And so Ezio's routine went like this, day after day. In the morning, he would fly to the small Island where Malefor would run him through his paces. Slowly, he got better and better at both hand to hand and elemental combat. Then at noon, he would return to the mainland for lunch with Kali. After lunch, he would proceed to the copse of rocks where he would push himself harder and harder. The rocks proved to have so many different paths, that no matter how much he thought he knew them; he was always kept on his toes. After his flight practice, he would again return to the mainland, and have dinner with Kali. Every evening, she would show him some new part of the camp.

Ezio also found that Kali wasn't the only one of her type; there were many dragons that were under Malefor's forces against their will. Those were the ones feeding the resistance information right under Malefor's nose. Many dragons found that when Ezio was fighting for their cause, they befriended him. There was one such dragon that Ezio met, whom was different than the average shadow lieutenant in so many ways it was surprising that he was part of the shadow forces at all.

"I'm an emotion dragon, a very rare and very old one too." The light red male had told him. His coloration, a hot pink was so different and stood out so well that Ezio couldn't keep himself from asking.

"I've never heard of one. So, wait, any emotion? What abo – " Ezio began, but the ancient, full grown dragon cut him off.

"Not any emotion, there are rules, just like everything else. Love, hate, friendship, and fear cannot be created, it is purely impossible, since they are such strong emotions. However, I can create a nudge that would send the specific person in the right direction. Like with Love? I can't create the emotion, but I can create a very strong infatuation towards their opposite." The dragon explained, working on a folded titanium sword. Ezio knew the dragon was their weapons master.

"I also wanted to talk to you because of your forgery skill. I find myself in need of a suit of armor." Ezio said, smiling slightly to himself. He had been looking forwards to getting a suit, as he had always admired how fierce Alpha Squadron had looked in theirs.

"Ah, now we talk about something truly exciting! I was hoping you might want to get a set of armor pieces. Now, I hope you know what armor is supposed to be used for yes? It's not a full proof shield that will save you in all circumstances. However, it will protect you from some of the lighter quick attacks. Normal protectors always seem to include a helmet, which can include a neck plate, but since the jugular vein is always at the back of a dragon, and the esophagus is self-healing, it is most times unneeded, especially since the back of a dragon's neck always has thick inherent armor anyways. The wings however are a different matter. The joints are always the best spots on a dragon to go for, since when you cut out a dragon's ability to fly, it cannot escape from impending doom."

"Most times, to protect toes in battle, there are always gantlets, since you never want to be crippled in the middle of a battle. The rear toes are less of a problem, since they are thicker, and have denser bones; you have less to worry about. Finally, there are also hip plates, and breast plates you can use as well, plus I have others. If you wanted, I could make a full body suit." The dragon finally finished. He was up and walking down the aisles of armor he made for all the lieutenants.

"Well, the first thing I was thinking was that I won't need a helmet, but I should still probably grab a nose guard, my horns protect me from most of the damage. I also want a breast plate and gauntlets, plus the wing guards. And a hip plate. After that, it's just a simple mace add-on." Ezio said.

"It won't be a mace, your ax like head is already lethal enough, I'll just make it a counter weight, so it's easier to control. Everything else seems to be in order."

"I never got you – "

"Duygu. But don't try and pronounce it. The last one who did got it wrong and he ended up tearing his tongue halfway off." Duygu said with a wry smile, "Most everyone calls me Anvil. One last thing, don't come back here before your armors done, or else I'll send you out of here balling your head off."

It was encounters like these that made life on Europa bearable, and Ezio even found himself enjoying parts of his life. He was still seen as an outcast, and many lieutenants frequently tried to corner him on his own. When the resistance found out, they assigned Kali to guard him whenever he wasn't training with Malefor. It was because of her that Ezio was able to keep his head. Finally, Ezio asked the question that had been lingering at the back of his mind since he had arrived.

"How many units are there in the Shadow forces?" Ezio asked.

"Are you gonna eat your feta cheese?" Kali asked him after a short pause.

"Duh, I love feta. I love everything about Gyro's, you know that, now what about my question?" Ezio asked. Kali turned away and looked out over the water.

"Beautiful day, isn't it?" Kali said, and then she burst out laughing.

"Kali, what on earth?"

