Finding His Groove

It has been two weeks in hyperbolic time since Aqua had come to the temple, and Aster had been avoiding her like the plague. Ultima was concerned about him, of course, but he knew that he had to let Aster figure this out on his own. Unfortunately he couldn't let this hinder Aster's training any further, so he was on his way to Aster's room to force him to the meadow to train with Rayde as his swordplay skills were not getting any better just sitting up there brooding over unrequited love.

As Ultima walked in Aster's room, he didn't see a brooding young teenager, rather he saw Aster in a meditative state. He was sitting cross-legged on his bed with his fingertips touching their corresponding fingertip, fingers down and thumbs up, and his palms apart and his wings were spread so the tips weren't touching the bed he was sitting on. His body was very relaxed, yet his face betrayed this perception as it was a mask of concentration.

Ultima knew not to disturb him, in the state he was in it could do more harm than good, so he waited for Aster to open his eyes. He did not have to wait long as Aster's green slitted eyes opened not five minutes later with confusion in them.

"Aster," He began, "we are wasting time with you locked up in here. Now I realize that meditation is important to your training, but so is execution and practice. You are to come to the meadow in twenty minutes for your swordplay training with Rayde. I will be there to offer whatever assistance he may need, so if you have any last minute things you need to do here, I suggest you complete them."

Aster merely shook his head, indicating that he was free.

"Good, then get your swords and meet us there in twenty minutes, if you aren't there in twenty five minutes, then so help me I will drag you down there." He looked at Aster with a dangerous seriousness in his eyes that one would rarely see in the usually mirthful Light Elemental, "Do you understand?"

"Yes, I do." Aster said, his voice soft, yet firm.

"Good, I will see you there." Ultima said as he faded into a stream of light that flowed out of Aster's balcony to the meadow below.

Aster shook his head and thought, Here we go again. I just hope that Satre doesn't rear his ugly head again, His heart then filled with sorrow, or that I don't run in to her.

He proceeded to take off his jacket and change into something more comfortable and appropriate for training. When he walked out of his room he was still wearing his black pants but instead of his usual black t-shirt, he now wore an a-shirt so that he can keep cool during the inevitable duels with Rayde, and he kept his drake pendant around his neck.

He flapped his wings a couple of times, and then walked out into the meadow. He arrived not a minute too soon as when he saw Ultima and Rayde, Ultima had that impatient look on his face that he usually had when he needed to get something done, in this case, Aster's training.

"This is to be done like last time, okay?" asked the warrior from the past.

Aster nodded and drew his swords, eyes showing determination.

"Ah...hold on a minute." Ultima interjected as he moved to Rayde's Fang Sword and passed his hands over it a few times, seven to be exact, and did the same with Aster's Adamant Twin Swords. Aster looked up in confusion and Ultima said, "Wouldn't want either of you do accidentally be gutted with a sword now would we?"

Aster smiled and then looked to Rayde, "You ready?"

Rayde grunted with a nod and then jumped to the air. As Rayde descended to slash at Aster, he rolled out of the way and was immediately on defense as Rayde wasted no time in trying to get the upper hand.

All the while Ultima was observing the duel from a different vantage point than that of an opponent. His defense is fairly solid, but slightly slow, and his attacks, whenever he gets them in, are clumsy at best, almost as if the way he's fighting now is…unnatural to him…and his wings tend to get in his way…

Rayde too noticed the clumsiness of his attacks and the sluggishness of his defense, "You must be faster in your defense," almost to prove his point he moved around to another angle from which Aster barely was able to defend in time, "you must also look for openings in your opponent's style." Rayde was beginning to overwhelm him with his onslaught.

On the side Ultima's eyes widened in realization, No, no Rayde, he's finding openings quite well, but his attacks are so awkward that he can't exploit them; we're teaching him the wrong fighting style, this one is not for him. And just as he finished that thought, Rayde disarmed Aster with two swift flicks of his wrist.

"You lasted longer that time, and you didn't need your alter-ego's help to last" Rayde helped Aster to his feet and looked at him with battle-hardened eyes, "But you must learn to find openings in your opponent's defense, I left several in mine, and yet you exploited only a few of them."

Ultima stepped in this time, "No Rayde, he did see the openings, but his attacks were awkward, and clumsy, almost as if this fighting style were foreign and unnatural to his body."

