The sun rose on the horizon, beginning another day as beams of light streamed into Adrien's room through the cracks of his skylight and landed on his closed eyes. Annoyed with the light disturbing his sleep, Adrien placed his hand on his eyes and rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he rose from his bed to stretch his back, raising his arms into the air in the process. Once he finished waking up, he turned to the side of his bed facing the door and put on his boots before walking over to his desk. When he got there, he brushed out his shaggy bed hair and combed it out of his eyes, finishing his morning routine. He then grabbed the axe at the foot of his bed and climbed down the stairs to exit the house; carrying the heavy axe as he went. Once he was outside, Adrien's nose immediately picked up the smell of his favourite breakfast.

"Mmh, croissants. The Dupain-Cheng's must have made a fresh batch." Adrien muttered to himself before he started to walk over to the Dupain-Cheng bakery for breakfast before he went to his first dragon training class. As he neared the bakery, the smell kept getting stronger as it enticed Adrien to enter the shop.

The bakery itself was a medium-sized open-aired hut that sat right in front of a large house. Under the roof of the hut and at the front entrance, was a small table that acted in the role of a payment area. An open display case that showed all of the treats the bakery had to offer that day stood next to the counter, while more shelves rested on the sides of the entrance to the bakery, and were laden with more of the treats in the display case. Out of sight from entering customers, the ovens and other baking equipment was tucked into the back of the shop while a back door led to the house behind the bakery.

At the counter was a short woman of Chinese descent, who was cleaning the counter in preparation for the day when she heard Adrien walk in. She had black hair; styled and cut into a bob, warm grey eyes with pale skin, and thin light pink lips. Her outfit consisted of a white elbow-length sleeved dress to her mid-thighs with slits on the sides of her thighs to add more mobility. The main pattern of the dress was red flower-like shapes on the bottom of her right sleeve and the bottom left of her dress, with yellow dots clumped together on her right shoulder, on top of the right side of her chest, on her right hip, and at the near bottom of the right side of her dress. All of these details were connected to black vine-like branches coming from the red flowers of the dress, with the dots at the bottom half of the dress connected to the bottom left red flower while the ones on the top half were connected to the flower on the bottom of her right sleeve. The rest of her outfit was lilac leggings, and black boots with white fur lining the top of them.

"Good morning, Adrien. How are you?" The woman greeted as the boy drew closer.

"I'm doing good. Thanks for asking Mrs Dupain-Cheng," Adrien replied as he reached the counter, leaving his axe against the base of the display case to give his arms a break.

"Please, Adrien. You've been coming here for years now, you can call me Sabine!" The woman, now introducing herself as Sabine, warmly exclaimed with a dismissive wave of her hand at Adrien.

"Thank you, Mrs Dupain... uh... I mean... Sabine," Adrien stuttered out, a little nervous that she asked him to call her by her first name since his dad always told him to respect his elders.

"That's a good boy. Anyway, what will it be? The usual?" Sabine asked, knowing full well why he was here.

"Yes, please. Two croissants please," Adrien confirmed, while Sabine went to the display case, picked up a cloth bag and used it to cover her hand as she grabbed the freshly baked croissants while he waited.

"So... uh... is your daughter or husband around?" Adrien bashfully asked while he scratched the back of his neck out of habit. When Sabine heard the question, she looked up from tying the cloth bag closed and softly smiled at him.

"No, you just missed them. Marinette and her friends are on their way to the arena for dragon training, and Tom went with your father to the search party," Sabine revealed, which brought Adrien some hope on his soon-to-be death day. Yeah, the bakery was owned by the Dupain-Cheng's; Marinette Dupain-Cheng's parents. Aside from being very loving and supportive people; and making the best pastries and treats in the Parisian Archipelago, the chance of seeing his crush was a big reason why Adrien liked coming there.

"Really? Well, I guess I might see Marinette at the arena then," Adrien commented as he dug into his pocket and took out a few coins to pay for the croissants.

"Your father is allowing you to join the others in the class?" Sabine asked as she handed him the cloth bag containing his breakfast.

"Yeah. But I'm a little nervous," Adrien admitted as he took the bag from Sabine and gave her the coins in exchange. In truth, he was more than nervous... he was absolutely terrified of being either killed or found out to have spared the Chat Noir Fury. But in order to keep people from finding out, he needed to do what his father wanted.

"It's okay to be nervous on the first day. I bet by next week, you'll be acing your classes," Sabine predicted, trying to encourage the young boy.

