Ezekiel and Bear returned to The Crimson Tankard Inn. Ezekiel, deciding to go ahead and kill some time until Suko showed up while also making some money, started working for the time being. Time passed by quicker than Ezekiel thought since Whiskey came up to Ezekiel, asking, "Were ya expecting a drunk man to show up tonight, lad? They're asking for ya by name." Ezekiel sighed, realizing that Suko didn't show up sober, and replied, "Yeah, I was." Whiskey, realizing Ezekiel's disappointment, sarcastically asked, "What the hell did you do to make a man like him come here? Did you steal his fuckin' money or something, lad? Did you sell him a fake bar of your 'soap' or whatever it's called?" Ezekiel then exclaimed, "Damn, Whiskey! Don't just assume I'm a delinquent or something just because I happened to make friends with a tougher-looking dude!" Whiskey then chuckled, then said, "I'm just fuckin' with ya, lad. Despite the short amount of time you've been here, I can tell you aren't the type to fall into the wrong crowd." With that, Whiskey left, and Ezekiel began preparing two Lad Steaks, as he promised to Suko.
Ezekiel, once finished cooking the Lad Steaks, found Suko, who was grinning happily with a flushed face and a tankard in hand, dressed in red light-weight robes. Ezekiel then sat down at the table, which prompted Suko to say, "Ezekiel, I'm here! W-Where the free steaks at?" Ezekiel handed him his Lad Steak on a plate to him, and Suko stared at it intensely. Then, after quietly inspecting it, he nodded in approval, saying, "This'll be d-damn good, Ezekiel!" Ezekiel then quietly mumbled, "But you haven't even tasted the damn thing, you drunk." Suko, who was about to take a bite of the steak, started sniffing, put down the steak, and his head immediately swiveled over to a couple of women eating at the other side of the inn. Suko put his steak down, smelled the air a little more, then said, "T-That's quite a nice fragrance those fine ladies over there are wearing. Must be the newest p-perfume they have on sale at the fragrance store. Think I'll introduce myself t-to them." Suko slowly started to get up, but Ezekiel saw that Suko's nose was starting to bleed, and Ezekiel could somehow feel that a disaster would unfold before him if he let Suko do his thing. Ezekiel quickly stood up and forced Suko to sit back down, and to his surprise, Suko didn't really fight back. Suko, confused, then asked, "What? C-Can I not introduce a handsome man such as myself to two beautiful ladies?" Ezekiel then replied, "Do that when you're sober." Suko, looking even more confused, then said, "B-But I am! I p-promise! See? I can walk straight!" Suko then quickly got up and immediately fell over due to losing his balance since he stood up way too quick. Ezekiel sighed, then helped Suko up back in his chair. Suko then looked like he had a realization, then asked, "Ezekiel, c-could you actually be jealous? Jealous that those beautiful ladies might take away a h-handsome man from you, a man who can't resist my charms?" Ezekiel, with the straightest face he ever put on in his life, immediately said, "Fuck no. Besides, I don't swing that way, bro." Suko laughed, then mischievously grinned, face flushed a bright red, then said, "I bet I can smell out what color p-panties both women are wearing!" Ezekiel was about to say something to Suko when Bear popped in, challenging Suko by saying, "I'd have to say that I would be better at that. Not that I'd necessarily want to, and can you even smell color? Is that even a thing?" Suko then stared at the big fellow who suddenly joined in the conversation, saying, "Is that right, b-big boy? Well, can you truly say that your nose is b-better than a dragon's? Or, in my case, a half-dragon?" Well, bears are considered to have the best sense of smell out of any animal on earth, and even if Bear is half bear, half-human, his sense of smell should be better than most, thought Ezekiel. He wasn't sure how good dragons were with smell since he had no actual data on them, and Ezekiel figured it might be good to look it up later. Ezekiel then thought that Suko might actually be a challenge for Bear, considering that Suko could pick up two perfume scents subtly hidden among other scents in the inn that were sort of far away. Ezekiel and Bear quickly realized what Suko just said, and both of them at the same time asked, "Wait, you're half dragon?!" Suko smiled proudly, exclaiming, "I am! The D-Drunk Dragon is at your service!" Bear then asked, "Never heard of you." Suko then had a look of surprise, then appeared to be actually quite depressed, saying, "I see. It's okay. My h-heroic deeds aren't that worthy of discussing anyways." Bear, realizing what he had done, quickly said, "I'm sorry! Could I hear of your heroic deeds, O great Drunk Dragon?" Suko cheered up rather quickly, most likely due to the alcohol, replying, "You wish to learn about the great Drunk Dragon, my friend?"
