"It's time to wake up!" A voice said cheerfully.

Bryde grunted and turned his head the other side. "It's still early before the gong starts."

He felt a chill on his neck followed by another voice, "Get up!" Another voice said, "Or else we will be late for our first class with our winglet."

Bryde opened one eye to glare at his clawmates; a Sandwing and an Icewing. Both of them were standing over him. He sighed and gazed at Lucky enviously. He was sleeping on the sand, lining the bottom of his glass cage, oblivious to everything going around him. Bryde arrived to Jade Mountain Academy days ago and he did not adjust to their new environment yet or adjusted to his new time zone. He was surprised at their lax on security and he barely learned about his new schedule and the layout of the school. What he had learned so far was the fact he was part of a winglet and he had to share a cave with two annoying dragonets.

"BONG!"

The Sandwing, Lark, grinned at him. "Hear that Vent? That's the first gong."

Bryde remembered Vent was his alias. He also changed his appearance to make himself a Seawing hybrid of a Sandwing. With some yellow waterproof paint, he painted his sides under his wings and on his neck to remind him of his days with the Outclaws.

Bryde yawned and stretched as he got up from his bed. In the corner of his eye, he saw Lucky jumped in his glass cage, he lost his footing on the sand and fall. The little creature sat up and looked around, searching for the source of that sound. Despite himself, he grinned at his new pet. Bryde couldn't believe he was growing fond of the little creature. When he brought him to school, he was able to learn the basic needs of his scavenger for fruit, freshwater, and cooked meat. He would occasionally feed him fruit and fresh water on clamshells.

The Icewing, Snowdrift, nudged Bryde's shoulder, "Let's go." Bryde could tell he was trying to hide his excitement, although Drift tried to act calm and haughty, he saw his tail wagging and his wings trembling. Bryde rolled his eyes, "Alright, I'm up." He eyed at his pet scavenger enviously. He didn't have to worry about missions or attending classes and lived his life carefree in his cage.

Bryde shook the sleep from his body and followed his clawmates through the maze of tunnels. They passed a black dragonet sitting next to the gong holding a mallet. She swung the mallet at the gong. BONG!

They followed the path all the way up to a waterfall. A large blue and green dragon with a long scar on his side near his tail. He have to sit up straight and crane his head back up to look at him. He was as big as Shark or Queen Coral. He nodded at them and they sat next to him. Then a Nightwing and a Mudwing showed up before the third gong bonged.

After the third gong, he heard a loud commotion from down the hill. Voices were shouting and and yelling He saw a the female Rainwing running up the hill, followed by a female Skywing who was struggling to keep up with her clawmate. Her wings were moving around in an awkward ways and her tail was wagging around as if she have no control over them. They kept hitting or tripping other dragons and she was constantly turning her head apologizing or bowing to them. He recognized her from meeting her yesterday. She seemed to be having trouble running after he clawmate. He gave her a friendly smile with a wave. The elderly Seawing eyed at them disapprovingly. "Next time, I expected you to be here on time. Everyone was here before you two."

Everyone heard a loud BONG!

"Sorry," the Rainwing said sheepishly.

"Well," he said, shuffling his body to a comfortable sitting position, "Since we have a lot of new students in this group. I will start with the explanations. After the War for the Sandwings' Succession-"

"Excuse me," the small Mudwing asked timidly, "Most of us know the school was founded after the war and we all know about it and have been through it so can we skip this part? It's time for breakfast and I'm feeling hungry."

The Seawing sputtered. "How rude, it is important to know that we are entering the part of our-"

"We know this school is founded by the Dragonets of Destiny," the Nightwing said, "To learn about the other dragons from different tribes."

"So that is why we are here today," Drift said. "So let's skip the history talk and get on with it."

The old dragon huffed, "Alright! As you know me, I am Webbs and I teach history here. The school have organized five winglets, a smaller group of dragonets, each group contains seven dragons with one dragon from each tribe. You will be working with the other dragons until you will understand them and hopefully prevent future wars. Right now I am leading the Jade Winglet."

I know who you are, Bryde thought. Before I came to this school I did a lot of research about the teachers and students. Only a few teachers knew my real identity. Bryde eyed Webbs' talons. Remembering Tamarin's witness of a Seawing, there were seven Seawings in the school and they could be a suspect. Tsunami and Turtle were not at school so there were only five Seawings; including Anemone, who could be a suspect. He wondered if Webbs still hold grudges on Queen Coral for trying to execute him. It could be an excuse to attack members of the royal family.

