14. Kadia

Azulia and Adrien’s magics flared up simultaneously once they stepped foot on the beach. Adrien wasted no time, and her pink magic pulsed around her like an aura. Azulia’s magic seemed to change color every time Kaida blinked. Red, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Kaida wasn’t sure what else, but it finally settled on an aqua blue before she got herself in a fighting stance. Sundrei stared at everyone like Kaida did before Kaida noticed she allowed her fangs to show. Remy shifted into her Lycan form, and Kaida took a step back.

What in the hell... how have I gone this long in life never having seen a Lycan? They are HUGE!

Remy went from an average height of five foot eight to over six feet tall in her Lycan form. It stood on two legs, and its paws, with its claws elongated, could cover Kaida’s head and probably slice off her head with one bad move. She stood there in awe of her friends and how powerful they were. She could feel their power and magic like they were assorted flavors of candy.

"Shit... How is it that the so-called ’fearsome four’ isn’t afraid of you four," Kaida said while laughing. "I want to run in the other direction!"

"They haven’t exactly seen how capable we are with our magic and forms," Azulia said with a smile.

"I’m not going to lie to you, Kaida. I can turn into a horde of bats as well. Just in case I do that little trick during our session."

Kaida blinked at her, completely stunned into silence. Sundrei giggled while the other three nodded their heads in agreement.

"That’s a thing?"

"Yes. Only a few Vampyres can do it. I am one of them."

"Well then. Good to know."

Adrien shook her head, "Fire up your magic, Kaida. We are going to do what the guys did. However, we aren’t going to try to kill you. We will just throw some spells and whatnot at you, and we want you to fight back. You need to master your magic. Then, when you go home, I want you to talk to Beckett about training in your dragon form. Understood?"

Kaida nodded and focused on her magic. It had been a while since she tried to access it. She still had some trouble getting it to come to her easily. Kaida took longer than she hoped it would take before she gave up.

"I can’t."

"Kaida. You’re overthinking it. Just relax and let it come to you. Don’t force it," Adrien directed.

Kaida tried again. This time, she focused on her breathing. Breathe in, one, two, breathe out, three, four, she said to herself. Within a few seconds, she could feel the warmth of her magic flowing through her arms. Kaida continued focusing on her breathing until she could feel her magic overwhelm her. She opened her eyes to three of her friends smiling and the other giving her a wolfish grin.

"Thatta girl. Get ready."

When Kaida noticed Adrien’s pink magic in a sphere hurtling at her, she thought of the shield she had used before. The magic collided with Kaida’s shield, but she fell to her knees as a shockwave entered her body. Kaida cried out in pain, and then she heard her dragon roar.

No. Don’t. We are just training.

They hurt you like the others did.

Adrien is just trying to help. It’s not like the others at all.

Kaida quickly got to her feet, threw her hand outward, and then pulled it up. Within seconds, her purple magic blasted out of her palm, causing the sand to fly in every direction and, in an arc, flew upward to throw a cloud of sand up in front of her friends’ faces. When they all covered themselves, Kaida created a cloud of her magic around her as a shield.

She felt a body fly against her shield, and Kaida lifted her palms and pushed the air. Whoever threw themselves at her shield went flying backward.

"Oh shit! Did anyone know Kaida could do that?"

Kaida continued to use the cloud as cover and thought about her wings sprawling out of her back. The wings followed her command, and Kaida pushed down as hard as possible to take flight. The cloud stayed where it was, just as she’d wanted, and used it as a distraction. Kaida used her wings to fly behind her friends and then sent a wave of her magic at them as they stared at her cloud. Instantly, the magic struck them from behind and made them fall to the sand.

Adrien was the first one to get up and look back at Kaida. She gave Adrien a smug smile and waved cutely with her fingers.

"Woah. How the hell did you do that? Girl! That could be a game changer if you used that in battle!"

"Good to know."

"Let’s go again!" Azulia yelled excitedly.

Kaida now felt her magic at her fingertips and couldn’t wait to use it. With her wings still out, she really felt like a badass. She waited for someone to make the first move but realized she could make one, too.

Kaida pictured her magic as a cloud once more and allowed it to billow out of her hands. Azulia threw her hand out, and a strong breeze tried to make her magic disappear. Kaida then used her wings to cover her as she felt a wave of magic hurtling at her. Her wings wrapped around her, and she felt the magic strike her wings. When it did, smoke came down in its crevices, and Kaida started to choke. She unraveled her wings and flapped them as much as she could. It allowed the smoke to clear, and she pushed on her magic to billow out again, this time at a faster pace. Once the cloud cloaked her, Kaida put up her shield and then focused on her magic to blast out like she used against the boys.

Shit, should I warn them? I don’t want to hurt them.

No.