As he said this, Suko's eyes went wide, his breathing got a bit heavy, he grinned in a perverted manner, then got a bloody nose. Ezekiel realized that Suko was not actually looking at either him or Bear, but rather, Suko was looking directly at a pair of boobs attached to Zoey, who somehow snuck her way behind Ezekiel. Zoey, realizing the strange red-robed man was giving her quite a nasty look, hid behind Ezekiel, grabbing onto his arm and having her boobs squish against his arm. Zoey then said, "I don't like the way this man is eyeing me, Ezekiel!" Suko then got somewhat irritated, saying, "Dammit, Ezekiel, I so badly wanted a cat-girl to cling onto me with her pair of busty boobs squishing against me! I'm so fucking jealous of you!" Zoey then hid behind Ezekiel even more, quite afraid of what Suko might do. Suko then continued, asking, "How come no girls ever flock to ME?" As if on cue, it would seem that Aqua also snuck her way into The Crimson Tankard Inn, gently tugging on Ezekiel's shirt sleeve, quietly asking in a shy manner, "W-Who is this man?" Suko got even more irritated, and his bloody nose worsened even more. Suko then asked, "You even have a beautiful loli who likes you?! Dammit, I've always wanted a loli girlfriend! Why are you having a goddamn harem when I can't even get a single girl?!" Ezekiel quickly said, "Listen, man, it's no harem! It's not what you think!" Realizing Suko called her a loli, Aqua angrily said, "I-I-I'm 19! I'm not a l-l-loli! I-I'm still growing, okay?!" Ezekiel then said, "Yeah man, I'm not a lolicon. I'm most certainly not into little kids. Where I come from, that shit's illegal." Ezekiel, realizing that Suko literally said he wanted a loli girlfriend, said, "Listen, dude, if you have some seemingly nice people dressed in black suits and black sunglasses asking you to hop in their government van due to your loli complex, please don't mention that you associate with me." Suko didn't even hear what Ezekiel said. Instead, he sighed in disappointment with himself, silently asking, "Why can I not have love in my life? Is that so hard to ask for?" Bear silently nodded in agreement. He could share the pain with Suko of not having a girlfriend yet, so he gently patted Suko on the back, saying, "One day, bro. One of these days, you'll meet a knockout babe who will love you for who you are." Suko then breathed harder, his bloody nose getting worse, saying, "She better be a hot blonde elf who has the b-biggest of bazongas, the thickest booty, and thunder thighs that clap so hard that they'll make the bed-" Zoey immediately smacked Suko upside the head. A bit angry, she said, "That's a bit TOO much information, you pervert!" Suko rubbed his head, chuckled, then said, "I-I probably deserved that." Suko wiped the blood off his nose and got himself under control. After receiving the blow from Zoey, Suko actually appeared to sober up quite a bit. Suko then asked, "So, you truly wanna know about how I became known as the Drunk Dragon?" Zoey and Aqua seemed interested in that question, so they both took a seat at the table to either side of Ezekiel. Bear then also took a seat next to Suko. Suko then began his story.