But Tamarin was not a Seawing, a voice whispered in his mind. It didn't make sense why she would be targeted.

He heard the gossip and rumors from the palace guards about Webbs. Webs was a former member of the Talons of Peace. Before he joined the Talons of Peace, he deserted his tribe in battle because he believed in the prophesy of the Dragonets of Destiny will stop the war and abducted Tsunami when she was an egg from the Royal Hatchery. He also have a son named Riptide. Bryde wondered if Riptide was somehow involved with this mystery. Bryde counted himself fortunate to be in the Jade Winglet.

"I thought Tsunami is leading the Jade Winglet," Lark whinned.

"She was supposed to," Webbs said in annoyance, "But she and the other Jade Winglet members have to leave on a mission so I am here to substitute for her instead. As a matter of fact," he tilted his head, "Most of you are transferred to the Jade Winglet because you are new students. When Tsunami comes back with the original members of the Winglet, we will reassign you to your new groups."

"Aw!" The dragonets groaned. Webs slapped his webbed talons together. "OK, let's move on with the introductions. Starting with the new dragonets." He nodded towards at the Mudwing.

The small brown Mudwing smiled at them, "Hi! I am Paddy and I came from the Mud Kingdom. I just came in after the Darkstalker incident and became clawmates with Nightrider."

"Temporary," Nightrider corrected her, "I was told they were busy making more rooms for new students. Moonwatcher and Kinkajou were supposed to be Paddy's clawmates, but Moon have to stay at the Kingdom of Sand and they don't know when she will be back." She smiled, "As she said I'm Nightrider and I am here to fill in Mightyclaws' place. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Lark and I came from the Kingdom of Sand," said the white and yellow Sandwing. "Actually, I came here to be with the Dragonets of Destiny, the heroes who ended the war and they defeated Darkstalker. Tsunami was my favorite. No wait, maybe it's Clay, but Sunny is cute without a barb on her tail. I also like Starflight, he is really smart. Glory is kinda of cool but she lives in the Rainforest Kingdom." He covered his face with his talons, "Aurgh! I can't decide who I like."

"It's okay you are in the right place," Webs interrupted him before he could ramble on, "Next dragonet."

"Hi I'm Silky, I my favorite hobby is napping and Suntime is something that I don't wanted to miss," the female Rainwing said.

"Noted Silky," Webs said dryly, "Just stay awake in my next history lesson."

Then he looked at the Skywing who was sitting quietly next to his clawmate. "I'm Chrystal," she said shyly. Bryde studied her, he noticed her scales were oddly pale red that almost looked pink and her eyes were brown, unlike a typical Skywings he have met. Her horns were short and stubby and her snout was smaller than an normal Skywing's and sort of chubby. He thought it made her look cute. Her body was curled up like a cat. Her tail was wrapped tightly around her talons and her wings were folded on her back as if she was afraid to use them. She seemed to look at everything with curiosity and wariness. "I remember you, we met yesterday and I'm Vent by the way," the blue and yellow Seawing added, "and I am clawmates with Drift and Lark." He pointed at the white dragonets. "We just got here after Paddy and Nightrider moved in."

"I remember, thank you for helping Tamarin the other day."

How could he forget, everything happened yesterday, he still remembered the sound of her voice when she raised the alarm in the underground pool and how she ran to help a drowning Rainwing and offered her assistance and warmth. He remembered the look on her face when she showed concern for her welfare. He flicked his tail, "It's nothing, but I should be thanking you, if you didn't noticed her in the water and raise the alarm. She would have been in trouble."

Drift coughed and straightened his back. "I'm Snowdrift, or Drift, and I came from the Ice Kingdom by Queen Snowfall's permission." The Icewing said huffy.

"Alright, now the introductions are over, let's talk about yourselves," Webbs glanced down at the scroll in front of him. "For our first topic, what is your favorite color?"

"That's easy," Lark said, "I like all kinds of colors. Believe me it gets boring from looking at sand all day long."

"I like orange," Silky said, her scales shimmered into the color of orange, "Like tangerines. They are small but they don't have seeds."

"Blue," Drift said.

Bryde raised his talon, "Mine too."

"Me three," Paddy added.

"Me four," Nightrider said.

"I like blue and green," Chrystal said.

What a coincidence those are my colors. Bryde grinned at her. Chrystal noticed he was staring at her and she shifted her weight uncomfortably.

