I own nothing but plot and OCs, nuff said. PP never happened, at all. In fact, except for "D-Stabilized," (I think) nothing since "Urban Jungle" happened. And no D/S. Don't sue and don't flame, I'm trying to be as original as a FF author can be.

-Opening credits-

-The Choosing Part 1-

A young man sat at an outdoor table of a local café. He wore a grey t-shirt under a denim jacket and old blue jeans that were white around the knees, evidence of constant kneeling and bending, as well as white and grey sneakers. A memento from his early teens, his black hair was still messy and in his face, though not to a point where he couldn't see.

Two years, almost to the day, have passed since the accident; two years since a then fourteen year old Danny' Fenton's life changed forever and became a ghost fighting superhero, even though he never got much thanks for it. The now sixteen year old had somehow reached a point in his life where he didn't need to become Danny Phantom as often as he used to; all the while somehow nigh-successfully protecting his secret identity from exposure.

Expect for, of course, every ghost in the Ghost Zone, only six people knew about this: his best (and only) friends Tucker and Sam, his older sister Jazz, his arch enemy (who was also half-ghost), his cousin/sister/daughter/clone Dani, and a girl he possibly still had feelings for. That latter of the list answers the question of why the semi-retired hero was sitting alone at the café on a Saturday, with nothing but an untouched plate of fries, a half empty fountain drink, and a cell phone in hand.

He just wanted to talk to her, explain everything, and tell her how sorry he was, but he could only try to text or call her so many times before he becomes a borderline stalker. Earlier that morning, he texted her to do so, she responded with a time and place, and he got there fifteen minutes early; and sat there for two hours. He sighed, punched in a number on his cell, and waited for an answer.

The phone rang, and then a voice picked up and asked, "Hello?"

"Hey Jazz, it's me," the lad answered.

The line was silent for a second before Jazz deduced, "She's a no show, isn't she?"

"Yeah, I called and texted her three times but… no response. I feel like a jerk."

"She's probably still in shock, I mean, it's only been two days since she found out the hard way. Give her time and space, then when she's ready, go talk to her."

"But…"

"No 'buts' Danny; I know you're trying to do the right thing and trying to help but sometimes you can't go and be a hero. She has to make the first move; no one can help her until she lets them."

"Yeah but she probably hates me… aw you're right, as usual."

"Comin' home any time soon? It's almost three in the afternoon and I made your favorite."

"No thanks Jazz, I think I wait a couple more minutes and then go for a walk or something. Thanks for the pep talk."

With that he hung up. He took a sip of his soda, only to gag and spit it back into the cup.

"Yuck, flat," he groaned.

Fire engine sirens filled the air and a red blur whizzed pass him and down the street.

"Please don't turn left, please don't turn left," Danny prayed, afraid of where the truck was going, "Please don't…"

Wish not granted, for the truck did indeed quickly turn left.

"Oh no," Danny muttered as he put a five dollar bill on the table and ran to catch up.

-DP logo-

Casper High, the local public high school and site of many hauntings. At the moment, however, it wasn't a crazed spirit that was attacking the building but a fire. The fire fighters struggle to contain the flames and get to anyone who was inside, but the more water that was doused, the more violent the fire became. No one could get anywhere near the building.

Staying hidden behind the budding school grove, Danny watched and mentally prepared a plan, and once again was thankful Sam pushed for the school to make its own "forest."

"I swear, if this is one of Plasmius' sick jokes," he muttered to himself, "There's gonna be blood."

With that he transformed, switching from Fenton to Phantom. Like his causal wear, his superhero look changed with age as well. Instead of an 80's style black and white jumpsuit, a helmetless and mostly black modernized suit of armor with occasional white accents replaced his clothes. The thing remained though his insignia: the same ghost shaped "D" and inner "P" in the center.

Without further delay, he flew into the building, phasing through the brick wall. As soon as he got in, however, he saw that there was no fire damage. In fact, there were no flames, no heat, not even smoke or ash. His gut told him that this was either a really sick joke or something was very, very wrong. Cautiously, he walked through the main hall, scanning for anything out of the ordinary, or at least how someone managed to pull a fire show like this and not leave a single scorch mark. The whole thing was either a really good magic trick, evidence of real magic, or just plain Sci-Fi.