"It all started about 15 years ago, a few years before the Humanity War. Dragons and humans always had their differences with one another, but during those years, a low profile war broke out between the humans and dragons due to a guild raid on a dragon nest and slaying a high-ranking dragon. Of course, killing a high-ranking dragon is quite the feat, so the humans who killed it, wanting more glory to themselves, began a crusade to slay all dragons in existence," said Suko. He chuckled, saying, "What an ambitious goal, and quite a stupid one. You need many humans to take down a dragon. If one human was all it took, there would be no more dragons left in this world." Suko took a sip from his tankard, then continued the story. "Anyways, once the dragons got word of their supposed crusade and the fact that the high ranking dragon from before was killed, they immediately retaliated and burned down a good amount of guilds. It was an act of 'self-defense,' as they justified it." Suko took another sip from his tankard, then said, "Soon, a declaration of war was made against the dragons by the humans, and thus began the short-lived Dragon War." Suko took another sip from his tankard, then said, "You're probably wondering where a drunk pervert like me fits into all of this. Well, as it turns out, I was actually one of the people who helped slay the high-ranking dragon. I was still quite young, but old enough to contribute to what needed to be done. Realizing that my actions had brought about the Dragon War, I succumbed to alcoholism to forget about my actions, to convince myself that I wasn't one of the reasons why humans and dragons were at war at the time." Suko took another sip from his tankard, then said, "The Dragon War was taking heavy tolls on the humans, but the humans have their pride, and due to this stupid pride, they continued fighting an uphill war. The human causalities piled on while a minimum number of dragons were killed, but the humans refused to surrender. Then, after drinking away a good amount of the war with no real end in sight, quite a stupid thought hit me: why not just offer the dragons some alcohol as a peace offering?" Suko took yet another sip from his tankard, then said, "So, I left the guild after stealing quite a bit of their alcohol, then made my way up to the dragon's nest. Seeing as I was only one human, the dragons knew I couldn't do anything to harm them by myself, so they looked down on me as I made my way into their nest. I approached their leader and made him an offering under the impression that I was a representative of the human army: twelve of the best and biggest bottles of alcohol humans had." Suko took yet another sip from his tankard, then said, "Seeing as I was a human, they, of course, suspected me of poisoning the drinks, but I drank some from each bottle to prove to them it wasn't poisoned, and I was quite drunk after that. I told them my honest feelings about this war, about how sorry I was that my kind did such a thing to their high-ranking dragon, and I sincerely apologized to them on behalf of the human race. Of course, I don't actually remember saying that part, but the dragons told me I did. To my surprise, the leader accepted my apology and peace offering, and the war pretty much ended right then and there. But man, I somewhat remember having a great time after that. I remember that I started spouting some kickass yo mamma jokes to the dragons at some point, and they were drunk by this point since they really liked the alcohol, and then we started talking about some really steamy stuff. I never realized just how kinky dragons really were, especially the leader dragon, and here I thought they were simple creatures going at it doggy style. They gave me quite a few ideas to try out once I get myself a blonde elf hottie." Suko chuckled in a perverted manner, then his nose then began to bleed, but he quickly wiped it away once he saw an angered Zoey and Aqua, staring at him with murderous intent. Suko cleared his throat then continued, saying, "After all of that, they loved me in the end. They had a good time, and we both felt that a friendship between dragons and humans might actually be a possibility. They loved me so much that they offered to give me dragon powers. All they had to do was perform a ritual and make me drink dragon blood from a dragon who voluntarily offered up his blood. If someone were to drink the blood without the dragon's consent or performed the ritual improperly, it wouldn't work. I don't know why, but the dragon's told me that's just how it works." Suko then took a sip from his tankard, only to realize that it was empty. He placed the tankard down, and said, "After that, I gained the powers of the leader, which was fire dragon powers. Word of the war ending in quite the spectacular way spread like wildfire, and I was quite known for some time among many people, and the people gave me the nickname 'the Drunk Dragon' due to me ending a war with a dozen bottles of alcohol and gaining dragon powers due to it. Thanks to that, I'm on rather friendly terms with all dragons I come across. Due to my efforts, dragons and humans have existed quite peacefully since the days of the Dragon War."
Suko, looking proud of himself, then asked, "So, pretty cool right? I quite literally stopped a war with twelve bottles of alcohol." Suko looked around the table, anticipating looks of bewilderment. To his surprise, no one said a word, and everyone looked at Suko with intense disbelief. Bear tried to hide his laughter, but ultimately couldn't. Bear, still laughing, said, "That's a good story, but damn, that's complete bullshit!" Zoey and Aqua silently nodded in agreement with Bear. Ezekiel sighed, and said, "I have to agree with Bear. There's no way in hell a dumbass like you could pull off something that spectacular. Plus, the story is just too perfect. The dragons just happen to forgive the death of their friend over alcohol?" Suko grinned mischievously, then asked, "Would all of you please step outside with me for a moment?" Bear, Ezekiel, Aqua, and Zoey then followed Suko out of The Crimson Tankard Inn.
