DRAGON PEARL - Unlocking the Green dragon's power

Next morning, when Monik was washing her teeth in the bathroom, Lucy peeked in there.
"Hey," she said and Monik nodded to her in the mirror, as a greeting. "Did Ren tell you, what background story, I made up for him yesterday?"
Monika spit her toothpaste and turned to her excited friend: "Not yet, he is still asleep."
"I covered everything, that could Kamila ask him," and she held up a paper, which she was holding in her hands. "So, the basis is, that Ren is my cousin from Slovakia, right?" But she did not wait for Monik’s nod, she just continued. "His super sexy figure," she said with a slightly muted voice, so Ren will not hear her by accident, "is explained by the fact, that he is a former student of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport in Bratislava."
Monik nodded, with her toothbrush in her mouth and an expression that said - it sounds good. "After finishing his studies, he decided to travel and his first stop was at his beloved cousin, with whom he knew, he could stay for a while," she spoke proudly, while pointing at herself. Monik couldn’t help herself and she smiled. "That will also explain, why he disappears, when he returns to his world. You know, that because he is traveling, you can not contact him. And finally, why did he go to school with you... This gave me a pretty hard time to figure out, but we will say, that it was a bet." Monik for a moment stopped washing her teeth, gave her friend a doubting look, but she did not jump in her speech. "So, one night, the tree of us, were drinking in the kitchen and we talked about our schools. We came to a debate about whether it is more difficult to study your field or mine. Here comes Ren into the picture, who as an impartial observer, will visit both of our schools and decide the dispute."
Monik then rinse her mouth and put her toothbrush into the cup at the mirror.
"Isn’t that too over-combinated?" and she turned to Lucy with raised eyebrows.
"Well, he can not be a student, who is thinking about changing his school, because then he would have to know something from chemistry. Or at least he should know our font. Thus, it is indeed complicated, but it's not that unbelievable. The other variants have been worse."
Monik’s mouth twitched, because she also could not think of any better reason, why anyone would voluntarily go to a chemistry lessons, if not obligatory.
"But he should go only for a few lectures, otherwise it would be really weird," said Lucy finally.

Monika went from the bathroom to the kitchen, to get some breakfast and Lucy followed her.
"What about his name? Kamila already asked about it yesterday," said Monik, while looking into the refrigerator.
"Oh yeah! His mother chose his name, who is originally from America,” said Lucy triumphantly, and then she told her a few stories, that she made up about Ren’s fictional family. Monik was quite amused by her enthusiasm, but she felt empty for some reason.

That day, Monik had just one exercise, where the students were in small groups. Therefore, Ren was willing to wait for her before the school. The plan was, that after school, he will accompany her on her way to park Folimanka to Tomen and then he will meet with Kamila in Mr. Long’s restaurant. Everything was arranged through sms by Lucy, last night.
But their plan changed, when Kamila saw Ren before Monik and she ran up to him.
"Hi handsome, did you come pick me up?" she asked him, while she immediately hung on his hand. Ren was slightly red in the face.
"But I," he said, when Monik passed right before them.
"Have a nice date," she said to the pair and a she looked at them with a fake smile.
"Can you wait a bit?" said Ren to Kamila, pulling himself from her grasp and he ran after Monik. "Wait, I'll go with you."
"You do not need to, i will be fine... it's just a short walk. Even so, it would be strange, if you do not accompany her, to your own date." Ren wanted to argue, but Monik said: "Please, what is the probability, that some monsters will attack on that short way to the park, just when you leave me unattended?”
“Ok then," said Ren reluctantly and returned to Kamila, who hung herself on his arm again and immediately began to speak. Monik was watching them for a while, but then she chose to go up by the Albertov stairs.  

Usually, she wasn’t used to go up these stairs, just down, but now she needed to think. She stared at the fallen colorful leaves that covered the ground and the cold faint rays of the sun, which lit through the treetops. It was almost the end of October, but it was a nice nostalgic weather. She heard Lucy’s words in her head: After finishing his studies, he decided to travel... That will also explain, why he disappears, when he returns to his world...
Monika felt sadness, she firmly gripped the railing and shook her head, as if she wanted to shake those thoughts out of her head. She was upset. Why did she think about Ren? She knows him barely six days and she does not think clearly around him! Also he is not even from her world. And why is she jealous at Kamila? After all, they just went on a date. There could not be anything more between them, because he will return home. Also SHE could not have anything with him, because he only needs her to transfer the Green dragon’s power.
Then she remembered Ren’s look, when he said yesterday: I will not leave you unprotected.
He stared at her with so much tenderness and for a moment, she thought, that he wanted to protect HER. But he protects her only because of that power...
She stopped gripping the railing and looked in front of herself. She realised, that she was only half way up the stairs and she heavily sighed, thinking, that she could have chosen an easier road.

