The dragon trainers - Chapter 2: Binding

In lab B07, a lab reserved by Heimerdinger for his secret experiment, the yordle himself sat there, watching the door open, walking in. He was followed by Tristana, Lulu, Teemo and Rumble, who all stared at its inside in a shocked expression. None of them could believe what was going on in there.

: “Heimer this… This is…”

: Went from shock to delighted. “ADORABLE!!!”

The room was filled with young dark yellow dragons. They all looked the same and they could lose count of how many were in the room, could be 50… 60… Around those numbers. All of them were playing around the lab, either in their own playground that Heimer made, either sitting in a corner eating from a huge bowl filled with meat, or even just interacting with each other around. A notable thing is that a bunch of them were STILL sitting inside the eggs they were hatched from, all of them happy.

: “So this is why you asked me for a truck load of meat! I thought you were just trying to set up to hibernate in this damn place!”

: “Knowing him… Wouldn’t be far off the truth.” He said with a laugh.

: “Wow, so you raised so many dragons! Must be a pain to name them all!” She says, surprised.

Riggles: Wanders away from the group to meet with the others, only to be greeted happily by the other dragons, mostly staring at Riggles for being bigger and stronger looking, some because of how playful he is.

Pix: Follows Riggles, although looking a bit less excited.

: “None at all, being all of these dragons from the same species and character, I named them “Hufkin”. Makes it easier calling them all “Hufkins” that way.”

: “Wait… What do you mean ‘Same character’?”

: “Simple. All of these dragons are clones from a single one. Meaning they’re not biological by birth, but by science. All of them cloned from an original dragon that I later released back into the wild.”

: “But how are you even able to make that many clones? Some machine you have around?”

: “Well you see… I…” He looks off into somewhere specific.

The other four yordles looked towards where Heimerdinger was looking. They saw one of the Hufkins sitting at the bottom of a shelf. Two of them playing on top of said shelf, they accidentally pushed a vase and it just happened to land next to the hufkin at the bottom, scaring him. The four sighed in relief.

: “You got me scared for a moment, I thought you…”

Suddenly, a safe came from the same shelf and crushed the hufkin. The room went quiet, all dragons staring at their dead brethren. Riggles and Pix stared as well, confused. Meanwhile the four yordles stared at what just happened in pure shock. Lulu looked like she was about to go into tears. But before they could say anything, everyone heard a loud DING coming from Heimerdinger, causing him to be the center of attention.

: Looked at the table and suddenly, just like when he does with his turrets, a metal claw pulled something out of his hair, it was an egg, specifically a dragon egg. He placed it on the table.

The egg started twisting a bit; its resident seemed to have trouble breaking out. When it finally happened, the hufkin rubbed his head, pouting. The whole thing was greeted into a massive sound of cheer from the other hufkins. Riggles and Pix just joined along for the fun. Meanwhile the yordles looked at Heimer, demanding an explanation.

: “Like I said… All clones. But here’s the good part. At least he didn’t leave a gruesome body, thanks to hextech engineering. See for yourself…” He says, pointing at the safe.

: Approached the safe, lifting it, only to reveal to the others that it left no body underneath It. “So you just happened to make THIS dragon disappear and spawn a new one? Did you teleport the body?”

: “Yes and no. Technically, that hufkin’s body disintegrated on death. However, the knowledge of the dead one passed onto this little fella.” He said, pointing at the recently hatched one.

The newly hatched one rubbed his head again, feeling a bit in pain, as if he just felt the safe quite recently.

: “Out of a lack of better term, all of these are dispensable clones, but their experiences carry on from dragon to dragon. A marvel of science that mankind has been trying to recreate to no success. And even mine is a bit unstable, wouldn’t trust anyone else to try.”

: “So every time one dies, you create another one that already lived the last one’s experiences, even his past lives?”

: “Precisely, all of these dragons are properly reincarnated with no consequences. Although, these are clones, mind you… I have no true way to do this to true beings. That’s why I didn’t want the military involved in my experiments…”

: “Because there’s a chance they’d use it to keep our soldiers fit for duty.”