"Thank you, Sabine. I better get going so I won't be late," Adrien realised as he reached for his axe.

"You better hurry, the class starts soon," Sabine remarked as she closed the back of the display case, and placed the coins into a chest under the counter she was standing at. Adrien then walked to the exit, but before he left he turned back to face Sabine once more, a question burning on his lips.

"Hey, uh... Sabine?" Adrien began, pulling her attention back to him.

"Yes, Adrien?" Sabine asked, curious as to what the boy wanted to say.

"Have you... ever felt... that dragons can be good?" Adrien questioned, unsure that he should have even asked the question. But instead of judging him, Sabine merely gave him a soft smile.

"At one point, yes. When I was around your age, I thought that dragons could be good. But then my uncle had gotten his leg eaten off of him in a dragon raid. I never looked at dragons that way again," Sabine explained while a few stray tears fell from her face at the memory, which made Adrien feel guilty for bringing it up.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to open that old wound," Adrien apologised, trying to amend his prying.

"Don't worry, Adrien. You didn't know," Sabine assured as she wiped away the tears from her face, and then smiled at him.

"Now you better get going before you're late," She prompted as she wiped off her hands from her tears, while Adrien's eyes widened in worry.

"Right! Thanks for answering my question. See you tomorrow," Adrien farewelled as he ran out of the bakery and headed towards the arena on the other side of the island. Sabine only fondly shook her head at his behaviour, finding the boy was quite a card.

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It took Adrien a few good minutes to reach the arena, where he saw the other recruits waiting outside for lessons to start. When he got close enough, Adrien hid behind a boulder on the right side of the entrance to the arena and scarfed down his breakfast. Once he finished, Adrien wiped his mouth with the back of his hand to get rid of any crumbs, and turned to see Gorilla and Nathalie had arrived and were leading the class down into the arena. He then took the opportunity of the students being distracted by their instructors and went to the back of the group to avoid being seen. Gorilla and Nathalie soon led the recruits at the top of the slope that led to the front entrance to the arena, and walked down to the bottom of the declining path to a large gate blocking the way inside. But Gorilla merely grabbed the bottom of the obstacle and lifted it, opening the way into the arena.

"Welcome to dragon training!" Gorilla proclaimed, holding out his hook hand out toward the arena.

"No turning back," Marinette muttered to herself as she stood at the front of the group, armed with her rope dart before walking into the open arena. The rest of the group quickly followed her, carrying their weapons with them as they went into the arena. Once they were inside, they looked around the space in awe.

The arena itself was a 30ft deep pit around half a mile wide that sat on a cliff overlooking the harbour below the village. The top of the carved pit was covered by a metal cage-like top that could be lowered and raised when needed, while 7 large iron doors were lined along the side opposite of the entrance. The iron doors themselves were thick and blocked any sight of the dragons that the village had managed to capture alive for training sessions like these, keeping them trapped and unable to escape

"I hope to get some serious burns!" Luka exclaimed as he carried his weapon, a teal metal bladed throwing hoop, while he walked in with the group.

"I am hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back," Juleka added while her own weapon was wrapped around her waist as she walked beside her brother.

It was a brilliant crimson bolas with three weighted striped balls attached at the end in a triangle pattern. The weights were painted crimson on one half and a light greyish fuchsia on the other half with very dark cerise stripes on top of the two colours, while three gold rings were near where the balls were attached to the rope.

"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it," Alya agreed as she carried her orange and white banded spear with a black iron point in her right hand, while walking next to Marinette.

"Yeah, no kidding, right?" Adrien sarcastically agreed as he held his axe in his hands, causing the others to turn and see him at the back of the group.

"Pain. Love it." Adrien dryly continued, much to the disappointment of the other students in his presence.

"Oh boy. Your dad is actually letting you come to training?" Luka nervously asked, unintentionally voicing what Kim was wondering in a more polite way than the muscled boy was thinking. The rest of them however; Marinette, Alya, Nino, Max, Luka, and Juleka, were all sort of happy he was here too. But before Adrien could answer, their instructors intervened, much to his relief.

"Let's get started!" Nathalie exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention back to her and Gorilla as they walked away from the entrance.

"The recruit that does best will win the honour of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village," Gorilla proclaimed as he made a stabbing gesture with his hook hand while he spoke to the students.