They followed Suko for a little bit, and Suko led everyone to a quieter part of town. Suko, grinning stupidly, then said, "Watch as the Drunk Dragon conducts some serious magic!" Suko put his hands together, then chanted in a strange language that was not familiar to Bear, Zoey, Aqua, or Ezekiel. A circle of red light appeared on the ground in front of them with strange symbols, then out of nowhere, a huge red dragon was materialized in the center of the circle. Surprised at the fact that a dragon appeared before then, everyone except Suko then shouted, "EHHHHHHHHH?!"The dragon looked around in surprise, then spotted Suko, and asked, "Why did you summon me, Suko? Are we drinking tonight?" Suko answered, "Nah, not tonight, Leader. I just had to prove my story was true." Leader looked disappointed in Suko, saying, "Dammit, Suko! And here I was about to get cozy with quite the looker of a dragon!" A perverted smile appeared on the red dragon's face, he slowly began chuckling to himself, and blood began to start pouring from his snout. Well, I can see how Suko would get along with this dragon, thought Ezekiel, who looked in shame at the both of them. "Pervert," said Zoey, looking away from the red dragon in disgust. The red dragon immediately looked depressed upon hearing the harsh criticism of his character. Ezekiel exclaimed, "He took critical emotional damage from that abusive attack!" Suko, trying to defuse the situation, said, "Well, if this doesn't prove that my story is true, then I don't know what to tell you. This depressed-looking dragon here, you can just call him Leader since he's quite literally the leader of the dragons at this current moment." The red dragon began to get out of his depressed slump rather quickly, then said, "What Suko said is true. My name is Ardarth, but please, for simplicity's sake, call me Leader. I am the true leader of the dragons." Bear and Ezekiel, out of curiosity, began inspecting Leader. Ezekiel pulled out his Book of Knowledge and flipped to the page about dragons. There, he found information about dragons as a species, the Dragon War, and, to his surprise, a small paragraph about the efforts of the Drunk Dragon. Ezekiel exclaimed, "Well, it seems you truly are famous if you're mentioned in this book, Mr. Drunk Dragon!" Suko then grinned, and wanting to inflate his ego even more, said, "Well, of course! The Drunk Dragon's efforts have been recognized by many as the mysterious man who saved many lives, both dragon and human, by ending that war in the most peaceful way possible!" By peaceful, you mean a pervert's hangout with alcohol, thought Ezekiel, assuming the stories didn't entail what the dragons and Suko discussed. Leader laughed, saying, "You know we would've kicked your human asses in that war anyways!" Suko shot back, saying, "Shut up!" Leader laughed, and he realized Bear was on top of his back. Bear said, "I've always wanted to fly a dragon, or better yet, keep a dragon as a pet. I think that would be pretty badass. Think you could hook a brother up and pull some strings to make it happen, bro?" Leader immediately said, "To flying, sure. But to keep a dragon as a pet, hell no." Bear was shocked, asking, "What the fuck?! Why not?" Leader simply stated, "Firstly, demi-human, we're not domesticated animals. We're beasts that roam freely. We also have our pride as dragons." Bear devilishly grinned, then said, "That's not what it looks like when you're with that dummy Suko." Leader, flustered by Bear's comment, then said, "I-It's because I have a contract forged with him! In a sense, he's my master, but also not at the same time. That's just how it is!" Ezekiel wanted to ask the dragon a lot more questions, but Leader then said, "Does anyone else want to ride on me?" Ezekiel immediately said, "Hell yeah," then climbed on top of Leader's back. Zoey, sensing that this would probably be a once-in-a-lifetime thing for her to be able to ride a dragon, said, "I'll ride, too!" With Ezekiel's help, Zoey got on top of Leader's back. Zoey then quickly sat in front of Bear. Aqua was a little reluctant to get on due to her being afraid of heights, but the spot behind Ezekiel was open, so she wanted to try to take it before anyone else did. Due to this, Aqua's fear of heights was somewhat overwritten as she timidly got on Leader's back. Aqua sat behind Ezekiel and blushed intensely while saying, "I-I-I'm afraid of heights, s-so can I h-hold onto you s-so I don't fall?" Suko popped in out of nowhere, nose bleeding with a perverted smile, saying, "You can hold onto me if you want me to." Aqua shot him a murderous look, to which Suko shuddered and immediately turned around without saying another word. Ezekiel simply said, "Yeah, you can hold me." With that, Aqua put her head on Ezekiel's back and wrapped her arms around him. Ezekiel blushed, realizing that this was the first time that a girl had ever gotten this close to him. Bear noticed what was happening and gave Ezekiel a mischievous smile and a wink. Ezekiel was clueless, not really picking up on what Bear meant by those actions. Suko was a jealous one, as he silently got on top of Leader's back while staring at what was occurring between Ezekiel and Aqua.
