//------------------------------// // The Gardening Club // Story: Dragonfire 🐲 Enter The Dragon Hero 🐲 // by Phantom-Dragon //------------------------------// One afternoon, at CHS, Spike was packing his locker, while taking out some textbooks he will later need for study. After closing his locker, the green haired boy looked up, to see his guys approaching him. "Yo Spike!" Rumble greeted. "Ya coming later for the Fight Club?" Spike shook his head, "Sorry guys," He replied. "Can't make it today." The Knights were aghast, "Why can't you?" Pipsqueak asked. "I promised Wallflower I'd come to her Gardening Club today," He replied. "Wallflower?" Button asked. "Who's that?" It wasn't long before the boy received a dope slap by the others. "Hey wise guy," Rumble frowned. "He's talking about this girl. Remember?" With that, he produced a picture, courtesy of Featherweight, to show the said girl. "Oh!" Button replied. "The girl with the nice hair you saved on the first day!" "Yep, that's the one!" Spike confirmed. "So, how did you became a part of her club?" Featherweight said. "Well, it all started last week," Spike began. Past [Invisible] Spike was doing parkour around New York, when he suddenly came across the said girl, who was unloading a large bag of fertilizers, from a truck, and struggled to carry it away. The girl was about to trip, when Spike came running as a blur of purple and green, and caught her in time. "Careful there!" Spike exclaimed. "This looks heavy. Let me get it for you." "Oh, thanks," The girl replied quietly, until she got a good look at Spike, and gasped, "Y-Y-You're..." "Hey! It's you!" Spike smiled. "The girl with the nice hair!" He recalled, remembering on his first day, he saved the girl from falling on drops of waters. In response, the girl blushed, as she modestly stroke her hair, "Thank you," She smiled. In appearance, Wallflower has a long, scruffy moderate aquamarine hair, freckles that framed her wide, shy grayish tangelo eyes. Her attires consists of a dirt brown sweater with tan stripes, gray pants, and tennis shoes. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm-" "Oh, I know who you are," The girl replied. "You're Spike Draco! The entire school knows who you are!" Spike chuckled, while modestly waving it off, "Believe it, or not. I'm always forgetting that last part," He replied. "So, who are you, exactly?" "I'm Wallflower Blush," The girl smiled shyly. "Pleasure to meet ya." Later, Spike and Wallflower were getting themselves acquainted, while Wallflower explained what she was doing. "Camp Everfree?" Spike asked. "Mmm-hmm," Wallflower replied. "It's like the best camp I've ever been to, as a kid. It's got all of these beautiful mountains, a great lake where we can go sailing, canoeing, and fishing, and they even have this amazing cavern full of beautiful geodes. And it's still my favorite place to this day. But it's in trouble. Some rich guy named Filthy Rich is trying to tear it down, and turn it into some kind of spa resort. I've been trying to raise enough money to save it, but I can only do so much, and no one ever listens to me, let alone notice me." "Ya gotta speak louder, Flower," Spike encouraged. "Ya gotta draw the public's attention! Nobody's going to listen to you if you speak quietly like that." "Easy for you to say," Wallflower replied softly. "It's always so scary. And it's always so lonely. In fact, all my life, all I ever knew was what it's like to be alone. My parents are always at work, and I've never even had one friend." "Well, I'm a friend of yours now," Spike said. "Doesn't that count?" Wallflower smiled, "That's sweet of you, Spike. But I gotta face fact. It's hopeless. There's not a person around who likes Camp Everfree." "I wouldn't say that, Wallflower," Spike replied. "Because if Camp Everfree's that special to you, then count me in." Wallflower could hardly believe her ears. Present "And that's a promise," Spike concluded, before he looked at his watch. "I've got a lot of work to do! Later guys!" With that, the dragon boy took off as a purple and green blur, leaving the Knights in the dust. Meanwhile, from around a corner, Snips and Snails had overheard everything. "Hey Snails," Snips began. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" "Oh yeah," Snails replied. "But how are we going to convince Wallflower to dress up in a bikini for a carwash?" Meanwhile Wallflower Blush was out in the forest, waiting by a rock formation in a clearing, surrounded by some beautiful plants and flowers. "Hey Wallflower!" Spike greeted, startling the girl. "Spike!" The girl smiled, before she wrapped the boy in a hug. "I'm so glad you could make it!" "Hey! I said I'd come, didn't I?" Spike replied. "Oh, and I hope you don't mind. But I've brought a few friends with me. Looks like you're not the only one who likes to garden, and Camp Everfree." Wallflower looked, and was surprised to see Spike was joined by four girls. The first three girls are best known as the Flower Trio. The first one is named Rose. In appearance, she has pale, light grayish chartreuse green eyes, a long scruffy moderate raspberry hairs with a lighter streak. For attires, she wore a very pale, light yellow dress with an image of a beautiful rose printed on the front, over a long jean pants, and white shoes. The second is named Daisy. She has moderate spring green eyes, puffy, lime green hair, that flows down to her waist. For attires, she wore a pale magenta sleeveless shirt with daisy flowers on the front, a long dark blue jean, and magenta sandals. The third is Lily Valley, and she has sparkling, light grayish gold eyes framed by freckles on her face, long flowing light amber hair with paler highlights. She wore a tan orange dress, decorated with beautiful pink-red flowers, a head band in her hair that has a beautiful white flower, and matching pink boots. The fourth and final girl has light amaranth hairs with light vermillion highlights, droopy pale light grayish violet eyes that reflects her cheery demeanor of a hippie. For attires, she wears a mango yellow bandana with white flowers in her hair, a necklace with the peace sign, a long pink shirt, with the top cut slightly below the shoulder, and ends in yellow translucent frills at the end of the sleeves and at the bottom of the shirt, long blue bell-bottom pants, and white shoes. "I can't believe there was a Gardening Club, and we didn't even know about it!" Rose exclaimed. "Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Spike," Lily thanked, patting the boy on the shoulder. "Totally," The hippie girl added. "It was nothing," Spike replied, just as Snips and Snails came into the area. "Yo, Spike!" Snips called out. "And girls!" Snails greeted. "Snips? Snails?" Spike exclaimed. "What are you guys doing here?" "Well, we overheard you talking about a gardening club," Snips replied. "And that there's a lonely girl in there, and she needed some help with gardening and Camp Everfree," Snails added. "So, we thought about joining in to help out," Snips then eyed flirtatiously at Wallflower, who cringed. "And keep her company." "Oh no," Rose moaned. "Not them," Daisy added. Wallflower couldn't help but agree, "At this point, maybe it's not too bad of being invisible," She muttered. Wanting to lighten up the awkward moment, Spike spoke up, "So, what's the agenda?" He asked Wallflower. Later, the whole Gardening Club, plus Snips and Snails, were carrying boxes of flowers, making deliveries to some customers in a neighborhood. "I'm sorry you had to miss the Fighting Club today, because of me," Wallflower frowned. "Ah, don't worry about it Wallflower," Spike replied. "It's actually nice to just relax once in awhile, and get away from all that martial arts stuff. Believe it or not, we martial artists are more than just fighting and protecting. We can be slow and pacifist too." "Really?" The girl asked. "Yep. Like the samurais in Japan. Skilled swordsmanship, with strict code of honor. But also enjoy a few poetries now and then for relaxation and enlightenment. In other words, we're all part of Yin and Yang. We can be strong and fast, but gentle and slow at the same time." "Relax and enlightenment," Tree began. "You my friend are totally speaking my language. Really digging your vibe." "Uh, back at ya my hippie, um dudette?" Spike replied, struggling to speak Treehugger's hippie language. "Well either way, I think it's great to have you with us Spike!" Rose added. "And it's really kind of you to invite us to this club," Daisy said. Wallflower was about to speak up, when Spike interrupted, "Well, you should thank Wallflower. If she hadn't invited me, then I probably wouldn't have told you ladies about it." Wallflower couldn't help but blush. Snips and Snails huffed, "And who are we? Chopped liver?" Snips asked. "Well, looky who we have here boys," A gruff voice spoke up, as the girls and boy turned to see three street punk boys who looked as if they were juniors from their school. "A group of trespassers on our turf!" The first who was medium size of the three had spiked grayish hair with two pieces sticking up looking like horns. He wore black sneakers, black pants, a gray long sleeved shirt, and a red vest over it. Around his neck was a dog like collar with a small yellow gem attached to it. The second was the tallest. He had dark skin, bluish spiky hair, and wore a dog like collar around his neck as well. His outfit was composed of gray sneakers, black pants, a blue sleeveless shirt, and a gray vest. The third who was the shortest of