Tate had his arms crossed over his chest as he took in what the dragons had created. In just three days he'd gone from thinking that they were slightly intimidating to wondering if they were sane. He just couldn't wrap his head around how they behaved. Koda was like a little kid, which was nice in its own way, he seemed not to hold any prejudice and was the only dragon outside Bezhar in the group who addressed him by name. All the other dragons weren't outright disrespectful or cruel but he could constantly feel their disdain and condescension. Of course, Koda wasn't perfect he was still hung up on Tate's age but Tate was gratified that Lou's age stunned him even more.
He had to chuckle to himself as the dragons couldn't help but watch how they spoke because in their minds Lou was a toddler, even though Lou had insisted over and over again that he was not. It really was an interesting phenomenon the way age and physical appearance of age was perceived by the dragons. A person's outward "age" as a human was not something that was considered at all. A dragon's age had nothing to do with the human body they expressed. He'd also figured out that to dragons maturity was not reached until fifty or sixty, but this included their time in the egg. For example an egg may be twenty years old by the time it hatches and then in another thirty years that dragon is looked at as an adult. This is regardless to them obtaining their fully mature dragon from three years after hatching.
So by this logic, a human, who had never even been in an egg, could not be easily thought of as an adult when they were both under the age of fifty. Tate could see a few of them finally coming around on this point, having to accept, as he did, that the two species were very different on this matter.
As for the scene laid out before him. Bezhar was supervising the final touches on the course he was going to be required to run in a competition against a poison dragon. What it amounted to was an obstacle course where he had to run up and down flights of stairs, and even in one section, across huge pegs that Axashaw had stuck into the stone wall, and around the square to a finish line. All along the way were large targets next to smaller targets. He understood that the larger target was for a dragon, accounting for the relative size of the spikes they'd be ejecting from their bodies. His "spikes" would be pointed daggers. He would have to run this course while hitting each target in turn. The only way he would be able to pass this is when the dragon he'd be up against ran the course and set a time, Tate would either have to achieve a time no more than one-quarter of the set time over, match the time, or beat the time.
He'd already gathered that no one expected him to be able to beat the time. His goal had been expressly stated to him to be just to practice this course until he could do it with his eyes shut. He needed to be able to hit the bull's eyes each time as fast as he could. The dragon chosen would surely not miss, so he could not either.
He wanted to be insulted that they didn't think he could do it but he couldn't say anything. He had the sneaking suspicion that they were right, it was going to take all he had to meet the minimum requirements for this part of the Quillintine, let alone come out the winner in the race overall. He was already looking forward to and dreading training on this course.
He was looking forward to it because he knew it would be a new challenge. He'd never done anything like this before. He'd never thrown daggers either so that would be a new skill he'd have to acquire. He dreaded it because he already knew this was going to nearly kill him to train for. He was fairly good at guessing how long he'd have to train to be proficient in a skill. This ability had always served him well. He'd often been able to maximize his training when he was a dragon rider because he knew what threshold he had to reach to break through. As for this, well this was going to take time. If he were going off his skills in the past, learning this from the back of Aquana would not have taken much time as long as he could get the handle of dagger throwing, but this was not the case. He was not flying this course, he was going to be running it. Running on his own two legs was a lot more unstable than the glide and large beat of a dragon's wings.
Nox stepped into the middle of the square next to Bezhar and, hands on hips, looked around at their masterpiece. "It looks good, it's similar enough to a regular course but the human's modifications work too."
Bezhar grinned. "Koda, run it one time for us. Romin, keep time."
Koda grinned and vibrated like a kid receiving a gift. "Yes, commander." He gleefully accepted the order. Then he shimmered. To Lou's and Tate's eyes the outline of the human form that was Koda blurred, then the blurring effect moved inwards until he was just an inward churning mass of shape and color. The mass swirled into itself as it reformed into a lean green dragon.
Lou sucked in a breath of awe. "Wow."
"He's a plant type," Tate murmured to himself. He thought no one had heard him but Yokan did.
"He's a what, what did you call him?" It wasn't said in any threatening way but for some reason, Tate felt odd to say it again, almost embarrassed.
Koda the dragon looked at him curiously too. His long neck bent to see Tate at eye level, his long powerful tale swishing lightly back and forth. Tate could see eight spikes at the end of that tale that were at least as long and thick as his arm.
Lou cleared his throat and to Tate's surprise he answered for him. "Uh-hum, sorry Tate called him a 'plant type it's how we classify the different dragon abilities in the human realm." He explained matter of factly.
Tate had to admire Lou's ability to bluff confidence. If you weren't paying very close attention Lou looked completely unaffected by everything going on, but Tate could see his hand trembling ever so slightly.
"Usually in our realm when a dragon has green scales they have some connection to nature, usually plants."
"Huh," Yokan said rubbing his chin. "That's kind of interesting. I can see how that sort of holds true. However, I don't think that will be as reliable here as it may be in your realm. Koda's ability is mainly poison. He's one of fifty dragons in the nest who has poison spikes on his tale and who can use them as a projectile. As for plants.....well I've never noticed that he had any ability to do with them."
Koda grumbled.
"Yeah, Koda says he can't even have a plant in his home because all the plants he tries to keep die."
Bezhar interrupted. "As interesting as this is, let's get on with it. Koda, on my mark." Bezhar counted down and when he said "Go!" Koda's powerful hind legs shot him up into the air.
Tate had studied dragon movement and flying patterns in the academy. He knew the theory of the most efficient ways to fly with and without a rider. He couldn't tear his eyes away from Koda and he launched upwards, his wings held close to his body to streamline the power of his jump. As soon as he reached maximum height his wings shot out.
His coloration was so beautiful. His scales were the same deep green as his eyes, but the membranes of his wings were a lighter shade with streaks of pure white. The effect from the ground with the sun shining through the membranes made it look like lighting blots were shooting all over the surface of his wings.
Koda made it look easy as he zipped around the square banking, turning, diving, flying up and backward, stopping and reversing on a dime in the air. Each move he executed was smooth and well-practiced.
All the while he would raise his tail at just the right time and shoot a spike from the ones sticking out of it. It dawned on Tate just how impressive this was when he saw it the first time. To shoot the spike a dragon had to raise an appendage that they relied on for steering and balance in flight. He had to give up full control of his trajectory and rely on the position of his legs and wings as his own tail tried to jerk him off course. Then he had to whip the tail straight to shoot the spike further jarring the body and potentially unbalancing it.
Koda never missed, never slowed down, never went even an inch off course.
Lou's mouth was on the ground at this point and Tate was equally impressed. Koda made it look easy, but Tate knew it was anything but.
Koda landed smoothly at the "finish line" which was really just a mark in the sand for him since he didn't have to run a specific path like Tate would. The requirements for Koda had been to hit the targets from designated shooting spots that would be the same places Tate would have to throw from. How Koda did it in flight was meaningless as long as he went in the proper order.
Koda landed and shook himself. Tate got the feeling he was talking up a storm but of course, in his dragon form Tate could not understand anything.
Whatever he said Bezhar just smiled indulgently at him before turning to Tate. All the other dragons were already looking at him with small smirks on most of their faces. He knew what they were waiting for, they couldn't wait to see him fail miserably on the first try.
He put in effort to shake off the negative thoughts and energy. He had to take this seriously, no matter how good or poorly this went he had to give it his best shot.
"Two minutes and seven seconds," Romin stated with a grin.
"Well, human, you're up," Bezhar said with amusement. "Let's see what you've got."