(SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG!)

Unfortunately Colonel Piffer could only frown as he looked over my dragon. "You're going to have to talk to the Nurse when we get back. You doing alright?" he asked and I nodded numbly.

I wasn't even listening as he pulled back to yell at us about Rihanna's stupid plan, all the casualties, and the failure of the other team to make enough traps in time. He ranted on and on as I just stared into the forest and beyond, cradling my little buddy to my chest.

ATVs rumbled into the clearing to pick up the wounded. There was only about four. One had rolled her ankle, another was scratched up pretty bad by thorns, and the last two were probably faking it because they didn't want to run back to the base.

I blinked out of my reverie as the Colonel tapped my shoulder. "You can get on the ATV so you can get your dragon back to base faster." He grunted and I just nodded, trudging to the vehicle as I felt his eyes boring into my back.

Once I made it back and presented Caedmon to the nurse, I sat down in the waiting room. Another girl also had a dragon that got hurt. She had a prairie dragon, which looked like a little green and gold hedgehog with stubby jaws and tail and tiny ram horns. Hers was also passed out because it had taken a 'grenade' to the forehead. "Hi," I said, a bit shyly as I waited for the nurses to do their magic.

She looked up and I was surprised to see her eyes were an almost normal color. Hazel, and only glowing lightly. "Hi," she said, fiddling with her fingers as she waited with me.

"How did you like the game today?" I asked awkwardly, trying to make conversation.

She shrugged, her dark lashes fanning her cheeks as she looked down. "It sucked."

I opened my mouth, but my brain couldn't think of anything to say. I closed it again.

Finally a woman came out holding my little black dragon. "Justin.. that is your name right?"

I nodded and got up so fast I felt dizzy. "Yes?" I was already reaching out for him.

"He just got knocked out. He should wake anytime soon. And you must know that light hurts him, young Rider," she said with distaste twisting her lips. "Don't ever put a glowband on his wrist again, understand?" She showed me the burns on his wrist.

I tried to hide a grin. "Yes ma'am," I said. "I promise it won't happen again."

"Good," she gave him back to me.

I turned around so I could finally grin wildly and hug him to my chest. Score! I walked out and headed downstairs to where I knew Merman was.

The game room was pretty dark, and I don't mean to sound racist or anything but dark colored people were pretty hard to spot in the darkness. Merman didn't even need a shadow dragon to disappear. The only way I found him was because of my night vision. He was hunched over, playing Halo. The room was mostly lit up with screens as different kids played pretty much any good war game in existence. In Alaska, this was pretty much the extent of the games we played.

I plopped down next to Merman. "Hey can I join ya?"

He looked over at me, his bright gold eyes making me flinch. "Hey Justin! I saw you on the ATV. You alright?"

"Yeah I just took a fall and Caed hit his head." I said.

He frowned. "Ouch. Is he okay?"

"Actually even better," I showed off his little paw which was now glowstick free. "The Nurses took it off."

"Hah. That's awesome, man," he chuckled before giving me a controller and leaning back on the beanbag. "So it wasn't a total loss after all."

"No it wasn't." I agreed as I set Caedmon on my lap and started the intense game with Merman.

I played until my eyes felt like the Sahara desert, then we had to line up outside to make sure everyone made it home. Caedmon woke up as the brush of cold Alaskan air washed over his scales and he slowly opened his eyes, peering up at me. "Hi." He peeped.

My heart swelled as I looked down at him. "Hi," I echoed.

He giggled and hid in my jacket, suddenly shy, just as I was snapped at for not being at attention.

The next morning I fought to sleep but I could feel a little paw slapping my cheek. "Caed.." I groaned and rolled over, digging my head into the pillow. I could feel his paws as he scampered down the bed and sat on the corner of the bed, watching me. I closed my eyes, hoping that would make him stop.

But he only became more determined. Pat, pat, he smacked my nose. "Hi!" His chirpy little voice said in my ear.

"Go away, Caed," I moaned and closed my eyes tightly.

He licked my cheek. "Hi!"

I couldn't help but laugh at the strange feeling. "H-hey!" I realized I wasn't going to get much more sleep and I opened my eyes to see him staring at me intensely, his purple eyes taking up all my vision. I jerked back as he gave a wheezy laugh and popped out of existence before reappearing on my chest with a toothy grin. Then he disappeared again and reappeared on my head. Somebody was sure happy that he could go into shadow form again. "Silly dragon," I said, grabbing him as I suddenly got a wonderful idea, thanks to my bladder.

Since I was up so early, why not clean up in the bathroom before the rush started?

I grabbed my clothes and skittered to the bathroom with a squirming dragon in hand. I set him on top of the clothes as I hopped in the shower and quickly undressed.

The thing about dragons is that they know nothing about privacy. As I washed off, he was skittering around my legs, playing with soap bubbles and running into the wall accidentally as he rushed after some rogue bubbles. I couldn't help but laugh as I washed him, running my fingers through my hair to wash out the shampoo.

