"Wake up my darlings!" came the annoyingly mothering voice of Gretta as she poked her head into the female cave.

Groans of complaint rose up from the sleeping dragonesses at the noise, but one by one they eventually got to their feet, slowly making their way out of the cave. Silver opened one eye and let a sigh escape her. She hadn't slept well that night. Straw from the nest was constantly getting under her scales and poking into her skin. She had woken up many times during the night to remove them. It sucked to have softer-then-normal scales.

Grunting she hauled herself to her feet, fanning out her wings to steady herself. She felt so tired. Her claws clapped against the ground in rather annoying clashes as she stumbled out of the cave.

'I need to cut my claws,' she thought as she saw how long they had gotten.

Shrugging to herself she decided to take care of it later. She walked into The Nest and winced as unnatural light was shone throughout the cavern. A few of the other young dragons did the same, a hiss escaping a fire dragon at her left. Once her eyes adjusted she looked around to see dragons coming from their different caves along the jagged cliffs. There were thousands of them, and Silver couldn't help but feel a little nervous at seeing so many.

"Silver! So you did make it!" Raize's familiar voice came from the crowd of youngling dragons.

Silver smiled slightly when she saw her brother. He leapt over the crowd with a flap of her wings and landed next to her, giving her a friendly shove as he did so. She growled at him but shook her head, refusing to retaliate. She would get her revenge later.

"Have a good sleep?" he asked.

"Nope," she grunted, "The nests have to much straw, and I didn't have time to make my own."

"Oh that's right. You don't like comfortable sleeping quarters."

"They're not comfortable. They're annoying, painful and incredibly difficult to get a good nights sleep on."

"Ha! Well, deal with it, cause' until you make your own you'll have to."

"Shut up."

The crowd jostled their way through The Nest and into The Centre. It was even brighter there, as the sun was directly at the entrance of the mountain, sending its rays into the still waking dragons. It glinted of Silver's shell, which lit up the room even more. A few dragons around her shied away at the sudden light. She growled in embarrassment and dulled her shell quickly.

"Where to first?" she asked her brother.

"Didn't you bring you're program?" Raize chuckled, "Don't worry, I'll help you. We got combat training first."

"Cool!" Silver instantly brightened, "Is that fun?"

"Yes, it can be. Though with you... just try not to kill anyone," he said, knowing fully well what she could do.

"I'll go safe," she shrugged and let the metal on her wings ripple into a blunt edge. She had kept it sharp ever since she had been captured by D.E.D, "What can I expect?"

"Well, at the moment I'm the best, that's with the rankings, but there are a few that are probably better then me," said Raize, "So, you'll basically smash everyone."

She let loose a laugh, "You've probably gotten better you know."

"So have you. I made friends with... Ion I think, one of your dragons, and he told me what had happened at D.E.D," Raize said, "I tried to fight Tetrad when I got free, and was slaughtered. You defeated all four of their fighters without much trouble at all."

"I had help," Silver insisted.

"I know, but still, that's amazing."

She sighed, tired of being praised for her success. If she hadn't been a metal dragon she doubted she would be able to accomplish many of the things that had been thrown at her. A metal shell is a good shield against anything, even fear. She didn't know what she would do without it.

The dragons began to split up into different groups. The hatchlings followed Gretta while the older dragons, being six and seven, made their own way to where The Training Centre was located. It was another large open cavern with smooth stone walls and a flat base. Left over remains of dragon elements were scattered around, a patch of ice, a stone spike stuck in the wall, other things like that. It didn't look that amazing to Silver, but it was made to suit a purpose and it looked like it did that perfectly. Fake light was filtered into the room from globes hanging on ceiling. Not sunlight, but at least it didn't make Silver's shell shine.

The adolescent dragons all assembled in a small ground at the edge of the arena. There were probably about fifty of them, with a near even split between males and females. There were no exceedingly rare dragons among them, besides perhaps the single mind dragon on the edge of the crowd, and Silver of course. Most were fire, as usual, but there were a few more interesting dragons among the ground. A brown scaled telekinetic dragon was sitting at one side of the group, talking to a dark green acid dragon and an ice dragon. Probably the most diverse group in the entire class.

