I don't own dragon booster. I started this fic a long time ago, I just kept forgetting to post it. This was originally intended as a darker version fo Lightning and Shadows, but it''s really evoled into something else. R&R!

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Thanks to all who reveiws the last chapter!

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Part 3; Looming Darkness

It's been weeks.

I don't know what's happening to me. I'm starting to feel like I don't care about anything. Shadow for some reason usually rewards me when I try and defy him, and I'm starting to see why. Blue is the color of loyalty and energy, I mean, everybody knows that. Just like my dad taught me that black is the color of ambition and cunning, which in most people's minds, excluding the Black riders themselves of course, can translate to 'resorts to anything to achieve their goals', which is what half the time I end up doing when I'm defying him.

I'm starting to worry though. I still don't know if the others are alright, heck, for all I know Word Payyn rules the city by now.….

While I was thinking, there was a knock. "You can come in, I'm in armor."

Shadow strode in, "Come on, we're going out."

"As in I actually get to leave?" I asked, once again I was trying to sound suspicious. "Why?"

"Because I say so," Shadow said icily. His tone softened slightly again. "I have something I need to do. You get a free day. Go see you parents if you wish, I suppose they're worried. Don't tell them anything, understood? And you know what will happen to the other three if you don't come back." On the last sentence his voice became hard once more, as if he realized that he was being something close to nice.

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I was out of my armor and heading for the stables. I went down the elevator and found my dad.

"LANCE!" he yelled and hugged me. "Where were you? I heard that Payyn captured the others, how are they?"

I gripped his shirt and started crying, "It-it's true! And if I don't work with th-the Shadow Booster Word'll ki-ki-kill them!"

He looked at me, "You've been with the Shadow Booster?"

"Mm-hm. He said I'm his…apprentice." I cringed, waiting for Dad's reaction.

"So... he has read the ancient legends." My dad didn't seem to know what to feel. Part of him looked shocked, part sad, part glad I was safe, and I think there was a bit of anger, probably at Shadow. "He knows that you can work together easily. What has he had you doing?"

I thought for a millisecond (I learned that word form Parm), Shadow had told me not to tell anything, and I had already told a lot. The good news was, my dad was smart enough not to try something drastic, because then his other son would die, along with two others, "Nothing really, just studying some old scrolls, he mostly leaves me alone. Dad, I've been wondering something, why would black be a color of balance if they helped to start the war?"

He looked at me funny, "Why do you want to know?"

"Well…during the Drakkus incident, we saw some writing in a temple that said that they helped end the war. I've been wondering why ever since."

He stood and started pacing, Mortis-style, "Well, according to legend, apparently one of the members of the Black Emperor's court betrayed him, and went to help the Dragon Booster. The makers of the other armors, a small group made of three Keepers and two Mechanists were impressed by his bravery, and made him the black armor. It is said that the betrayer was the Emperor's own son."

"You mean….Moordryd? So…that's why the time Moordryd pretended to be good and Artha got jealous you told Artha to quit it because you thought Moordryd was being legit?"

Dad nodded, "I did hope that it was true, even though my gut told me otherwise. Word knows history as well as I do, he has made sure that Moordryd will not betray him."

Something told me that wasn't right; Moordryd stopped his father once after all, when he took on the Wraith Booster. I decided to change the subject, "So, do you know exactly who the three Keepers and two Mechanists were?"

My dad looked quizzical for a sec, but then he answered, "One of the Mechanists was Geyr. He was one of the greatest Draconium workers of all time, and is the ancestor of Rivett. Two of the Keepers were twins, Hyde and Fleeyt. One of them, I'm not sure which, is an ancestor of Stewward."

I nodded, ten I saw the clock, "Oh scales! Dad, I gotta go, Shadow'll scale me if I'm late." I ran to the elevator, and as the doors swished shut behind me, I heard a disappointed sigh.

But for some reason, it didn't hurt. I was now more afraid than ever.

Afraid for Artha and the others.

Afraid of Shadow and Word, and then there was Shadow's mysterious mentor Arrmeggadonn (Who I never saw.).

But most of all, I was afraid of what I was becoming.

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R&R!