"Ezio I –" She took several gulps of the salty air, coughed once, then began to breath very slowly. Finally, she faced him, opened her mouth, and –

"Over ten billion." There was a ringing silence in the air, even the sea seemed to have gone quiet.

"Son of a bitch, that's the first time ever!" Kali said quietly. She looked like she was going to faint. Ezio was just sitting there, with his gyro halfway to his mouth, looking as if he had been clubbed over the head.

"Kali, what on earth?"

"I wasn't allowed to say, the imprisonment was treating it like an interrogation! I broke through the spell! Do you think he knows?" Kali said, looking fearful.

"Of course he knows. The dark lord always knows." Came a low calm voice from behind her. Kali jumped up and spun around, but she paled at the feet of Malefor.

"Master! It was not my fault! He was only curious!" Kali tried. But Malefor held up a paw to silence her.

"If he was only curious, then why did you try to break through? Nothing you can say now, Kali, will change my mind with what I'm going to do to you! Hehe." Ezio jumped in front of Kali.

"No! Master! Please, it's my fault, punish me instead!" Malefor simply laughed, and Ezio found his legs, suddenly, inexplicably moving to the side, in a short side shuffle. In a few seconds he, was clear of Kali, and completely immobile.

"Follow me my dear. Ezio, you are excused from the rest of today's training; I will see you tomorrow morning. May this be a warning to you, hmm?" As soon as Malefor was gone, Ezio felt his body release himself. He instantly jumped into the air to try and give chase, but Malefor and Kali were nowhere to be seen.

"No!"

Ezio could not sleep at all that night. He lay awake, staring at the ceiling from Kali's cot. A while ago, Ezio had returned to the barracks to find his cot laying in pieces. Considering that Blake and his cronies were a few cots away silently smirking and shaking with laughter, he had a shrewd idea who did it, but had no proof. He had appealed to Smaug for a new one, but Ezio felt that Smaug was jealous of his closeness with Malefor, and thus, trying to make him as uncomfortable as possible. Kali had offered to share her cot with his, and Ezio had gratefully accepted. He had silently told himself that he would never speak to Nova about the fact that he was sleeping in the same bed with another dragoness, but Kali's heat and body weight had been comforting, and Ezio hadn't realized how much he had grown accustomed to it.

Ezio had heard no word of his ebony friend, and no one around here was likely to give him any news if they did know. He had tried to make contact with members of the resistance, but not only did they not know anything, but also they did not want to end up with the same fate as Kali.

Ezio was out way before sunrise, trying to fly off his nerves. Even still, he did not settle down at all as he approached the island with the sun at his back. As he dived down towards the small lump of land, he noticed that there was a portal behind Malefor.

"Well now, my apprentice, because of your reluctance to yield anymore elements, and because of your scheming and plotting, I have decided an appropriate punishment for you. Bring forth the prisoner!" Ezio didn't realize what was happening till two elites came striding out of the portal, with Kali in tow, chains binding her legs and neck, as well as a massive metal ball on her tail.

"No, Master, please, don't make me – "

"ENOUGH! You disobeyed lord Malefor, and now you shall pay the price! Now guard yourself, you'll find that neither of you have a choice!" Malefor, and at that moment, the chains and ball released Kali, and she lunged at Ezio with fangs stretched wide, the lower half of her body shrouded in shadow.

Ezio instinctively struck back, smacking the dragoness aside with his tail. It was a symbol of how tough Kali was when Ezio realized she was better than Malefor. The only thing that Ezio found fortunate is that he could counter Kali's shadow power with his own light element. About five minutes into the fight, it was mostly Ezio whom had many burns and cuts on his hide, as he was reluctant to hurt the dragoness. However, he slowly began to tire.

"Come now, Ezio! You cannot defend yourself forever! Fight back! Or have you got nothing left, like that pathetic dragon Spyro?" Malefor said, after nearly twenty minutes of fighting. Kali lunged at him again, at close range, and Ezio found himself on his back. Kali raised her paw, and brought it down on Ezio's muzzle. It was only by luck that Ezio had pushed his muzzle down from the force of impact with the ground, and his neck was not sliced open, as he now had many bad marks across his face and hide. Ezio brought his own paw up to stop Kali again, and he found himself in a strength match with his dragoness friend, her claw growing ever closer. Ezio had not known that she was this strong. Her claw was about an eighth of an inch from his chest before Ezio realized something was wrong. Instead of her claw approaching his chest even more, her grip was slackening, and Kali was falling sideways from on top of him. Ezio looked at the female, and found that he had instinctively reached up and grabbed the shadow dragon in the chest, and used an element. There was now a small dent in her smooth skin that curved inwards on top of her heart and it was bleeding profusely.

