Battle Dragon part20

"Hello, father, mother." Jade bowed her head as she greeted her own parents; I felt a twinge of awkwardness as I felt the stares of the respective parents on me. "This is my good friend, Tyler."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." missis Veldoro spoke politely as she looked towards me; I felt for a second a chill run through me, she was cold as ice.

"Same here." added mister Veldoro, I felt the exact same sensation from him. "So, Jade, you never told us about this... person." he turned towards his daughter, and spoke as if I weren't really there. "Mind explaining this behavior?"

"What behavior?" Jade snapped, also placing me in the background. "I do not believe I need to ask permission to date someone."

"That might be the case." her mother snapped as well. "However, not even mentioning a word to us..."

"I did *mention a word*." Jade almost roared the words. "Do you even read the mails I send you?" she added, stomping her foot on the ground as if to make emphasis. "Or is it that your only daughter is less important that your work!?"

"Don't you dare, young lady." mister Veldoro's face lost its composure, and it became stern and almost raged. "We do not have the time..."

"Of course you don't!" Jade screamed out the words, chest heaving as she was red as a vein appeared on her neck. "You never have the time for me; the last time I saw your faces was a year ago during a video conference!"

At this point, I knew that no matter what I'd do at the time, the results would end up in a similar if not worse state of turmoil; so I chose to take a more drastic kind of action.

Since it wasn't that hard to disappear from everyone's sight, I sneaked through one of the doors on the far end of the dance hall, and it took me right into a very large looking corridor, with a lot of doors.

"May I help you?" the firm yet kind voice made me look at the butler that had been standing at a side all along, as if he had been there waiting for me.

"Do you know where the bathroom is?" I pondered.

"But of course, this way please." he stated as he began walking down the corridor with me close behind.

After just a dozen doors, he halted and opened one of them, asking me if I needed him to wait for me (which I obviously refused); and then walking away to parts unknown.

The moment I was inside, I locked the door and looked around in search for windows.

For a second, I cursed the fact that the bathroom alone was larger than my room, then, I headed for one of the curtained windows and pulled it open to see what was there at the other side.

Sighing in contempt, I closed it again while I looked around, just to make sure there wasn't anyone else that could be a witness.

I activated the Battle Skin once it had been placed around my wrist.

Dunno why, but this time it felt as if the changes had gone more slowly than usual; I felt a tad more self-aware than the last couple hundred times, almost as if something was odd somehow.

The first thing to go was my chest, which inflated at an almost painful rate instants before the rest of my torso went along; my hips flared outwards in tempo with the flattening of my stomach, muscles becoming ever so slightly more noticeable as the fat in my body was placed into two main areas.

My hair lengthened, but it took a bit longer than what I had expected for me to feel as it flowed down my back, the horns breaking the skin and coming out into sight just as my face began to itch.

Eyes turned red and vision became better after a moment of blurriness, scales itched their way and partially covered my cheeks, lips plumped and thinned while my face took a more almond kind of shape. Ears stretching out slightly and neck thinning out at the same time.

Arms began to feel stronger regardless of how they became thinner, sapphire scales covering the hands up to the elbow and turning into something very similar to claws as they gained deadly black nails; the same thing happening to my feet as my shoes vanished into thin air.

Waist thinned, and a sudden hollowness was made apparent near my loins, under my very belly; and at the same moment, I felt the overall strength and speed I was so used to flow into me.

The last changes were in the wardrobe; my tux remained pretty much the same, but I gasped in pain and surprise as my chest was tightened by bandages underneath, reducing my cleavage to almost boyish proportions as two holes appeared on the back to allow my wings to spread nicely were the occasion to arise.

And as if noticing my intentions, I felt my own hair being tied into a tight ponytail, while some sort of mask appeared on my face, covering all but my mouth and horns as it hardened like a helmet.

I paused for a second, feeling my own head to realize the mask only had holes for my eyes, the ponytail and the horns, something that I'm pretty sure made recognition impossible.

Stretching a bit, I went for the window and managed to open it after a couple attempts.

Slowly poking my head out into the cold night air, I looked around and made sure it was just a small inner garden (that was larger than my new flat) and that it was connected to the dance hall, and that there was no one there that could see my climb out either.

I headed back in, unlocked the bathroom door, and then went back out, sealing the window shut while summoning my wings.

Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself while reassuring that no one wouldn't be able to see through the disguise I had improvised.

Then, I started running towards the window that lead to the main room.

In the microsecond I had before shattering the glass and leaping into the dance-floor, I had the chance to see Jade still arguing with her parents, seemingly throwing a tantrum more than anything else.

After that brief instant, I barely had time to think since I felt it best to just run the preset plan.

By the time the guests heard the first chimes of the shattering glass, I was already halfway to Jade; and when the gasps of shock escaped them, I was already carrying Jade through the main doors, pushing aside the guards that had started to open them to see what was going on.

When they managed to figure out who the screaming person in my arms was, my wings had been beating at full force for several seconds now, and I had but only a couple yards before the villa vanished from sight entirely.

"Tyler?" Jade finally spoke after a long moment of silence. "Is that you?"

"The one and only." I replied as I landed on the nearest rooftop I could find, my wings felt like they'd fall off any second. "Thought that your arguing wouldn't help the holiday spirit."

"I…" she hesitated as I gently allowed her to stand on her own feet. "I'm sorry." she finally mumbled while keeping my clawed hand grasped rather firmly. "I used you as an excuse to get at my parents."

"Don't be." I chuckled somewhat, making sure it was now impossible to be seen from anywhere but near rooftops. "We all have our little secrets." I sighed for a moment as I tried to plan out what would be the best next move, being in a tenth floor and all… "Besides, this ought to put them on their toes for a while."

"I think I should call them." Jade took out a mobile phone, though from where I was not sure. "If they go nuts, I'm pretty sure your head will be hanging from a wall before tomorrow."

"Who you calling?" I wondered.

"Uncle Rick." she muttered as she pressed the combination of numbers, and waited. "He's the only one who's actually capable of calming down my parents." she paused; I picked up the sound of someone answering the call. "Hey, uncle, it's me, Jade." Jade spoke with a rather joyous tone. "Yeah, I'm fine, it was a friend of mine… yes, I'm ok…" whoever was on the other end of the line continued speaking for a bit. "…I understand… fine, I'll pass her." she stretched her arm towards me. "He wants to talk with you."

"Yes?" I asked while placing the phone next to my ear.

"If you did as much as scratch her, I'll personally make sure you get a new pair of cement shoes." the words came out cold, fast and threatening; and before I even had the chance to swallow hard, he had already hung up.

"What did he say?" Jade asked as I handed her the phone.

"He seems nice." I nervously laughed. "Do you know what is his line of work?"

"Construction." Jade replied without a second doubt. "It's thanks to him that I found our apartment so cheap."

"I see…" I felt a chill run all over at the thought of who this guy might be. "How about we head back before you get cold?"

"It'll be new year in an hour at most." she pulled herself closer so she'd grab my arm better, as if to make sure I wouldn't go away. "How about we spend it in a bar…? or something."

For some odd reason, the air atmosphere suddenly became awkward, I felt myself burn up from the inside, and I swear my heart was beating faster than when I had been struggling to fly with the weight of the both of us.

"W…well…" I was stuttering, blushing as a matter of fact; something was very wrong in this picture. "I think I might now of a place…" the words were coming out on their own, as if someone else were controlling me. "Though we'll have to go on foot; I'm too tired to fly right now."

"That's fine by me." she inched closer, now holding my arm as if her life depended on it. "Though I think you should be the gentleman and hand me over your jacket."

"I think you timed your request wrong." I stared at her with the most serious face I could come up with at that time. "You should've waited till I deactivated my BS; right now I think you're more of a bloke than me."

"Oh c'mon!" she tugged more strongly this time. "Give me the jacket, its freezing!"

"You'll have to wait till we get to street level." I finally stated, though she whimpered and put on the *puppy eyes*. "And don't bother, I worked on a daycare once, that trick became really old really soon."

"Please…?" I could recognize the technique of the pouty lips coming into play, but I had the chance to ignore it as I grabbed her before leaping down to the streets.

I felt a tingle of unknown joy rush through me for a second, the awkwardness had vanished entirely, and I was actually relaxed and energetic despite everything.

Maybe I'd give Jade the jacket latter?

I was curious as to how far she'd be willing to make it before giving up; there was something about Jade that made it really fun to tease her.