ABCSKW123-IX: DREGON! Every single time Lloyd says dragon it must be written that way. No exception, even back to chapter 9. Tell me if you see otherwise and I will go back and fix it :D

RandomDragon: Yeah, they sure have gotten over a few speed bumps. And a stronger team than ever (hopefully)!

FullMetalPon-3: Cole's still not comfortable with how easily the rest of his team's accepted the dragons, That's for sure.

Guest: Me too! Here's another!

Studiodia: Thank you!

ArmoredSoul: I love getting reviews like these! It's always so cool to see people who were there when this wreck of a story got started, haha. Thank you!

Ninjafan: Glad you found me! And I'm glad that you enjoy this :D

bleh: You have an awesome name, my friend. And hopefully, we'll be getting back to Nya in the next chapter.

Previously on Skyward:

'Now that you know the creation stories and the events and causations of the Greater War,' said Earth, 'We think it's time you learned about the Overlord.'

'Our ancestors fought against this spirit when he first appeared,' said Energy. 'Alongside the Spinjitzu master and the land-walkers and serpent-forms.'

'After the War of Six, the Spinjitzu Master forged the golden weapons with the last of his power in the Golden Peaks.'

Zane unlocked the panel. His fingers migrated to the switch, the memory switch.

I'm Zane, and I know that I'm a nindroid and a ninja and a brother and a son. And I feel stronger for knowing.

"So what do you think it meant?"

"Well, it seemed fairly straightforward to me." Zane tilted his head from where he sat perched on a rock ledge. "We're meant to go back."

"And that's it? You're not surprised or nothing?" Kai propped himself up where he leaned against the wall. The room was high on emotions -fear and excitement all mixed up together like cottage cheese and applesauce at one of his village's picnics. And Zane's emotions, hard enough to read normally, were next to impossible to pick out here. He squinted, trying anyway.

Not even an hour before Zane had come into the cave shaken, and yet the resolve Kai had felt earlier still burned strongly. He'd told the group how he'd turned on his memories and got a vision and a power boost like Kai. (And yeah, Kai was jealous that the ice ninja seemed to be handling it a lot better than he did, but he consoled himself with the fact that he had got his first).

I don't want to go back. It sounded like betrayal in Kai's mind, but as soon as he'd thought it he couldn't deny it either. I don't want to go back to just being the red ninja, the one who's only good for rushing into stuff and fighting. I want to stay here, where it doesn't matter if I know algebra or not. I can just be me. He could feel his emotions leaking out and slammed the door down on them before they could affect anyone else. Kai absolutely hated manipulators and he wasn't about to hurt his team.

Zane shrugged one shoulder, calling Kai back to attention. "I am ready to do what I am supposed to do," he said.

Kai almost rolled his eyes. Trust Zane to come up with a super cryptic answer to an easy question. "I asked how you felt, not what you were plannin' on doing. And what the heck is that supposed to mean? What are you supposed to do?"

"Uh, Kai?" Jay made a cuckoo motion next to his head. "Have you been listening to literally any of this conversation?"

"Yeah, yeah." Kai waved his hand. "Future vision showing us at Hotel Volcano." The itch to move crept under his skin and he did, pushing off the wall to pace the room. "But why do we have to go back now? Did your vision have a time stamp on it or something?"

Zane opened his mouth to answer, then stopped. He cocked his head again. "I was given no sense of time," he said. "I just assumed we were meant to go back now, sooner rather than later. Why else would I see it? We were planning to eventually return to the city even without the prompting of a vision."

"Why's this upsetting you anyways, Kai?" asked Cole. The earth ninja studied him closely. "Like Zane said, we always knew we'd go back."

Kai cursed internally. Drat. Cole knew him too well. "I just think we could learn a lot more stuff if we stayed longer," he said, staring directly at his eyes. After a moment Cole nodded and broke the stare. He seemed to accept the reason, but Kai wasn't about to breathe a sigh of relief.

Lloyd's mood brightened with curiosity. Kai looked down at him. "Hey Ice," he asked- he was seated on the floor, playing with his hands- "how far into the future do you get visions for?"