Rayde looked thoughtful for a moment, and then realized that Ultima was right, he did see reactions to nearly all of the openings he left for Aster to exploit, but also saw that Aster's attacks were simply too clumsy for him to consider a reaction. "Well then, what do you suggest we do?"

"I suggest we allow Aster to use his instincts and develop a style that is the most natural to him." Ultima turned to Aster and had complete and utter seriousness in his eyes, "Aster, in order to do this, you will need to meditate and think of a way for you to fight. This could take awhile so we'll give you a bit of time to figure one out, okay?"

Aster nodded and then moved to sit down before he asked, "Wait. Exactly how much time do I have?"

"I'd say three hours at least will be fine." Ultima reasoned, and then he and Rayde turned around and walked out of the meadow to a study that overlooked the meadow so they could keep an eye on Aster.

Meanwhile, Aster sat down and assumed his meditation position with his fingers pointed to the ground and his thumbs pointed up to the sky. Even though his eyes were closed, he could still feel the energy around him, as he always did when he was meditating. This time however, instead of controlling the energy that began to surround him, he let the garnet energy of the earth move on its own. Soon the turquoise energy of the wind and the blue energy of the water began to wrap around him, effectively placing him in a cocoon of elemental energy.

Suddenly the kaleidoscope of color and energy began to form a scene. In this scene there were dragons, humans, apes, wolves, and cheetahs battling each other. To Aster's surprise however, the apes, wolves and cheetahs were not only bipedal, but also capable of sentient thought and linguistic communication as well as battling. What he didn't expect about this battle, however, was that there was one dragon on the side of the apes that seemed to be the leader.

Aster immediately began studying the movements of the dragons in the fight. Firstly, he saw that the dragons used elements as their weapons frequently as he did, but fought rather well for being on all fours. He also saw that their claws were their most used weapon on their body as well as their horns, but then he saw that they used their tails, some with blades, as weapons as well, and then they also used their wings as either shields or weapons if they had barbs on the joint. He took a second to look at his wings and saw that his barbs were a bit bigger than that of the adult dragon's barbs that he was watching.

He shifted his attention to a dragon that more resembled his caliber of power, a purple dragon. He noticed that this dragon attacked mercilessly with elements of every type, from fire to light. He also took into account that the leader of the apes was also a purple dragon, so he decided to be careful on how much of his fighting style to base on that particular type of dragon. He settled for a combination of the purple dragon's abilities and a black dragoness that he saw alongside him. He took both of their styles into consideration and began to formulate a style of fighting in his head; he took into account their aerial skills as well as their skills on the ground as well as his own limitations as a bipedal creature and differed them just enough so that it would work for him. Soon he had the perfect style in mind and dubbed it the Dragon Style, for the dragons were its namesake.

Then, he turned is attention to the rest of the creatures in turn. First he saw the apes and analyzed the way they attacked as well as took in their appearance.

The apes looked grotesque at best, and continuously drooled as they attacked. The dragons most definitely beat them in strength and intelligence, but Aster noticed that they were very tenacious and attacked in great numbers. He deduced then that the apes tended to fight in groups and though they weren't very strong, they were able to win most of their battles due to the sheer strength of numbers they had and the tenacity they exhibited.

He turned then to the cheetah's who tended to either fight with a single sword, or with a bow and arrow. He noted that they tended to use their footwork to confuse their enemy and then strike when they were confused. He also noted that they jumped around a lot and were obviously fast, so he reasoned that before he could do anything that resembled their fighting style, he would have to build up his speed and endurance.

He turned then to the wolves. He noted that the wolves were more aggressive than the cheetahs, mostly because they were slower and not as agile. The wolves tended to attack furiously and not give their opponents a chance fight back without being killed, this unfortunately got most of them killed as the apes they were fighting against couldn't care less about their lives, Aster made sure not to follow the example of the apes. He formulated a style in his head for the wolves and the cheetahs, knowing that he'd have to improve his agility for the Cheetah Style and his strength in general for the Wolf Style and even to a point the Dragon Style, but where he was, he could only manage the Dragon Style.

The scene then suddenly flashed to another battle, one with Cheetahs, Dragons, and a sole Human, against Apes and reptilian bug-like creatures. He further analyzed his subjects fighting style and further improved his styles and noted everything he saw, from strengths to weaknesses, that is until he saw the human.