: “And who knows what other side effects could happen… The victims of this experiment could never be the same…”

: “Neither for their loved ones…”

An awkward silence reined for the group, even Tristana and Lulu felt that they could cut the tension with a knife.

: “However, as interesting as Hufkins are, that’s just half of what I have to show. If you please follow me.”

The group walk towards a section of the lab, led by Heimerdinger They come across a short hallway with two doors, both locked.

: “Let’s start with this one…” He says, unlocking the door and leading people in the first room.

The room was mostly empty, only thing in it was a large locked cage, with a small grating to view what was inside, it seemed like it was holding something dangerous at first view.

: “Heimerdinger…? What’s in that cage…?”

: “One of my test subjects. Don’t pay any heed to the cage, he just prefers to be confined. This particular specie prefers loneliness, he also tends to be rather grumpy.”

: “Why does that sound familiar?” She said, glancing at Rumble discreetly with a smile.

: Pulled out a remote from his hair and clicked a button.

The lock on the cage unlocked, causing the door to open. A pair of yellow eyes glowed from inside after the door was fully open. This caused the four yordles to feel worried, while Heimer remained as neutral as ever. For a moment there were nothing but random sounds coming from inside. Eventually, its source finally walked outside. It was a large red dragon. It was about triple their size with somewhat small wings. At first glance, it would seem that he could barely support his own weight with the wings he was equipped. The dragon just stared down at the yordles, looking annoyed, even snorting some fire out of his nostrils once.

: “Rumble… I suppose you want to meet your new partner?”

The four yordles looked at Heimer in surprise, but Rumble was mostly confused.

: “Wait wait wait… Are you telling me that you’re giving me THAT dragon?” He says, trying to make sure he didn’t mean something else.

: “I analyzed this dragon and his fighting properties. And compared to your battle methods, I do believe he’s the ideal one for your uses.”

: “So he can do what Tristy does…? Really?” He says as if doubting Heimer’s knowledge for once.

: “Do you wish me to put him to the test?” He says, remove at hand still.

: “Sure… Show me what he can do.” He says, exchanging glances with the dragon.

: Pressed another button on his remote.

The room had a blast door on a wall, which apparently neither of the visitors noticed before. As it opened, it was set up to spawn any sort of targets and training simulations.

: “Dudley, we’re starting another exam, this time, try not to burn yourself…”

Dudley: The red dragon, rolled his eyes in annoyance before prepping himself for the test.

Both Teemo and Tristana exchanged a glance, as if asking “Dudley?”

First test, a trio of moving dummies painted red, walking somewhat fast left and right. Dudley suddenly opened his mouth to shoot off several fire projectiles. The unique thing is that the targets hit by the projectiles slowly burned, but also moved slower for some reason.

: “His species is known for being able to control his foes like this. Passed down a long lineage of his kind.”

: Was sort of impressed, but didn’t want to say anything.

Heimer moved to the next test, which consisted in 3 targets standing next to each other immobile. Dudley took a deep breath and released fire through his mouth, similar to a flamethrower, as he turned all 3 targets to the ground.

: Turned his head. “Alright, not bad, not bad…”

: “Let’s proceed to the next one then.”

Button pressed, 5 dummies showed up, side by side in a diagonal positioning. Dudley responded by firing into the air and causing the fireballs to land in a perfect line with the dummies. Then the floor below them started to melt the dummies to ashes, thus proving he could imitate the equalizer of Tristy’s.

: Blinks, now actually surprised. “Wow, wasn’t expecting that…”

: “We’re not done yet.” He motions for the dragon to move to a corner.

Dudley: Moved onto a square that seemed like it got burned a bit.

: “Ready?”

Dudley: Positioned himself, snorting some fire out of his nostrils as a sign.

Next, 3 turrets came out of nowhere and started to shoot the dragon, but he responded by creating some sort of fire shield around himself. The turrets immediately stopped firing once the last bullet cracked the shield. He then composed himself before the turrets were placed back.

: “AND he’s bullet proof… Alright, you got me convinced, this is awesome, this is… Wait, where is he going?”