"Adrien already killed a Chat Noir Furry, so does that disqualify him, or?" Kim snidely asked, holding his dark brown wooden staff that was capped with 1 foot of gold on both ends in his right hand. His comment caused Luka and Juleka to roll their eyes at him in annoyance, while the rest of the group just shook their heads in disbelief before they all walked further into the arena.

"Can I transfer to the class with the cool vikings?" Kim asked as he walked with the group; sans Adrien; towards the closed cage doors.

"Don't worry. You're small and seemingly weak... that'll make you look less of a target," Nathalie reassured once everyone else in the class had gone to line up in front of the iron doors. Both she and Gorilla walked over to Adrien and placed a hand on each of the boy's shoulders, comforting him while they walked to the rest of the group.

"She's right. They'll see you as sick or insane, and go after the more viking like teens instead," Gorilla added with a chuckle, trying to cheer Adrien up as they continue walking. After the instructors finished talking, they and Adrien had reached the others as Gorilla gently shoved him into the lineup. With his little shove, Adrien ended up standing next to Nino as he held his weapon; a dark green shield with a light green backside where the dark brown leather strap he used to hold it to his arm resided, while Gorilla and Nathalie walked up to the front of the class to begin the lesson.

"Behind these doors, are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight," Nathalie began to lecture, right before she and Gorilla started to walk up to the first door.

"The Multimouse Nadder," Gorilla exclaimed as they stood in front of the door, the dragon behind it banging against the iron doors to get out.

The first of seven doors was fastened to the wall with large hinges. It had a rectangular shaped bottom with a triangular shaped top, and was blocked by a log of wood that could be lowered and raised to keep the dragon in or release it. The log holding the door shut sat on pieces of wood that were bolted to either side of the door and jutted out from the door to hold the door closed.

"Speed 8, Armour 16," Max rambled while he held his dark brown metal bladed horseshoe-shaped boomerang in his hands. Considering that it was the first offence from the first of the three dragon nerds, Nathalie and Gorilla ignored him and walked to the next door in the chain.

"The Purple Viperion Zippleback," Nathalie continued as she and Gorilla reached the next door; the dragon behind it knocking against the doors.

This one was wider than the last one, and while it had the same rectangular base as the previous one, this one had rounded tops on each door at the top. Like the first door, the Purple Viperion Zippleback's door had two pieces of wood bolted onto either side of the door that jutted out from the door, which held a log of wood that could be lowered and raised like the other one.

"Plus 11 Stealth. Times 2," Alya uttered, joining in with Max in spouting out facts while their instructors walked to the next door.

"The King Monkey Nightmare," Gorilla said as he and Nathalie approached the next door while the dragon behind it tried to escape.

This one was a simple wide square door, but an even more dramatic difference was that instead of being two simple doors, it was made into a herringbone pattern. Four long pointed parts pointed to the right and to left, with the top one starting off the pattern by pointing right with the next one pointing to the left and repeated once more while four smaller parts capped off the points at the end of the bigger ones. Blocking the door from opening was a log, but instead of being on top of pieces of wood that jutted out from the door, the log was split in two right down the middle horizontally. The bottom part was able to be lowered into the ground underneath it while the top part was only able to be raised from the four large hoops welded to the ends of the longer parts of each section of the door.

"Firepower 15," Nino added as he joined in with Alya and Max in their rambling. Starting to get annoyed with the resident nerds, Gorilla and Nathalie approached the next door in the chain with slight exasperation.

"The Pegasus Hackatoo," Nathalie revealed as she and Gorilla reached the fourth door as it shook from the force of the dragon behind it. This door was just a simple rectangle, with a log that could be lowered onto two pieces of wood jutting out from the door to hold it closed. One of the simpler ones.

"Firepower 7, Speed 9," Max excitedly exclaimed at the mention of his personal favourite dragon, while Gorilla and Nathalie kept walking to the next door.

"The Rena Rouge TimberJack," Gorilla listed as he and Nathalie reached the third to last door, while it was shaking from the trapped dragon's attempts to escape like the others. This one was a much wider version of the Multimouse Nadders doors, but instead of having one piece of wood on each door to hold the log of wood; much like the Purple Viperion Zippleback's door, it had two pieces of wood on each door to hold the log.

"Wingspan 90 feet, Shot limit 8," Alya proclaimed with fascination at the sound of her favourite dragon. With their annoyance increasing, Gorilla and Nathalie walked to the second to last door.