The human he found intriguing, as though he had seen him before, so Aster analyzed him as well. He then noticed that for every stroke and every movement, the human's style was identical to Rayde's style of fighting. At first Aster reasoned it could have been his teacher, or an ancestor of Rayde's, There's no way that he could be that old…

He decided to wait until the end of the battle to see who the human was, so he continued to analyze the fighting of the creatures before him.

Meanwhile, outside of Aster's mind, Aster was in a visible cocoon of colored energy, and he was floating within the kaleidoscope. A certain someone noticed this, and she was very worried.

Aqua first started watching Aster and Rayde when he came out into the meadow, where she nearly jolted at seeing a pair of huge dragon wings on his back. She now looked at him with a worried look on her face as she brushed some of her azure hair to reveal intense eyes thinking.

---Flashback---

"Now you must be absolutely calm in order to control water, and even then you have to—" Leda looked up from the dish of water she currently had in front of her and noticed that Aqua wasn't even listening to her. She sighed and took a little bit of the water and tossed it at Aqua with her powers. Aqua jumped at the sudden splash and looked at Leda, who had a very annoyed look on her face.

"Aqua, you're going to have to pay attention," Leda scolded, "I can't teach you the basics of controlling this element if all I'm talking to is the air, and that's Sora's job…"

Aqua chuckled at the little joke and Leda's expression softened. "I realize you care for this boy very deeply, and what's going on now, I have to admit is something I've never seen, but you have to trust me when I say that Ultima would not let anything happen that could potentially harm him." She turned and looked with soft eyes at the glowing cocoon that was Aster from the balcony in her room. "Ultima has told me himself that Aster is the closest thing he has ever had to a son, in all of his millennia, he has never had a wife, he was forever abstinent." She turned back and looked at Aqua, a determined look on her face, "The only way you can help Aster now, is to learn what he has learned and help him in this quest."

---End Flashback---

Aqua knew what Leda said was true, but she couldn't help but worry about Aster; she remembered when she first recovered from the shock of Aster's wings. He began to fight with the other man, what was his name? Rhode? She couldn't remember, and was far too stressed to try now. When she saw that determined look in his eyes again, she thought he had gotten over whatever fears he may have had when he found out that she was coming, but then she saw that he barely spoke a word, and didn't speak when he didn't need to.

The usual Aster was someone that was extremely likeable, even those who he said that he didn't like said that they liked him as a friend, and that he was very reliable. But from the exterior of this Aster, which she thought looked very cute in the new outfit despite the wings, he was cold and hardened. She would have to find a way to get through to him, without actually meeting him face to face. She knew that he had recently learned how to read expressions, and from there micro-expressions, she knew that Aster had learned how to look for deception. That only made his shell even harder to get through, but she so desperately needed to get through it, so that she could acknowledge her mistake, if she even made one…

One floor down, Ultima, Dekrosna, and Rayde were observing what was happening to Aster. Rayde was confused, as was Dekrosna, but Ultima seemed to know what was going on, however, Dekrosna had other questions besides the ones about the current situation.

"What's happening to him?" Rayde beat him to it.

"I would imagine it's his Past/Future Sight coming to fruition." Ultima explained. "It's a common trait of a Diamond Dragon to see the past or the future, whichever is needed more at the time, while in a meditative state. Aster is merely coming across it from using his instincts, which I imagine, have told him to let the magical energy that one naturally sees in a meditative state to flow freely around him, thus the cocoon he's in now."

"How did you ever get him to come with you?" Dekrosna asked suddenly. Ultima turned with an incredulous look on his face, but Dekrosna wouldn't budge, "I know you had something to do with it, Ultima. What did you say to my cousin's parents that made them let him go so easily?"

Ultima sighed, "I was hoping to tell you all when the actual subject of this conversation was present." He looked to Dekrosna and saw his eyes, No luck, well…here goes, "In order to tell you this and for you to follow, I'll have to tell you a story of an ancient dragon, one that was around before I even assumed a human form at my father's request."

---Flashback---

In a clearing almost completely surrounded by mountains, a rather large silver dragon resided. He was one of the last of his kind and was the last of the dragons that fought for the side of the light. The Onyx Dragon had most of the other dragons successfully corrupted and fighting for him, there were even some bipeds on his side, but he refused to give up to him.