Good question, kid, thought Kai. He was curious now too.

'Our foresight always predicts the near future,' the pale dragon informed. 'But not always the immediate.' She tilted her head. 'You wouldn't need to leave immediately, I would think, but at least within this moon-cycle.'

"Kai's right, what he said earlier." Cole pushed off from the wall he was leaning on, coming closer to the group. "We've been learning a lotta new things here, but not the important ones."

"Teach us how to use our powers!" Jay enthused. "C'mon, please? I really want to learn how to teleport! Ooh, or how to turn yourself into pure energy!"

'You do realize you're not gonna be able to do any of that stuff until after you've had your boost, right?' Blue asked, amused.

'Jaybird's got a point though,' said Fire, speaking up for the first time in the conversation. Kai turned to look at his mentor. 'I've sat in on your classes and all you've been doing is have him work on his flying.'

'Flying's important,' Blue defended. She sighed. 'But yeah, I see what you mean. It's probably-'

'Definitively.'

'-Definitively best to prepare him for his coming powers.' The blue dragon tilted her head. 'What about this: Earthy and I train our chosens for their potentials and you and Icee here focus on teaching yours about the mission.'

'Fair,' Ice agreed. 'However, I'll need time first to show my chosen how to use his new abilities.'

'Of course.' Earth climbed to his feet, shaking out his great wings. 'Does this plan sound reasonable for everyone? That's settled then.'

"What about me?" The room turned to look at Lloyd. The boy fidgeted but held their gaze. "What am I supposed to do?"

'I'll continue to work on your transformation with you,' said Goldie. 'That's what's most important for you to learn now.'

"Yeah, how's that coming along, Lloyd?" Kai asked. He'd never asked before, and he found himself curious.

The boy perked up. He stood, excitement radiating off him in waves. "Look at this!" He put out his hand. The tips of his fingers went green, then the rest of his hand, color trailing up before disappearing beneath his sleeve. Little ridges ran along the outside of his arm and his fingers changed, hardening into talons.

"Isn't that cool?" Lloyd waved his newly-scaled hand, bunching his fingers into a fist and then flexing them. Kai noticed that a pair of golden horns had sprouted amid the boy's blond curls. It seemed that Lloyd wasn't aware of them yet. He reached over and flicked one.

"Hey!" Lloyd scowled, but there was no real heat to his words. "What was that for?"

"Thought you might like to know you have little antlers growing up here," Kai said, grinning, and punctuated his words with another flick.

"Really?" Lloyd reached up and felt around in his hair. Kai knew the exact moment he felt them. The kid lit up like a lightbulb. "I feel them! Look!" He grabbed Kai's hand and put them on top of one. "Do you feel that?"

"I was the one who pointed them out to you, kid," Kai said, but he made sure Lloyd knew he was amused.

"Hey, what are those spines on your arm?" Jay leaned closer. He reached out to touch one but Lloyd pulled his arm away to look himself.

"Uh, Goldie said that's where my wings will go when I'm fully transformed."

"So you're going to be a wyvern like us?" asked Zane.

"A wyvern?"

"A dragon with only two legs," said Zane. "Like Kai and I. Since you had generated separate wings before, I'd thought you would be a four-legged dragon like Cole or Jay."

"Yeah. Uh, Goldie says that my power needed to be shown where to go." Lloyd looked over at the Energy dragon, who nodded. He turned back to Zane. "I guess this is safer for the way I change." He twisted his hand and the scales receded until it was a normal hand again.

'You're doing well,' Earth said. Approval shone in his words. 'The last person who could change directly like that was your grandfather, you know.'

"Yeah, Goldie told me." Lloyd looked down at his feet. "You really think so?"

"Uh, yeah, duh!" Kai crossed his arms. "You know I can't do that, Lloyd, and that goes for the rest of us too. Are you gonna be able to change all the way before we leave?"

'That's debatable,' said Goldie. 'Lloyd's shown a lot of progress, but that's still a lot of work to do in a short time.' He motioned for the boy to come to him. 'And with that being said, I think it's time we go and practice some more.'

