Walking through the hallways of the Dragon Temple, Cynder and Flame were heading towards where the succession was being held.

"You nervous?" Cynder asked as she noticed to slight panic looked on the fire dragon's face.

"A little yeah. I mean this is a big deal after all," Flame commented stressing about this slightly.

"Well maybe this will make you feel better," Cynder then reached over and gave Flame a small kiss on the cheek. "Feel better?"

Flame felt a small blush form on his muzzle. "Yeah a little, thank you."

Cynder only smiled and continued to walk in silence. It wasn't much longer before they reached the training area where it was being held. Cynder gave Flame another kiss on his cheek before taking a seat in the stands next to Adara, Flame's mother.

"Hello Cynder, it's nice to see you again," Adara said to Cynder as she took a seat next to her.

"Its nice to see you again as well, I hope things are going well for you?" Cynder asked striking up a small conversation.

"They are yes. Thank you for looking after Flame for me, he puts so much on himself," Adara answered with a smile.

"Yeah well I'm glad to be apart of his life at the moment," Cynder replied happily.

Adara smiled and sat back at her seat a little. "So, since you two are so close with each other, have any of you thought about becoming closer?"

"What do you mean by that?" Cynder asked tilting her head, confused by what she was talking about.

"Like becoming a couple, you're a very beautiful dragoness and I just figured you and him would make such a nice couple," Adara answered.

"Well define couple," Cynder asked a slight blush forming on her muzzle.

"As in mates my dear," Adara said with a small smile on her face.

Cynder didn't replied right away, her face turning into a bright shade of red as she thought about the idea of the two of them mating. "I um... I don't know, it seems rather early to really think about it,"

"I understand, I just figured since you two are so close, you two would make a wonderful couple," Adara answered sweetly.

Cynder smiled warmly, thankful that Flame's mother was so supportive of their relationship. "Thank you Adara,"

"You are welcome dear," Adara said as she nuzzled Cynder gently.

Blushing more Cynder remained silent, waiting for the succession to start.

In some time, The other guardians, Volteer, Cyril, and Terrador appeared and took a seat at the spectator section of the arena. Before long, Drake along with a few heavily armored dragons presumed to be his body guards entered as he took a seat between the three guardians. After all small moment of shuffling papers Drake spoke.

"Thank you everyone for coming. Today we take part in the choosing of the successor to the title of Fire Guardian. Standing before us are several talented young dragons and Veteran elders who have all share a common trait of having great and powerful knowledge and talent in the fire element. They also have also have made themselves very know to our society and are each well respected by our people in their own right. Today we will all see and judge which out of all of them is skilled and worthy of the title, Fire Guardian," Drake said calmly.

There were several fire dragon standing in a row, waiting to be called upon. As they waited they stretched and got ready for whatever their king and the guardians might want from them.

Drake cleared his throat and looked at the Fire Dragons. "General Bronix, you may step forward," Drake said.

An older dark reddish orange dragon stepped forward and took a deep breath. From the looks of the amount of scars and burns on him, he was a serious veteran from the war and appears to have had a lifetime and experience with fire. The old dragon general stretched out his wings and with his eyes glowing red and fire burning around him. He looked up in the air and shot a enormous fireball in the air that explodes and sends multiple flying dragon head shape fireballs homing into several practice dummies. Causing huge explosions upon each impact. The crowed clapped for the general performance as the guardians and dragon king wrote down notes. Bronix bows his head to everyone before stepping back in the line.

"Lord Flegren, you may step forward," Drake said next.

A ash colored dragon stepped forward. He didn't have any scars on him but he was well built for a fire dragon nobel. He looked at the practice dummies around him and breathed a little. Immediately he engulfs his entire body in pure fire and slams his tail on the ground to send out massive molten rocks that explode on impact and then emit 20 more smaller molten bombs, temporary leaving a damaging lava field in the area that immediately burns the practice dummies. The crowed clapped for his performance as the guardians and dragon king took notes. Flegren body turns back to normal as he bows his head to those around and steps back in line.

