As the portal closed, Malefor growled to himself, aggravated. These young dragons were proving to be more of a handful than he had thought. He returned to his throne inside the crystal tower on top of the hill, overlooking his grand city, wondering how they had been able to escape the massive amount of search teams he had sent, looking for them. One had been turned up dead, fire and ice wounds apparent. Then they had stolen the one piece of the lance they had found in time, just for it to be stolen out from under his nose.

He called up another portal and shouted through it for the Marshall and his two best men. They came swiftly, not wanting to keep him waiting, and for good reason.

"You two. Your names?" He said to the two dragons flanking the Marshall.

"Erebus, my liege."

"Melanthios, lord Malefor."

"Good. Turn and face your opponent. This fight shall be to the death, to succeed your superior." He said, leering at the Marshall. The two generals immediately turned and had at it.

"What will you do with me my liege?"

"You have done well up to the current point. What happened? It could only have been that runt Ezio. But how did you not kill him? You had two hundred of my finest officers at your disposal. I gave the order to have him brought to me, but upon apparent failure of that, you were to kill him. So what happened?"

"My lord, he had completed the lance. Our piece was the final piece. I tried to sto – HRK!" Malefor roared in frustration, as he sent a lance of ice through the shadow dragon, completely severing him in half. Despite this, he was still alive.

"Why my lord?" Malefor did not answer, he simply blew a torrent of flame and shadow over the poor guy, burning him to a crisp both inside and out. The other two had completely ceased their fight.

"Because you failed me at a most critical moment. You two! Your fight must wait for another time! You will return and recall all forces from earth, except for skeleton crews. And then you will report to me, and we shall fortify this city until none but myself could breach it." The saluted simultaneously, and then both ran through the portal, more out of fear than of haste to finish their masters orders.

"Your move, Ezio." Malefor mumbled to himself, returning to his throne.

"That's about as deep as I can make it, Frost. You'll have to do the rest from here." Brooklyn said, ceasing his drilling efforts. They had found a large cavern from which they could mount their planetary unbalancing.

"Why can't you just scourge the planet again?" Kali was talking to Ezio, whom had remained quiet and calm.

"Because I'm not Malefor. And I know my limits. And I know I can't control that." Ezio said, looking at the entrance, into the daylight, "And I'm not going to sacrifice an entire planet just to destroy one enemy. I'd be no better than Malefor then."

"But they're all enemies!"

"Since when? You used to be an enemy. So did I." He said, smiling at the way she clamped her mouth shut, "There are no enemies, just those under the tyranny and enslavement of Malefor."

"Drill me two holes Brooklyn, right here, so I can stick my arms in them. It'll get me closer, and keep me from moving." Frost said, marking two spots on the ground. Brooklyn used a quick double blast, and two rough holes formed, and Frost sunk her forelegs into them. There was a cry of alarm, and a bark of laughter from behind as she did this.

"What?"

Blaze chuckled, "Tail down, dear, your a little, uh, exposed." She grinned slightly, but the blush was more apparent, and she lowered her tail to cover her nether regions.

"Get a good look, Brooklyn?" Frost asked teasingly.

"A bit to good." Ion said, chuckling as well. Unfortunately he was within' reach of Frost's tail spade.

"I'm a mated dragon, I'm a mated dragon, I'm a mated dragon." Brooklyn chimed to himself quietly, squeezing his temples.

"Well since your all tied up..." Blaze murmured. He hoped onto the females back, lounging against her raised rump, and letting his legs rest against the back of her head. His tail hung down in front of her face. Ion rolled onto his back holding his stomach, laughing.

"Blaze you idiot! Get off me!"

"No I think I'm good for a bit. You keep doing what your doing, don't mind me."

"Blaze, I'm serious, your freakin' heavy!" Blaze laughed, and then put on an indignant face.

"Are you calling me fat, dear?" She looked back at him, and he almost fell over laughing, as she was attempting to pout and give him baby eyes.

"Seriously Frost? Your not good at that." He said, still chuckling. She shrugged then, and lanced her tail spade over her back, slamming it into the males stomach, whom rolled off to the side, groaning from the impact.

"Ugh, remind me never to get on your bad side again." He said, holding his gut.

"You cry baby." She said, smiling to herself, "Anyone else want to make a smooth remark or bad decision? Or can I get started?"