the three had tan skin, blonde spiky hair, gray sneakers, black pants, a tan shirt, a gray vest, and like his friends also wore a dog like collar. "Rover, Fido, Spot," Spike identified respectively. "See you guys are still up to no good as always." "You know these guys?" Wallflower asked. "Yeah, they're part of the Diamond Dogs," Spike replied. "Though compared to the rest, these guys aren't much of a threat." "Oh we'll show you a threat," Rover snarled, sounding like an angry dog. "You haven't seen anything yet, punk!" "Pffft, you guys don't scare me," Spike defied. "So do me a favor. Make like a tree and leave! Me and the girls have some work to do!" "And didn't you hear what we said before?" Rover snarled. "This is our turf! We make the rules here! And we'll let you leave, for a price!" With that, Spot made a quick grab for the money box Wallflower was holding. "Hey! LET GO!!" Wallflower grunted, trying to pull the money box back. "Yeah! You heard her! Let go!" Snips grunted, as he and Snails came to pry Spot away, only for the small thug to bark ferociously, snapping his jaws at them, scaring them away. In response, Rose and the other girls came to help their quiet friend, with Rose kicking Spot in the face, forcing him to let go. "Oh! My nose!" Spot groaned, looking up, staring daggers at the girls. "Oh you've done and made me mad!" With that, the smallish boy lunged toward the girls, only for Spike to jump in and kicked him to the sides. "Go! Run!" Spike ordered the girls, to which they complied, though Wallflower was a bit hesitant. "Hey! Wait for us!" Snips and Snails called, running after the girls. Rover and Fido both lunged at Spike, only for the fast boy to narrowly evade them, before he grabbed them by their collars. Fido shook his head, "Oh you're not gonna-" "Yeah! I am!" Spike confirmed it by pulling both Rover and Fido together, bonking their heads together. Shaking their dizziness off, the three Diamond Dogs lunged after Spike, who did several flips, before he climbed over a wire fence. "Nah nah," Spike taunted, smirking confidently. In response, the Diamond Dogs reached into their vests and each pulled out a long sword, pulsing with electricities. "Electric swords?!" Spike exclaimed, watching as the thugs burned their way through the fence and charged after Spike. Spike quickly and skillfully evaded their slashes together from side-to-side, before he leaped in the air, did a flip, and landed back down on his feet. Looking back to see the Diamond Dogs were closing in, Spike took off running, rolling onto the hood of a car, and broke of its windshield wipers. Seeing he was now armed with some weapons, Spike gave the wipers some spins, before he did a fighting stance. The three street thugs looked to each other in bewilderment, before they charged at Spike. Rover slashed his electric sword at Spike, only for Spike to successfully disarm him, with a strike to his hand. Then Spike turned to Fido and Spot. Both of the remaining thugs slashed their swords at Spike, who quickly blocked and parried with them. Then, Spike delivered a series of quick side kicks to their chests, knocking them off their feet. Seeing that they were close to a nearby playground, Spike quickly ushered the kids and the parents to leave, "Everyone, get out! Out of the way!" Looking back, the Diamond Dogs continued their pursuit on the boy. Thinking fast, Spike dives through a hole in a spider web, in which Fido tried to follow but foolishly got stuck in the bars, while Spike was able to jump out from the other side. Rover tried to grab Spike, but Spike quickly kicked a tetherball in his direction, only for the boy to duck his head, "Ha! You missed me, you-" Rover smirked, before the ball came back and hits him in the face. "Right in the kisser." Spot ran up to Spike and threw several punches and kicks, only for Spike to block them, before he tripped the boy up, on a spring shark. "AAAAAAHHH!!" Spot screamed, when he landed on the shark's fin, and rubbed his sore buttocks. Meanwhile, Fido and Rover finally pulled themselves together as they resumed chasing Spike. Flipping through a set of swings, Spike skillfully got the two boys tangled up in the chains, before he jumped up, on a monkey bar. "Wow!" Fido marveled, while Spike waved his hands, ready for more. "Let's get out of here!" Rover suggested, and the three boys retreated. Seeing the danger has passed, Spike leapt off the bars, and turned to see Wallflower, the Flower Trio, Treehugger, Snips and Snails, with looks of shock on their faces. "Girls?! Boys?!" Spike exclaimed in surprise, looking back at the surrounding area behind him. "Um, how much did you see?" He asked nervously. "The whole thing," Wallflower confirmed. "You were incredible, Spike!" Daisy added. "We know