"Centiga, you may step forward," Drake said next.

A young orange and grey fire dragoness stepped forward who appeared to be the same age as Flame. She took note of the practice dummies and jumped high in the air. She immediately spun in a fast circle while sparks of fire rain towards the practice dummies in bullet fast speed. The sparks so hot that they melt the dummies to molten lava waist the moment one little spark hits one. When she finishes she lands as the crowd claps for her performance and the dragon guardians and dragon king write down notes. Centiga bows her head to those around and steps back in line.

Flame felt all of his confidence drain from his body as his mouth fell open. How was he meant to compete with that? He glanced over to where Cynder and his mother were sitting and saw them wave to him. With a sheepish grin and waved back before focusing on the next contender. He took a deep breath and let himself calm down readying himself for when it was his turn.

Back over with Ember, she was reading one of her books that were in her room when her mother Lexie came in. "Oh hello mom," Ember said as Lexie walked up to her.

"Hello dear, just checking on your leg is all," she replied with a warm and caring smile. Emder didn't say any more before going back to her reading as her mother undid the bandages. But as Lexie did this she said out of the blue, "So are you and Spyro a couple?'

"Mom!" Ember said defiantly, embarrassed that she would ask that.

"What? I have see the way you look at him and the two of you have been with each other a lot," Lexie said defending herself.

"Well as a matter of fact no we are not a couple, just good friends," Ember said back before turning back to her book trying to hide the fact that she felt depressed saying that.

"Oh," Lexie said rather surprised. They were silent for a short while and Lexie even let go of the bandages as she felt rather foolish. "Ember, im sorry for asking if the two of you kissed earlier, I just really though you two were together," She said sadly.

Ember slowly looked back at her mother and saw the sad look on her face. "Their is no need to apologies mom, I know you were just having fun," Ember reinsured. "Besides I think I would have said the same thing,"

Lexie let out a small chuckle at this remark. "Im not surprised you are my child after all. You know your two remind me a lot of when me and your father were younger,"

"Really? How so?" Ember asked surprised.

"Well even though your father was my bodyguard at the time, the two of use just enjoyed every moment together, kind of like you and Spyro are," Lexie said with a soft sigh and smile.

"Is everything alright mom?" Ember asked with a raised brow.

"Yeah everything's fine, i'm just traveling down memory lane is all," After a few short moment Lexie went back to undoing the bandages and asked "So how did you and Spyro meet?"

Ember blushed more and mumbled "we met a while ago that's all,"

The two remain silent for the remainder of the time. Leixe took a look at her daughter's leg and saw that it was healing nicely. Wrapping it back up she handed Ember some medicine to take. Ember thanked her mother before Lexie left the room. Taking the medicine she felt the effects of it happen almost immediately. Though it helped with the pain and slightly quicken the healing possess, it also made her fell asleep very quickly. Setting the book aside Ember laid her head down and began to sleep.

In her dream, Ember was walking along the Temple when suddenly their was a loud explosion rang out into the air. Running as fast as she could to help whoever might have been in the explosion Ember quickly found herself in were it happened.

Their was a large hole in the ground, and in the center of it laid Spyro. Ember gasped as she ran towards him to see what happened to him.

"Spyro are you ok!" Ember asked extremely worried about him. "What happened?"

"I dont know, I was just about to eat some chicken and just when I took a bit it exploded," Spyro said bewildered how that happened.

"Can you stand?" Ember asked.

Spyro tired to stand but their was a snapping sound and Spyro fell over cringing in pain. Ember looked at his leg which was were the sound came from. She saw that it broke and both of the two broken ends had pierced through his scales opposite of each other.