It didn't take long for their teacher to arrive. He flew down from somewhere above The Training Centre and landed in front of the dragons. He was an ice dragon, around fifty years old. Still bigger then any of the dragons in front of him. The spikes that made an ice dragon seemed longer and sharper the usual. Icy cold scales seemed to steal the heat from the room and a few of the dragons shivered. He had a strong build, and was quite handsome. Not to big, but not small either. An all rounder in a fight Silver thought, and quite powerful, judging from the cold radiating from him. The more powerful a dragon the more at one with their element they were.

"Good morning my pupils," said the ice dragon in gruff Drakin, "I here we have a few newer students here today. Three if I'm to be exact. Would Waylene, Ion and Silver come forward please."

"This is going to be interesting," Raize muttered to his sister, before pushing her towards the ice dragon.

She snapped slightly at him, causing him to roll his eyes, before walking up the front. She gave Ion and Waylene, the water dragoness, a polite nod. They nodded back before turning their attention to the ice dragon in front of them.

"My name is Frezron," he said, studying the three new dragons and paying especially close attention to Silver, "But while you are in my class you will call me master or mentor. My aim is to teach you to be the most powerful you can be, however powerful that is, and make you battle ready for the time when you will fight A.O.D.H, D.E.D or the other dragon hunting organisations that are out there. Understand."

The three off them nodded.

"Now, before we start todays class I want to test you each individually to see where you compare to the rest of the class," Frezron said, "You others can either watch or get a partner and spar."

A life dragon entered The Training Centre from one corner and walked over to them. She was another large dragon, maybe a little younger the Frezron. Her scales didn't shine like Iraliene, but she was beautiful in her own way.

"This is my mate, Reha. You respect her like you will me. She will heal any major injuries you sustain from fighting. If a major injury is caused, stop immediately and come and ask assistance. Dragons have died during this training before," the ice dragon was serious.

The three of them nodded. Silver sighed quietly to herself. She was going to have to hold back somewhat otherwise she could very well kill someone with a single stroke of her tail. It meant using blunt spikes and dull breath attacks. Maybe she could use a few sharp edges but nothing too dangerous.

She was intrigued to fight Frezron, never having faced an ice dragon before. She had never liked the cold, mainly because it made her movements slower, so she was looking forward to finding out how she would cope against the freezing winds of ice that this dragon was definitely capable of producing.

"Now, the first out of you will be... Silver. I have never faced a Metallic dragon before, and am looking forward to see what you are capable off," he said with a grin.

Silver returned his grin and nodded eagerly. She still didn't know the full capabilities of these dragons, but they didn't know how powerful she was either.

Frezron lead her out onto the training field. They both took positions a few metres away from each other. The rest of the dragons surrounded the edge to watch, wanting to know how this new species of dragon fought. They had all heard stories about her, word travelled fast in Sky Mountain, and a few of them didn't believe them. There was only one way to find out.

"3...2...1 fight!" Reha yelled, seeming to be the referee of this clash.

Neither dragon moved. Silver recalled something her father had said to her. 'If you don't know the capabilities of the being you are fighting, let them attack first. That first attack shows how good they really are.' Frezron seemed to follow the same rule. He smiled at her. The new dragoness wasn't stupid.

The first attack was made with such blinding speed Silver nearly missed it. Frezron's tail flicked toward her, sending a volley of ice spikes in her direction. One of her own favourite attacks. With a hiss she swung a wing at them, the spikes shattering harmlessly against the metal shield, before launching an attack of her own. She decided she would try to go close range with this dragon, knowing that he was probably more powerful then her with his elemental attacks.

