Author's note: the events in this story take place after 'Wraith Booster.'

"Humans" *dragons* so you don't get confused.

Chapter One: New Friends.

It was really late and Parmon, Lance and Kitt were sitting around at Penn Stables. Their dragons, Cyrano, Fracshun and Wyldfyer were in the main stall, sleeping. They looked over at the entrance. Artha had been gone for quite sometime. Moordryd Paynn and the Dragon Eyes had been making things very tense between the down city crews. Suddenly, the secret wall in the main stall opened and Mortis came out. He walked over to them and looked at each of them in turn.

"Anything?" he asked. Kitt looked up.

"Nothing." She replied. "He hasn't come back and he hasn't contacted us." She looked over at the stable entrance. "Maybe we should go and look for them."

Parmon looked at her with a calm expression. "I'm sure they'll be back soon." He said with more confidence than he felt. "Artha has been very busy lately, what with Moordryd and the Dragon Eyes causing trouble."

Suddenly, they heard a stomping sound and looked up. Artha and Beau were coming towards them, in their racing form, both looking very tired.

"There you are." said Kitt, sounding relieved.

"Sorry I'm so late." Artha replied. "Moordryd and his crew are getting really tight." With that he sat down heavily next to Lance. Beau walked straight past them and lay down next to Fracshun. Mortis looked at Artha.

"You don't look too good." He observed.

"I'm fine." Artha said. "Just tired."

"I'm not surprised." Parmon said. "What with the constant bickering of the down city crews, it's getting harder for Phistus and his crew to keep order. With the Dragon Eyes stirring up trouble, the other crews battling, not to mention the races getting even tougher than usual and…

"Parm," Artha interrupted him, "not now." He knew that Parmon had been close to giving one of his confusing rants. They were hard enough to understand when he was wide awake; Artha didn't think he could handle it right now.

"You should all get some sleep." Mortis said. "Tomorrow we'll see if we can't figure this out." and with that, he went back through the door to the temple. They all got up and went over to their sleeping mats where they laid down and fell asleep almost instantly.

Artha stayed awake for a bit, thinking. Ever since that night when Beau had chosen him as the Dragon Booster, Artha's life had been all over the place. Not only did he have to stop an up and coming dragon human war, but he was also competing in the all city races and looking after his brother Lance. Artha was glad that he had his friends there to help him and Mortis, who had been like a father to him and Lance since they had lost their dad in a fire that had nearly destroy the stable. Thoughts still on his dad, Artha slipped into an uneasy sleep.

Not far away, a shadowy figure stuck its head around a corner of a small alley. Quickly, it with drew as two dragons passed, their riders deep in conversation. The figure moved quietly to the far end of the alley where a white and blue dragon was waiting. The dragon looked up as the figure approached. Slowly, the figure lifted its hood to reveal a young girl of around 16. She had dark brown hair and green eyes.

"We should be safe here for tonight." She whispered to her dragon. "How are you doing?" The dragon made a deep groan and lay down. She was obviously very tired. Her rider looked at her sympathetically.

"That makes two of us, girl." She said. Gently, she took off her cloak and lay down against her dragon. She pulled out a silver amulet and looked at it. As she looked at it, images flashed across her eyes. Memories of a night which had changed her life.

after staring at it silently for a bit, she tucked the amulet away. "I just hope that we can find someone who can tell us what this means." Her dragon nudged her comfortingly. She gave her a gentle stroke. "Good night, Astrala." Silently, she lay down and the two of them feel asleep.

Not far away, Word Paynn sat at the desk in the control room of his citadel. His son, Moordryd, is standing across from him. The expression on his face shows clearly that he has just been knocked off by Dragon Booster.

"He is getting harder for me to deal with. We have tried nearly everything, what do you want me to do?"

Word looked at his son. Moordryd recognized that look. It normally meant that his father had some kind of plan. Word was silent for a moment, then he spoke. "Recently, I have been feeling a strange presence. Keep your eyes open during the next few days. Who knows, the answer to our problems with the Dragon Booster could be closer than we think."

Astrala woke up rather suddenly. She got up, trying gently not to wake her rider, and walked quietly to the alley entrance. She had a strong feeling that something wasn't right here.

*Hello* she whispered. No one answered. Behind her she heard a shifting. She turned her head to see her rider sit up. She went back over to her.