Once everyone was comfortable, Leader chanted a strange spell, and everyone felt a warm glow around them. They all realized that they were stuck to Leader, meaning that they couldn't fall off Leader when he was flying. Leader then said, "Alright, here we go. Your first and maybe last time riding a dragon!" With that, Leader started flying off the ground, headed straight up towards the clouds in the night sky. The experience of flying on a dragon could be described as riding on a rollercoaster that's going quite fast. Soon, Leader was able to get high enough to be above the clouds and stabled out himself to where he could now smoothly coast over the clouds. On a night like tonight was, the stars shone more brightly than his old world. Bear looked in awe at the sight of the stars, along with Suko, Aqua, and Zoey, who were all entranced by the dancing stars. Ezekiel looked up at the countless amount of stars in the night sky, all twinkling very bright. Light pollution really did a number on stargazing in my old world, huh? I never thought that I would see these beautiful, bright balls of gas shining like they are now back in my old city, thought Ezekiel, who suddenly remembered a distant memory from his childhood.
An 8-year old Ezekiel was sitting outside on his apartment balcony, staring up at the night sky. For homework, his science teacher told his class to try to count the number of stars out tonight, but in full honesty, he was more interested in the constellations the stars formed. Ezekiel, however, did try to count the number of stars, but he realized that there were so few out, along with Ezekiel being unable to fully form constellations due to there being missing stars. Ezekiel's dad suddenly opened the glass door to the apartment balcony, saying, "It's a shame. Light pollution in our city has really ruined the masterpiece that space wanted to show us." Ezekiel's dad then took a seat next to Ezekiel. Ezekiel then asked, "Light pollution?" Ezekiel's dad explained, saying, "Let's just say that all these lights that you see now, the ones created by humans? They're covering up the night sky's actual beauty. What you see right now is only a small fraction of it," Ezekiel wasn't sure what he meant, so he asked, "Beauty? Isn't there just black space out there? A black space filled with balls of gas and planets? What's beautiful about that?" Ezekiel's dad then said, "Well, in that aspect, you aren't wrong. However, sometimes, you may not want to look at everything with the science involved in it, and just admire the beauty in something, simply for what it is." Ezekiel's dad then patted Ezekiel's head, saying, "I know that you're my little scientist, but maybe, just even for a little bit, set down the science goggles you're wearing and truly look at something with your own eyes." Ezekiel's dad then got up and went back inside, leaving Ezekiel with uncertainty as to what his father had meant by all of that.
Back in the current world, Ezekiel finally realized what his father had meant by that, looking up at the night sky with many stars dancing without a care in the world. His father was quite right about one thing: light pollution really had muddled the perfect picture that space wanted to show everyone. Perhaps he might've been more involved in the field of astronomy if he only knew the beauty that space offered in times like this. Time passed, and Ezekiel was still lost in the trance of the stars. Without realizing it, he had slumped back, and his head was now resting comfortably on Aqua's lap. Aqua simply let Ezekiel do it, but Aqua, with her face now beaming a bright red due to this, wasn't sure what to do in this scenario. Soon, after what felt like an eternity of gazing at the stars with no sounds other than the flapping of Leader's wings, Ezekiel drifted off to sleep under the beautiful night sky.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjKB8ERHa44