"The Kwami Terror," Gorilla finished as they got to the next door, which was surprisingly still. This door was just a smaller version of the Pegasus Hackatoo's door, with two pieces of wood jutting out to hold the log that blocked it from opening.

"Attack 8, Venom 12," Max concluded before Gorilla and Nathalie reached the last door, and turned to face the three students that were rambling on facts about the dragons they had named.

"CAN YOU THREE STOP THAT!?" Nathalie and Gorilla shouted at them, annoyed with their rambling while they reached the final door as it shook from the dragon behind it.

"And the Carapace Gronkle," Nathalie finished as they quickly calmed down and Gorilla placed his hand onto the lever next to the door. This door was in the shape of an oval, with the bottom flat on the ground and had a piece of wood on each door to hold the log that every other door had to keep the dragon from busting out.

"Jaw strength 8." Nino excitedly whispered to Adrien, since the Carapace Gronkle was his favourite dragon. But as soon as Kim saw that Gorilla had his hand on the lever that controls the log blocking the doors from opening, he immediately caught onto what Gorilla and Nathalie were going to do.

"Woah! Woah! Wait, aren't you going to teach us first?" Kim cried out as he stepped forward to try and reason with their instructors, worried that they were that crazy. And unfortunately for all of them... they were.

"We believe in learning on the job." Nathalie smugly remarked with a smirk before Gorilla pulled the lever down. The log blocking the door rose and the door burst open, letting the Carapace Gronkle come flying out of its cage.

"Today is about survival," Gorilla said as the students scattered, seeing as they were in the dragon's flight path while the Gronkle flew to the other end of the arena.

"If you get blasted... you're dead!" The blacksmith continued as the dragon accidentally crashed into the wall next to the entrance. But the Carapace Gronkle quickly recovered as it saw a few large rocks and ate them up.

"QUICK! What's the first thing you're going to need?" Nathalie quizzed the students while the dragon got back into the air again.

"A doctor?" Adrien questioned, not knowing what to do.

"Plus 5 speed?" Nino panicked as he held his shield close to him.

"A shield," Marinette confidently answered, crouched and ready to go with her whip unwrapped from her belt and ready to use.

"Shields. Go!" Gorilla exclaimed. Immediately, everyone; save for Nino, ran to grab one of the many shields that Nathalie and Gorilla had scattered around the arena.

"Your most important piece of equipment is your shield," Nathalie lectured as everyone; except for Luka, Juleka, and a struggling Adrien, got their shields

"If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield!" Gorilla exclaimed as he sprinted over to Adrien, and helped him get his shield onto his arm before pushing him back into the chaos.

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On the other side of the arena, both Luka and Juleka reached for the same shield, while Nino was being chased by the dragon nearby.

"Get your hands off my shield, sis," Luka told Juleka as they tried to pull the shield towards themselves, and ended up in a game of tug of war.

"There's like a million shields, Luka! Pick another one!" Juleka shouted at her brother, trying to get the shield to protect herself.

"Why don't you take that one? It has a flower on it... girls like flowers 🌺," Luka offered as he used his head to point to a shield on the ground next to his left foot, while still in their battle of tug of war. But his offer only insulted Juleka as she managed to pull the shield from his grip and hit him on the top of his head.

"Oops," Juleka falsely apologised as she lifted the shield from Luka's head, and 'innocently' smiled at him.

"Now this one has blood on it," the purple dyed haired girl remarked before Luka grabbed the shield again, continuing their war of tug. But as they were fighting, the Carapace Gronkle abandoned its chase of Nino, flew over to the two of them and shot them with a green lava blast on the shield, knocking them both to the ground.

"Luka, Juleka! You're out!" Nathalie shouted as the two of them slowly got up from the ground.

"What?" the twins groggily questioned as they sat up from the ground, while Gorilla and Nathalie continued with the lesson.

"Those shields are good for another thing," the weapons specialist continued as the Gronkle circled back and faced the remaining students in the middle of the arena.

"Noise! Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim," Gorilla exclaimed right before the students took his advice, and started banging their weapons against the metal rims of their shields. The noise does its job and makes the dragon's sight blur and warble, while the students begin to surround the dragon on the ground level.

"All dragons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Carapace Gronkle have?" the blacksmith questioned as the students stopped banging their shields, and the dragon's sight recovered before it started to fly around the arena again.

"Five?" Kim guessed as he ran towards the other end of the arena, away from the dragon as he held his staff out to protect himself.