"Ezio? What the - ?" The curse seemed to have lifted from Kali as Ezio reached up and slowly lowered her to the sandy ground. Malefor was laughing, but Ezio was completely oblivious to this fact.

"You see now, fool, what happens to those of you who resist Malefor? They do not live very long. How do you feel hmm? Hehe, at least all was not a waste of time, Gravity! Excellent! I know of that one as well!" Malefor was talking to himself. Ezio however had eyes for no one but the black dragoness convulsing silently at his feet.

"Not your fault, Ezio. I had it coming to me, it was only a matter of time. I – " She paused to cough, and Ezio blinked slightly as he was sprayed with Kali's own blood, "I just wish it wasn't so painful."

"No, come on, Kali! Stay with me!"

"Heh, why do you say that, huh? You know it never works! I kind of know what some people say when it gets cold though, cause I can feel a slightly salty breeze inside my own heart, and frankly, it does feel kind of cold. There was so much I wanted to say to you though! Like thank-you for being there for me!"

"No, Kali, thanks for being there for me."

"Oh shut up, you don't know how much you've helped me. These last few weeks have seemed almost normal with you at my side." Ezio looked into the dragoness's quickly fading eyes. He saw something he knew as excitement, as she approached the greatest adventure of death. But there was something else in there to. What was that? Regret? Sorrow? And one more thing, that he knew he had seen in Eclipse's eyes before, but he had no idea what it was. And then Kali's eyelids drooped slightly, and her breathing became shallow, and her eyes began to fog over as the life slipped from them very slowly.

"Kali, no! Please, don't go, I cannot do this without you!" Ezio felt his paw moving instinctively, and he looked down, stopping it quivering, keeping it from causing more damage, but it was as if someone else was controlling it. It came to rest on top of the wound, and Ezio saw a bit of energy leave him, something bright white, and pulsing slightly. He looked up just in time to see Kali's eyes snap open and see them flare with energy, her breathing wavered and then came back into life, as she labored to keep the life inside her, and she gasped as energy was forced into her. Even as Kali gained on the embrace of death, Ezio felt a huge amount of energy leave him, and he realized what happened.

"Isn't that bitch dead yet? Whats - ?" Malefor stood over her, and his jaw dropped, "THIS is a new one! A New element! Life! I don't know anything about this one, maybe it's just energy, or healing powers."

The great shadow dragon looked from Ezio to Kali who was still struggling, "I am please Ezio, and thus you shall be rewarded. Two elements so close to one another is very good. You have the rest of the week off, take her to the healers, if you keep her alive, they should be able to save her."

Ezio looked up, slightly astonished, and then took Kali up in his arms and slung her over his back, so that her head lolled over his shoulder, and took off into the rising sun.


Blaze walked through the massive labyrinth that was the library of New Ascari. He had had too much to worry about in the past few days, and had been slightly less than humorous, he could tell, as people had laughed less at his jokes. More than anything, he had been watching Apollo and Nova. Nova was still pissed at her life mate for not telling her that he was still live. Blaze had half a mind to think that it was mostly because of Ezio. The human had spent more and more time in her company before he had died, and he thought the two had become closer than just average friends.

Now that he thought about it, the only reason he could think of Nova hanging round Apollo was to have some company. He hadn't seen anything happening between them, but that didn't mean anything. Apollo was a nice enough guy, but he could tell that the thing that drew Nova to him was his dedication to not only her safety, but the safety of the others around himself.

Blaze also wasn't feeling to cheerful himself. He had grown jealous of Ezio and Nova while the two had company, and now he was jealous that she had someone again. She had shown incredible improvement since meeting Apollo, and was eating, showing emotion, sleeping better, everything. He had also been jealous of Eclipse and Thunder, since they had been very close. He had been surprised about the egg, but not overly so, he had guessed that it would happen at some point or another.