He made his way to the cafeteria, hearing nothing but the sound of his footsteps. Fear started to take root when he heard a muffled voice try to call for help. Then, he heard pots and pans clamber and clang; someone was in the kitchen. He let one hand glow green, ready to attack, and pressed the other one against the door into the kitchen. With a rebel yell, he rushed in, only to stop in his tracks at the sight of three figures. Two the figures, which were most likely ghosts, were strong men, like the kind from circus and carnival acts but everything about them was black, except for their eyes which were a pupil-less red and their white teeth. There was some sort of black and dark violet armor on their chests. One was bald, the other had a weird hairstyle; both had a big, meaty hand gripping the arms of a gagged and tied-up freshman who looked a lot like…

"Dani," the hero whispered in shock then forcefully blinked and yelled at the… men, "I'm only going to say this once: Let. Her. Go!"

The two goons gave a wicked laugh that reminded Danny of a computer voice.

"Or what?" they sneered in a single, raspy and computerized voice, "If you attack, you risk hurting this little one."

"What do you want?!" Danny demanded, seeing their pointing and powered down the glow.

"What else? You. This one is small and weak and her abilities are just as so. But you, you are a champion, strong and fast; the ultimate living weapon. The Master has wanted you for some time. Give yourself up," they continued, "Come with us and the weakling will go free. But refuse and everyone you ever loved, everyone you ever met will be slaughtered, as cruelly and slowly as possible… starting with her."

Dani struggled and strained to free herself, mumbling something through her gag, a great fear in her eyes. A futuristic black and green collar around her neck seemed to be canceling her powers, keeping her human. Danny tried to translate the muffled screams and cries when two more black ghosts, shaped like mutated velociraptors, appeared and each grabbed his arms with their teeth. The bald one took a knife from the kitchen counter and pressed it against her throat, causing her to squeal some more.

"Okay, I… I'll do it," Danny panicky surrendered, "I'll come with, just let her go."

The dino-ghosts released him, the bald one let go and pressed a button on his arm, and his friend picked the girl up and threw her over the serving station.

"You made a wise choice hero," they spoke again, "Too bad it may be the last one you make of your own free will."

The weird hairdo ghost took a canister from his belt and released a purple mist that filled Danny's lungs and caused him to pass out.

-DB logo-

Danny groaned as he woke up, around him everything was dark as night and nothing moved. His breath was coming in short gasps and everything felt heavy. But the blind panic quickly subsided and his breathing returned to normal albeit achy.

"Danny…" a voice called, "DANNY!"

Danny groaned again as he pushed himself up. His eyes opened and he saw Clockwork standing next to four figures which were now frozen. Danny looked at the figures curiously before his memory returned: the stood-up meeting, his old school "catching fire," him running in only to see it was a ruse, two pure black ghosts threating to kill Dani if he didn't give himself up in her place, him agreeing only to get hit with KO gas. He sighed in relief.

"Are you here to free me?" he asked gratefully.

Clockwork shook his head, "I am afraid not. If I do, these four will either hunt you down or hunt and kill those you love in attempt to get you to cooperate and go with them."

Danny's smile fell, fear started to take its hold. None of this made any sense; he had seen or heard from any of his former enemies for over a year, a fact that both worried and relieved him.

"Who are these freaks?" he asked, fear creeping into his voice, "They said something about a master but, other than Freakshow or Plasmius, I can't think anyone who would be willing to hire someone to kidnap me."

Clockwork motioned for Danny to sit, something the latter did rater unwillingly as his knees gave out in fear, "These are not ghosts, but enslaved people and creatures, controlled by someone very smart and very ambitious. The controllers on their heads and chest have a side-effect of removing all other colors. Also they are from another land, in another world. They want you because you are strong and a worthy force that could be a danger to their master."

"Another world?" Danny echoed then shook his head and asked, "How is that even possible?"

"There are an infinite number parallel worlds, alternate timelines, and alternated realities, like one where you save the world from complete annihilation and reveal the truth to a world that completely accepts you as a hero," the Time Master explained as he switched from a grown man to a small child version, "And every second, more and more are being created. Finding them is difficult enough, traveling through them is next to impossible. Like the portals between this world and the Ghost Zone, entrances to the other… realms are constantly opening and closing in an unpredictable matter, not even I can fully predict when and where one will open or how long it will remain so.