The other evil of the other dragons, however, had traveled to the humans and the remaining elves already, and so dragons were regularly hunted, and the hunter was richly rewarded if successful. The Silver Dragon was mournful at the loss of his race's purity and life, but he knew what was happening was meant to happen, the final Chronicler had told him that this was meant to be, and he was going to pass his powers on to a worthy host, through whom he would live and continue to fight for the good of all life on the planet.

The White Isle now was a wasteland, destroyed by Onyx's minions, and the Chronicler with it, but at a heavy cost to him. The Chronicler's destruction greatly weakened him and his agents, as well as moving the Celestial Temple and its infinite knowledge to an undetectable place on the planet.

Angered by this, Onyx began to destroy Human and Elf cities left and right. The Elves were nearly extinct, and they were sure that they opposed Onyx, but they still didn't want to follow the Dracorans, who were dealt with early by Onyx.

The miracle of the Purple Dragon had also perished, as no purple dragon appeared after the great evil of Malefor was destroyed, instead the dragons that would have been purple were turned silver on their first birthday and most never lived long enough to gain the ultimate power that their purple ancestors had once possessed.

This Silver Dragon was one such dragon, but was one of the rare few who, in every ten generations would survive to bring his power to fruition. Onyx tried to charm him into coming to his side, but he emphatically refused, remembering the principles of his honored ancestors Spyro and Cynder.

Now he was facing off with several dragons and magicians, he couldn't tell if they were human or elf and he really could care less, he braced himself for the battle that would surely be fought.

"Tell us, Silver one, will you join our master and bring honor to your life?" the lead dragon spoke, deception in his eyes.

"How would I bring honor to my life when all I would do is destroy innocent lives for the hell of it?" The Silver Dragon retorted, "My answer is still the same as it always was before," He spread his wings in challenge, "Never in anyone's life!"

"Very well," The dragons readied themselves as the magicians began to chant, "You have sealed your fate."

The lead dragon jumped headlong at the silver dragon and he immediately dodged the blow, but before he was out of reach, he whipped his tail across the lead dragon's body, cutting open his side with the blade.

When the lead dragon landed in a heap, the silver dragon was beside him in a split second and stabbed his tail blade in the dragon's neck, ending his life.

"Anyone else?" the dragon challenged and a green dragon spit an earth bullet at him.

Using his powers over the earth, the Silver Dragon redirected the blow and it hit one of the magicians that were still busy chanting, breaking every bone in his body and rendering him lifeless.

The Silver Dragon then spewed a monsoon from his great maw, drowning two more dragons that couldn't swim in torrential waters.

As the battle carried on, a golden Phoenix landed nearby at the top of a mountain and saw the battle. He observed with great naïveté that the Silver Dragon was the most powerful of all of the dragons in the valley.

His observation rang true as the Silver Dragon finished off the last dragon with a resounding crack from his neck. Then he turned his attention to the remaining magicians, but a little too late.

The magicians each began to fall one by one from the power gathering in the circle that they had formed during the battle. Each magician fell until one was left, he finished the spell and directed it at the Silver Dragon who could do nothing as it slammed into him over and over, injuring him greatly, but because of the stress of casting and finishing the spell, the last magician fell to join the others in death.

The golden phoenix, aware that the battle was now over and the last-ditch effort made by the magicians came up fruitless was about to fly away, until he saw dragon hunters approaching the valley, weapons raised.

The hunters were about to deliver the final blow, until one of their own began to kill or repel each hunter with the claymore he wielded. As he beheaded the leader the phoenix attacked the remaining hunters that the dragon's savior missed.

The hunters were now either beheaded corpses or piles of ash created by the combined efforts of the rogue hunter and the golden phoenix, the dragon looked at the hunter, caution in his eyes and asked, "Why did you help me?"

The hunter turned and faced him fully, no remorse was present in his face, "I became a dragon hunter to eliminate the evil of dragons, but I also am not stupid enough to believe that every dragon that is left in the world is evil. I believe that you are one of the few left that are not evil as you made no move to attack." Then he took a look around and saw a cave so the dragon would have shelter and could recover, "Can you walk?"

"I can limp at the very least." The dragon said nonchalantly, "I assume you want to go to that cave over there?" He pointed to the cave with is tail which was left remarkably unbroken.

"Yes, I think that would be the best course of action for you right now." The dragon responded with a curt nod and struggled to rise to his feet.

