t feel pity for her… You should feel happy that she liked you. And I bet, deep in my heart, that after you visited her, she kindly asked the lamb to take her life with a smile. If you didn’t come, she might have refused and the wolf would have taken her instead.”

: “So she died in peace instead of…” He held himself, close to crying again. “Thank you, Tristana…”

: “You’re welcome. Oh and Teemo?”

: “Hmm?”

: “If you push me off a building again, you won’t live to be a father. Capisce?”

: Went silent for a moment before nodding. “Sorry about that…”

: “It’s fine… So what are you going to do now?”

: “Well… I’m still planning on giving up… I just want to stop being stressed about my job, you know? And Zora deserves an owner. I think it’s best if I resign and go on an adventure with you guys… Us five… That is… Unless you want me to stay and care for Bandle…” He says, wanting to hear her opinion.

: “Well, I believe you should do what’s best for you. If you want to leave your job, then we’d gladly take you in with us. We could be a team and show you a beautiful world out there. And Goodfellow always knew what to do for our sake. I’m sure he’ll find someone to care for Bandle’s military personnel. I just believe you should probably apologize to Piltover. Because I think they deserve to hear it from you.”

: Thinks about it and nods. “Alright. Thanks again Tristana.” He smiles softly before he whistles, facing Zora.

Zora: Slowly flies above the yordles, happy to see them get along. The three started heading back to the city.

: “Already trained her to answer your whistles? Took me 3 weeks for me to do that.” She laughs.

: “What can I say? It’s a talent I have with others.”

: “It sure is, Teemo… It sure is…”

Location: Mayor Goodfellow’s office.

The next day, Teemo and Goodfellow were waiting for the call to connect. The Colonel faced his friends that were outside the view of the camera and saw the four of them silently cheering for them, making him smile about it. Then the camera turned on and Ezreal again showed on screen.

: “Well gentleman. Guess today is the moment of truth. Teemo, I’d like to hear your decision…”

: All eyes were on Teemo. As they hoped that he had chosen wisely. “To be fair, I have. Except it won’t be neither of the options you’re making me choose.”

: Raises an eyebrow, awaiting more of his answer.

: “You see… You can’t make me choose how to send these yordles to die… Because it’s thanks to them that I became what I am in life… I owe them too much. Their families… Their friends… Their loved ones…”

Rumble, Lulu and Tristana smiled as they heard his speech.

: “From the beginning of my life up to this day that I’ve done nothing but refuse their help even when they’re trying to help me. And I don’t want you to do the same, Ezreal. I want our people to be able to help you, for better and for worse. I don’t want to leave them here in Bandle while potential allies are in danger.”

: Raised his eyebrows, showing a look of satisfaction on him.

: “However… These past few days. I don’t think I can still be considered qualified to defend this city, as much as defend yours. That’s why I’m making a third choice… I’m resigning my spot as Colonel of the Mothership Scouts. And hopefully Goodfellow will choose someone that’s more co-operative with your decisions and hopefully can care more of our allies than of our own. All I ask… Is that you don’t take the Noxian’s deal. Please.”

Goodfellow: Smiles and turns to Ezreal.

: Was seriously thinking about the option. The few silent seconds seemed painful as they hoped that the whole thing wasn’t a bust. Then he made the decision. “To be fair, I never liked the idea of taking their deal. Noxians can never be trusted, and I’d prefer to stick to the good people of Bandle and Demacia, both that I can honestly put my mind at ease. As for your resignation, I do say that I can see you’re trying to be selfless and not holding your people back on your own. I will respect your decision and hold off on making any reckless assaults… For now…”

: Couldn’t help but smile at Ezreal’s respect for him.

: “Just a FYI, Teemo… You should try to visit Piltover more often. I’d like to think that we can show you more than just “A bunch of rich people getting richer” environment.” He smiles jokingly at him.

The four yordles slowly turned towards Teemo, judging with a smile at what he might had said before.

: Gave a quick glance to them, as if saying that it’s a long story, before giving Ezreal and awkward smile. “Sorry…”

: Sighs, but smiling. “Anyways, I’ll keep myself informed on Goodfellow’s actions so I can report them to my boss. I don’t know what you’re planning to do from here on out, but I wish you the best of luck, Teemo.”

: “Thank you, and sorry if I was a bit bothersome.”

: “Nah, it was like watching me in the mirror. Glad I got past that stage, but still not allowed to complain.” He chuckles. “Anyways, I have business to take care off, will talk later.” That said, he shuts down the connection again.

: Sighed and then noticed that all the other yordles were giving him a round of applause for what happened. He managed not only to convince Ezreal to not drag yordles to their deaths, but also fixed the tension between the two cities. Even if he was no longer in the Bandle City Military, he still was seen as a hero. He then thought about how Tristana was right about her saying that good yordles will care for each other, no matter what. That made him proud of himself again, and after many months of stress… He smiled… And loved the sensation.

Location: Lab B07.

Teemo, Rumble and Heimerdinger were tending to their new dragons, mostly trying to teach them little useful tricks. Meanwhile Lulu was watching them. Tristana later joined them as she entered through the lab door.

: “So… Now that we have not just two, but FIVE dragon trainers. What should we do with our newfound freedom?”

: “We were sorta hoping you had a plan.”

: Starting to swing herself with a smile. “I do have a plan, but… You have to do everything I say. In fact, I was sorta hopping I could be the leader of this team. Unless you have a better preference?”

: “Nope, you’re more than qualified to lead us.”

: “Make that two votes.”

: “Although Teemo has better leadership skills of the two of you, I do have to agree that you have more experience when it comes to dragons, so I shall subject my vote as well with theirs.”

: “And with me makes four. Unanimous voting! Now you have three guys to kiss your feet.” She grins at Tristana.

: Looked at Lulu, not amused before rolling her eyes. “Anywho… If we want to be a team, that means one thing. We… Will have to train… A lot! And that means starting today, all three of you will have the most intense workout I can provide for you and your dragons!”

Rumble and Teemo looked at each other somewhat worried.

: “Oh! Oh! Can I at least make them try those outfits I’ve manage to get for them?” She says, looking rather excited.

: “Outfits?”

: Thinks about it with a smile before nodding. “Done. Best if we see how you guys will look in your new dragon trainer uniforms. Lulu, you do the makeup.”

: “Makeup…?”

: Grinned at the males before slowly approaching them, almost like she was about to harm them.

Bandle Gunner’s training grounds.

: Was looking at the boys with an impressed look. “Alright, they look nice.”

: Stood there proud of her work. “Thank you! Wanted to bring their wild side a bit more out. Heimer sadly was a pain. Couldn’t make him work like the others.”

Teemo, Rumble and Heimer were looking at their new outfits. Rumble and Teemo had some markings on their faces, similar to how Tristana has them. Heimer on the other hand had none. The new dragons stared at their owners, examining them. Zora was sitting on a rock next to Teemo, Dudley was behind Rumble and the Hufkins just stared down at Heimer from inside his hair.

: “So…”

Tristana’s call got the attention of both the males and their dragons. Riggles suddenly appeared from under Tristana’s arm, Pix landed on Lulu’s shoulder as the girls stood there with smiles on their faces.

: “Ready to break some sweat?”

To be continued…