"Please, by all means Frost. Blaze, stay with her, me and the others will be outside, we'll give you some privacy Frost, so you can work." Ezio said, retreating to the cave entrance, "Blaze come get us when you think something is happening. We'll be at Katana's old island."

Frost huffed to herself as Blaze settled down in front of her, his signature cocky grin on his face.

"Can't believe they left me with you."

"Well we are mates. It's more appropriate for me to be here than anyone else." He whispered, "And might I mention how sexy you look like this? I could have a lot of fun with this."

"Don't even think of it. That is in no way romantic or private."

"Oh come on Frost, it was a joke, learn to have a little fun!" Frost huffed at him, and he smiled.

"Whats happened to you Blaze?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You're acting like an idiot again. Always cocky, never taking anything serious." Blazes smile dropped, as he realized what she was saying.

"Frost, before my grandfather died, I was much like thunder, if you want me to be honest. I never laughed, never chuckled, never thought of romance, always focusing on training. Afterwords though, my world was rocked before me. My father had left my mother, and my mother had died giving birth to me. All I had left after my grandfather was my older brother."

"I didn't know you had a brother." Frost said, perking up. Blaze could clearly see the ice blue glow of her power through the pair of holes in the ground as she cooled the core slowly.

"I had just one older brother, unlike you."

"Sorry?"

"I looked up your file in new Warfang. The youngest of seven? That's a large family." Blaze said.

"A family that disowned me as soon as I ran off with Dante. I never heard from any of them again, even my grandfather, although I suspect that he still tried to contact me. I miss that arrogant bastard." She mumbled.

"Frost, you've had a hard life, so if you have issues with laughter, I'll forgive you. But my brother taught me that laughter is probably one of the best remedies for any illness, even depression. I'll admit, I may take it a bit far sometimes, but even still, would you love me just as much if I wasn't who I am?"

Frost thought about that, "I guess not. You're stubborn ridiculous fool, and I suppose that's why I love you. Although you know I like to see you be a gentleman occasionally."

"Who said I was a gentleman?" He growled at her, tracing his claw up the inside of her thigh...

"You know something is likely to happen between those two down there, right?" Hestia said, her face red as they beat a hasty retreat from the cavern.

"Oh I saw the look on Blaze's face. He nearly took her right in front of us." Ezio said, his face also slightly flushed, but he was controlling it very well.

"I hope my girl is alright." Brooklyn said for maybe the millionth time. Ion rolled his eyes.

"She's a tough one Brooklyn, don't dwell on it, they'll be fine." Kali said, gently rubbing the large males shoulder.

"How long do you think until we see a result in the planets core?" Katana asked, the vibrant red on her white scales standing out exceedingly well.

"Depends on how long they take." Ion mumbled. Brooklyn snorted at the comment.

"It more depends on how much Frost looses control. I'm kind of counting on something to happen down there." Ezio said softly, "I remember my first time. I kind of regret it now, but the next day I had marks all down my back from the females fingernails. Course she had them on other areas that she couldn't show off to her friends. What about you Hestia? Ever have anyone?"

"Never. My people I care about the most. My brother takes a few more liberties with women, but normally when I don't have a chance to reprimand him. He's probably taking some liberties right now, though he still cares about our kind deep down, and will always do the best for them." She said, looking off into the distance. They weren't very far from a metal mine, where dragons of all shapes sizes and colors were slaving away just to keep their homes over their heads, their food on their tables, and their lives in their hands.

"Even if it's not the right thing."

"Yes. He's an idiot, but I love him."

"Katana?"

"I've never spent any amount of time with a male before now, so I wouldn't know what mating is like. And I've never had the urge to mate with a male before. What about you Ion?"

"Me? I can never hold a conversation long enough to seduce a chick." Ezio face-palmed.

"Who was the female Ezio?" Kali asked, smiling.

"A one night stand. Nothing more." Ezio said, shrugging. Kali giggled, "What?"

"You liked her a lot didn't you?" the shadow dragoness replied.

"Oh, give me a break, she was a friend from high school, by the time I had met alpha squadron, she was long go - " There was a rustling in the bushes close by. Ezio and Brooklyn both raised their open palms, ready to cast powers should an enemy rush towards them, but before either of them could charge their magic, an air dragon fell out of the bushes, covered in scrapes and bruises. Hestia let out a cry of alarm.

