"So... that's what's happened," Silver said.

Krita nodded his head softly. They were sitting around in a clearing a little way away from the battle they had just fought, solemn. Blaze was comforting Reha, the water dragoness being shaken from the violence. West had gone hunting, for once silenced and in shock. The humans were mourning for their fallen comrade, talking in low voices with tears in their eyes. Yet they were all avoiding the silver dragon, and she didn't blame them.

"You've come far since we last met," said the mind dragon, "I thought you would, after what you showed me at D.E.D."

"I know, but at what cost," she muttered, thinking back to the battle.

Blood still stained her metallic shell, creating an almost red sheen in the slowly dying sunlight. It was not that she regretted what she did during the battle, nor was she shocked. It was more she felt bad for having to do such a violent action. What shocked her more was the fact that it had been so easy. It had been so easy to take control of the other dragon. So easy to rip him apart.

"Sometimes Silver, you have to do what is necessary," Krita said, "I know it is harsh, but I understand what you did to Tetrad. It was one of the few ways you would have been able to kill him. I honestly thought I would never see his end. And the death you gave him is all that monster deserved."

She smiled slightly, "I agree with you. Thanks Krita."

"No problem," he grinned back.

"So... are you going to go back to D.E.D?"

He thought for a moment, before shaking his head, "Tetrad was the main threat from that organisation. Without him they won't function quite as well, and now without me they'll struggle even more. They rely on mind dragons there. And... if you don't mind of course, I would like to join you."

"Really?" she blinked in surprise.

"Yes. Humans are horrible creatures, yes, but so are dragons. There is just as much evil in us as there is in them. During my time in D.E.D I saw that, and I also saw the kindness of humans and dragons. Many times a dragon escaped was because a kind hearted human decided to take a risk. Many lives were saved."

"Yes," he said, flicking his tail, "As destructive as they are, I believe they still deserve a chance to live. Your current human friends are proof of this."

She nodded her head, and slowly got to her feet, "They are great aren't they. Hey, I'm gonna go... hunting for a couple of hours. Tell the others will you. I do need to clean up after all."

"Okay, see you soon then," he replied.

The dragoness smiled softly before opening her wings and pushing herself into the air. Blaze glanced up as she left, narrowing his eyes slightly. Something had changed about her, it was quite obvious. It was true, he hadn't seen her in a fight for her life before, nor had he seen what she was capable of. But he hadn't expected what he had seen. It had frightened him to an extent. There had been no mercy in the way she fought, no hesitation in her attack. Sure, she had been angry at the death of the human, but it was almost as though she lost control because of it.

Silver glided over the forest for a couple of minutes, searching for a place where she could land and wash. There was a small stream running through the forest a couple of hundred metres away. Taking the opportunity she folded in her wings and dived down toward it, landing softly on the bank and startling several strange coloured frogs.

She stepped into the water, hissing slightly as the cold washed over her paw. It was a small stream, but it would have to do. The mossy scent of rotting plant life wafted over the creak. Insects chirped incessantly in the background in almost musical harmony. The muddy ground suck deeply under Silver's footsteps, causing her to grunt softly in surprise. Sighing softly she forced herself to lower into the water. It was better to be muddy then bloody.

Closing her eyes she let herself relax, trying to shake herself from the visions of the battle. Taking deep breaths she let herself be drawn into the surroundings. The coolness touching her underbelly. The sound. It helped drain the thoughts away. The water around her was stained red as it washed over her shell, cleaning it of the blood she had shed.

Time slipped away from her, and she had no idea how long she ended up staying in the water, but she didn't regret it. Yawning softly she opened her eyes, not having realised she had fallen asleep. Though as soon as she did she realised something had woken her. At first she couldn't tell what it was. Everything seemed normal, except for the slight change in the noise around her, as though the bugs closest to her had stopped their singing.

A growl rumbled from her throat and she slowly stood up, water sliding seamlessly off her shell. She looked around the area, finding every detail only to see that everything seemed to be in order. A sudden rustle in a bush behind her caused her to whip around snarling. A shape behind the plant caught her eye and without the slightest hesitation she pounced, flapping her metallic wings once to propel her forward.

A startled cry left the human that had been spying on her as he staggered backwards in an attempt to avoid her. It didn't work. She gripped him with her claws, shoving him back into the dirt and pinning him there, teeth bared. He struggled in her grip, trying desperately to free himself, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't push the far stronger dragon away.

"Let him go!" cried another voice, accompanied by the sound of a pistol being cocked.

Looking up Silver lashed her tail, sending a spike towards this other human, aimed directly toward the gun. He let out a grunt of surprise as it was ripped from his hands, shattered by the spike, which continued to skim his cheek and embed itself in a tree behind him. Both humans went silent, slightly in fear at how easily they had been disabled.

"Wait! Silver... it's me!" cried the man she had pinned to the ground.

She turned her gaze back to him, and snorted, hesitating, "Liam?"

The long brown hair was instantly recognisable, even if it was tied up behind his head. She stepped back staring at the human in surprise. Slowly he lifted himself to his feet and brushed off his jacket, now accompanied by a few rips and tears from her claws. His attire was far different from what she was used to seeing on the human. He had a mixture of black and grey clothing with what looked like a hood hanging from his neck. There was a sniper rifle strapped around his back and numerous other guns attached to the belt on his waist.

"I... though you were dead," stuttered the silver dragon.

Liam smiled, "I'm not that easy to kill."

"But... where have you been?"

"Around, trying to find you again. You're very hard to track," he said, "I've heard rumours of sightings of the silver dragon from everywhere, from Africa down to Antarctica. The most recent was at the Maldives."

"Oh," she blinked, "I though I remained mostly unseen."

