[J'Tal]

Venom was dead tired when he arrived. He had flown from Wilt'no Desert from the east to here. Setting down in the grass, he enjoyed the difference in temperature. Breathing hard, Venom was ready to begin training the next day.

”I don’t care what you say,” Venom grumbled, ”I am going to sleep.”

“Come on!” J’Tal seemed enthused to be in a place that you could see for miles with no issues. “This place is nice. We can begin training now!”

“Who is this we?” Venom asked sarcastically. “Is there a mouse in your pocket? I am going to sleep.”

“What do you mean you are going to sleep! We just got here!” J’Tal demanded to know, not yet realizing that he was being ignored by a slumbering dragon.

Finally taking the hint, and realizing that he was being ignored, J’Tal hunkered down and went to sleep himself.

66

[J'Tal]

The next morning found Venom digging holes at varying distances from the campsite. Having to search (it took forever! there is nothing in the vast plains!), Venom finally finds several branches that would suffice for poles. Burying the branches in the holes, he sets up multiple targets at varying distances.

As Venom is going to start shooting fireballs at the varying targets for practice, J'Tal stops him.

67

[J'Tal]

"You might not want to start yet." J'Tal calmly says.

"And why not?"

"We are in the middle of grassy plains as far as the eyes can see." J'Tal is calm as he explains his reasoning. "The grass is a little tender, and you are going to be blowing fire. Or were you intending to burn the grass lands down?"

"Would that be bad?"

68

[J'Tal]

"Very funny." J'Tal sarcastically replied. "You need to make a fire line around the area, as well as where you will be shooting."

"Oh, is that all?"

Together they fly the area and pick the best place to make the fire line. Figuring the range of the fireballs was the hardest part. Deciding the fastest way to make the fire line, was to burn it.

69

[J'Tal]

The obvious risks were that the grass would go up in flames. The trick would be to do it in a way that the grass would be incinerated in the fire, without leaving behind burning weeds. Venom flew to the height of 10 feet, and blew the hottest flame he could.

Seeming to work, Venom flew forward slowly until he was running out of air. Pausing, he flew back to where he left off and continued. The fact the J'Tal also didn't mention was that this was also a way to increase Venom's endurance.

After several hours it started to get dark and they decided not to continue until the morning. As darkness fell, they could see all the areas that there remained sparks still glowing in the ash. Putting them out, They then went to bed.

70

[J'Tal]

Waking early to a cool morning dew, Venom get started continuing the fire line. Continuing where he left off Venom releases a continuous stream of fire. After a couple hours with several breaks to catch his breath, Venom finishes the ring.

“Ok, lets do another ring.” J’Tal calmly states.

”What!?!” Venom shouts, incredulous.

“You need to make the ring larger,” J’Tal seems calm explaining to a dragon that he has more work to do. “We do another ring, then burn the extra space in-between the rings for a large safety barrier.”

… There is stunned silence as Venom stares at J’Tal. ”Are you serious? Screw that!”

71

[J'Tal]

"All right," J'Tal replies. "Just remember, you have to clean up after any fire."

Ignoring J'Tal, Venom flies into the air to practice for the battle to come. Aiming in on the stakes buried in the ground, Venom releases a salvo of fireballs. Impacting the targets, it immediately ignites the grass surrounding them.

"Oh."

J'Tal just sighs.

72

[J'Tal]

"I knew something like this would happen." J'Tal tells Venom. "That is why I had you do at least one ring. We need to go along the edges of the ring and start a fire burning inward."

Checking the wind, and seeing which direction it is blowing, J'Tal directs Venom to the north side. and instructs him to burn the grass toward the targets. As the flames start to grow, J’Tal instructs Venom to go to the other side.

Carefully, Venom is to burn the grass against the wind, widening the fire ring on the downwind side.

73

[J'Tal]

Trusting a dragon to minimize fire damage, is stupid.

When Venom goes to the opposite edge, he blast a bout of fire into the grass against the wind. He watches as it burns a bit, thinking he did a good job. That is until he notices the sparks floating over the fire line. There isn't that much wind, but a small enough breeze can turn any controlled flame into an inferno. Leaping to the other side of the fire line, Venom attempts to stop the spread.

74

[J'Tal]

As Venom is on damage control on the down wind side, J'Tal is doing the same thing on the other. Only on a smaller scale. As the flames spread from the center, the fire from the upwind side moves toward it. The fire near Venom slowly widens the fire line as it slowly burns upwind. Venom is doing everything he can to make sure the fire doesn't get to the other side.

75

[J'Tal]

When the fires meet, they slowly begin to die down, By this time it is night and the glowing embers and flames looked like a scene from hell. When they are relatively certain that the fires would not spread, they stood back and watched the flames burn down to nothing.

The two of them fell into a light sleep, not waking until the next morning. When they opened their eyes, They found several new arrivals.

76-1-1

[J'Tal]

"Um..." J'Tal stammers as he looks at the new arrivals. "Hello."

"Who are you?" Venom asks, still groggy from sleep.

The insectile creature's antenna touch both of the abruptly awaken pair. <I am Scythe.> The voice enters their minds, there seems to be a slight background noise of buzzing as he ‘talks’.

<I am wick.> Unlike the buzzing with the Beetanke, the Shinzo’s mental ‘voice’ sounds incredibly calm and relaxed but with a self confidence that belies a normal personality. <We saw the smoke from afar, and came to make sure it was put out.>

77-2-2

[J'Tal]

“We originally came to practice with Venom’s accuracy,” J’Tal states. “But, I had the for-thought to do a fire ring first so any fire would not get out of control. Good thing I did.”

<Would you be interested in our company as you two practice?> The buzzing voice sounds in their heads.

<Why are you practicing?> The Shinzo asks.

”There is a competition in the Slums of Barakka. We want to enter this fight.” Venom replies. ”I don’t have an issue as to why they can’t be here.”

78-3-3

[J'Tal]

<You can practice trying to hit me.> The Scythe states. <If you can.>

"Ha!" Venom laughs. "That wont be a problem! With that he spits a fireball at the Beetanke.

Venom misses. He also finds the Beetanke 50 meters farther away than where he originally was. Venom shoots another firball at Scythe, only to find that he misses again and Scythe is next to him brushing his antanee on Venom.

<I am an expert at moving at high speeds.> Scythe says, the buzzing obviously evident.

<I happen to to be an expert at wrestling.> Wick calmly states.

79-4-4

[J'Tal]

"Great!" J'Tal exclaims. "Venom can use as much practice as possible!"

"I can take them both on with NO problem!" Venom starts to roar.

"Calm down" J'Tal makes soothing gestures with his hands as he says this. "I ment no offence."

<You need to learn to relax your emotions.> Wick seems to have no emotions when he speaks. <I grew up in a monistary, the first thing I learned is that fire is chaotic. But if you can learn to harness it, to control fire. You can have so much more power in the use of that flame.>

80-5-5