So intent in his thoughts was Blaze that he failed to notice the large fire wyvern hanging from the ceiling. The female sniggered ever so slightly as the guardian drew underneath her, and at just the right moment, she let go and fell directly on top of the male, smothering him in her wide wings.

"Ooh, you're much warmer than I thought you'd be Blaze!" Kura said, as she rolled off of him laughing. Blaze couldn't help but grin slightly, "What's up worrywart? Something on your mind?"

Blaze hadn't gotten a good look at Kura the first time, even though he could tell she was very pretty, even if she wasn't his breed. Despite the breed, she was his size to, actually, slightly shorter. Her head was covered in long flowing dark red hair, and her pelt was so dark it was almost black, yet it was indeed red. She had wavy flowing tufts of hair coming from her ankles, as well as her elbows and knees. However, her eyes were a very bright white, with a reddish tinge that changed color as she moved her head, so that she continuously looked alive. She also had very long eyelashes, and a very large chest for her young age.

"Ah, just personal stuff Kura, nothing that I don't want to involve you in." He said, continuing towards the stairway at the end of the hall, which led up to the fourth level of the library they were in.

"But what if I want to be involved?" Kura said. Blaze eyes her with a single eye, arching his brow.

"You couldn't help anyways." He muttered, frowning again. Why couldn't she just leave him alone?

"Oh? Don't be so sure moan pants. Maybe a long private tour of the city will cheer you up." Kura said. Blaze opened his mouth to say something, but closed it sharply, as he registered what she had just said.

Private?

It was just then that he noticed Kura was batting her eyelashes. She really was incredibly pretty.

"What about your guard duty?" He asked. His heart rate was elevating now, he could feel it from his training.

"Na, Static is covering for me for now. Oh come on Blaze, it'll be fun! Get your mind off something. Come on, I know a place not far away that has epic Pizza." Kura said, dragging him towards the exit. Blaze smiled, and allowed himself to be pulled along.

It turns out that there was much more to the city than just the library and the academy. Blaze found that it also had a somewhat rich cultural history, as few humans had ever bothered them, because of their reclusion and altitude. Kura took him to the amphitheater that the Ascari's used for plays. It was almost like what Ezio had described to him as a movie theater. Blaze had to fight the temptation to throw his wing around the dragoness as they watched.

It wasn't until the evening that Blaze found what the city was especially good at. The two dragons had been swapping war stories, and Blaze found that Kura had been in a surprising number of engagements. Even still, the fights he had been in far surpassed hers in scale and length.

So towards the end of the second week, I had already procured a number of wounds, believe it or not – "

"Naw, seriously? The mighty Blaze get wounded?"

"Hehe, I know right! Anyways, Quake had been sent to take out the two battering rams, so he was exhausted, and Thunder and I were sent in to try and take down a few Lieutenants. And before I know it, I'm up against a full on Smaug, although now that I think about it, it wasn't Smaug, it was probably Jeeves. Anyhow, at some point or another, I remember getting up underneath him, climbing, and I was thinking I was dead. So I thought, 'Blaze, if you're going down, you might as well take this guy down with you.' And I launch this plasma bolt upwards at him, you know, my screaming javelin attack, and he swerves to avoid a collision, and out of nowhere, a second shadow force lieutenant flies, and the two collide and fall out of the sky."

"Speaking of falling out of the sky…" Kura motioned upwards, and Blazes jaw dropped, seeing so many stars, "We have a meteorite shower tonight. Hehe, make a wish."

And indeed the sky was now streaked with tiny shooting stars. Blaze tracked one with his eyes as it fell towards the earth quite close to them. Kura was not watching the falling stars; she had eyes only for Blaze.

"Are you really making a wish?" She asked him after a brief span. Blaze looked down and met her eyes. There was a short span, and then…

"JUST KISS HER ALREADY BROTHER!" Blaze looked up to see Quake, Spyro, and Cynder flying off in the distance, and couldn't help himself, he chuckled.

"Mind your own business groundpounder!" Kura yelled at him, smiling.

"I will when you mind yours, hothead!" Quake hollered back, before he was swallowed by the darkness.

"Insolent little son of a bi – " Kura's next sentence was cut off as Blaze leaned down and kissed her. Kura smiled to herself inside.

Gottcha big guy.