"No, six!" Max and Nino exclaimed, raising their shield hands into the air. But unknown to them, they accidentally drew the dragon's attention to themselves as it stopped flying and turned to face the two cousins.

"Correct, six! That's one for each pair of you," Nathalie replied before the Carapace Gronkle shoots at Max and Nino, hitting their shields and blasting them off of their arms.

"Nino and Max, you're out!" Gorilla exclaimed while Max and Nino ran away from the dragon, and back to the exit. While Nino and Max retreated, Adrien was hiding behind a medium-sized wall of wood, and started to creep back into the chaos when he saw that there were fewer students left.

"Adrien, get in there!" Nathalie shouted to Adrien when she noticed him coming out of his hiding spot, with his shield in front of him. But just as he crept out enough to be noticed, the Carapace Gronkle shot a lava blast mere inches away from Adrien when he got away from his hiding spot. In shock, the boy went back to his hiding spot while the remaining students; Marinette, Alya and Kim, were on the other side of the arena, hoping to engage with the dragon. But this would most likely not be the case for long as the dragon came barreling towards them.

"So Marinette, I just moved into my parent's basement," Kim began as he stood behind Alya and Marinette while the Gronkle flew towards them, much to the two girls' annoyance.

"You should come by sometime to work out," the muscle head continued before Marinette cartwheeled away from him, while Alya readjusted her grip on her shield.

"You look like you work out," Kim remarked as he watched Marientte cartwheel away, before Alya looked up from her task and smacked him upside the head.

"Do you ever shut up?!" Alya yelled at him, right before the dragon shot at their shields and knocked them out of the lesson.

"Felix and Alya, you're done!" Gorilla proclaimed as Marinette rolled over next to Adrien; after he finally got out of his hiding place; and leapt onto her feet, softly bouncing on them to make a quick getaway. Once Adrien saw how close Marinette was to him, he nervously walked up to greet her as she scanned the area around her.

"So, I guess it's just you and me, huh?" Adrien inquired before Marinette saw the dragon coming towards them.

"Nope, just you," Marinette replied before she ran to her left, and passed in front of Adrien right before the dragon shot at him. Adrien only had a split second to raise his shield to protect himself, blocking the lava blast from hitting him, and redirect it to the wall behind him. But the force of the blast knocked Adrien's shield from his arm and caused it to roll away from him.

"One shot left!" Nathalie exclaimed while Marinette ran from the dragon as it chased after Adrien. As the boy ran to retrieve his rolling shield, he was unaware of the danger he was in as the shield rolled towards one of the surrounding walls.

"ADRIEN!" Gorilla and Nathalie shouted at him, trying to warn him of the incoming danger. Thankfully, their shouts caused Adrien to turn and look at them, subsequently seeing the Carapace Gronkle in the corner of his eye. As Adrien ran after his rolling shield, it suddenly rolled into another direction before the dragon pinned him to the arena, getting as close as it could to keep the boy from getting away.

Adrien breathed heavily in his panicking while the Gronkle reared its head back, preparing to fire its last lava blast at him. Fearing for his life, the boy closed his eyes and turned his head away, waiting for the dragon to kill him. But thankfully for Adrien, Gorilla and Nathalie ran over to the dragon and boy, where Gorilla grabbed the corner of the dragon's jaw with his hook and then pulled the dragon's mouth upward.. The final lava blast hits the wall above Adrien, causing the boy to cover his head with his arms from falling rocks while Gorilla and Nathalie wrestled the dragon towards its cage. When finding himself still alive, Adrien looked up from his cowering, and was surprised to see the dragon trying to get away from the blacksmith and weapons specialist.

"And that's six," Gorilla grunted as the dragon tried to fly away from him, but found itself unable to do so, due to Gorilla's hook hand.

"Go back to bed, you overgrown sausage!" Nathalie shouted at the dragon as she and Gorilla swung it around as it flew in the air, tossing it into its cage. Once the dragon is inside, Gorilla closes the doors and pushes the lever up, causing the log to drop back down and block the door from opening again.

"You'll get another chance, don't you worry," Gorilla told the exhausted class as they gathered up together; save for Adrien as he remained in the same spot he was when the dragon trapped him; while he and Nathalie walked towards Adrien.

"And remember, a dragon will always..." Nathalie began, addressing the class before she knelt in front of Adrien.

"... always go for the kill," the weapons specialist finished as she turned her head to Adrien, before grabbing his arm to pull him up to his feet. Once she did, Nathalie walked away from the shell-shocked Adrien, leaving him to look at the smouldering wall as his shock wore off and think back to yesterday's events.