The four yordles looked at Dudley walking past the group and slowly into his cage.

: “As I said, he prefers to be alone. Convincing him to join you will prove to be a challenge if you wish to attempt.”

: “Are you kidding me? Hey, Dudley! Where the heck do you think you’re going?”

Dudley: Just ignored Rumble, not up to It.

: “Hey! Dumbnuts! Are you even listening to me!?”

Dudley: Suddenly stopped and turned to Rumble, his reaction was clearly of one that was pissed off at being insulted.

The other yordles were a bit worried, but hoped Rumble knew what he was doing.

: “Sitting in that cage won’t solve your problems! There’s an entire world out there and lots of people willing to cheer for you… For US to help them or impress them with your skills! So since I’m going to be your trainer, which means you’re gonna have to put up with me. And right now I’ll make sure you’re in good shape for what’s out there! The world is an adventure and I won’t let you miss out on it!”

As he said that, both Tristana and Lulu looked at each other with a proud smile. They could clearly see that Rumble has changed a lot since the older days, he was more willing to socialize and adapt to the world than live in his own little one at the junkyard.

Dudley: Stared down at Rumble at first, but then snorted some small flames and sighed, approaching his new trainer and sitting down, hinting for him to get on.

: Rubs his hands excited. “Sweet!”

: As he watched Rumble climb on Dudley. “So, why is he named Dudley anyways?”

: “An inconvenience on birth. Once he hatched out of his egg, he spent the first five hours of his life smacking his head against a wall, no matter the innumerous warnings about not doing so.”

: “So the reason he’s named like that…”

: “It’s because intelligence wise…”

: “His brain is a ‘dud’…”

They stared at Rumble who just looked now annoyed.

: “You guys are just being ridiculous. You’re not dumb, right Dudley?”

Dudley: At first didn’t respond, but once Rumble was somewhat on, half slipping away, he immediately started moving, causing his trainer to fall down on the floor. He didn’t even realize he was off until he groaned.

: “Well, I should probably design some accessories so that doesn’t repeat.”

: “Good idea…” He says with another groan.

: “In the meantime, let’s leave Dudley be, I have one more thing to show you, Teemo.”

Eyes were on him for a moment before they moved to the other room. The place was dark at first, but then lights came on and it revealed a huge playground, the whole place was set up similar to the Hufkins. At the middle of the room, something got up and stretched itself awake.

: “Teemo… This is Zora.”

: “Zora… So I take it this one is a girl?”

All four of them were looking at a dragon that was smaller than them. In fact, she was as big as either Teemo or Rumble’s arm. She had her wings folded at the moment.

: Chuckled. “Guess Teemo got the short straw of the deal.”

: Looked at Rumble annoyed. “Size doesn’t mean everything, stop judging.”

Zora: As on cue, to prove her superiority, she unfolded her wings, it impressed how something so small could fold such large wings. It was rather impressive.

: “Her species of dragon are known for great fliers and carriers, her wings allow her to carry up to 8 times her own weight… So if she wanted to, she could carry about 3 and a half of us by herself without losing altitude.”

: “That seems handy for a lot of things…”

: “What about combat wise?”

: “You might find that she can’t perform any high fascinating flame abilities like Dudley, but she can still perform some… Hurtful flames…”

Zora: On cue with Heimer’s talk, she turned towards a target dummy wearing a metal armor, took a deep breath and… Spat a really small flame ball… The size of an acorn… Towards its chest.

: “That’s it? One lousy flame? You’ve got to be…”

Later they noticed that the fire slowly corroded THROUGH the metal vest and was slowly burning the dummy from the inside! The whole thing was like watching fire wearing a piece of armor, until it burned down enough for it to crack and cause the pieces to roll around the floor.

Zora: Again, gave Rumble a nasty look, now annoyed.

: “Lucky for humans their insides are not flammable, so worst case scenario, they get a 3rd degree burn… Us yordles however… Would end up ignited far easy.” He said as Zora looked threateningly at him.