Her dragon took over her wings and flapped them hard. As soon as she was in the air, Kaida unleashed the plasma beam down at her friends. Azulia and Adrien used their magic together and threw it in the cloud. Kaida aimed to where the plasma would strike before them instead of at them. When the beam landed, it sent a blast of air and sand everywhere, making everyone fly onto their asses.

Sundrei burst into a cloud of bats and flew at Kaida. Before she could put up a shield, hundreds of bats collided with her, making her lose focus, and her wings retracted back into her. Kaida fell toward the ground, feeling the wind brush against her in a frigid slap. Her dragon roared again, and Kaida could feel her pushing on a shift.

No! This is training! I don’t need your whole form. I’m okay!

In time, Kaida pushed her wings out of her back to catch the air and stop her descent. Her friends stared at her, Sundrei standing next to Azulia and Adrien like she never left the ground.

"Well then. Looks like I need to figure out how to think on my feet a little quicker."

"Just a bit. Comes with practice. Wanna go again?"

Kaida let herself fall enough to put her feet onto the ground and rolled her shoulders. Using her magic this way felt great and was a lot of fun. It didn’t feel like it did with the guys. Nothing felt malicious, and the blows only stopped her from catching her breath. If anything, she needed more training sessions like this compared to what she experienced before with the guys.

"Hell yeah. This is fun."

"As it should be. If we get back to our people, we should all have our trainers to do sessions like this. Even call in other species to train with just to get used to everything," Azulia said to no one in particular.

Adrien nodded drastically. "I swear if training were more like this when I had to, I would have gotten up at dawn with no issue."

Remy’s Lycan stretched itself out. Its black fur almost shimmered in the sunlight. Kaida felt the need to outstretch her arm and try to pet her fur but managed to keep it at her sides. It looked so soft and inviting. Kaida wondered if people would end up dead because they thought petting a Lycan would be a good idea.

"Okay. I’m ready," Adrien said as she jumped around on the balls of her feet.

Kaida pulled up her magic and stood as if she was ready for anything. No one made a move again as they all stared at each other. The Lycan gave Kaida a wolfish grin, then lunged at her. Kaida was prepared for the Lycan form and threw a plasma ball at it. She did not expect the Lycan to transform into a regular, four-legged wolf form, dodging her plasma ball and colliding with her body. Kaida’s back hit the sand, and she felt herself cackle as her friend began to lick her face.

"Damn it! I forgot you can do that, Rem! I wasn’t prepared!"

"That’s the point, Kai! You can never be too prepared for battle. People come out of nowhere with abilities that you can’t foresee. My turning into a wolf and Sundrei turning into a crazy amount of bats both threw you off. Training is important," Adrien reminded her.

"I’m... not... disagreeing!" Kaida said between laughs as Remy’s wolf continued to lick her face.

The wolf finally decided to lay off and backed away. Remy shifted back into her human form with a smug look on her face.

"Beauty of that ability is that no one expects it. It’s awesome. But since you deflected the first attack, my wolf wanted to get one over on you."

"Fair enough."

"I’m gonna sit out the rest though. I don’t want the wolf to think this is a battle. You running from her or flying away or attacking her can just trigger her animalistic side. You don’t want that."

Sundrei nodded her head, "Yeah, I’m with you there. Why not just leave it to the magic wielders? At least today. We can try your techniques another day."

Sundrei and Remy walked off to the side and sat in a place that could allow them to see everything unfold. Kaida looked around and rolled her shoulders again. Her friends were smiling at her. The love and pride in their eyes made Kaida tear up.

"Okay, Kai. Let’s go."

Kaida threw a ball of plasma without thinking about it. Both of her friends dodged her and then threw their own magic at her. Kaida sidestepped both balls of magic and formed another ball in her hand. She threw it at the sand in front of them to make a cloud of sand shroud their eyes. Azulia made the wind blow the sand away before Kaida could make her next move.

Azulia looked at Adrien with a smirk. Adrien threw her hands up, and Kaida was waiting for something to happen. Azulia threw her hand down, and Kaida followed the movement. The ground underneath her began to shake. Kaida crouched briefly to keep her balance and then jumped into the air. Her wings took over and kept her in the air as she threw her plasma ball down at them.

Only they weren’t there.

Kaida looked around and couldn’t find them. Then... something plopped onto her shoulders, and Kaida lost focus again. As Kaida fell down toward the ground, Azulia was suspended in the air with Adrien beside her. Dark tendrils were around Azulia’s form, and Kaida wasn’t sure what was happening.

Her dragon roared again. This time, she couldn’t stop the shift from happening. The dragon pushed until Kaida’s body transformed into her other form. Within seconds, her large purple dragon was in the air.

Do not hurt them!

Kaida’s dragon opened her mouth and sent out a beam of plasma at Azulia and Adrien. Both of them disappeared in a ball of black, and then there was no hint of their presence again. The dragon’s head whipped around in every direction to find where they could have gone. Her dragon roared and started to send beams of plasma everywhere she could in hopes of striking them.

Stop! You don’t want to do this!