"Take it easy now Spyro," Ember said trying to calm both him and herself down. "Let me take you to the medical room,"

Carefully picking him up she struggled to carry him to the medical wing. Sadly she found out that no one else was their. Ignoring this she decided to take care of him herself. Laying Spyro onto a bed she started by feeding him some herbs. "Here eat these, they will help with the pain,"

Spyro didnt say anything as he gladly swallowed the herbs. While she waited for the herbs to take effect she took a clean cloth to remove the blood that started to form around his wound. Spyro winced a little at the pain but it slowly subsided as the herbs took effect.

"Alright now Spyro, I will need you to stay completely still for this," Ember warned him, not wanting to mess something up. Spyro nodded and watched as Ember used her tail blade to cut open his scales. Spyro started to panic a little from this but trusted Ember that she knew what she was doing.

Once their was a large gap in his leg that let Ember see both sides of the bones fully she grabbed them and started to push them towards each other. Spyro winced a little as even with the pain killers it was still very painful.

Once they were near each other Ember took a long green leaf like object and wrapped it around the two bones.

"What is that Ember?" Spyro wondered.

"Its like a cast but since this is going to help them stay together and not move around much," Ember informed him. Spyro remained silent as he watched her finish up. Ember then took several red crystals and smashed them, letting them heal up the cut she made. She then began to wrap a cast around his leg. "They're all better now," She commented as she finished.

"Thank you Ember if there's anything I can do to repay you feel free to ask," Spyro said with a smile.

"Oh there's no need to thank me Spyro I'm just glad your ok," Ember said back with a smile.

"Actually I think I know how to repay you," Spyro said with a slight blush."

"Really how s-" but Ember was interrupted as she felt Spyro kiss her.

It was just then that Ember woke up. She stared at the ceiling wondering to herself why she dreamed that. The exploding chicken part she blamed on just randomness in her brain but that last part before she woke up was something else. No matter how hard she wanted to say otherwise, she kind of hoped that it wasn't a dream. Sitting back up she figured she should continue to read her book.

Meanwhile back at the Succession event. Flame like everyone has witnessed most of the participants demonstrate their high skill and knowledge in the Fire Element. Flame like most of the spectators were amazed at how so many others knew the element of fire so well. However unlike the spectators, all of this just made Flame that much nervous, he had absolutely no idea how he is going to be able to compete with any of his competition.

"Flame, you may step forward," Flame heard Drake say to him.

Flame gulped nervously, it's amazing how time flies when you don't want it to fly, considering he's the last one to perform now. Taking a deep breath, Flame walked to the center and looked at the practice dummies and everyone watching him. He thought real quickly and decided what to do. With his eyes glowing a fiery orange color, Flame stood on his back legs and slowly took flight in the air, slowly engulfing his entire body in seeding hot fire. Once high enough he rapidly spins his body at high speed until he almost looked like a spinning ball of pure fire. He soon stopped and comet dashes to the ground. Upon impact to the ground, it realizes and enormous explosion of blazing hot fire that not only send the practice dummies flying but disintegrates them into flaming ashes in the air. Flame back flipped back from the attack and landed softly as it rained sparkling ashes around him. The spectators clapped for his performance as the guardians and dragon king took notes. Once done, Drake stood up.

"Now that we have witnessed the knowledge and skills of the possible successors, it will be up to the current guardians and myself to take in serious consideration what we have all bare witness. Note that coming here to witness will also encourage and help with our final decision in the end. But for now, the task is done and all that is left is to decide, thank you everyone for coming," Drake said calmly.

With the succession now over, all the spectators began to get up and leave. The participants bow their heads respectfully to their dragon king and the guardians and thanked each other for good competition. As soon as the participants got out of the area, the younger ones such as Flame quickly dashed somewhere for cold water as the older ones carefully walk towards the source of cold water, feeling burned up. They all put as much energy into their moves as possible, causing them to burn themselves slightly.

"Holy shit that burns!" Flame cursed to himself as he went straight to the cold fountain and himself right in head first, soon followed by others.