: “In common English… Don’t annoy the dragon…”

: Now felt annoyed that everyone was staring at him with a look of disapproval. “Fine, I’m sorry… I just thought less from someone so little…”

: “Guess that means Teemo doesn’t need to compensate.”

: Facepalmed.

: Looked annoyed at Lulu.

: Blushed at her remark.

: “Any who… That was just her corrosive fire and her wings giving you the ability to navigate faster anywhere. There’s also a third trick she can pull off.” Presses a new button from his remote.

Another dummy showed up, this time a normal one.

Zora: Spotted the dummy in sight, she spat something at its head. It looked gooey from the looks of it.

: “Ugh… What is that?”

: “I’ve found that their mucus is a bit too sticky to remove simply, so it should provide Teemo with the ability to blind a foe.”

: “You’re saying that she just spat on the dummy.”

: “Precisely!”

The four yordles gave a combined look of disgust.

: “Been training Zora to match up to your standards, Teemo. I quite believe that she can be of your assistance? Maybe more as you and she work together…”

: Heard the words “work together”, and sharing a smile with Lulu, she thought that having Zora would finally be what Teemo lacked, which was trust, from another being. She knew that for years, Teemo worked alone always, never had his own squad. She hoped that accepting Zora would help him in his life. She just waited for the words.

: “I don’t know, I…”

The whole thing was interrupted by a ring tone. It started echoing through the room, Teemo being the source.

: Pulled out his phone and looked at Heimer apologetically. “You mind if I…?”

: Didn’t seem offended. “None at all.”

: Answered the call. “This is Teemo…” As he was sideways to the rest of the group, he kept hearing things from the phone as his expression went from somewhat worried to a sad sigh. “Understood…” He hangs up the phone, looking back at Zora.

Zora: Like Tristana, she did hope that all that training she was put through by Heimer would pay off for her to finally fly and help her new partner.

: “I appreciate your help, Heimer… But I can’t take her…”

Zora: Her look quickly changed to one of sorrow… She felt like she just got betrayed by him.

: “Are you sure? If it’s about maintaining a dragon, I can give an easy lesson on…”

: “I’m sorry, but I feel like I won’t be able to work with her. I barely have time for myself… Rather than raising a dragon…”

Tristana and Lulu now shared the same expression as Zora. Rumble just sighed and crossed his arms. Zora took it the worse tough.

Zora: Her expression changed to one of anger, she lifted her wings and flew to the highest point in her playground she could, away from it all, looking away from the yordles.

: Looked up at his dragon, but sadly didn’t think that saying anything else would help. “I’ll talk to the mayor about your project and put his mind at ease. I think he won’t have a problem with them here… This was fun, but I must get back to work. Thank you girls for visiting as well…” He said as he passed by everyone, only to be stopped by Heimer at the door.

: “I’ll keep her here if you change your mind, Teemo.”

: He gave some thought, then a quick nod at Heimer before leaving the lab altogether.

A tension cutting silence hit the room as they watched Teemo leaving. Him being the only person who didn’t want a dragon for himself, even though it would have brought the team closer together. Tristana and Lulu were both saddened, Rumble just sighed, as if expecting this, while Heimer remained neutral.

: “You know he wanted it, it just…”

: “I know… He still has his duty to perform… Just hurts that he won’t even try new things for his own sake… I was hoping he’d change away from his old self… I can’t stand the idea of him stuffing himself in the jungle or in some office thinking to himself again!”

: “Maybe he’s just not ready… We can’t really force him to suddenly try new things…”

: “Lulu is correct. It’s best if we allow the Colonel to decide on his own. If we force him, he might not like the decision.”

Meanwhile in the hallway, the convo would be heard off screen as narration. Teemo was walking towards the nearest elevator away from the labs.

: “It’s the same story all over again… I appreciate Teemo doing everything for his people…”

Teemo walks in the elevator and presses a button, he then looks down, still sighing about the earlier event.

: “But sacrificing his happiness for the people… I don’t think he’ll last long.”

Finally, Teemo looks back up at the elevator doors with a serious expression as they closed.

TO BE CONTINUED…