"How their master managed to find out about you I do not know, nor do I know how these four wraiths of his managed to get through time, space, and the multiverse to find you. Even if he had some sort of man-made portal, the energy and engineering it needs to work at all is too great for anyone to handle successfully. Very rarely am I baffled but this truly confuses me," Clockwork concluded, changing from a child to an old man.

"So you want me to go find out how, kick butt, and save two worlds," Danny deduced, then retorted, "And how am I supposed to do that without… oh, I don't know, knowing what I getting into?!"

"You will need this," the ghost responded, putting a small medallion with a golden rounded five-point star insignia around the boy's neck, "With it comes a special power but I also gave it a vast amount of knowledge and false memories for you to use, but only just enough for you to get by. Also, it may weaken your own powers to a great extent."

Instantly, Danny felt a new amount of information enter his mind, almost as though he had known all of the information his whole life. And just as the ghost said, an alternate life mixed with his real memories, painting a picture of a hard but relatively normal life in that world. He then looked at Clockwork, confusion and fear still in his eyes, but not just for himself.

"How do I get back home?" he asked, "How do I help people from another universe and protect people I care about in mine?"

"Without telling anyone of your actual reality, you must find the man hunting for you and stop him," Clockwork instructed, "But most importantly, you must stop a terrible and destructive war from being unleashed in that world and unite the people. Only then can you return, only then can you and all you care for can be free."

Danny sighed, "But how? You just said my ghost powers won't be much use."

Clockwork smiled and near him a giant clock appeared, "In those memories I believe it has something about dragons… with riders? And a Dragon Booster? I believe you also have a dragon of your very own, a very special dragon for a very special boy, so may I introduce you to … Beau!"

A loud roar that sounded like a cross between a lion's and a T-Rex' pierced his eardrums. From the clock leapt forth a wingless dragon. But this dragon wasn't like the dragon forms of Aragon and Doris; at its shoulder, the beast was about two feet over Danny's height and was as long as a NASCAR race car. Everything about it was perfectly symmetrical. The creature was four legged and each front foot had four toes while each back foot had three. Its tail was shaped like a knife and it had an elongated chin. It had a lean and well-formed body pumped up with muscles, especially on its front and back legs, making it look powerful and strong, but at the same time fast and agile.

But what really made Danny in awe were its colors and markings. The body was onyx black with gold markings running from the back of the head all the way around the tail. It also had gold sock markings on its feet and a gold stripe on its chin along with gold claws, two small nose horns, and eyes. It was a mount fit for a king, and if the information from the medallion was correct, the beast might as well be the king of all dragons: the Black and Gold Dragon of Legend.

The dragon walked up to Danny, sniffing and sizing up the boy while hum/growling inquisitively. Danny was almost scared that it wasn't real and if he touched it, let alone get on it, it would fall apart as if it were made of sand.

Clockwork put a hand on the hybrid's shoulder, changing from an old man to a child, and assured, "Do not be afraid, you two are both on the same side. Beau has lost his former rider fifteen years ago, in his world's time, to a deadly meteor shower; he is only trying to see if you are a worthy replacement."

"Replacement? Me?" Danny shook his head and asked bewildered.

The Time Guardian nodded as he changed from a child to a grown man. Remembering what his aunt taught him about horses that one time his family went to visit, Danny put a hand on the dragon's nose, then walked along to the beast's left side while never letting his hand off the mammalian-reptilian body, and carefully climbed on its back. He closed his eyes shut, expecting something horrible to happen, evidence of just how unworthy he was to mess with this creature. Instead, a bright golden light surrounded them, lasting for a few seconds. Danny peeked and looked at Beau's forehead; there he saw a marking not unlike the star insignia on the amulet.

"Now you both are ready. When you arrive to Draconis, escape as soon as you can, Beau will follow secretly and rescue you. After that, you both will need to find allies, receive proper training, and find the missing gold gauntlet, all while avoiding traps and tricks and maintaining peace," The ghost smiled and explained, "After that, train and practice and when you both are ready, you must fulfill your shared destiny. But whatever you, do not reveal your true origin, your world and Beau's cannot intermix any more than it already has, at least not without dire repercussions."

The lad looked at the ghost as he got off and asked, "How will I know when I'm ready? What if I mess up?"

As he raised his staff, the ghost responded, "When you learn to stop doubting yourself, you will know the answers for both questions. Now, I believe you were both dragon-less and unconscious."