As Flame cooled off, he noticed Cynder and his mother walk over to him. "That was amazing!" Cynder said walking up to him and slightly nuzzling him. Flame would have blushed deeply from this if he weren't so tired and hot.

"You did a splendid job out there," his mother commented.

"Thank Cynder, mom." Flame said happily. "I dont mean to sound rude, but could you guys wait for me outside, while I cool off?" He asked.

Both Cynder and Adara look at each other for a moment before shrugging. "Alright then dear, we will be right outside the door," his mother told her before the two of them left.

Around this time Spyro began to wake up from his nap. Stretching his wings and letting out a small yawn he thought about some lingering thoughts in his head. Deciding to fly around for a bit, Spyro walked over to the window and jumped out of it, taking to the skies. Searching around, Spyro found the tallest building around and landed on top of it. As he sat he thought about what has been bothering him recently.

He thought about how Griff defeated him and how because of this Ember nearly died. he clenched his teeth, feeling rage build up inside of him. But this anger was not just pointed towards Griff, it was towards himself as well. it was his fault that Ember got hurt, but he vowed to never let that happen again.

Spyro took a deep breath to try and calm himself down, though it did little to help with the anger he was feeling at the moment. He walked around a little, enjoying the cool breeze of the wind on his scales. Suddenly when he opened his eyes, he saw Griff standing a few feet in front of him, his back facing Spyro.

"Everyone hides another side to them, their true colors, which are yours? A Hero the dragons think?" Griff asked as he slowly turns to face Spyro. "Or another monster like Malefor?"

Spyro growled and lunged at the griffon, wanting nothing more than to tear him apart. Griff moved out of the way and easy punched him in the gut. Spyro flinched but took this moment to bite into Griffs shoulder. Howling in pain Griff jabbed Spyro's eye with his sharp claws, causing the purple dragon to yip and release him.

Spyro growled and released an electric breath shot to try and electrocute the Griffon for that. Griff blocked the attack with his wings and roared in rage as he shot an energy ball from his beak. Spyro jumped out of the way, taking to the air where he started spitting razor sharp ice shards at Griff. The Griffin jumped back in the sky, just in time for Spyro to try and deliver a poisoned tail slash at Griff's face. Griff growled in anger and head butts Spyro hard in the face before slashing him hard in the chest.

Recoiling backward for a moment whipped his tail around at Griff's face. catching his tail Griffon started to spin Spryo around and around before throwing him away from him.

The griffon fired several more energy balls at Spyro, but was caught off guard when Spyro didnt even flinch when the made contact. Grabbing the griffon around the waist Spyro flew straight downwards towards the hard ground.

Just as he was about to hit the ground Spyro awoken from his hallucinations. he blinked a few times taking in his surroundings again, thinking that Griff was going to be around here. Checking his body he noticed that he didn't have and wounds on his body either, leaving the purple dragon very confused. Was it all just a dream?

Deciding to clear his head of such thoughts Spyro flew down and started to walk along the street. He wasn't paying much attention where he was going and accidentally bumped into someone. "Sorry about that, oh hey professor," Spyro said recognizing the mole he bumped into.

"Oh why hello Spyro, it's been quite a while since I last saw you." the Professor said cheerfully. "How have you been?"

"I have been alright though it could have been a lot better," He commented.

The Professor nodded his head. He then noticed that his assistant wasn't around. "Say where is Ember anyway?"

Spyro paused for a moment thinking the best way to describe what happened to her the past week. "Well we traveled to the griffon kingdom not to long ago, and lets just say that things didn't turn out the way they should have,"

The Professor was shocked to hear this. "Are both of you ok?" he asked concerned.

Spyro nodded his head. "Thankfully yes we are. Ember just has a broken leg and wing at the moment is all,"

The Professor let out a sigh of relief. "Well im glad to hear that." The two stood still in silence for a moment. "Say Spyro do you think you could help me carry some supplies?"

