Dragon Tamer: 24. Arcee's Plan (Patreon)

Well... crap on a cracker.

The tanner soon left, having delivered his dose of bad news and not wanting to leave his booth unmanned for too long. I thanked him and quickly turned to Jane and Sienna.

"What do I do? Arcee is, like, all magic."

Jane looked deeply worried but not as panicked as I felt. "Void dragons are part of the null class--"

"They're one of the few all null types," Sienna corrected. "That means they're weak against physical and fighting types."

I perked up. That sounded promising. "That's how this system works, then? Like, ice dragons are weak against fire types?" I'd played some basic elemental games like that. It had been a standard trope that was easy to learn and work with.

"It's... simplified, but yes," Sienna said. "You have specialists and generalists. Arcee--" She stopped, looked around as if to make sure that no one was listening, and then lowered her voice. "Mimics are close to ultra-generalists. She has a phoenix form of fire and a winter dragon of ice. The house dragon is a nimble/physical type. That makes it easy for her to switch from one to another to take on multiple opponents. But a highly tiered pure ice form would be stronger than her phoenix form."

I nodded. I didn't feel better, per se, but the edge of panic was gone. "Do you think she might be able to take on a void dragon in her house dragon form?"

Sienna looked at Jane who had a house dragon herself.

Jane bit her lip. "House dragons are weak against much larger opponents and void dragons can get as large as a cart."

"She might have a special attack to give her an edge," Sienna said. "You should ask her."

I perked up. "The quartz crystal!"

Screw that bath. That was going to be my next stop.

***

Soooo. Turns out Quartz crystals were expensive.

They also grew cloudy and useless after so many uses. So, even though they were the basic-ass crystal... there was a good market for them.

Several of the shops had quartz on display, but Jane insisted on one shop in particular which stood next to Bernard's Alchemy store. It seemed to be all quartz. Everything from very expensive crystal clear crystals to ones that looked like solid milk. The used crystals with maybe one or two uses left were in a bargain bin to the front. These were all brown and black with gunk inside.

I asked what caused that to happen, but Jane and Sienna didn't know.

"The rule of thumb is to buy the most expensive quartz you can," Jane said.

"Who made up that rule? Quartz sellers?" I asked.

Sienna snorted. "It's rare for a quartz to burn out in the middle of a connection -- but it can happen. The major league champions buy high-grade crystals but only use them for one or two matches before they retire them.

"I used yours without any problems," I said.

"Yes, but those were play matches." Jane glanced around to make sure no one was listening closely. I suspected the shopkeeper in front was -- no one could be polishing a glass countertop that intently. Jane still lowered her voice and kept her words discreet. "Arcee is on the line. You want to buy what you can afford."

That put a chink in my cheap nature. "Yeah. Got it."

I strode up to the shopkeeper who immediately put away her polishing rag and greeted me with a smile.

"Can I help you?"

"What do you have for arena fighting?" I asked.

***

Twenty minutes later, I walked out less two solid gold coins and plus one quartz. It wasn't clear like I'd seen in the highest quality crystals, but I'd liked the look of it. Solid white with little flecks of turquoise running in a vein on the top. Technically, that was considered a flaw, but Jane and Sienna were certain it wouldn't interrupt the connection between me and the dragon.

I'd decided to save renting a wagon until I'd spoken with Arcee and instead spent three silvers buying food and supplies for myself and my two dragons.

Yes, Arcee could hunt for herself, but I got suckered into buying there was some vitamin-enriched 'dragon chow' equivalent that was supposedly good for nesting mothers. I figured the extra nutrients wouldn’t hurt Tiberius since he was a growing boy, too.

Jane, Sienna, and I bought some food from a vendor and made our way back to Arcee's nesting site.

She was sitting on her eggs in her very intimidating Winter Dragon form and rattled icicles at Commodore when he dared to flit too close.

I walked up to her and pulled out the quartz crystal from my pocket. Then I paused. "I should have asked this before, but we don't need to be in an arena to do this, do we?"

"No, most practice arenas are just painted lines on the ground, or chalk," Jane answered and to her credit, she didn't act like it was a stupid question. "Simply hold it in your hands and reach out for Arcee in particular. You've already connected with Tiberius once, so you may be drawn to him again. Search out for Arcee in particular."

"All right."

I stood in front of my mimic and held the quartz, closing my eyes.

My connection with the quartz crystal was immediate. I hadn't purchased the best in the shop, but it was far from the worst. And I was aware that I was the first person to have used it this way. It felt... clean, for lack of a better term. Like a vessel waiting to be filled with my consciousness. I was aware, too, of the turquoise impurities running within the quartz. They didn't get in my way... but it was like seeing a TV screen with a couple of bad pixels.

Casting out from the crystal, I was aware of two distinct connections.

One felt more familiar -- the tug to his mind stronger. Tiberius. Though I couldn't exactly see, his connection had the blazing brilliance of an opal's rainbow light with flicks of fire running up and down the connection.

Arcee's was thinner and stretched as if it came from a distance. It was a single golden filament -- razor-thin and yet strong.

With effort, I set aside Tiberius's connection and focused my mind on following Arcee's back to the source.

What I received was a tentative welcome. The type I'd get from, like, a girl I often partnered in Biology Class. We worked well together and sometimes shared snippets of our life in between looking at microscope slides... but the friendship didn't extend further than that. Arcee held herself aloof.

Part of me was saddened. In the back of my mind... I don't know, I hoped that Arcee would grow to like me?

But I had entered into our bond telling her that this was temporary and for revenge on Creepy Todd. That was why she'd accepted. No more, no less.

Time to get down to business. To defeat... Todd.

I didn't fully merge with her mind. There was no need as we weren't in an arena. Instead, I just... existed with her.

I caught her up on the gossip -- that Todd had bonded a Void Dragon.

Arcee knew what they were. I felt her sudden apprehension as if it were my own.

But there was hope, too. And in her mind, I saw the true reason she had accepted my offer to bond.

A few minutes later, I opened my eyes. Grinning, I turned to Jane and Sienna who waited nearby.

I couldn't keep the news to myself if I tried.

"Arcee's about to hit a new tier."

Sienna's eyes widened. "You mean..."

"Yup. She's about to gain another form." I grinned back over my shoulder at my clever girl. "That's why she was fighting the Bone Dragon -- that's how mimics do it. She didn't get that form, but it's any time now."

"If she acquired a fighting dragon form..." Jane started.

"Then she'll be able to fight that Void Dragon. And, she'll have five special attacks to unlock thanks to the gold crystal," I said in triumph. "Arcee and I are going hunting for wild dragons."