After about five tries to rise, and two falls to the ground the dragon, the phoenix, and the hunter were all in the cave, when the dragon began to speak, softly at first then rising in volume, "I will not survive this day." The hunter looked at him in surprise, "No, don't look at me like that. I know that I won't survive this day because that spell that was cast on me was more than just a spell to break my bones, it was a decay spell. My life feeds on the magic of the world, but now the world is taking the magic back because the spell is causing a reverse effect on me. By midnight tonight, I will be dead."

The hunter jumped to his feet, "That can't be! There must be a way to reverse or-or break the spell." He took of the helmet that previously concealed his face, revealing a man with shoulder-length black hair, a tan complexion, and cyan eyes, "There has to be a way… you are most likely the last of your kind that are not corrupt!"

"Noble hunter," The dragon started, "Your heart is pure, and though you wish to do something about the situation, I can only tell you that you cannot. It was foretold that when I meet a human of a pure heart, willing to sacrifice himself for the very thing that has been dubbed the bane of human kind, I will die, but not in the way that I have described. My body will die, but my soul will live on…in you." He moved to stand but he couldn't anymore, "Already my energy is draining from me."

"What do you mean…your soul will live on in me?" the hunter was utterly perplexed.

The dragon lifted his paw, and his first two digits touched the center of the hunter's forehead and his heart respectively. "What're you—" the hunter was cut off by a blinding light coming from his head, heart, and the dragon's eyes.

The phoenix could see what was happening and was confused as to why the dragon would do this. He saw a translucent projection of the dragon exit his body and enter the hunter's body, changing the hunter's features as he entered.

The light then faded and the dragon's body fell limp with a great thud. The hair of the hunter faded from black to silver, his cyan eyes now a sharp green, and finally his complexion was no longer tan, but porcelain white.

---End Flashback---

"And that was the birth of the first Diamond Dragon in human form." Ultima finished.

Dekrosna looked on in interest, but Rayde was utterly befuddled, "Wait a moment…that phoenix you mentioned…was that you?"

Ultima nodded, "Yes that was I…before I got the sense to pass my powers onto this vessel, after some major convincing from my father, who was dying without his death nest. His spirit has since traveled on to…where ever they go after death. He lived his time."

"But onto the point," he moved to the balcony, hesitation evident in his features, "the Diamond Dragon has those certain key features as a human, silver hair, astoundingly green eyes, and porcelain complexion. I've kept my eye on this specific bloodline, and Aster's in it."

"I have followed them ever since I located the descendants of Sol, and have notified the Mother and Father of the child in question at their birth. I have worn many disguises, and have revealed myself to them only when I thought it was necessary."

"At first, Aster's parents didn't believe it, until I did the genetics test. His eyes were open and…I took a bit of blood that I had…well…gathered from Sol. His eye flashed silver and they believed what I said."

"I told them that I would have to come and take him so that he could gain control of his unawakened powers, they agreed that this plan was the best for him. I told them of the possibilities, but his Father said that 'Aster could take on the world if he had to,' so we made a deal. I would secretly watch over Aster, and take him when he was either attacked, or if he became aware of his powers."

"Wait." Dekrosna interjected, "He knew that he had something to do with his Father's death, so wouldn't he have become aware then?"

Ultima smiled wryly, "With our understanding he would have, but you'd be surprised how much Humans will "rationalize" things. He merely thought it was a freak lightning bolt for most of his life."

"Okay, so then what does that make Aster?" Rayde said, "And why was my teaching so unnatural to him?"

"Aster is a rare one." Ultima mused, "He isn't like Dekrosna in that he is a Dracoran, rather, he is fully dragon, and fully human, so he's similar. Eventually, his blood will be all Dragon, that's why your teaching was so unnatural to him; Dragons don't fight the way we do, theirs is a much more sophisticated style that would be more natural to his ancient blood."

"I suppose we'll have to wait and see then." Rayde said, Dekrosna nodding in agreement.

Ultima turned to look at Aster, who was coming out of the remains of the cocoon, "Yes…I suppose we will."

I hope that this chapter is as good as I think it is. I tried to slow the pace down a little bit, as many of you told me that the story is a little on the rushed side. Tell me about the pace on this one, as well as what you think of Aster's lineage.

I hope this makes up for the long wait, had to think about how I wanted to do this chapter. Hope it satisfies!

Review Please!

-Ultima