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(Time skip)

"So... why didn't you?" Adrien asked out loud as he crouched to the ground and picked up one of the bolas weights in his hand.

After class ended, Adrien had gone back to the place where he found the Chat Noir Fury and where he released it. As he held the weight in his hand for a little bit, he dropped it back to the ground and rose to his full height before he started going deeper into the forest, beyond the area the dragon had crashed in. He continued walking around a little more when he came to a group of boulders at the bottom of a small slope. At the sight of the obstacle, Adrien jumped down to the bottom of the slope and walked towards the boulders, only to find a gap in between the two biggest ones with a stream of light shining through them. He walked through the gap and found himself at the entrance of a beautiful secluded cove.

The hidden cove sat at least 40 feet below the forest floor, surrounded by high rock walls with lush forest brush and long tree roots pouring over the rim of the top, onto the wall-like stone and into the cove. At the bottom of the cove was a huge pool of water that housed many fish and aquatic life, sat in the middle of the secret area and was surrounded by a lush grass field. As Adrien looked out from his perch, he concluded that it was empty aside from the few birds that flew across his vision.

"Well, this was stupid," the blonde remarked to himself before he glanced at the rock ground his feet were on. Once he did, Adrien noticed a few shiny large-coin-sized green and black ombré scales on the ground next to his left foot. Seeing the scales, Adrien crouched down and picked one of them up to study it in the light before he lightly stroked it with his fingers

"The dragon might be nearby," Adrien thought as he continued to study the scale. But suddenly; as if he summoned it with his thoughts, the Chat Noir Fury jumped onto the top of the entrance Adrien was at, growling as it grabbed onto the rock and startled Adrien so much that he fell backwards away from the dragon. The boy quickly picked himself up and leaned against the wall on his right as he watched the dragon try to climb the smooth wall above him, causing small rocks to fall off in the process. But its efforts were in vain as it slipped and fell to the ledge Adrien was on. Despite the setback, the dragon still tries to climb out. But it continued to slip off of the smooth ledge and fell back into the cove, catching itself in a wobbly glide before it hit the water and tumbled to the ground next to the lake.

As the Chat Noir Fury struggled, Adrien stared at the dragon in shock and decided to get a closer look. He looked around for a way off of the ledge he was on, saw a ledge below the one he was on currently and went down to the niche to watch the dragon. The dragon in question was once again trying to fly out and reach the rim of the walls, but its tail curled inward, which derailed its flight path and caused it to land on the other side of the cove. As he watched the dragon in awe while it tried to fly up and grab onto the wall in front of it, Adrien saw this as a great opportunity to draw the dragon into his notebook as the Chat Noir Fury fell back to the ground with a snarl. In a hurry to not miss the opportunity, Adrien pulled out his notebook and pencil to draw the dragon while it once again tried to fly up and grab onto the wall to climb out, only to fall to the ground once more with a frustrated roar. Just as Adrien finished drawing the last tail fin, he curiously glanced back at the dragon and wondered if there was something wrong while the dragon bellowed and growled in anguish.

"Why don't you just fly away?" the blonde quietly asked himself as he looked at the dragon once again before it shot a neon green and dark purple blast of flame at the ground in front of it in a fit of frustration. After a more recent look at his subject, Adrien looked at his drawing and saw the difference in the drawing and the dragon, before rubbing the exact detail off of his drawing and immediately understood the problem. Its left tail fin was gone, meaning that the dragon couldn't properly steer and balance himself in the air long enough to fly.

While Adrien made his discovery, the dragon tried to fly up into the air again. But once it got high enough in the air to attempt to turn towards the rim of the cove, its tail once again curled into its tail body and caused the dragon to crash on the other side of the cove's lake. With a defeated growl, the dragon laid next to the lake before it saw a fish breach the surface of the water, catching its attention since it hadn't eaten in a while. The dragon picked itself from the ground to stalk the unsuspecting fish as it floated lazily in the water near the lake's edge. But once the dragon tried to catch it by plunging its head into the lake,the fish swam away and left the dragon hungry as it pulled its head from the water.