"Sure I dont mind, where what do you need?" Spyro asked.

"Oh not much just a couple of things, though it would make it a lot easier on my back now that you're here," The Professor said happy to have Spyro on board. "Now follow me, if you will."

Back with Flame, the young Fire Dragon had finally cooled off, somewhat, after having soak his entire body in the cold water fountain for 3 hours straight and drink he lost count how many ice cold water that had to be freezes by an ice dragon. As he gulps down another ice cold large cup of water, he walked out to see where his mother and girlfriend were at. He saw them close by laughing and talking apparently. He was happy to see his mother get along so well with Cynder. However his mind soon fade to fear when he realized what his mother could be telling Cynder that has them laughing so much.

"And then he made the cutest little squeak before a tiny little puff of fire came out of his mouth, burning the wall yet again," his mother said telling Cynder about when he was a hatching. Cynder could hardly contain herself as she imagined a young Flame up to the antics his mother told her about. "And that is how he got his name," Adara finishing her story, causing Cynder to laugh harder.

"MOM!" Flame shouted not liking it when she told this story to anyone, let alone his girlfriend.

"Oh hey Flame, your mother was just telling me this really funny story," Cynder said with a toothy grin.

"Yes I know what you two were talking about," Flame said blushing so hard that it could be seen through his red scales.

"But its such a good story, sweetie," his mother said a large grin on her face as well. "In fact did I ever tell you Cynder about the time that Flame-"

"You know I drank a lot of water so I think i'm just going to use the restroom so bye guys," Flame said before walking off quickly.

Needless to say, Flame wasn't joking when he said he had to go to the restroom. So bad as as soon as he got away from eye seeing distance from Adara and Cynder he went from walking quickly to madly dashing to the nearby restroom.

As Adara watched her son leave she let out a sigh. "He can be so stubborn sometimes you know,"

"Why do you say that?" Cynder asked confused by this sudden slight change of topic.

"Well he doesn't like to be the center of attention all that often. In fact when he was really young he got sick but didn't want to be a burden so he did everything he could to hide it from me," A sad look rapidly formed on her face. "It wasn't until I found him lying on the floor passed out when I figured out that he was sick,"

Cynder remained quiet letting her finish her story. Adara's frown grew more as she continued. "I remember rushing him to the hospital as soon a possible, fearing for my life that he wasn't going to make it. I felt just such a terrible mother for not seeing the signs of his illness up till that point. When I got him there they took him away from me so they could examine him. It felt like days before they let me see him once again. You could imagine my delight when they told me that he was going to be ok," Her frown disappeared, replaced by a faint smile. "Do you know why he is Stubborn?"

Cynder shook her head. "No, why?"

"Its because he doesn't want others to see him hurt or weak in anyway. Just like when he was younger and got sick he did his best to hide it from me for that exact reason,"

Cynder thought about what Adara said before thanking her for the story. It was then that Flame came back from the restroom. "Feel better?" Cynder asked.

"Yeah I would say so," Flame admitted.

Adara smiled before saying "Well I think I will leave you two alone now. Take care and be sure not to stay up to late now Flame,"

"Mom!" Flame shouted blushing, while Cynder giggled at his embarrassment. When she stopped laughing she asked,

"So what would you like to do for the time being?"

Flame let out a sigh. "In all honesty I would just like to rest and relax if you dont mind,"

Cynder shook her head. "No I don't mind at all. Just do me one favor,"

"And what might that be?" Flame asked curiously as he tilted his head.

Cynder walked next to him and placed a paw on top of his. "Take it easy will you?"

Flame was confused by where this question was coming from but nodded his head anyway. "Thanks,"

"Yeah no problem Cydner." Flame replied.

"Well you take care now," Cynder said as she gave him a kiss on the cheek before walking away. Flame blushed again by the sign of affection before turning around himself and leaving to a quiet place.