The world seemed to swirl and buckle around Danny as he swayed and lost consciousness. He then fell to the ground with a thud as whatever Clockwork was saying became mumbled and distorted.

-DP logo-

Danny woke up to find himself bouncing and shifting. He picked his head up and realized that it was nighttime and he was on the back of one of the wraith dragons, running along a grey landscape between two mountain chains. Lowering his head and pretending to still be knocked out, he started to form a plan in his head: wait until these freaks slow down or stop then jump off and head for the metaphorical hills. It wasn't his best plan to date, but it was a plan, that was all that mattered at the moment. And, if he was lucky, he could do it invisible. Plus Beau was around here somewhere.

Well, he got his wish in the form of rockslide that blocked their path. The wraiths stopped and growled in distress, this was not good. Not wasting any time, Danny rolled off and scooted into a crack in the mountain, just barely big enough for him to get in and hide. The carrier wraith seemed to sense this; for it "talked" to its partner and they began searching the area for him. This was one of those times where being part ghost should work, unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen. So, all he could do was keep quiet, stay out of sight, and hope for the best.

That was a good plan, and it was actually working, until a frightening growl echoed behind him. The amulet's information warned him that it was the growl of a hydrag, a ferocious beast that lived in caves and attacked anything it thinks is an intruder or food. Since potential slavery always trumps being a midnight snack, Danny quickly got out of his hiding spot, running into one of the wraiths. The wraiths roared victoriously until the growl of the hydrag shut them up. The beast exited the hole, roaring as it crept its way towards the three. Just then, another might roar, Beau's roar, scared the hydrag away; the three looked up as two football sized stones crashed on the wraiths' heads. Beau leapt down from his hidden perch and walked over to Danny.

The teen stared in awe as the devices on the heads of the wraith dragons fell off, allowing the dragons to return to normal. Now standing in front of them were two biped dragons, one red and one black, shaking their heads free from dizziness and whatever was left of their master's control. Danny walked up to the two confused creatures and started patting and petting them.

"Huh, not so bad now you two are free from a mind control device," he noted as he rubbed their snouts, the dragons snorting in agreement, "You know, if the four of us travel together, we could find a city or something and I can find new homes for you two, what do ya think?"

The two dragons turned their heads to face each other then turned back to face the boy and gave an affirmative nod. Danny smiled, ran back to Beau, leapt on, and the three dragons ran off in the opposite direction of their former destination.

-DB logo-

Sunrise the next morning, Beau and the red and black dragons, who Danny decided to call Smokey and Bandit, arrived at an abandoned old house structure in the middle of nowhere. Beau, Bandit, and Smokey were exhausted and it looked like there was some safe food for them to eat. The building also looked sturdy enough to crash in.

"Alright you guys," Danny said as he jumped off of Beau and made his way to the front door, "I'll get us something to eat, then we nap, and then we get our butts in gear again."

He entered the building and immediately found out it was already occupied. The evidence: boxes of food laying everywhere and piles of dirty laundry in the corners. The dragons picked up on Danny's nerves and entered as well, growling and ready to pounce despite being weary.

"Looks like we need to replace the parts again bro," they heard a voice from behind the opposite door.

Another voice, a bit accented though not as deep, showed signs of distress, "Seriously, now when we're outta spare parts?!"

"Yeah well, that's the price we pay for striking it out on our own," the first voice replied as two figures entered the room.

Both figures were teenaged males, though they couldn't look more different from each other. One was tall and very muscular, like the human wraiths Danny met the other day, and had tan skin as well as messy brown hair and eyes. The other boy was shorter, thinner, and not as tan and had blue hair and gold eyes. The strongman person had a green, black, and brown cameo skintight suit on; his buddy had a straight blue suit with white accents, a light goatee, and a red over coat. The only thing they seemed to have in common was age at around eighteen.

"I told you we should've put 'help wanted' ads out," the shorter boy was saying before he, like his friend, caught sight of Danny and the three dragons, "But no, you had to be… the… one… that… that's the… the…"

"The black and gold dragon of legend," the stronger one finished, pointing at Beau.

Six pairs of eyes stared at the opposite parties, three narrowed and two in shock.

Danny became uncomfortable with the awkward silence, so he stretched his arms and said, "Well, sorry to bother you two. You see we thought this place was abandoned, and we were running all night, so decided to crash here and get a bit. But obviously, this is your home, so we'll just be on our way…"

The two natives shook their heads and yelled in unison, "NO!"