She leapt forward, spraying a stream of metal at him. The ice dragon rolled out of the way and the liquid metal froze where it landed. She was smaller then Frezron, and that made her quicker. She adjusted her leap slightly with a flap of her wings and clashed head on with the ice dragon. Her sharp claws made quick work of his scales, slashing and scratching and sending blood down from his sides in rivers. He snarled in pain, slashing back at her. He caught the top of her head, where the metal shell was, knocking it away with a loud clang as claw met metal.

Silver stumbled backwards, the other dragon stronger then she thought and blinked to clear her gaze. But her hesitation was enough to allow Frezron to counter attack. He took the opportunity, and fiercely, slashing at her with his tail. He made the mistake however of hitting the shell on her back. The ice blade that he had made on his tail shattered into a thousand pieces on contact. Startled by the lack of effect the attack at made he fumbled.

Silver quickly drove herself at him once more, stabbing her horns upwards at the dragons underbelly. If the hit would have landed, it would have ended the fight with Frezron receiving a mortal wound. However the ice dragon anticipated the attack and caught her neck with his paw, shoving her hard down into the ground. She grunted in surprise as she had the wind knocked out of her.

Frezron then stood back, still keeping a hold of her neck, and blasted her muzzle with a breath of freezing wind. The dragoness whimpered as the cold element froze her muzzle to the ground. He then proceeded to freeze her neck as well, trapping her against the floor. She growled and tried to struggle out of the ice but found it very hard to break. As she attempted a breath after a small struggle, nothing flowed into her lungs. Her eyes widened in fear. She couldn't breath. The struggle in her increased as she desperately tried to brake the ice around her neck.

Eventually she used her tail, forming it into a blade and striking a hole in the end of the ice, allowing air to flow in. She took a few deep breaths before using her tail to cut open the ice and free her. With a cry she broke it, raising her head and glaring at the ice dragon that had come so close to defeating her. Frezron spun around from where he had begun to walk back to his pupils.

"How... no dragon has even broke that ice," he growled.

"It's quiet easy to cut," Silver replied with a grin, before ploughing forward once more.

He sent a powerful stream of ice in her direction. She jumped, and flapped her wings, pulling herself into the air. As she did she shot a stream of metal at Frezron, aiming for his right foreleg. Instead she hit his wing as he put it up in defence. The metal splattered against it harmlessly. Silver snorted in annoyance. At least the dragon would find it harder to fly.

She twisted in the air as another volley of ice spikes flew her way, this time from the ice dragon's maw. With a growl she flicked her tail, sending her own, far more dangerous, spikes in his direction. She didn't bother blunting them. The spikes wouldn't kill him immediately. At least it would give him enough time to be healed by the life dragon.

Frezron snarled and leapt out of the way. One of the spikes sheared off his leg, taking a number scales with it. With a roar he leapt into the air himself with a clumsy flap, finding it hard to get in the air with unbalanced wings. Taking advantage of his fumble Silver dived down on him, and crashed into his back. However to her surprise he flipped as she did, and growled as she crashed onto the ground, landing on her back with him on top.

Not wasting his opportunity he carved a long gash in her chest, causing her to roar in pain. The soft scales on her unprotected stomach didn't provide much protection against the ice dragon's claws. With a snarl she reacted, firing a stream of metal upwards at his maw. The stream wrapped around his muzzle, trapping it shut. He snarled, surprised by the move. Silver then attacked with her own claws, driving them into the dragon's underbelly with viciousness. He let out a moan and leapt backwards with a sweep of wings.

Silver rolled to her feet and let out a wheezing cough. Blood ran from her chest and down her legs onto the ground. But if anything Frezron was the worse injured. Numerous cuts were around his body as his own blood pooled on the floor below. Both dragon were breathing heavily, trying to block out the pain that now shrouded their body.

"Stuff this," snorted Silver, it was time to get serious.

The shell on her back began to grow, crawling down her legs and under her stomach. She let loose a breath of relief, closing her eyes and letting the metal do its work. She was invincible. Nothing could destroy her. Nothing,

She opened her eyes, now in her full metal form. Glowing red eyes now stood out in her armour, gazing towards the ice dragon that was the cause of her pain. He stared in surprise, his muzzle still snapped shut by the metallic stream he had been hit by. Silver begun to limp towards him. Metal armour didn't heal wounds, and the one that Frezron had dealt her hurt horribly.