"You have, but my friend here, Tyler, has secretly hacked into all A.O.D.H and D.E.D related occupations as well as a number of other dragon hunting organisations. They keep a close eye out for you."

"I know," she flicked her tail, "It's quite annoying."

The dragoness turned to the other human, Tyler. He was a rather young human, not even have reached his twenties yet. Thick black hair covered his head matching the colour of his uniform. Wondering green eyes watched her with curiosity and wariness, though he slowly relaxed when he realised Silver meant them no harm. He wore similar attire to Liam, all black with the occasional gun strapped on. There was also a thin line of blood on his cheek where the spike Silver had thrown at him had touched.

"Pleased to meet you Silver," he said with a nod of his head, "Liam has told me a lot about you."

"Likewise," she bobbed her head, "Sorry about your cheek."

"It's fine," he said, touching the wound with his fingers, "I've had worse."

She smiled at him, before turning back to Liam, "How did you find me?"

"We followed the D.E.D unit here, and when the fighting broke out we were forced to hide in fear that one of your friends would mistake us for a hunter. So... we put as much of a distance between them and us as possible while we waited. At first I wasn't sure whether or not you had made it, but, well, I was obviously mistaken."

The dragoness grimaced silently at the thought of the battle, before shaking herself, "I'll fly you two back to where the others are. Blaze'll want to see you as well."

"Okay," Liam frowned, "Are we... getting on you back?"

"It's easier that way," she muttered, "And don't give me that look. I've gotten used to it the past couple of days."

She lowered herself onto the ground, allowing them to crawl onto her back after a moment's hesitation. The weight of two humans was a little different then she was used too, and it took her a few more flaps of her wings to get into the air. She rose out of the forest and began to head towards the place where the others were camped.

"You've changed quite a bit since I last saw you," said Liam, seeming to b able to handle being on her back quite easily.

"Yeah... it's a long story," she replied.

"I'm sure it is. I look forward to hearing it."

The dragoness smiled slightly to herself. She turned down to the small clearing where the others were still resting silently. West had returned, and was busy gnawing on the leg of a now unrecognisable animal, not even attempting to eat it. They glanced up as she came down, taking a moment to realised that there were humans on her back. When they did they froze, staring at them in shock.

"Silver... what are..." West began but was cut off when Blaze leapt to his feet.

"Liam?!" the fire drake exclaimed.

The human smiled as he slid from Silver's back and onto the ground, followed closely by Tyler, "Hello Blaze, you've changed nearly as much as your sister."

The red dragon took a couple of hesitant steps forward, looking at him in surprise, "You're alive?"

"Silver said the same thing," he laughed, walking over and giving him a small pat on the snout.

"But... how?"

"Wait! Before you get into this," West stepped in, "Do you mind introducing us?"

"Oh, yes," Silver began, "This is Liam. He's an old friend of Blaze and I. He lived with us in dragon valley a couple of years ago. When it was attacked and Blaze was captured, I thought he had been killed, along with most other humans there."

"Oh?" Krita tilted his head, looking at Liam in interest.

"Yes, he was very good friends with our father," Blaze continued.

Liam smiled, "How is Elron going by the way? I can't wait to see him again."

They all went silent, and the human frowned slightly.

"Dad was... killed... more then a year ago," Blaze said softly.

"What? H... how?" the news shocked Liam, and he found himself unable to believe it.

"The dragon hunter, that he let go, it killed him," said Silver softly, "I saw it happen, even collected his body afterwards. I killed the same man three months later."

"Oh... I'm sorry," he stuttered, still trying to come to terms with it, "I just.... Elron was invincible."

"I know. He was taken by surprise," she continued, still finding it hard to talk about, "We have his body atop Sky Mountain, a dragon haven where I live."

He nodded his head solemnly.

"Who's this?" asked Blaze, nodding toward Tyler.

"He's a friend of mine wanting to get out of A.O.D.H, much like I did, so I helped him get out. That was about... a year and a half ago now. Since then we've been working together, freeing as many dragons as possible from D.E.D, though we still haven't figured out how to do it from A.O.D.H."

"We just escaped from A.O.D.H," said Reha, softly, speaking up for the first time.

"Ha?"

"Silver freed us," said West, "That's all you need to know."

The wind dragon obviously didn't trust them, though he was a bit hesitant. It seemed both Blaze and Silver knew this man, and rather well. It didn't mean he did though. Like the other five humans, now four, it would take time for him to fully come to like Liam and his friend.

"We can trust them," Krita said suddenly, causing them to look at him, "They are genuine."

Tyler frowned, "I would appreciate it if you didn't look into my mind."

"Sorry, but you never are sure these days," muttered the mind dragon, getting to his feet.

"It's alright," Liam said, "I understand the precautions."

"Good."

"Hey, not to be rude, but we had all agreed that as soon as Silver got back we would head off again. We've lost a lot of time as it is and I wouldn't mind getting to China as soon as possible," Diana said suddenly, stepping forward, "Once we're there we should be safe."

"Agreed, that force of D.E.D soldiers you took out wasn't the only one out there," said Tyler, turning toward the dragons, "But how are we going to be transported? There are five dragons and six humans."

"I'll carry two again," muttered Blaze with a sigh.

"Diana, do you mind if you go with someone else for this stretch," said Silver to the dragon handler, "I want to talk to Liam about something."

She hesitated, before nodding her head, "Very well."

The dragon's rose into the sky, each with a human on their back, and began their flight once more, quickly passing over the forest and heading for China's border, where they would finally be safe from attack.

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Hey guys! Sorry for the wait, and sorry for a shorter chapter. It's been hard to write for the past week or so. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Vote if you did and comment what you thought. The next chapter should be out as soon as I can get it. See Ya!

Pennator^^