Speed Is King

"No. We have one elder left alive in our Tempest clan. She makes all of the decisions for us. Our mission here was also under her directive. I understand your worries, and I can assure you that they are all unfounded. Our elder, Khelaria the Blue Lightning, has no desire to do unto you what was done unto us. We just want a place we can call home once more." Khellendra touched Khalendros' arm to calm him down as she answered Elliot.

"Ok, let's say I agree to join you both. What next?" Elliot asked.

At that, Khellendra glanced at Khalendros, who hesitated for a while before nodding.

"We hunt for Game Token Fragments next. There are thousands of such fragments spread across the entire world. We need to form five complete Game Tokens to qualify for the final Battle of Kings. After which, at the final month of the Games, we will begin a series of unique games to determine the final winner of the planet." Khellendra explained.

"Five?"

"Yes. Five is the minimum number. That's why we are looking for teammates. You need us if you want to even have a chance to participate in the final Games. Join us." Khellendra urged him again.

Elliot smiled at them both and shook his head lightly.

"You're completely wrong. I do not need you both if I want to participate in the final Games. I can field my own team of five."

A heavy silence filled the air as the two dragons frowned at Elliot's words.

"What do you mean?' Khellendra demanded as she folded her arms under her ample breasts.

Her breath was starting to come faster, and the rise and fall of her large chest was quite a distraction for Elliot. At eighteen years old, Elliot was still a virgin, and he had never seen someone as perfect and as sensual as Khellendra.

As a dragon in human form, Khellendra was the image of human perfection.

Her incredible strength coupled with her apparent vulnerability at that moment served as a powerful force that stirred Elliot's heart and attracted him deeply.

He couldn't help but be affected by her. A strange feeling of hunger and lust was beginning to form in his body.

Elliot closed his eyes to clear any unnecessary thoughts and focused on the line of thought he was following earlier.

"Folding her arms. Right."

She might not be aware, but Elliot understood her body language and immediately realized that Khellendra was extremely disappointed.

The folding of one's arms was a subconscious act by the mind during a time of pressure, an act which places a barrier in between the body and whatever the person was dealing with. Human beings do that when they are feeling a need to be protected.

Being dragons, of course they had no idea about all these human body language and their deeper meanings. But Elliot did.

"These two dragons seem rather young. They may know much, much more about the Universe than I do. But they aren't very skilled in dealing with tricky situations like this." Elliot thought to himself.

"Their aura indicates that they are adolescent Blue Dragons." Gilgamar said.

"Adolescent? How old is an adolescent dragon?" Elliot asked Gilgamar curiously.

"By the way you measure days here on this planet, probably around a hundred thousand days."

"That's… really old. Around three hundred years old. Why are they still so weak? They're still at the King level!" Elliot asked again.

"Dragon energy is much more powerful than normal energy. The Fire Dragon Energy which you wield is stronger than normal Fire Energy by at least a factor of ten. And being so powerful, it has its own drawback. A cost, if you will, to make it fair. It takes a much longer time for Dragon energy to advance qualitatively." Gilgamar explained.

"Qualitative energy advancement? What's that?"

But before Gilgamar could answer…

"Well?" Khellendra raised her voice slightly. Her disappointment was deep, and it was starting to transition into irritation.

"Tell me later, Gilgamar." Elliot quickly put his sword away.

"Ah. Sorry, I was distracted for a moment. Yes, as I said, I can field my own five members. I am a Beast Master, and I have powerful beasts which I can summon." Elliot said.

Disappointment and even a slight trace of desperation flashed in Khellendra's eyes as she struggled to maintain a straight face.

Khalendros didn't even fall into disappointment. He bypassed that altogether and instead began to snarl in anger.

"In that case, then I will elim-"

"HOWEVER." Elliot interrupted Khalendros before he could proclaim what was definitely his intention to kill him. "I am quite agreeable to your proposal. The two of you are extremely powerful, and it would definitely raise my chances of succeeding. We just need to discuss the terms of our cooperation first."

"State your intentions clearly!" Khalendros growled at Elliot's words.. "Stop beating around the bush like a god damned snake! Are you or are you not intending to join us?!"

"Huh?" Khellendra blinked once in confusion. "So… You're agreeing to join us?"

"See, that's exactly what I want to discuss. I am not JOINING you. If I get involved, it will not be as a subordinate, or someone who's following your lead. This is my planet, and I am not letting anybody make my decisions regarding my actions to save it." Elliot said firmly.

Khellendra's very obvious disappointment melted away into a profound expression of joy and excitement at Elliot's words.

"You're agreeing to join us!" Khellendra said excitedly.

"I am not agreeing to JOIN you. I am agreeing to discuss our terms of cooperation!" Elliot repeated himself, frowning slightly at Khellendra's blatant disregard of the point he was trying to make..

But Khellendra wasn't listening anymore.

"We finally have a chance to find a new home for our clan!" Khellendra turned to Khalendros, grabbed his hands and did a cute little jig right there and then.

Both Khalendros and Elliot could only watch her dance helplessly for a moment and both males couldn't help but be drawn by the allure of her jiggling breasts.

"Uhhhhhhh. Should we… Discuss about the terms of cooperation?" Elliot said slowly as he forced his eyes to look away from Khellendra and sternly admonished his brain to focus on the issue at hand.

"Uhh. Yes, we should discuss the jiggling- ah, I mean, the terms of our… body. No, breasts.. NO! TEAMWORK! I MEAN TEAMWORK!" Khalendros roared in embarrassment. "What is wrong with this human body? It's affecting my mind and my ability to think!"