“No, dad, I don’t /want/ to be a Cataloger! I want to train under a /witch/, not the Dragon Keeper!” Ivy’s father didn’t loosen his grip as he lead her to the Arena. He only laughed, not seeming to mind her words. “Witches and magic are looked down upon, you know that! You’ll love being a Catalogee-I did! We’re paid more and much more respected than /witches/.” He laughed again. “And you won’t even be training under the Dragon Keeper, you’ll be training under his apprentice, which will be much worse, trust me. But then again, my little girl always liked a challenge, didn’t she?” Her father stopped at the gates at the entrance to the Arena. He turned and smiled down at her, eyes shining with pride. “Make me proud out there, okay?” >>><<< Ivy stared around the Arena. It was a large circle with a flat, sandy bottom and tall stone walls. There were six circular stone slabs for each new Catalogee to stand on, and Ivy blinked back her tears at the knowledge that she most likely wouldn’t see her father for at least another two months. From now on she’d be living in the Catalogee wing of the castle, along with the five other new apprentices. Catalogees were Cataloger trainees that trained under the Dragon Keeper-or their apprentice in this case-and Catalogers were the people who explored the world in search of undiscovered dragons, rating their speed, strength, whether or not they had venom, stuff like that. The king and queen paid the Catalogers based on how high their scores were (aka how dangerous the dragon is), and they were very admired by everyone in the kingdom. Ivy cursed her father as she looked around at the other contestants, her wild and long light brown hair dancing in the wind as her narrowed eyes observed the others. She wanted to work in /magic/, not /cataloging/! The sun slowly began to rise over the stone wall, casting her tan skin in a warm golden glow as she finally got a good look at ‘the others’. On her left was a pretty African American girl, her dreads tied back in a ponytail and her dark eyes scanning the other teens just like Ivy. Ivy noticed that she had /extremely/ long eyelashes and felt a stab of jealousy (haha, leave that to her to get jealous of someone’s eyelashes XD), though she quickly pushed it away. On her right was a tall girl with glasses and freckles, her golden hair pulled back into two braids. She seemed... sweet. On the blond girl’s right was a boy with tanned skin and long, messy white hair. He was tall and had thick, coiled muscle covering every bit of his figure. But he also seemed.. soft, sweet, like he wouldn’t hurt a fly, despite his obvious strength. He had big, puppy dog brown eyes that almost-/almost/-made Ivy smile. Next to him was a small, skinny, flat, pale girl with straight black hair that came a little ways past her shoulders. Immediately Ivy felt a prick of resentment as their eyes met, hers deep brown and the girl’s crystal blue. Though she didn’t want to admit it, the girl was... /kinda/ pretty. Of course, it was obviously only because of her eyes, and Ivy told herself she /still/ looked ten times better than the other girl, so there was no need to worry. The girl didn’t look exactly sweet, she just looked... calm. On the pale girl’s right, in between her and the African American girl was the second of two boys. He was handsome, with slightly golden skin and soft gray hair that was cropped short, but that Ivy knew would grow out as the time separated from the outside world wore on. He had intense green eyes and lean but strong muscle. The boy looked... smart. Smart and serious, like he shouldn’t be messed with. All the teens turned as on the side of the Arena across from the Gates a pair of large, majestic wooden doors opened to reveal a very, very, /very/ old Asian man. By his side stood a woman with strong muscles and beautiful, rich dark brown skin. Her eyes were dark and hard, and her red dyed hair was pulled back into a thick braid that reached the backs of her knees. Ivy swallowed nervously as the pair made their way to the center of the Arena, instinctively reaching into her leather vest to run her fingers along the cold, cool vials that contained invisibility and strength potions, hallucination gases, speed and flying dust, and many more magical ingredients she had found or traded or bought. Finally they reached the center and the woman with the braid began to speak. “My name is Raz (I couldn't come up with a good name Dx)." Her loud, strong voice rang out. Ivy immediately knew that she didn't want to mess with this woman. "I am the Dragon Keeper’s apprentice, and from now on you refer to me for /everything/.” Her dark eyes raked over the teens, cold and insensitive. “I will be training you all to be the best Catalogers this world has yet seen. And,” She turned, gesturing to the Asian man with a flourish.
“This, is the Dragon Keeper.” Ivy's eyes widened in surprise. She didn’t know how he was still /alive/, let alone the Dragon Keeper. Almost no one saw ever saw him, and Ivy had expected someone a bit more, well, young. “He will oversee your training. But first, you all must get to know each other, should you not?" The woman quickly whipped around, pointing at the muscled boy with white hair. "Christopher Whitehouse." Next was the blond girl with braids. "Emily Foster." All too soon, Raz was pointing straight at her. "Ivy Chen." Then the African American girl. "Dianne Johnson." The cute boy with gray hair. "Chase Anderson." And finally the black-haired girl. "Clara Smith." Raz paused, eyeing each new apprentice in turn, her eyes flashing. "Now that that's over with, some dragons can be quiet aggressive, and you will undoubtedly have to fight at least one in your training. You all should know that the quickest and most efficient way to defeat a dragon is to find their sensory spot." Ivy frowned, having no idea what Raz was talking about. Sensory spot? What was that? She remembered her father talking about it and desperately tried to recall the memory, but she came up empty, besides the fact that it was something very important. "So," Raz continued, slipping a ring off her finger and tossing it up. She caught it in one hand before unsheathing her sword with the other and holding the simple golden band up. "Whoever gets the ring first, wins." Ivy's eyes went wide in surprise, as did the other trainees. "But, there will also be obstacles in your future training, so we need to to represent that here. Lay a single hair on the Dragon Keeper, and you're out." Ivy watched as the Dragon Keeper smiled beside Raz, grimacing at his mostly toothless mouth. Did he even hear what she was saying? But, Ivy didn't have time to think on that any further before Raz spoke once more, her word sending a shiver of adrenaline down Ivy's spine. "Go." Heheheheheh, can u guys guess who's who out of the main Mean characters? ;)