Reluctantly, she started to walk up the stairs again. Her legs began to hurt terribly and she hasn’t been able to think about anything. She even tried to ignore the pain in her legs.
When she stood at the last rest stop, when suddenly, she felt something strange in the neighborhood - someone was watching her. She looked around herself terrified, but she didn’t see anyone. Her body shivered and she grinned, just when she told Ren, that he may leave alone, this happens?! She closed her eyes and empty her head, she let her senses feel, what they felt a while ago...
"Tomen!" she exclaimed and pointed her eyes at the tin air beside her. An ordinary person would not see anyone, but Monik's dragon eyes registered a silhouette of a small person, surrounded by a weak energy.
"How did you know, that it was me?" asked her Tomen disappointed, but also surprised, when he appeared before her as a boy.
"I do not know, I just felt you."
"I am blocking my energy since I came to your world, plus I was invisible... Sensing the presence of my kind is virtually impossible, the dragon's offsprings lost this ability to sense us many generations ago. I think, you just found out, how really tap into the Green dragon’s power and I just wanted to scare you!” and he bared his teeth at her. "Do you know, how you did it?"
"Yes I know," smiled Monik in shock and Tomen grabbed her hand.
"That's awesome! We have to try it out!" and he dragged her up the stairs.

They went right into the park Pod Karlovem. After they ran under the arch, that led to the park, they found themselves in the other dimension. There, this place looked like a dense forest where the grey fog stretched to their knees.
"Now," he looked at Monik with anticipation in his eyes.
"What do you want me to do?" she asked him, while she put her bag on the ground.
"Make this tree grow," and the boy showed at a small tree barely looking out from under the fog.
Monika sighed, she did not know how should she properly do this, but for starters she stood next to the tree and straightened her hand over it. She gave Tomen a skeptical glance, then she focused on the little tree to grow, but nothing happened. After a while, she sighed and the boy squatted to the tree, examining it, whether it has grown even by a centimeter.
"Are you doing it like before?"
"Well, before, I didn’t have to grow a tree."
"Let's start from the beginning. How did it feel the last time? What did you think about?"
"Nothing. My legs hurt so much because of those stairs, that I could not think of anything."
"Did you focus on the pain?"
"No, I actually tried to ignore the pain. I really did not think about anything... and that's the problem, how do I get this tree to grow, when I am not supposed to think about it?!" and she threw her hands in the air.

Tomen thought about it for a moment, then he said: "We approached the problem wrong. You need to learn to use the Green dragon’s power without thinking about it."
"And how am I supposed to do that?"
"It should come naturally, as when you use your hand. You do not think about using it, you just do it."
"How is it possible, that so far, the power appeared when i felt a strong emotion - like when I got angry at Ren?"
"I think, that by emotions, you can tap into the dragon’s memories, which then overcome your body. But to get to the TRUE strength of its power, emotions are not the way."
Monik frowned at him, but she didn’t ask any more questions. She looked at the little tree, as at her arch enemy, and then she concentrated on her hand. But she was just looking at it, while she emptied her head. At that moment, her fingers moved, as if by their own, and the tree grew to her hand. Tomen began to rejoice and even on Monik’s face a surprised smile appeared.

After this test, they went to park Folimanka for Monik’s further training. She was doing great. The more she used the dragon’s power, the stronger she became. Trees were becoming more massive and since she was able to also manage the growth of their roots, she created a small bridge over the rivulet by the dojo. Using the power did not exhaust her at all, on the contrary, she felt more energy flowing through her body.

In the evening, Ren joined them. When he crossed to the other dimension, with Tomen’s training ground, he looked annoyed. He sat down phlegmatically to one of the nearby trees and leaned to its tribe. Monik immediately noticed him and she approached him.
"Well, how was your date?" she asked, standing near him.
Ren didn’t even looked at her, just snorted: "I will not go to school with you anymore..."
Monika had to bit her lip to hide her gleeful smile, but then she said: "You will not have to."
The root of the tree, on which Ren sat, suddenly moved and pushed him. Ren looked at the tree with confusion, it took him a little while until he realized, what just happened, but then his face brightened up.
"Well then, you just have to learn to use it in battle," and with that he went to the dojo for his weapons.

Then Monik’s real training began. With the Green dragon’s power at her disposal she had a pretty good chance against Ren in a fight. Although she used some dirty tricks - she caught his ankle in tree roots when he wanted to attack, or when they were by the trees, all of a sudden a branch grew on the tree, which hit the poor man right in the face. Monik was enjoying it and she was getting better and better.
Tomen watched the two of them from a distance and was pleased, that Monik was able to get the Green dragon’s power under control, because he knew, that the message about the capture of Ren’s brother will arrive in a few days. 

Comments