Danny blinked and the dragons tensed up, ready for a throw down.

The shorter boy cleared his throat and responded, "Sorry, we didn't mean to do that. Any friend of welcomed here is the dragon of legend… I mean any friend the dragon of legend is welcomed here. I'm… I'm Jaysin Argo and this is my… my brother Bayowulph."

"Ha… hi," Bayowulph stuttered as he waved sheepishly at Danny.

"Hi, I'm Danny," the confused and creeped out lad introduced himself, "And, apparently I'm the new Drag…"

He instantly shut his mouth and covered it with his hand, realizing that spilling the beans to these two may be a mistake. But he was too late; the brothers put two and two together, looked at each other, and looked back in awe at Danny.

"You're the Dragon Booster!?" Jaysin asked in shock.

Bayowulph became confused and stated, "I thought you'd be older."

"Well… if you guys like," Danny replied, walking to the door, "I can come back…."

"Oh, sorry, we don't mean to act strange," Jaysin cut off, "It's just that, well, things have been heating up and everyone thinks the Dragon Booster is either dead or abandoning us. But you with the dragon of legend prove otherwise."

-Evil logo-

Meanwhile, miles away at a creepy old mining complex, the mine was live with lights and activity. But there were no mundane, everyday workers and dragons doing the working; in their place wraith dragons and riders worked away, digging up everything the ground had to offer.

In the observation deck, a non-wraith individual kept one eye on the "workers" and another on the computers, making sure none broke free.

"Wrenpheeld!" an armored man on an activated holo-screen shouted to the one free man, "I want an update!"

"Oh!" the man jumped then replied, "yes, the update. Well, your wraiths are performing very well, we are at 72% at our weekly quota three days early, and there has not been one…"

"About the mission!" the armored man clarified, "You know, the one where I had you sent four of my wraiths through the portal and retrieve the super human and bring him to me! My rider wraiths returned but the wraith dragons did not and I still don't have the boy. Now I will ask you once more and once more only: WHERE IS HE?!"

The other man looked at the computer again, grimaced, and answered while tugging at his collar, "Well, um, it appears that… ah… ah-bout halfway to the rendezvous point, there was a rockslide and somehow… the wraith gears… were… damaged…"

The armored man was silent, a sign that he was either deep in thought or extremely angry.

Wrenpheeld paused to shallow and continued, "I can send more to the portal and grab some civilians to use as bait if…"

"No, I will not leave the portal open any longer than I need to, it's a two-way door and I don't want any… surprises. Besides, your incompetence can still be used to my advantage..."

"I don't understand sir."

"The boy is somewhere on this planet, a place far from everything and everyone he knows. Don't you see? Here, I have the upper hand. If he ever wants to return, he will have to come to me and do as I ask. Especially when he finds out the girl he traded places with wasn't, and isn't, the only one in danger.

"With a super human at my command, I can spread pain, destruction, fear, terror, and chaos faster than a small armada of wraiths ever could. And with a world already on edge and no Dragon Booster, only two things will happen: war will come and I will triumph," the man continued, "or the world will bend to its knees and swear allegiance to me willingly and without a fuss. Either way… I will rule supreme."

"Eh-he, well, what about me sir?" the Wrenpheeld asked sheepishly, "I can be your go-for, your first lieutenant, your herald, your…"

"The last person I trusted to be my lieutenant betrayed me!" the armored man roared then responded, "You will get your reward soon enough, but I need you to keep an eye on the other aspects of our operation. Unless you feel having free will isn't good enough…"

His employer terminated the connection.

-DB logo-

After eating, napping, and helping Bayowulph and Jaysin clean up the place, Danny told them his "backstory": life in the mountain villages as the youngest son of gear repair and tinkers. He then let the brothers explain their fan girl freak out. They told him about the stresses Dragon City had that would've led to a second dragon/human war and the meteorite that destroyed the city and caused some new problems.

"Everyone thought that the Dragon Booster had either abandoned us, was captured by an evil force, or was killed by the meteor," Jaysin concluded, "But now that you're here with Beau, you can pick up where he left off and lead the way to peace and unity."