"Hey," she said sleepily. "What is it, girl." Astrala just looked at her, and then nudged at her pack. The girl shook her head. "I know. You're hungry." She went over to her bag and pulled out some dragon munchies and gave them to Astrala. She the pulled out something called a draconi-yum bar, which she had never tried before, and took a bite. It was actually pretty good. She looked in the pack and noticed that they didn't have much left.

She looked over at Astrala.

"We're almost out of food." She said. She leaned against the entrance to the alley. "Thing is, we don't have any money. There must be some way we can get some."

Suddenly, from not too far away, she heard the roar of a crowd. She hurried over to Astrala, placed the pack on her back and climbed into the saddle. They left the alley and headed to where the noise was coming from. It was coming from a huge stadium. The sign out the front read all city racing circuit.

She gently climbed down from Astrala's saddle and they headed over to a small fence at the edge of the stand. She leaned against the fence and looked over at the starting gate. About 8 dragons were lined up, each with a person on it. Most of these riders looked about her age. But her gaze soon fell on two dragons, side by side. One was a red dragon with a girl in her saddle. She was wearing a pink and light blue racing suit. She had light blue hair. Next to them stood a red and blue dragon. This dragon looked very strong. She looked at the dragon's rider. He was a 16 year old boy. He was wearing a white and blue racing jacket and a white racing helmet. The race marshal signaled for them to get ready. The horn sounded and they were off. The girl kept her eyes on the red and blue dragon and his rider. They were amazing. The way they worked together, almost as one. She stood there, leaning against the fence watching as they raced around the track and crossed the finish line in first place, the red dragon just behind them.

"And Artha Penn of the Penn Racing Crew takes first place in front of team mate, Kitt Wonn." The race marshal called out. The girl watched as Kitt came over to Artha and gave him a gentle punch in the shoulder. They got down from there dragons and headed over to their team mates. She looked up at Astrala, smiling.

"What do you think, girl?" she said. Astrala looked at her and nodded.

*looks like fun.*

Over at the stalls behind the track, Artha, Kitt, Lance and Parmon were talking about Moordryd's behavior during the race. Normally, he would be ramming them. But today he seemed distracted. He was looking around. Suddenly, Artha's wrist beeped. He hit a button on it and Mortis appeared on the screen.

"Artha, I need to speak with you." He said. "Come to the dragon cave as soon as you can."

"Ok, Mortis." Artha turned off his wrist com and looked at the others. "Come on guys, we better go."

With that, they walked out of the stall area. But Artha was so caught up in his own thoughts that, CRASH, he walk right into someone at the entrance. He shook his head and stood up. The person he had run into looked up at him. It was a girl of around his age.

"Sorry." She said. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"It's ok. I wasn't either." Artha said to her. "Are you alright?" She nodded and Artha held out his hand. She took it and he pulled her up. She gently brushed herself off. Her eyes were green with a bit of brown and she had medium brown waist length hair. She was a tiny bit shorter than Artha. She wore a very light gray top, and greenish blue pants, and a dark green cloak with a hood. Artha noticed a chain around her neck but couldn't see what was on it. He stopped staring when he realized she was looking at him.

"What are you staring at?" she asked. Artha quickly looked away. He only just realized that he had been staring.

"Sorry." He said quickly. She just smiled.

"You're Artha Penn. of the Penn racing crew." she said. Artha nodded, surprised. Not that many people acknowledged him. It had once really annoyed him, but he had recently found out the fame wasn't all people made it out to be. He had learned that the hard way.

"Uh, yeah." He replied.

"I was watching the race. You were amazing. The way you worked with your dragon, almost like you were one." She said. Artha smiled.

"Thanks." He replied.

"I'm Kaley." She said.

"Nice to meet you. Do you race?" he asked. Kaley shook her head.

"Not really. I'm hoping to enter one of these races."

"Artha." Artha looked over Kaley's shoulder and saw the others coming towards him. They stopped when they saw Kaley.

"Hey, guys." He said going over to them. Kitt looked over at Kaley, then back at Artha.

"Oh, this it Kaley." Artha said quickly, gesturing to her. She came over. "Kaley, this is my racing team. These are my friends, Kitt and Parmon, and my little brother, Lance." He pointed to each of them in turn.

"Hi." She said. They all said hello back. Beau, feeling a bit left out, came up behind Artha and gave him a whack on the head with his tail. "Ow." Artha turned and saw Beau standing there.

*What am I, invisible?*He growled. Kaley laughed. Beau smiled at her.