A growl escaped the ice dragon and he backed away. Silver moved slowly, carefully, knowing she was quite a bit slower with full metal armour. It wouldn't take much for the ice dragon to be able to dodge her. She needed to trap him and then strike.

So focused she was on the dragon that she didn't see the ice that had been thrown around the clearing begin to move. Frezron's scales began to glow an odd blue colour as a freezing wind began to gather around them. The dragons that had been watching the fight backed away from them as they saw what was going to happen.

Silver stood oblivious to the cold wind and whipping ice as it began to gather around them. All she noticed was her armour growing a fair bit cooler then usual. It was getting hard to move. On her next step the shell let out a creek of complaint, the coolness of the wind making it much stiffer and harder to move. Silver grunted in surprise.

A grin formed on Frezron's muzzle and with as much of a roar as he could with his muzzle shut he thrust his wings forward. The ice, wind and cold all assaulted the metallic dragon at once, battering hard into her in a swirling hurricane. Silver roared in surprised and held up her wing to shield herself. It hardly helped, the wind being all around her.

She continued to move forward however, not letting herself be defeated so easily. Grunts, creaks and groans all sounded as her movement got harder and harder, until she was struggling even to move a leg.

"No!" she growled, forcing herself to take one more step, then another, and then... nothing. She couldn't move, not matter how hard she tried. Ice was coating her limbs. The metal shell was so cold that it's usual malleability was completely gone. She was trapped in her own armour.

The ice, wind and cold disappeared as Frezron limped towards her, realising he had won. He nearly laughed when he realised the dragoness was frozen stiff, the metallic armour not doing well in sub-zero temperatures. If anything he was surprised she was still alive. The metal shell proved to be quite a force to be reckoned with. He doubted he would have survived another clash with her. He stared in her eyes, telling her to admit to defeat.

She stared right back, before lowering her eyes. She knew she had been defeated. There was no way around it. Not when she couldn't move. Frezron nodded and gestured to the dragons around them with his head. Raize quickly dispatched himself from the crowd and ran up to the two dragons.

"That was awesome!" he said to his sister.

Silver rolled her eyes in response.

With a quick breath her brother bathed her in fire. It took a minute or two but the heat eased out the stiffness from her armour and before long she was able to move again. She let her shell retreat back to its normal length with a shiver, the cold still in her bones. A puddle of blood ran to the ground quickly as the metal armour retracted. Silver was beginning to feel a little woozy from blood loss.

Frezron pointed to the shining metal strip that had trapped his muzzle and tilted his head. With a grin Silver let a blade grow on her tail and sliced the band off with a single stroke. The ice dragon opened his maw, testing it to see if any other damage had been made. Once he was satisfied he returned Silver's grin.

"My, my. I don't doubt those stories now. That was the best fight I've had in ages," he said.

"I know," Silver said, still a little disappointed at being defeated so easily.

"We know what your weakness is now," Raize said.

"What?" she looked at her brother.

"Ice. You couldn't even move after you had been through that!"

Silver shrugged, "I guess so."

"I never would have guessed. And we thought it was electricity or something."

"Definitely not that."

Frezron watched the exchange with interest, before deciding to but in, "Raize, let your sister be healed. She's lost a lot of blood, and frankly so have I."

Raize nodded and stepped back, allowing the two dragons to walk over to where Reha was waiting for them. She nodded her astonishment at the silver dragon before opening her maw and bathing her in a splash of green energy. A gasp left Silver as a strange sensation ran through her. The wound on her stomach closed easily and any other small scratches she had accumulated disappeared as well. She stepped back in amazement as Reha did the same thing with her mate. She was completely healed.

The first day at this place seemed to be going quite well so far.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whoo! Another chapter done. Vote if you enjoyed and comment what you thought. This is one of the longer chapters so far. The next chapter will be out soon. Until then, See Ya!