As Adrien watched everything from his little niche, he looked down at the rock under him in guilt as realised his mistake. But as he was caught up in his reflection, he dropped his hand to the rock underneath him and his grip on his pencil loosened, letting it roll into the cove. Immediately, Adrien tried to recover it before it got too far away, only for it to drop into the cove and onto a cluster of boulders below the niche. As soon as the pencil hit the rocks underneath the niche, the dragon heard the sound and looked up from its sulking to find Adrien on the niche. Even after finding out that the boy who had grounded it was watching its struggles, the dragon didn't do anything but stare at the boy, his eyes burning a hole in him. In response, Adrien stares back at it with a slight tilt of his head to the left, before the dragon copies him and tilts its head to its right as it stares at him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(Time Skip)

After he found the Chat Noir Fury trapped in the hidden cove, Adrien made his way back to the village as it started to rain. When he got there, the boy decided to go into the Great Hall to have dinner. But when he opened the door, he could hear the class sitting at one of the wooden benches as they finished their dinner. From where Adrien was standing, he could hear them talking about the day's earlier events and mistakes they had made, while Gorilla and Nathalie stood near them.

"Alright, where did Marinette go wrong in the ring today?" Gorilla asked, continuing the conversation that started before Adrien walked in.

"I mistimed my somersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble," Marinette admitted as she leaned onto her arms while they sat on the table, and a soaking wet Adrien walked closer to them.

"Yeah, we noticed," Juleka skittishly remarked before she bit into her chicken leg to relieve any tension.

"Well, I thought you did great," Alya reassured as she placed a hand onto her friend's shoulder.

"She is right. That was so 'Marinette'." Kim agreed while Marinette grabbed her mug next to her plate and took a sip.

"No, she's right. You have to be tough on yourself," Nathalie explained while Adrien reached the table, and grabbed the remaining plate of chicken and mug of water. As he did, Kim sneered at him while the rest of the students gave him a polite wave. Marinette was the only exception to them as she simply watches him grab the plate with a dusting of pink on her cheeks. Once he had his food, Adrien started walking to the table next to the one the class was using while Gorilla noticed his presence.

"Where did Adrien go wrong today?" Gorilla questioned as Adrien continued his walk to the other table.

"Uh, he hid when the Carapace Gronkle attacked?" Juleka guessed as Adrien passed their table.

"He didn't get eaten?" Kim snidely supplied.

"He's never where he should be," Marinette answered as Adrien reached the other table.

"Thank you, Marinette," Nathalie thanked as Adrien sat down at the bench and listened to their instructors as they continued.

"You all need to live and breathe this stuff," Gorilla began as he walked from the side of the bench closest to the centre fire pit and towards the head of the table. As he glanced at Adrien in his walking, Gorilla pulled out a large book from his belt and held it in the air.

"The Dragon Manual," the blacksmith introduced before he pushed aside the plates and mugs off of the table, and plops the book in the newly freed space.

"Everything we know about every dragon we know of," Nathalie explained, peaking all of the student's interests. Kim was the only exception as he tried to balance a knife at its point while thunder rumbled outside, much to Gorilla and Nathalie's observation.

"No attacks tonight. Study up," the weapons specialist ordered, as she and Gorilla walked away from the table, and towards the door to go back home..

"Wait, you mean 'read'?" Luka questioned, as Kim took all of his concentration off of the knife and let it fall as he turned towards the departing instructors in shock.

"While we're still alive?" Juleka asked incuriously, shocked that they were tasked with studying.

"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff that the words tell you stuff about?" Kim questioned as he bangged on the table as he spoke.

"Oh, Alya, Max and I've read it seven times," Nino excitedly admitted, which in turn excited the other two dragon nerds at the table.

"There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at its victims that can turn you pink before it kills you," Max rambled as he joined in with Nino, leaving Kim to look at the dragon nerds like they were speaking gibberish.

"And there's this other one that buries itself for a week..." Alya added excitedly, trying to contribute her own two cents.

"Yeah, yeah. That sounds great," Kim spoke in a sarcastic voice as he interpreted Alya, with a 'Shut your mouth' gesture with his hand.

"Sorry guys, there was a chance Kim was going to read that," Luka remarked with a small smile as Kim lowered his hand and leaned back in his seat.

"But now..." Juleka trailed off while Kim turned to face the group with a stupid smirk.

"You guys read. I'll go kill stuff," Kim said as he stood up from his seat and started to walk away. Right after Kim left the table, Luka and Juleka left as well. Contrary to the remarks they had before, they had read the book already to research the most dangerous dragons... to possibly have an adventurous time in antagonising them. They were considered the risk takers of the group, and were all for having a deadly dragon adding into their special brand of fun. As the twins left, Nino, Alya and Max continued their spouting out of dragon knowledge to try and convince them to read the book a second time, which left Marinette and Adrien alone. While the others were making their way out of the Great Hall, Adrien got up from the bench he was on and went over to his crush, in the hopes of talking to her.

