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Pebble sat down as his desk, the brush leaving soft strokes on the paper underneath it. The young dragon looked at the green ink, something Nezha got for him after he said that the black one was boring. Pebble smiled slightly.

He looked at the window, getting distracted from his homework by thoughts.

Pebble was supposedly to grow up into a powerful dragon. But he didn't feel like it. Well, certainly others besides Nezha didn't make him feel like it. Celestial realm seemed to be so full of contradictions. On one hand they act cautious around him because of his supposed powers, on the other they treat him as a literal infant. Sure, he wasn't 10000 something years old, but he was ten not two, at least make a distinction there.

His eyes darted to his crutches laying nearby. Oh, right... also that. He heard Li Jing's... unsavoury words about him. He argued with Nezha a lot these days... Something about Nezha being too soft on the dragon, and that they should push him to do more. Pebble understood that, to some degree. But maybe going against what the doctors say isn't a good idea?

The Lotus Pond Dragon, unable to walk because his egg was damaged... Sure, Pebble wasn't happy about this either! He wished he could do more! But not at the cost of possibly making things worse... And well, due to his powers being unstable yet still, there's no chance of fixing him with magic. He had to work what he had.

...... But... ...Was he doing enough? He looked back at the paper, quickly going back to work. He wanted to make Nezha proud. He can prove himself. The celestials will see, In due time... He's already very smart, smarter than average for his age. And he was proud of that... Nezha was proud...

He smiled, glancing out the window again, admiring the clear sky and listening to the birds, before going back to writing.

Suddenly, he heard... um, was that a knock? Or more like a bang at the door? Pebble frowned before grabbing his crutches and coming over to the door, carefully turning the handle and...

Nezha falls through the door, falling on the floor. The young Lotus Pond Dragon gasps in fear and shock, looking at the battered Nezha wide-eyed. He didn't have much time to think before something grabbed him-

''There you are, young one. Now I can finally take back what they took from me...''

Pebble's world stopped, his heart thundering in his ears, his breath shaky. What was going to happen now? This was bad. Very, very, very BAD.

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