Tanaka’s Return

Welcome To Los Angeles!

Arya’s POV

I open my eyes, or at least I think I do…everything is so dark, like I’m in a pitch black room. Suddenly a thick mist covers the ground around me, or is it smoke? I don’t know where I am but I need to find a way out FAST.

“Hello?” I yell out. Well here goes nothing. I slowly start walking ahead, hoping I come across a door or something. After a while I start to see…trees? The farther I go, the more I see before I’m suddenly in a forest. Everything is black…the trees, the grass, everything. The more I walk the more I see. Rabbits, butterflies, all kinds of wild life, only everything is black. The only thing that isn’t is the moon. Suddenly I end up in a clearing in this Black Forest. “Hello?” I call again. “Anyone there?”

“We are here child.” I hear that creepy voice again. It’s a low whisper, wonder if it doesn’t whisper.

“I’m not purposely whispering silly child.” The voice laughs. I can at least tell it’s a female voice. “My name is Onyx, and it’s been a very long time since I’ve had a human…” she says.

“You don’t sound like a wolf to me…” I respond, even though I have this sinking feeling that she isn’t one.

“Don’t play dumb with me child, you know exactly what I am.” As she says this I see a set of red eyes staring right at me. “Just because it’s been thousands of years since I’ve had a human doesn’t mean I’ll settle with a weak one. Are you even capable of what The Goddess has planned for you? Maybe I should stay here in my beautiful forest…” she says in a condescending tone.

“Maybe you should! I’ve dealt with enough rudeness and arrogance, I wont allow it to reside in my head too!” I spit back. Just as I’m about to walk back to wherever I came, another voice stops me.

“Wait!” I hear as a wolf with white fur and silver streaks steps out. I also notice she has black spots all over and black paws. “My name is Shadow, please don’t leave. She only means well.” She explains.

“Don’t speak for me mutt. It’s bad enough I have to share her with you, don’t need you speaking for me too!” Onyx growls.

“So what, do I have to choose which one of you stays and which goes?” I question.

“Haha! You wish, you get us both!” Shadow happily says. “She’s annoying, but you’ll grow to love her.” She continues. “You do however get to choose if you want us or not…” she trails off

“I strongly advise you accept us human, Goddess Selene chose you for a reason.” Onyx warns.

What the hell. I never thought I’d get a wolf, let alone a dragon, yet here I am with both. I just wanted a simple life away from that pack. Freedom to do whatever I wanted…is this really for me? Do I want the burden of whatever The Moon Goddess has for me? I think I’m getting a headache…

“What happens if I accept you two?” I question.

“You’ll be blessed beyond measure!” Shadow exclaims

“And be the most powerful being of your generation…” Onyx finishes.

“Can I think about it?” I ask

“Sure, but don’t think too long. If you’re in the Black Forest for too long, you might end up stuck forever.” Shadow explains.

Well shoot. That doesn’t give me much time to weigh the pros and cons. This all sounds like a huge headache, but at the same time I could really make a difference if I’m supposed to be that powerful. I sit on the floor of the forest taking a little more time to think this through before I eventually decide to take that leap. I have so many questions, but who knows how much time I have here. Maybe I can make an actual difference. Change punishments for breaking rules, change how certain people are treated. So much. But what if I fail at what Goddess Selene needs me to do? What if I let everyone down. I’m always told I’m worthless, what if it’s true? What if I just make everything worse?

“You have to have more faith in yourself child. Goddess Selene wouldn’t pick you if she didn’t know for sure if you would succeed. You are apart of a prophecy that will bring dragons back and to their rightful place in this world. You are the key to better days. You may not see it, but we certainly do. You have a heart of gold and are braver than most given your situation. You just have to have faith.” Onyx says

“Alright…”, I say as I stand up, “let’s get to work with…whatever I have to do!” I say nervously

“YAAY!” Shadow howls while running in a circle

“Took you long enough” Onyx responds.