"So I guess we'll share?" Adrien asked, trying to start up a conversation with Marinette as he stood at the head of the table next to her.

"I... um... I already read it with Alya," Marinette stammered out before she slid the book towards him and quickly got up to leave, much to Adrien's disappointment. But there was also slight confusion swimming in Adrien's thoughts since Marinette has never acted like that in front of anyone.

"Uh, all mine then. Wow. So, okay, I'll see you..." Adrien managed to say before the door to the Great Hall slammed shut behind the class.

"... tomorrow," the blonde sighed in resignation.

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(Time Skip)

After a while, Adrien cleared off the table of the dirty dishes left behind by his classmates, while the fire in the hearth in the middle of the hall fully went out. The few vikings that were there when the class was had already gone home, which left Adrien alone in the dark hall. Deciding that he needed more light, Adrien had lit a candle that was left on the table, and went to get a second one before he sat on the bench of the table and opened the cover of the Dragon Manual.

"Dragon classifications," Adrien read from the first page, starting off his studying session.

"Strike class. Fear class. Mystery class," the boy listed as he continued to read the first page before turning to the next one.

"Papillon Thunderdrum," Adrien read aloud as he saw the picture of the dragon on the first of the book's many double-page spreads that contained a dragon's facts.

"This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools," He read from the book before looking at the second page of the dragon's facts.

"When startled, the Papillon Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range," Adrien read out loud as he looked at a picture of the Papillon Thunderdrum roaring at a decapitated viking.

"Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight," He read out from the bottom of the page when he saw another picture depicting a viking with a sword and shield, stabbing the dragon in its stomach. Once he finished reading the sentence, Adrien flips through pages to the next dragon.

"Rena Rouge Timberjack." Adrien read from the page with a picture of the dragon on its first page of facts.

"This gigantic creature has razor-sharp wings that can slice through full-grown trees, and can create illusions using light and the colour of its wings," He spoke out as he looked at a picture of said dragon cutting through a line of trees like a warm knife through butter. Next to it, was another picture of the same dragon using its wings to confuse a viking with illusions before slicing it in half.

"Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight," Adrien read out before he turned to the next page.

"Reflekta Scauldron," He spoke as he saw a picture of the next dragon on its pages of facts.

"Sprays, scalding pigmented water at its victims," Adrien read as he looked at the picture of the Reflekta Scauldron spraying a viking with its skin colour changing water.

"Extremely dangerous," He continued before a lightning and thunder strike pulled Adrien's attention from the book and turned towards the ajar door as lightning flashes outside. When he saw that it wasn't an attack, Adrien pulled himself out of his shock and went back to reading, turning a few pages to the next dragon.

"Vanisher Changwing," Adrien read when he saw a picture of the next dragon.

"Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight," He spoke before turning a few more pages to a random dragon in the book.

"Carapace Gronckle. Purple Viperion Zippleback. The Copy Cat Skrill. Aspik Bonekapper. KuroNeko Whispering Death," Adrien recited as he turned through the pages and landed on random dragons, imagining them slightly moving on the page while their roars were heard in the seeming distance.

"Burns its victims. Buries its victims. Chokes its victims. Turns its victims inside out." He reads out as he continues turning through the pages, reading what various unnamed dragons did to their victims.

"Extremely dangerous. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight. Kill on sight. Kill on sight." Adrien repeated as he flipped through the book, his voice becoming quieter the more he read through the manual. But after saying 'kill on sight' for the third time, Adrien stopped reading out-loud from the book and flipped through the last few pages, only to reach the end of the book where the last page was almost completely blank... save for a few sentences about the...

"Chat Noir Fury," He read from the nearly empty page, before looking at the rest of the words at the bottom of the page.

"Speed unknown. Size unknown. The unholy offspring of destruction and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance is to hide and pray it doesn't find you," Adrien read outloud, worriedness filling his voice before he took out his sketchbook and opened it to the page with the drawing of the Chat Noir Fury. With the new discovery, Adrien blew out the candles and put them away before he took the book home with him to give back to Gorilla and Nathalie in the morning. Reluctantly, Adrien moved his vest to cover his head, and walked home in the pouring rain, his mind filled with more questions than answers.