"Zephyr!" She said, rushing forward to help the dragon to his feet. The dragon looked as if he were confused. And then he saw Ezio, and he began shouting incoherently. All Ezio heard was shadow dragon, and the purple dragon rushed off through the trees, already low to the ground, hunting the pursuer.

"Zephyr?" Kali said, still looking around, just in case this shadow dragon had backup. When she had searched with her element, and made sure no one was lurking behind a nearby tree, she grew close to the dragon.

He was young, maybe in his twenty something's, his coloring was gray and gold, and the amount of bruises he had, most of them fresh told her that he was up against a large number of enemies, and to have survived the encounter, he must be very good at combat.

There was another rustling sound among the bushes, and Kali turned, her palm towards the noise.

"Ezio?" The was a moment silence, and the a trio of shadow bolts flew out of the trees, Kali dodging two, and redirecting the third, by influencing it with her own control of the power. She was about to lead on the first shadow dragon that had come charging out after his attack, when the air dragon lept forwards, and glanced back over his shoulder at the female, motioning for her to stand back.

His first attack was against the lead dragon. His air attack so powerful it took on color and form, impacting against the enemies chest, it caved in in a dish like form. There was a solid whunk as the solid air impacted, telling Kali that for a non solid object to make that kind of sound, it was powerful indeed.

The second dragon went to punch straight forward with all his might. Zephyr deflected the incoming punch with his foreleg, and then bashed the flat of his palm against the shadow dragons chin, driving his head upwards, and exposing his throat. The air dragon was already spinning his tail around when his palm made contact with the chin, and it sliced a clean slit through the dragons esophagus.

The third one was already dead, when he had turned to it, having been killed by Ezio, whom had dived out of the sky on top of him.

"Zeph! Ease up, it's over, they're gone!" Hestia said, rushing to him.

"You know him Hestia?" Ezio asked, raising an eyebrow as he wiped his tail spade and claws on the grass.

"He's my brothers best friend! Zeph! Ease up, it's me, Hestia!" Zephyr was still struggling until he saw Hestia's eyes, and then he stopped.

"Hes? Is that you? By the ancient, it's good to see you." He said gently, "Please tell me you've seen something of my mate."

"Your mate?"

"An air dragoness, at the second battle of New Warfang. We got separated in the fighting, and I haven't seen her since." He replied, hope shining in his eyes.

"Last we knew, New Warfang was under our possession. She should be fine." He looked almost amazed at this news.

"We were told in the labor camps that it had been destroyed, wiped off the map. I hadn't given up hope, because Aella was always a hunter, and liked to spend time in the woods around the city."

"She might still be there." Ezio said. Kali shrugged.

"Who knows? With how detached we've been lately, New Warfang could have been destroyed." Kali said. Ezio shot her a dirty look, as Zephyr's shoulders slumped.

"Stay with us Zephyr, your good in a fight, and you might find her along the way. Now how long is it going to take those tw - " Just as he finished his statement, the ground had an almost unfeasible vibration to it, very rapid. You could see tiny waves flowing across the ground. The vibrations soon grew in intensity.

The group stayed rooted to the spot waiting for Blaze and Frost to get back. By the time they saw two small specks rocketing towards them in the sky, the ground was waving and vibrating as if it were the speaker in a big concert.

"We've got to go now guys! Leave it to the ancient to interrupt us just as I was getting close! You couldn't have held yourself back Frost?" Ezio face-palmed, but jumped into the sky, where the extent of damage already done to the planet was evident. Large crevices were already forming where the bending of the crust was to extreme. The group as one bolted towards Malefor's capital city, racing the tidal waves that were traveling through the land. Alarm klaxons were already going off in the nearby labor camp.

Ezio felt a buffer of air fill his wings and drive him forwards, and had a sneaking suspicion that Zephyr was using his wind powers to move them forwards. It's what he would do.

"The planet IS ripping itself apart. These massive earthquakes are going to hit the city in a few hours."

"Then we gotta move! Lets go guys! Give it all you've got!" Ezio drove his wings back and down, and he lunged forwards, gathering more and more speed, and behind him his friends kept pace, roaring towards the massive city, racing the shock-waves below...

Malefor was relaxing at this point in time. The shockwave had yet to hit the city, and so he had ordered a young female to come and give him a message, something that was a favorite past time of his. During these times, his underlings knew not to disturb him. So when Smaug ran in shouting incoherently and out of breath, he knew instantly that something was very, very wrong.