'I agree with Energy,' said Ice, also rising to her feet. 'Zane, there's many things for you to learn, now that you've had your first vision. We best get started right away.'

'It's been a productive day,' said Fire, watching the four of them leave. 'I'm feeling kinda peckish, what about you?'

'Food sounds great,' said Kai. 'Are we going fishing?' He stretched his arms above his head and followed the fire dragon out the cave mouth.

'Yep. It's about time you had another hunting lesson.' Fire opened her wings and jumped into the air. 'Well, are you coming?'

'I never completed my rituals,' said Ice conversationally. The pair of them stood at the base of the cliffs encircling the cove, looking up towards the sky. 'I'm afraid that, because of our limited time, you might not either.'

'It's okay,' said Zane, because what else was he supposed to say? 'May I ask, what are the rituals for?'

'Well, they are a unique custom of the Ice tribes, a series of trials that show what a fledgling is capable of and when they are ready to advance to the next life-stage.' Ice motioned for Zane to transform. He did so. 'Usually, your parents would be the ones choosing the trials you should face. But, they're not here now and so I'll be the one to guide you.'

'Since you're new to flying, one of the ones I'm having you do is Flight of the Peaks. Essentially, it's a strength test. In the Highland clan, a dragon would need to fly to the peaks of the mountains by themselves.' She surveyed the cliffs almost disdainfully. 'We don't have peaks, so the cliff will have to suffice.'

Zane looked up again. The flight didn't look that hard, considering what they'd done to get here, but he said nothing. 'Should I start?'

'You may. I'll follow you and meet you at the top.'

Zane stretched out his wings. It was harder to fly straight up than he'd anticipated, but he still reached the top within a respectable time. He folded his wings and backed away so Ice could land.

The beach stretched out beneath them, all faded colors and pale sand. Zane walked to the edge and peeked down. From here he could see Jay and Cole sitting near their respective dragons, probably engaged in conversation. Farther down the beach were Energy and Lloyd.

'Can anyone hear me?' Zane asked, curious. They could communicate well now with their telepathy, but never had they tried from this much of a distance. Silence greeted him. He was apparently out of range.

'Satisfactory.' Ice had come up behind Zane while he watched. 'Can you come over here?'

Ice directed Zane to sit on a patch of grass. She sat in front of him. 'As you know, our branch of dragons has the ability to see the future. The part of it relating to visions or prophecy- that's something that can't be taught. But foresight isn't limited to visions. One aspect of it was used in battle, and that is what I think most essential for you to learn.'

She stood and moved around to behind him. 'Close your eyes and familiarize yourself with your surroundings. Try to sense where things are around you.'

Zane did so. He envisioned the rocks near the edge of the cliff and the trees in the opposite direction. Finally, there was Ice, lit up in pale blue behind him. Caught off guard, Zane opened his eyes. The vision disappeared.

'Good.' Ice hummed in his mind. 'I felt you get there for a second.'

'I saw you!' Zane twisted to lock eyes with her. 'It looked like you were glowing.'

'That's your foresight ability. We all have that- Ice dragons, I mean. The glow indicates something that is able to move on its own. How do you think this could benefit us in battle?'

Zane thought. 'If something is able to move on its own, then it could attack you. Knowing this would help you keep track of where your enemies are.'

'That's the first part. You can also use your second sight to predict your enemy's movements. Allow me to demonstrate; attack me.'

Try to attack her? Zane got to his feet. Ice stood across from him now, tail whipping side-to-side and crests fanned out. He took a breath and sent an icy blast at her, but the dragon easily stepped out of the way.

'Harder.'

Zane rushed her, slashing forward with one wing and creating an icy patch where he thought she would dodge. Ice barrel-rolled over his wing and got behind him, displacing him with a solid shove.

'Using your foresight like this is easy to do, but the energy it takes can be very draining if it's used too much.' Ice helped Zane back to his feet. 'Typically, you wouldn't be allowed to practice this technique until you'd mastered your spatial awareness.' She sighed. 'I'm going to have to push you faster than that. Close your eyes and try again.'