"Ok, next topic is," Webbs scanned at the scroll. "Family, tell us about your family."

Paddy raised her talon eagerly, "I do! I came from the Mud Kingdom and I have nine brothers and sisters and they are the best sibs ever!" Everyone stared at her in shock. "Nine brothers and sisters!" Drift echoed, "That is a lot!"

"It is?" Paddy asked. "In the Mud Kingdom, it is normal for sibs to live together."

"What about your parents?" Chrystal asked.

"We don't know about our parents," Paddy answered, "Our parents just left our eggs in one place and just leave us alone. So we grew up without them."

Chrystal looked at her sympathically. "Oh, I am so sorry to hear that. It must be tough to live without them."

Paddy smiled and shook her head, "That is ok, I have my bigwing to look out for me and she is like a mom to all of us. Do you have sibs?"

Silky shook her head, "I don't know, before Glory became queen, the Rainwings used to keep all our eggs in one big pile just like you do and left us there until we hatched. If we wanted to be together, we would take a venom test to make sure we are not related. Now she is changing our system and establishing families."

"You don't look poisonous," Chrystal remarked. Silky grinned at her.

"I'm an only child," Drift said haughty, "Me too!" Lark chimed. "I have a sister, a father, an aunt and lots of cousins," Bryde said.

Everyone stared at Chrystal.

Chrystal looked down at her talons. There was a long moment of silence. Everyone looked at each other awkwardly. "Is she okay?" Lark whispered rather loudly. "Shh!" Paddy scolded him. "Let her think." A large tear rolled down on Chrystal's face. Paddy whacked Lark's hindquarters with her tail. "Ouch!" He yelped jumping up. "What is that about?" He rubbed his sore spot. Paddy glared at him as if he was her least favorite food. "You! It's your fault for rushing her!"

To Bryde's surprised, Webbs gently touched her back with his wing. It was so large it almost covered her. "Oh my dear," he said in his kindest voice, "It is alright if you don't have to share."

Chrystal shook her head, "It's fine," she said. "I was with my cousins and suddenly we got separated from our family and I got lost."

"We could help you," Drift said, raising her wings ready to fly, "Where are they?"

"I don't know."

"Do you remember where do you live?"

"Um," she said softly, "I'm not sure. I think its pretty far from here."

Silky wrapped her tail around Chyrstal's. "She had a bad fall and lost her memories."

Nightrider tapped her claw on the ground thoughtfully, "Maybe we could help her regain her memories and then we could find clues to help us find her family and home."

"Do you remember how you got separated?" Bryde asked.

Chrystal hesitated, "I remember there was a flash of white light before I fall unconscious."

"Where?" Bryde gently asked. But Chrystal remained quiet.

A round growingly noise interrupted their silence. "Sorry, that was me," Patty laughed sheepishly, "I didn't have breakfast."

"Well, let's go," Silky said, spreading her wings. She jumped off the ledge and flew around them. Paddy followed after her. Webbs stood behind the dragonets, watching them very carefully.

Bryde glanced at Chrystal, she was trembling. "What's wrong?"

"We are going out there?" Bryde tilted his head curiously at her, "Yeah. We are going to eat out."

"But I thought we are going to the Prey Center."

Nightrider came up to her, "Some of us preferred to get our food from hunting."

"I'm going to the Prey Center," Chrystal nervously backed into the cave. "You can go on without me."

A thought occurred to Bryde and it seemed that everyone came to the same conclusion as well. "Chrystal, you are afraid of heights?" Lark barked out a laugh. Everyone, except Chrystal, glowered at him. "That is funny, Skywings are known to be the fastest fliers in Pyrriah." He pulled her wing, revealing a pale pink membrane underneath. "Look, your wings are longer than mine. See? Dragons are born to fly." He started pushing her towards the ledge. Chrystal's claws sinked into the ground.

"Lark!" Webbs barked at him. Lark froze and put his talons down. "Read the situation," he said sternly. Lark hanged his head, "Sorry," he mumbled.

Paddy landed next to Chrystal, "I feel like going to the Prey Center too." She said, "Let's go together." Chrystal smiled at her. "I'll come too," Bryde added. Silky hesitated, she looked back and forth at Chrystal and the sky indecisively.

"I'll go hunting to restock the Prey Center," Webbs said spreading his wings. "We will all meet at the Prey Center and I could use some help." He nodded towards Silky, Nightrider, Lark and Drift.

"If you say so," Drift said in a board tone.