you're good, but not that good!" "Radical!" Treehugger confirmed. "Pfft, big deal," Snips frowned in envy. "We can do that if we wanted to." "Yeah right," Rose frowned at the boys. "So much for a normal day without martial arts," Spike sighed. "But then again, I couldn't let those guys hurt you girls, would I?" "Heck no!" The girls, except Wallflower shouted, and they all crowded around Spike and hugged him. Wallflower looked hesitant at first, but she finally joined in, blushing as she pulled the boy close. "Thank you, Spike," Wallflower smiled. "For everything." "You're welcome," Spike replied, before they broke up the hug. "Come on. We got a camp to save." With that, the whole club resumed selling the flowers, collecting the moneys needed to save Camp Everfree. "Hey, what about us?" Snips asked. "Don't we get any hugs or kisses for helping?" Much to the boy's dismay, he and his pal were ignored. Soon, it was nighttime, and by then, the group have earned themselves a decent amount of money. "So, how is it?" Spike asked. "Is it enough?" Wallflower counted the moneys in her money box, "We've only raised half of the money needed to make the repairs at Camp Everfree," She confirmed, everyone groaned seeing their effort today wasn't enough. "Oh well. We'll just have to keep trying," Spike suggested. "How much longer until the deadline for the fundraiser?" Wallflower looked at her calendar on her phone, "Not counting today?" Wallflower frowned, as she confirmed. "In about six days." Spike and the girls looked despondent, seeing their timid friend ready to give up hope. "Don't give up until the end," Spike said, putting a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "There's still time. We'll think of something." Wallflower held Spike's hand close, feeling a sudden wave of warmth and comfort pulsing off him, relaxing her and calming her. Wallflower doesn't understand why, but she welcomed it and enjoyed the feeling, "Thanks Spike," Wallflower gave a small smile. "But if only we could." Getting up, Wallflower walked away, but not before she gave the rest of her new friends a loving hug, "Thank you all for trying." "Well, we finally got a hug," Snails moaned. "Yeah," Snips frowned. "Too bad we couldn't get Wallflower to smile." Spike looked down at the money bag, before he scratched his chin, thinking of a way he could help. A few days later in school, Wallflower walked into the room where the Gardening Club were supposed to meet, when she was welcomed by a celebration uproar in front of her. "What the-" Wallflower was picked up, off her feet, and tossed up in the air, repeatedly. "We did it, Wallflower!" Rose smiled. "We've raised the money!" "What?! How?" Wallflower asked. "I don't know!" Daisy replied. "But who cares? WE DID IT!! WE DID IT!!!" "This is so radical!" Treehugger said, as she and the girls continued to celebrate. Wallflower turned her head, to see Spike, standing in the doorway, smiling, giving her a thumbs up, while holding a beautiful green orb in one hand. Wallflower could only watch in wonder, as she watched Spike taking his leaving, twirling the orb in one hand, before it vanished in a blaze of fire. Rounding the corner, Spike meet up with the Elements Bearers, Discord, Thorax, and the Knights, "Thanks again for all your help," He said. "Don't mention it, Spike," Applejack replied, patting him on the shoulder. "You'd do the same for us." "So, anyone want to get some apple ciders?" Rainbow asked eagerly. "Rarity's treats! Or Fluttershy's. Or Twilight's. Or Sunset's." The group could only laugh in response, while Wallflower poked her head, watching them leave. Sensing they were being watched, Spike turned back, and waved her, to which she returned, with a grateful smile. "A boy stopped you?" A displeased figure grumbled. "You're telling me, the three of you, armed with high-tech weapons were defeated by a single boy?!" The Diamond Dogs looked at each other, before Fido spoke up, "Didn't we mention that he had window wipers?" Further displeased, the figure called out, "Crunch!" Coming from behind, was a burly thug, towering over the three frighten punks. Crunch instantly grabbed the three unfortunate Diamond Dogs close, in a tightening death grip, on the verge of squeezing the life out of them. "Enough," The figure ordered, to which Crunch released the winded out Diamond Dogs. "Crunch," The figure ordered. "Find this Spike Draco, and bring him to me." Just then, a great pair of eyes pierced through the darkness, pulsing with dark auras as a voice spoke, "While your Crunch is impressive, Verko. Perhaps he should be aided by the Predators!" With that, several red eyes appeared in the darkness, equipped with shining pearly whites that drooled with hungry slobbers. "As you wish," Verko replied.