“Okay! Okay, you’re gonna be a little sore when you wake up, but soon after you should be fine. Any extra pain from us making ourselves known prematurely will be taken care of by us, so…see ya on the other side!” Shadow explains. Suddenly I see a bright light, with it I can see just how big Onyx is and holy cow she is huge! She’s wrapped in a giant circle right around us! Next thing you know I’m being dragged into the light. Hopefully this means I’ll be waking up soon…

6 hours later…

Monica’s POV

Its been 6 hours since this girl passed out. Usually I’d be losing my s**t by now but she’s breathing so that’s a plus. It’s not like I can just roll up in the hospital and say “Yo a dragon woke up in her head and she needs help!” They’d probably lock my a*s up. She needs to hurry up because we got a long a*s drive before we get to Los Angeles and I’m not trynna listen to her snoring the whole time. I start seeing a diner up ahead so I decide to stop and order something to eat. I also notice a motel next door so I decide to get a room for us so I can get some rest. Just as I’m waiting for my key card, I get hit with this powerful aura. I don’t even have to think because I already know who it is. After I get my cards I head back to the Range and can see her sitting up looking puzzled until she finally notices me.

Arya’s POV

I wake back up and everything is blurred and my brain feels a little hazy, I can tell I’m still in Monica’s range, but I have no idea where we even are. I see what I think is a small diner and a motel in front of me. As my eyes adjust I see a figure walking towards the car, soon my vision clears all the way and I see Monica walking towards me looking a little nervous. She quickly hops in the car and starts spraying me down with the masking spray.

“Whew girl that’s a power scent you got. I see you accepted your dragon, congrats!”, she says. “Did you get a good look at her? What is she like?” She questions eagerly

“Snarky…and a little mean, but at least my wolf is nice.” I yawn. Monica looks surprised to say the least.

“Wolf?! Did you say your wolf?!” She practically yells.

“Yes. I’m guessing you weren’t expecting that, huh?” I laugh. She starts grinning while shaking her head no.

“Hell I was taught about being the guardian to a dragon, not no damn wolf girl what the hell” she laughs, “but hey I guess it makes sense Miss most powerful being of our generation!” She exclaims

“Please tell me you ordered food, I’m starving!” I say

“Oh yes I did! I ordered to go so we can chill in our room and talk freely about everything.” She explains. I hurry out of the car to head to the diner with her to get our food before we head to our rooms. Once we get there we chow down then watch some Living Single reruns while she explains this whole guardian thing better. I also tell her about meeting my wolf and my dragon.

“Wait so you were actually in the Black Forest?!” She asks

“Yea. Why is it something special?” I inquire

“Hell yea it is! It’s basically a dragon’s playground. It’s natural all black through and through, the only time it looks different is to reflect your personal dragon. So if you had a white dragon, it would it would be all white, an iridescent dragon would reflect a colorful forest like we have here in the real world, and so on…” she explains

“So if my dragon was red, it would be all red?!” I ask. Suddenly she gets very serious and replies in a serious tone, “Yes, but if you ever come across a red dragon keep your guard up at all times. Those are usually the ones filled with the darkest of magic and are hell bent on destroying everything in its path.”

“Oh…” I whisper.

“But don’t worry, as of right now, you’re the only dragon so you shouldn’t have to worry about that!” She says while collecting our trash. “Also each different dragon has their own power. After hearing you describe your dragon, yours sounds like an obsidian dragon so you can do almost anything. You can probably thank your hybrid dad for that.” She explains, “in normal cases you would be able to look to him to help you control and use the magic side of it but unfortunately he’s a d**k, so we are going to a friend in Los Angeles to help with that.” She says.

“How far away are we from there anyway?” I ask.

“We have another 8 hours and you are driving!” She yells, “I promise to stay awake, unlike someone.” She says before sticking her tongue out at me.

“That was not my fault you a*s!” I yell as I throw a pillow at her.

“So one more question. What’s their names?” She asks.

“My dragon’s name is Onyx and my wolf is named Shadow.” I say with a huge grin

“That is so cool. I can’t wait to meet my wolf. I just hope she’s as awesome as I am.” She dreamily proclaims.

“Let’s just hope she doesn’t have a no-no book as thick as yours…” I respond

“You know you love my colorful a*s vocabulary Ry, stop denying it” she grins

“I bet your wolf is gonna be some bad a*s warrior that loves rolling in the mud.” I say. Monica throws a look of disgust and starts calling me every name in the book for wishing such a foul thing about her wolf. “She’s also gonna insist you wear chucks and sweat pants. Also no pink OR GLITTER!” I yell as I run to the bathroom, locking the door before she can get ahold of me. I love messing with her.

After I finish showering, we continue on discussing what all she knows about being a guardian along with other things before we both drift off into sleep. The next day we wake up, grab breakfast and continue our journey to Los Angeles. I’m a good mixture of excited and nervous as hell about what’s to come. I just hope I make the Goddess proud while helping those who need it.