CHAPTER 1

Sunny, Fatespeaker, and Starfight laid on a cold rock ledge in the side of a large mountain together. It was noon and they were watching the clouds.

"Do you think that one looks like a mango?" Sunny pointed.

"Maybe a mushroom, not a mango though," Fatespeaker corrected.

"I wish I could see!" Starflight hoped.

"Oh, I'm sorry Stary. I have always wished that I could take your place, so you could read again!" Fatespeaker said, staring into his eyes.

"And see the clouds!" Sunny added. Just then, Tsunami and Clay landed on the rock ledge beside them.

"What's up cloud watchers?" Tsunami asked.

"What do you think?" Starflight questioned.

"Uh, watching clouds?" Clay guessed.

"Correct!" Sunny chirped.

"Do you want to do something useful?" Tsunami asked, annoyed.

"Well, we-" Fatespeaker started.

"Does anyone have food?" Clay interrupted.

"No," Glory's voice responded. Then she appeared, next to all of them.

"Wait, I smell something from inside of that cave," Clay pointed to a small entrance of a cave in the mountain, then walked into it. He barely fit in the tiny hole, but he managed.

"Uh, why did I have to watch him today?" Tsunami said sulkily.

"Tsunami!" everyone else yelled at once.

"What?" Tsunami whined.

"Being Clay's watcher doesn't mean you're his babysitter!" Glory snapped.

"It does to!" Tsunami argued.

"Does not!" Glory fired back.

"Does to!"

"Not!"

"Hey guys!" Clay called from the cavern, "I think I found something!"

"Clay! We aren't interested in food! You can eat it by yourself!" Glory yelled.

"It's not food! It's some kind of gem!" Clay boomed. At this, all of the dragons ran to the entrance. Light came from a blue glowing gem in the center of the cave. The gem was in a cage-like ball, made out of vines. The vines made a pedestal shape, leading up to the cage. The vines had leaves on them, the leaves were also glowing, but the they glowed green instead of blue. Clay was trying to open it, but even with his strength, it wouldn't budge.

"Woah!" Sunny exclaimed, "That's so cool Clay!"

"I know!" Clay responded, excited, "I can't get it open though! The vines are to strong!"

"Fatespeaker," Starflight said, "tell m-"

"Just Fates to you Stary!" Fatespeaker interrupted.

"Fate, uh, speaker," Starflight tried again, "te-"

"Fates!" Fatespeaker exclaimed, frustrated.

"Fine, Fates. Ok, Fates, tell me the setting," Starflight asked. Fatespeaker told Starflight about what was happening and where they were. She tried to describe the vines, but it was too amazing to put into words.

"I know how to get the gem!" Starflight exclaimed.

"How? Use a Animus?" Glory said sarcastically.

"No, use our fire!" Starflight said proudly.

"But not all of us have fire Stary," Fatespeaker pointed out.

"So, the ones who do have it, use it!" Starflight responded. Sunny, Clay, Starflight (with aiming help) and Fatespeaker all blew fire at the cage around the gem.

"Oh, I hope we aren't melting the gem!" Sunny cried, she stopped breathing fire, "stop!"

But her weak voice wasn't enough over the fire blasting and Sunny was afraid of yelling louder (because she might sound mean) so she whispered into Tsunami's ear, "hey, we need them to stop but my voice isn't loud enough. Could you-" But Tsunami already knew what Sunny was asking her to do.

"STOP!" she yelled, cutting Sunny off. At once, Clay, Starflight, and Fatespeaker stopped breathing fire.

"What Tsunami?" Clay asked. Tsunami pointed at Sunny.

"I just was afraid that we were melting the gem!" Sunny exclaimed. But now as she looked at it, she realized that fire wouldn't hurt it.

"Sun-Sun?" Starflight began.

"Hold it right there. You call her a nickname, but not me? What kind of dragon are you?" Fatespeaker interrupted again.

Starflight ignored her, "Sun-sun, the gem is most-likely Animus touched. It would be able to withstand very high temperatures if I remember right. In the scroll, "Magic At It's Best", it said that-"

"That Starflight will never learn to shut up about scrolls," Tsunami finished. Glory and Tsunami looked at each other and giggled.

"No, it says-" Starflight continued, but got cut off again.

"Starflight, I'm really hungry and I want to get this gem. What if it's a gem that gives you food every time you touch it! That's what I would have it do if I was an Animus," Clay dreamed.

"Let's get on with it," Glory complained. The four fire breathers started firing again. A few minutes later, Fatespeaker realized that the vines weren't going away.

"Hey! Clay! Go check on the vines while they're still hot!" Fatespeaker knew about Clay's fire-proof scales. He nodded and walked into the fire.

"They're charcoal! I can probably break them if you want!" Clay yelled from inside the flames.

"Yes, of course break them! That's what we are trying to do!" Tsunami shouted back.

"Did it!" Clay said after a while. The fire extinguished. Clay was about to touch the gem.

"No!" Starflight yelled, but it was too late. As Clay's talon made contact, a bright light flashed and left the room dark. The gem was nowhere in sight, and everyone was unconscious on the stone floor.