Dragon Academy

By Dia Basler

“Maddy! Max!” “It’s time for bed!”

“Ok mom,” Maddy replied as she ran upstairs.

It was a Thursday night and Maddy Hinston was getting ready for bed.

“Max! You need to brush your teeth,” Maddy called out to her brother.

“Ok,” Max said as he followed Maddy up the stairs.

Maddy and Max were twins. When they finished with their nightly routine, Maddy got into her pink and purple bed and Max climbed in his blue bed. Their parents turned off the lights as they said good night.

The twins slowly drifted off to a deep sleep, and didn’t notice as a creature of some sort climbed through the window. The creature was huge, and had deep blue scales and dark blue eyes. He surprisingly spoke in a soft voice. “Yes. Finally, I found them,” he muttered to himself.

The creature picked up the twins, clamored out the window, and flew off into the darkness.

----

Maddy’s eyes fluttered open, not knowing where she was. She saw a white room with a beautiful crystal chandelier. She sat up and looked around. It looked like a nurse’s station. She turned and saw Max, sleeping peacefully. She wanted to investigate a little, but she couldn’t leave Max.

She slowly creeped over to Max’s cot and tapped him on the shoulder. He bolted upright and looked around. “Maddy! Where are we?” Max asked.

“I don’t know, but I'm going to look around,” Maddy answered, standing up. “Well, if you’re going I’m going too,” Max said. They got up and crept out of the room.

Max opened the door. He checked if there was anyone out there. “ It's all clear,” he said. Maddy and Max started walking down the long corridor. It was only five minutes until they found someone. But who they found was not a human. The creature had deep blue scales, dark blue eyes, big wings and glasses that made him look serious.

“What are you?”Maddy and Max asked. The creature put one enormous wing around the twins, and said, “Come with me and I will explain.”

The twins quietly followed. They were very nervous because they were being asked to follow an enormous dragon. The creature led them into a room that looked like a principal's office. It had a large wooden desk, shelves and shelves of books, and papers lying around everywhere. The creature ushered them inside, and told them to sit down on what seemed to be a 10-foot-long couch. The twins did so. The creature sighed and said, ”Hello. My name is Principal Stonehart. I’m sure you’re really confused right now. Let's make a long story short, I am the principal of Dragon Academy and I’ve recruited you because you have magical powers. This school is a place where dragons are teachers and humans are students. This is where you will be staying for the next few years to train. This place is entirely safe because this is a flying, invisible island in the sky. Your parents know you’re here, and they’ve sent a message saying that they would miss you guys but they were fine with it.” He then shows them a letter with the twins’ mom’s handwriting. It read:

Hi Dears,

We hope you have fun at your new school.

Make some friends and stay safe.

We love you and we’ll miss you.

Mom & Dad

The twins looked utterly perplexed. They turned to one another and discussed what to do. “This seems cool,” said Maddy. “If we have powers, I obviously want to train them.”

“I agree. Let's do it,” said Max. They announced that they would stay, but they needed a tour. Principal Stonehart said he would give them one, got up and let the twins follow him.

The principal showed the kids the cafeteria which served neon-colored food but when the twins tried it they realized it tasted like cookies and ice cream but apparently it was healthy.

Then he showed them the library. The library was a dark room with millions of dusty books.

Finally he showed them the dorms, where the twins would share a room.

Afterwards, the principal brought the twins into a large, dark room and called out, “Dremora? I know you are here.”

“You got me,” a woman’s voice echoed as a dragon stepped out of the shadows. “What do you need, Stonehart?”

“I need you to see what kinds of powers these twins have,” the principal said.

“ Will do,” she replied. “But first let me introduce myself. My name is Professor Dremora and I teach the Controlling Your Powers class. Who will go first?”

“I will,” Maddy volunteered. “OK. Stand here.” Professor Dremora pointed to a round, elevated, platform. Maddy slowly stepped on the platform. “Stay still.” Professor Dremora went into the darkness and pressed a few buttons. An electric shock went around Maddy. A minute later it went away. “ Great job, Maddy. Your power is the control ice and water.” Maddy jumped up and down.

Next, Max stepped on the platform. Professor Dremora pressed a button and the electric shock came out again. “OK, Max your power is fire,” said Professor Dremora. “No fair. Maddy has two powers!”

Maddy smirked and Max crossed his arms. The twins said goodbye to the teachers and went to their dorms. The twins entered the dorm and realized that it was 8 o’clock. So they brushed their teeth, and went to bed.

The next day the twins woke up bright and early. They got dressed in their brand new uniforms and headed to their first class. They walked down to the hall until they reached a door labeled Principal Stonehart.

“Good morning. I assume you are trying to get to your classroom.” That’s right.” “Let me lead you.” The principal led them out of the office and down the lit up hallway. The principal led them to a door that seemed to lead outside. The twins have never seen what was outside so they were excited. The principal opened the door. The twins were amazed. They had never seen anything like this: blue and purple flowers, palm trees, and a huge lake. They saw a small group of people and a huge dragon surrounding something in the corner bush. The twins walked up to the group and were amazed to see everyone admiring unicorn foal.