"And maybe rebuild Dragon City," Bayowulph added, "I've been comin' up with drac new plans and some sweet upgrades. Eh, not ta change the subject, but a-a where didja get the red magma and black psi-class dragons?"

Prepared for the question, Danny answered, "Before Beau rescued me, these two were wraith dragons that tried to kidnap my…"

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Timeout!" Jaysin interrupted, "Smokey and Bandit are… wraiths?!"

"They were wraiths… These two and two rider wraiths tried to take a hostage. I took the hostage's place, got knocked out, and then woke up after a rockslide blocked their passage. I tried to escape only to meet a hydrag," Danny explained, "That's when Beau came in: he sacred off the hydrag then sent two good sized rocks at Smokey and Bandit's heads and disabled some kind of mind control gear that was mag-locked to them. Once they were free, I convinced them to come with and find a new place for them to call home."

"So, let me get this straight," Bayowulph tried to sort out, "yer tellin' us that wraith dragons and rider wraiths are just regular dragons and riders under massive mind control?"

Danny nodded and Bayowulph yelled, "HA! I knew it! There's no way those things could just pop up outta nowhere!"

"They're probably being controlled by some twisted hybrid between black draconium mind pod and invisibility gears, most likely with cameras attached for the controller to monitor so to control and respond more efficiently," Jaysin deduced then asked, "Did you save one of the… wraith gears? If we can get it to an expert, we can possibly find a way to turn them off without harming the victims or throwing rocks at them."

"No, both gears were pretty much piles of scrap after they fell off," Danny responded, "And I didn't want to put these two in any more danger or emotional trauma, not after what they must've gone through."

Bandit nuzzled his rescuer while Smokey was making a grateful purr-like noise.

"I can respect that," Jaysin replied, "I can't imagine who would be so low as to take away a being's free will; makes me appreciate Broozer even more."

"Who's Broozer?" Danny asked.

"Oh, she's our bull-class dragon. We mostly use her to carry supplies," Bayowulph explained, "Broozy's a total sweet-heart: docile, nurturing, and completely harmless… until you endanger her or us. Then its light's out!"

"Back to the Dragon Booster thing," Jaysin reminded everyone, "Where's your armor?"

"Lost," Danny said, "I need to find it and someone who can train and prepare me for whatever lies ahead."

"Well, I don't know about Dragon Booster training," Bayowulph pondered, "But if yer lookin' for better dragon riding trainin' you could always sign up for a race or some other type of competition. You get practice with dragon/human teamwork and if yer lucky, you can win some drackles and gears."

"Hey yeah, I could better learn how to work with Beau," Danny realized, "And if all six of us band together, we could spread the word about how to stop the wraiths and that would be one less thing to worry about."

"On Smokey or Bandit though," Jaysin pointed out, "Beau sticks out like a sore paw and if other people found out about you being the Dragon Booster, you'll never get a moment's peace."

Beau growled and shook his head, remembering this was the exact same problem he and his previous rider had fifteen years ago. Concentrating, a bright light surrounded him and once it faded away, Beau's blue and red form was revealed.

Wide eyed, Jaysin recanted, "Or… he can do that."

"Well," Danny grinned, "You guys and Broozer in?"

The brothers looked at each other in a super-fan look and then looked back at Danny to give an affirmative nod.

"Call me Bayo," the tougher brother pointed to himself.

"You can call me Jay," the other one added.

Danny smiled and Beau grinned as well. This was a good start.

-DE logo-

The next day, Danny rode on a disguised Beau while Bayo and Jay rode on Smokey and Bandit, their green dragon Broozer not far behind with all their gears, equipment, and other supplies. Things were going smoothly until two blokes, one with a weird red Mohawk and the other with spiky green hair, on two regular psi-class dragons caused to stop three leagues from their destination at the All-classes Racing Center. The medallion warned Danny of who these two were: Dragon Eye crew members.

"Hold up," the green haired Dragon Eye ordered, "No one enters the ARC without inspection."

"Yeah? And why should we trust two Dragon Eyes?" Bayo glared.

"You think we want to be out here, sweating and cooking all day in the sun during the middle of summer?" the Mohawk Dragon eye asked in a grumpy tone with his arms crossed.

"Just shut up and let us do me and Ransydd do our jobs," Green hair snarled, "It's been a long day and we have to deal with freaks like you all because some scale scrapping idiot thinks it's a good idea to steal from every crew including ours."