"What is it Smaug, spit it out!"

"We've lost contact with all of the camps south-east of here! Last contact was that of vibrations in the ground!" Malefor got up with a groan, and the female slid back behind his massive throne, hiding from his wrath.

"So why are you coming to tell me, and not figuring it out for yourself?" Malefor said, growing closer.

"Sir, we cannot raise them on any band. We think it may be an earthquake."

"Titan doesn't get earthquakes..." Malefor growled at his third, "So how do you think it started?"

"Ugh..."

"USE YOUR HEAD SMAUG!"

"Perhaps the young Ezio?"

"Then why are you not out hunting him?"

"The earthquake is projected to reach here soon, sir, should you evacuate?" Smaug said, stepping backwards.

"I'll worry about that, if it gets bad. Now FIND THEM!" Malefor roared, "And let me worry about my own safety!"

Smaug tripped over his own feet as he ran from the glass chamber, attempting to extricate himself from his masters glare as quickly as possible. The Dark Master returned to his throne, and nodded at the female.

"Away." She looked as if she wanted to run, but she held her head high and trotted slowly out, only breaking into a run after she was out of the pavilion. Malefor pressed a small silver button on the arm of his throne, and spoke into a thin strip, where a speaker was concealed.

"Jeeves, prepare for evac, get your men of my personal guard together, and meet me in my pavilion in five minutes." The purple dragon knew that Jeeves his true right hand man, would be on Titan in seconds, getting his personal entourage ready.

The dragon lept to his feet when he felt the vibrations in the ground. Malefor was about to form a portal to his personal command post, so that he was safe, when a crash was heard, and a rupture formed in the glass wall, and in jumped Ezio, followed by his friends, frost carrying a black bundle, and covered in blood.

"Welcome back, Ezio, Kali, it's good to see my loyal servants returning to me. Ah, and Cynder! It's excellent to see you as well!" Cynder roared long and loud, challenging the dragon to his claim.

"Never again Malefor, your snakes tongue cannot sway us!" Ezio said, pulling out the lance.

"Ah the lance, give it here, young one, you wouldn't want to put someones eyes out, you don't even know how it works!" There was a low hum, and Ezio thrust the lance out long ways, so that the point was facing to the side, and a visible shockwave traveled through the air, forcing Malefor back by several feet.

"I'm a fast learner Malefor, as you well know. Now feel the raw power of The Ancient One."

"Fool! I am the Ancient One! It was our role as purple dragons to be feared worshiped and respected! Why else would we have so much power!" Malefor said, approaching carefully. Hairline cracks were forming in the floor now, showing that the earthquake was growing in intensity.

"To protect and serve! Now face your failure of such!" And with that, Ezio lunged forwards, the lance held high, in both forepaws, lunging at Malefor's chest. The blade glanced off of a convexity shield thrown up in the nick of time, and Ezio spun the shaft, driving the blade towards Malefor's exposed throat. The dark purple enemy dragon drove his fore leg upwards, deflecting the shaft, and then retaliated himself.

Meanwhile, while the other dragons watched, several shadow generals dropped through the hole in the wall. Frost dropped her bundle, and it made a solid thump, rolling across the floor, and then smiled at the now familiar shadow dragon, whose name was still unknown to them, "Say hello to your old leader."

Several dragons cried out as they realized the black bundle was actually Smaug's head, arteries and esophagus hanging out the gaping hole at it's base.

"Well, that's a bit dark and violent for a guardian." The unknown dragon said, scratching his head.

"It was merciful, compared what he did to me." Frost said, and then lept forwards, lunging at the shadow dragons throat.

Ezio continued to thrust and parry with Malefor, holding his own much better this time. The dark master was very careful not to come into contact with the glowing tip. He would occasionally make a grab for the lance. Ezio jabbed for the Dark Masters leg when the dragon lunged back, and grabbed the haft, instantly resulting in a power struggle. Whoever had better control of the staff would win.

At last, after a quarter of a minute of struggling, a force field blasted Ezio straight off his feet, flinging him backwards, and slamming into Malefor's throne. The dark master lept up, and brought his full weight of his considerable bulk down, the tip of the spear shining gleefully, and it lodged in Ezio's chest, where it remained, as Malefor turned from his dying body. Kali screamed something inaudible, and he could have sworn there were more concerned voices.

There was a bright flash, and then he knew no more...