"And this is Beau." Artha said. Beau nudged him and pointed to Wyldfyer and Cyrano with his tail. Kitt and Parmon saw this and introduced their dragons. Kaley smiled at them too.

"You were great out there." Kaley said to Kitt. "I was just telling Artha that I was impressed by the way you and he worked with your dragons. Most of the other racers were almost fighting with their dragons to get them to do what they want. But you two, I have seen team work like that in a long time."

Artha looked at her. "Do your parents race?" he asked her. Her expression changed and she shook her head. Artha noticed that she didn't seem happy talking about it. Just then, a large blue and white dragon came over to Kaley and nudged her. This dragon looked different to any that he had seen before. Kaley looked around and smiled again.

"Oh. Sorry girl." She laughed. She turned to them. "This is Astrala. Astrala, this is Artha, Kitt, Parmon and Lance." She then gestured to the dragons. "And that's Wyldfyer and Cyrano and this one is Beau." She pointed to Beau. Astrala looked at Beau and smiled.

*Hi* She said to them.

*Hey.* Wyldfyer and Cyrano replied. Beau was just staring at her. He thought she looked familiar. Wyldfyer brought him back to life by whacking him with his tail. Beau started. Astrala laughed at him.

*Sorry.* Beau said.

*That's ok.* Astrala relied. She thought Beau looked familiar. *I'm sorry, have we met before?*

*Um, I don't think so. Why?* Beau replied.

Astrala shrugged. *Don't know. You just looked familiar, that's all. what did you say your name was again?*

*Beau.*

Astrala looked at him curiously.

*if you're wondering if it has anything to do with Beaucephulis, I wouldn't know. it's just the name I was given.*

*You're rider must sense greatness in you, choosing such a name.*

Suddenly, Mortis popped up on Artha's wrist com and woke everyone up.

"Artha, where are you? I need you to come now." He said.

"Sorry. We're on our way." Artha said. He switched off the com and looked over at Kaley. "Sorry, we need to go." He said to her. She nodded.

"That's ok. Astrala and I should go too." She said. "It was nice meeting all of you."

"Nice to meet you, too." Kitt said.

They said good-bye and Kaley and Astrala walked away. Artha and his friends left the stall area. As they parted, Beau couldn't help but look back at Astrala. Astrala couldn't help looking at Beau either. Kaley couldn't get her mind off Artha. There was just something about him, something mysterious.

Mortis stood waiting as Artha and his friends walked out of the elevator towards him.

"Sorry Mortis." Artha said quickly. "We got caught up."

"I said I need to speak with you." Mortis replied. Artha looked at him, rather nervous. Mortis just looked at him. "Anyway, the reason I asked you here is because I believe that you need to know about this. When I was young, the dragon priests told me of a forgotten race, the silver draconium empire."

Kitt looked confused. "Silver?"

"Yes." Mortis replied. "They had been very close friends with the ancient gold-star dragons. They believed in a strong unity between dragons and humans. They felt that no one race should be strong than the other, that they were all equal and should live that way. They tried to help the dragon priests convince the other empires of this, but they were ignored. They mostly stayed hidden during the war, not wanting to get caught up in the fighting. Their dragons, the silver bone ones, were the only dragons that didn't turn on their masters because they had always been treated with respect. Some did leave, but many stayed. One dragon was almost killed trying to stop the fighting, but she was saved the Dragon Booster and the original Beau. This silver crew saw them as saviors. The dragon that had been saved by Beau also chose a rider. A Spirit Booster! She was able to help the Dragon Booster. Eventually, the other silver dragons joined with the dragon booster and others who wanted to stop the war. With their help, the Dragon Booster was able to stop the war. But many years after the war, they were attacked and practically wiped out. It's not known how many survived. "

Mortis looked at the four stunned kids sitting a few feet away. Artha's mind was reeling. A forgotten crew that had helped the original Dragon Booster? Then Parmon's voice brought Artha out of his trance.

"So, has anyone seen any evidence of a silver dragon since then?"

Mortis shook his head. "There have been some stories, but no one knows what happened. The ancient dragon priests believe that they are still out there, but no one knows where."

Artha just sat, trying to absorb what he had just heard. The thought that somewhere there might be the remainder of a very old crew was a lot for him to hear. Were they still out there? And if so, how could he find them?

The afternoon, while Parmon was checking out their gear and Lance was playing on his battleground dragon game, Artha stood on the platform outside the stable, thinking. As he stood there, Beau came up and stood next to him. He put his head on Artha's shoulder and Artha stroked him.