Lark leaped into the sky, "I'm going to bring the biggest prey over so wait for me!" He called down.

After they meet in the Prey Center. Webbs brought come crabs he found near the shore of the cave, Nightrider found a deer, and Drift brought some fish he had caught from the lake. Silky brought a bush covered with raspberries. Lark came with a rabbit. They all sat together next to a huge pile of fruit and vegetables.

Bryde noticed Lark's pure sand colored scales were covered with dirt and scratches and he looked worn and tired. He couldn't resisted poking a little fun at him, "Wow Lark, that is the biggest rabbit." Lark grinned ruefully, "I thought hunting in the valley would be easier but it never meet my expectations." Paddy smirked at Lark, "Nice catch. May I share with you?" She teased playfully. Lark laughed, "No thanks, I earned it fair and square. I went through a lot of trouble to catch it." Drift eyed at him, "It's so small, even I could catch it." Lark shrugged his wings, "I bet it tasted better than a lizard. Ever tried one before?" "No but I have a frog before," Nightrider answered, "It tasted weird and I was having hallucinations." "I caught a crocodile at home once," Paddy said. "I heard lizards looked like small crocodiles. Do they taste like a crocodile?"

"Bleah!" Drift turned his head away from them in disgust. "Now I lost my appetite." He muttered, pushing his food away from him.

"What is this?" Chrystal pulled out a green wrapped up plant from the pile. Silky shrugged, "Corn, it came from the Sky Kingdom and it never grows in the Rain Kingdom. I tried it before but I never liked the taste."

Bryde turned to Webbs, "May I have some of your crabs sir?" He asked respectfully. The elderly Seawing pushed a clawful of crabs towards him. Bryde cracked a crab opened.

Chrystal peeled the leaves off the cob and inspected it. She picked up a turtle's shell and with her claw, she cut the nibbles off the cob. They fall in the shell and she covered the opening with a flat rock. She blew fire under the turtle's shell.

Bryde's attention was on his crab as everyone was settling down to eat their breakfast. Then they heard a loud POP! Suddenly a small white ball jumped out of nowhere. Bryde froze and wondered if the crab was making him hallucinate. POP! POP! Two more white and fluffy balls followed later. Bryde forgot his breakfast and stared at Chrystal. Her attention was focused on the fire under the turtle's shell.

POP! POP! POP! POPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOP!

All the animals and dragons in the Prey Center were startled by the new sound. Some of the dragons near by yelped in fear and jumped behind the pile of fruit or find a place to hide or roared and searched for its source. The animals panicked even more and fled to the other side of the cave.

White fluffy balls exploded from the shell, followed by a delicious smell of roasted corn. It flowed out from the hole between the shell and the rock. The Rainwings and other dragons shielded away from the white hot fluffy balls shot out from the pot as it bounced off their scales harmlessly and landed on the floor.

When the noise died down, Chrystal used a bone to pushed the rock off the shell to reveal a large pile of white fluffy balls. Everyone stared at her in disbelief as she took a talon full of that white stuff and popped it in her mouth. For the first time for a while, the Prey Center was quiet. The only noise was the animals' frighten lull and Chrystal crunching on the mysterious tiny little white clouds. Bryde broke off the silence. "Wha-what was that?" He asked cautiously.

Chrystal swallowed. "Popcorn, you blow fire on dried corn and it makes a popping sound as it turns white. Want some?" She offered the bowl to her new friends.

Silky gingerly took a kernel. She sniffed it and sampled it. Everyone watched her, "How is it?" Lark asked her. Silky made a face, "It smells nice, feels crunchy, but it tastes bland."

"Let me try," the Mudwing sampled it, "Hm, it feels like chewing on a bone, but it's weaker and easy to swallow. But it doesn't have the meaty flavor."

"Hey I wanted to try too!" Lark grabbed a talon full of popcorn and put it in his mouth. He chewed it thoughtfully. "Ith's noth tho bath." Lark said around a mouthful of popcorn, some of it fell out of his mouth like snow. "Hey Drif you should try some."

The Icewing warily backed away, "No thanks! I don't eat something that explodes."

"Me neither," Nightrider added, "It brings up bad memories."

Bryde took a kernel, it was small and delicate and feels very light. He popped it in his mouth and chewed on it. He was surprised it feels light, crunchy and it melted in his mouth. He made a face. Chrystal grinned at him. "I know." She stared at it wishfully, "It taste better with a little salt and butter."