Feeling sorry for the two men and their dragons, the three teens decided to let them examine their supplies, dragons, and persons. When the ordeal was over, the teens and their dragons went on to the ARC.

"Things must be really bad if shady crews like the Dragon Eyes are willing to go legit," Danny observed, having noticed the inspectors didn't "confiscate" anything.

"Well, times like this is a blessing and a curse," Jay explained, "Dragon City was pretty much the center of the world. When it was destroyed, all the crews, from the Elite Class to Down City, were forced to work together more cooperatively then they used to."

"And with more frequent wraith attacks and missing dragons and people," Bayo added, "Everyone has to do triple their share."

As they came closer to the ARC, they dismounted and continued on foot. The ARC was four times the size of any sports arena Danny ever heard of and twice as height. From what he remembered about the sophomore class trip to Rome, the ARC was a modernized Coliseum/Circus Maximus combination with different sections for different races and other completions as well as shops, hotels, restaurants, bathrooms, locker rooms, stables, and pit areas.

Danny accidently wandered away from his group and ran into someone a year young than him.

"Watch it!" the person yelled as she fell down.

"Sorry," Danny replied, holding out a hand to help her up only for it to be swatted away.

"Outta my way loser," she glared after getting up.

As she started to walk away, Danny glared back, "That's some manners you got there. And the name's Danny, who are you?"

The girl stopped turned her head to him, revealing her short brown high-ponytail and grey eyes, and coolly replied, "Shayd Darclyterr, and I race dragons. Ha, looks like you've never raced for anything in your life…"

She shook her head and then snorted, "Tha, what a joke."

"I am not a joke," Danny defended, starting to get angry.

"Aww, lil' Danny-Wanny is havin' a hissy-fit," Shayd mocked in baby talk, "Poor Danny-Wanny."

After that, she started laughing at his expense.

Wanting to get even, Danny pushed back his anger and said, "Forget this, I'm not gonna dive into the shallow end of the gene pool."

Shayd stopped laughing and snapped, "Did you just call me 'shallow'?"

"I'd say 'so shallow that I can stand in a puddle of you and not get my feet wet,'" Danny continued, "But you're more of a 'dried up pool in the middle of a barren desert with not one drop of water in it you're so shallow' type of person."

Shayd growled and grabbed the shirt part of the new clothes Jay and Bayo gave him and snarled, "Let's get something straight: I do the name calling not some tail biting loser from the middle of nowhere."

"Look, I know high school lunch ladies that are scarier than you," Danny shot back, "and I also know dock workers, plants, and cheeseheads scarier than you. If you're tryin' to intimidate me, it won't work."

With a yell Shayd threw him to the floor. Danny rolled out of the way as she tried to jump on top, causing her to hurt her elbow. As soon as he got up, she jumped on his back and held him in an arm lock. She probably would have won if Danny didn't throw her off and twisted both her arms behind her back.

In a five second window of surprise and slight approval, she exclaimed, "Scales! How the magma Draconis are you so strong?!"

"Same reason my voice got a bit lower," Danny explained in a stern tone then mentally added, and the fact that I fight dead people for a living kinda gives me a constant work out.

"Drac for you," Shayd sneered, "Now let me go!"

"Not unless you're not gonna attack me again."

"No promises unless you keep your dragon sized mouth shut."

Danny released her muttering, "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with you?" Shayd muttered back.

Then she shook her head and said, "Look, I gotta run. See you around Loser."

As she walked away, Jay and Bayo showed up staring at Danny.

"Who the heck was that?!" Danny asked the brothers in an annoyed voice.

"That would be Shayd Darclyterr, the Dragon Eyes' youngest and wildest racer," Bayo explained.

Jay put a hand on Danny's shoulder and warned, "Watch out for her in the race; she's one of the extremely few people who (A) uses level four green stimulation gear and (B) rides a quasi-wild dragon. Yeah, you heard me, wild dragon, as in grew up most of its life without human contact."

Danny looked ahead of him and saw Shayd rubbing the snout of could only be her psi-class dragon.

Shaking his head and sighing, he told the brothers, "C'mon guys, we'll sign up for the next race and then get ready."

Danny and his friends then left to find some place to setup, not realizing that a pair of orange eyes under a grey hood was watching them. The owner of the eyes waited until the threesome was twenty steps away before following.

END of Part 1

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