They spent the class learning about unicorn foals and the next learning about electric power. Then the twins had lunch and they split up to go to their separate classes. Maddy practiced her powers with her teacher, and Max did the same with his. Then they went back to their dorms. “That was exhausting, ” Maddy said. “Agreed,” said Max. They talked about their classes before going to bed.

The next day, during their first class, the twins' stomachs hurt, and they complained to their teacher, who told them to go to the principal's office. They walked down to Principal Stonehart's office and told him what happened. He asked them to follow him. They turned the corner into a familiar room. “Dremora?” said the principal. “What do you need, Stonehart?” Dremora asked. "Check them again, please.”

It was Maddy who stepped onto the platform first. The electricity came out and Professor Dremora’s face was surprised. She went over to Principal Stonehart ad said to Maddy, " You have the power of animals." Max went next and Professor Dremora said he had the power of electricity. The twins were so excited.

The next few days went by so fast. Then the twins noticed the principal was acting weird. One afternoon, their names were called on the loudspeakers. They made their way to his office. “We have news," the principal said. "We have a very powerful villain trying to attack the school. Now don’t get worried. You two are the strongest students in our school, and we've trained you well. You will need to fight them but with us, and other students too, of course.”

The twins' reactions were half confusion and half nervousness. “ I know this is a lot to think about, but you’re the most powerful students here so you need to start training in battle tactics immediately.” And so the twins started days of training. They’d wake up at six in the morning, have classes until lunch, then they would practice their powers. They were very busy.

One morning they heard their names on the loudspeakers again. They walked to the principal's office to see him with two other students. “Ah, hello, Maddy and Max," he said. "This is Lauren.” He pointed to a girl. “And this is Daniel," pointing to a boy. They are older years who will help you during battle.”

The four students walked out of the room. “What’s your power?” Maddy asked. “I have the power to move things with my mind and Lauren can read minds.” Daniel answered. “Cool!” Maddy replied. The next day their names were called to room 14B. The twins arrived to see all of their professors, Daniel, and Lauren. “We are here to plan battle tactics.” Maddy and Max sat down as they made a plan A: they were going to have half of the dragon warriors near the top of the school shooting fireballs and the other half would stay with Lauren, Daniel, Max, and Maddy.

The next day, the principal told them that they will be attacking at 5:00pm the day after. They spent all day and night training and finally the time came, the moment they had all been waiting for. The dragons flapped their wings and flew up to the top of the school and Daniel, Lauren, Maddy, and Max got into their armor and were ready for battle.

Everyone else in the school was moved out the day before. Everyone was ready. They waited. Suddenly eight people emerged from the shadows. One that looked like the leader and the rest looked like his workers. The leader looked like a half dragon-half human. “Why hello there. I see you seem to be prepared.” He said with an evil grin.” Let the battle begin.” Four of the eight people teleported away.

Immediately all the dragons started to shoot fire balls as big as watermelons. One of the four workers surrounded themselves with a big yellow dome shielding them from the fire balls. Daniel quickly grabbed a big tree branch and hurled it at the big yellow dome. The tree branch bounced right off it.

“It's a force field!!” Daniel called, with a concerned look on his face. “Lauren, read the leader's mind and see what you can find.”

“Got it.” Lauren closed her eyes. A few moments later, her eyes opened. “So, the four workers that disappeared are searching the castle for something that used to belong to the leader when he went to school.” Daniel, Maddy, and Max had surprised looks on their faces.

“Is there some way to communicate to the dragons on top of the castle?” Maddy asked “Well, I can try to transmit to them. Give me a moment.” Laurens eyes closed again. “OK I think they got the message.” “OK, Good.” Daniel said. “They also said that the only way to get the force field down is with ice.” Maddy immediately started shooting ice spears at the force field. After a few spears the force field disintegrated into bits of ash. Maddy pumped her fists.

All the dragons started shooting fireballs again and Daniel, Maddy, and Max started shooting all sorts of things like fireballs, ice spears, big waves, daggers that Daniel was throwing, and big balls of electricity. Maddy also called many other animals like bears and snakes. The enemies were using their powers, too. After a while of intense battling the villains retreated and while they were running off the leader called. “ You may have won this battle, but the war is far from over.”

All of the dragons and Maddy, Max, Daniel, and Lauren collapsed. They were all so tired. They all goodbye to each other and headed straight to their dorms for a good night's rest.

The next day, the worker dragons started repairing the school and Max, Maddy, Daniel, and Lauren stood arm in arm, celebrating their achievement. Lauren informed them that the four workers from the villains fled without finding the thing the leader wanted. So they were safe. The principal announced that it was an early summer break. So the twins chose to go to see their parents. They asked the principal and he approved.

The twins quickly packed their stuff and said bye to Daniel and Lauren. They met the principal outside, and with a flick of his wrist, they were teleported to their front door. They slowly approached the door and knocked. A minute later the door opened to see their mother standing there with her mouth wide open.

“Hello mother,” the twins said in unison. Their mother pulled them in for a big bear hug and the twins dad joined in. "Hello, my dears! I've missed you so!" The twins spent the rest of the summer with their family.