Caedmon finally caught a bubble and viciously snapped at it with his jaws, before making a face as he tasted the soap. "Ech!" he gagged.

"Soap doesn't taste good, buddy," I chuckled softly before running my hand over the silver tattoo on my pecs. Maybe it was just my imagination, but it seemed to be getting bigger. Avery said that the tattoo was the sign of a dragon's bond. That it was a part of their soul that allowed me to communicate with him. There was no doubt, that was pretty cool. I traced the tribal designs, feeling something a bit hard underneath it that didn't quite feel like a rib. More thin.. and rectangular... I shivered and pulled my hand away to finish my shower and dry myself off with a towel. When I had dressed and reached for my boots, the left one seemed extra heavy and I peeked inside to find purple eyes staring at me from inside. "Wha-how did you-" I reached for him but he was gone. I huffed as I put my foot inside to find he had made it wet. "Caedmon!" I stomped out of the shower area.

But by then Caedmon was already having a showdown with another early riser- a fat sand dragon. They were squaring off, crouched low with tails wagging like playful dogs. Then Caedmon tackled the gold and they flopped on the ground, bunny kicking each other and playfully nipping and scratching. I shook my head in amusement as I brushed my teeth.

The owner of the sand dragon soon followed and I realized it was Brandon, his dirty blonde hair a mess as he rubbed his eye with the back of his hand dismally. "Hey Justin," he yawned. "Why're you up so early?"

"Caedmon wouldn't let me sleep," I said, gesturing to the dragons.

"Mine wouldn't either," he complained as he padded to the bathroom.

Caedmon managed to pin Brandon's dragon and crowed in triumph. The fat sand dragon pouted but didn't move. Instead he started to cry.

"Uh.. Brandon?" I called.

"Don't worry," Brandon walked out of the bathroom with a pizza. "I've got just the trick."

My eyes got huge. "What? Where did you get that pizza?!"

"That's none of your business," he said smugly as he crouched and offered his dragon the pizza slice. The dragon had no hesitation before he sank his jaws into it and pulled off a chunk, snapping at the cheese. Brandon pulled the rest of the slice back and took a bite of it before it was all gone.

I stepped back. Somehow that was a bit disturbing. I walked into the bathroom he had just came in and looked around for any sight of hot pizza. I peeked in the toilet paper container. I peered into the toilet. Nothing but a poop scrape. "Where do you get this pizza!" I yelled.

I heard Brandon laugh as he trotted away with his dragon in hand.

"Caed- find the pizza," I said, gesturing to the bathroom.

But he just made the same face he had made when he bit into a bubble. "Ucky."

"Come on...." Finally I sighed. Maybe some things weren't worth finding out. "Let's go," I mumbled as I walked out just as the alarm sounded and a rush of kids made their way to the bathroom. I shouldered through them, before I felt a familiar tingle of my leg hairs standing up. I tried to scoot out of the way but was too late as little bundle of cackling joy crawled over my foot and shocked me so hard I let out a yelp and would have kicked it but everyone was pushing me as they made their way to the bathroom.

"Dumb dragon," I grumbled as Caedmon crawled up my arm to my shoulder, hissing. I buttoned up my jacket as I headed outside. I wasn't supposed to wander around before breakfast because I was a first year, but I didn't care. I slowly pushed open the heavy, frost encrusted door and my breath was almost taken away by the wind as the cold Alaskan air surrounded me, numbing all exposed skin. I pulled my jacket tighter to myself as I trudged out down the trail to the animal barn which was marked by large dragon paw prints.

For a second I could imagine myself in Jurassic park, tracking these large beasts. I crouched, looking at a large one. "I wonder what beast this belongs to, Caed?" I mumbled, pretending to be a dinosaur detective or whatever they call it. Caedmon peered out of my blanket with half closed eyes that made him look like a disgruntled baby bear being woken from hibernation. "Meep?" he asked.

I pointed to the footprint. "Four toes. Three inches deep," I mused. "From the size of it, it looks to be a young Tyranosaurus Rex," I whispered. "He's gotten out..." I said, running my finger down the paw print to feel the grooves left by the leathery part of the dragon's paw. "Travelling about.."

"You trackin' somethin'?" I heard a brutish voice behind me.

"Yeah. Dinosaurs." I said before realizing I had said that out loud to someone and I blushed. I had let my stupid imagination make me look stupid again!

"Dinosaurs? Where?" Whoever it was was huffing and puffing to compete with the big bad wolf.

I slowly turned around to find myself face to face with a big scaly head. Beady brown eyes were huge in fear and the spines going down his neck were rattling in fear. "Where's the dinosaurs?" He swung his big head, heavy ram horns almost nailing me.

"Hey hey!" I jumped to the side. "Easy there! Easy.." I held out my hands to his muzzle, hoping he wouldn't bite them off. "There's no.. dinosaurs." Caedmon agreed with a hiss. Then I recognized him. "Dustin's dragon... you're his dragon right?"

He looked offended. "You don't.. remember me?" At his every word, hot puffs of air clouded from his flaring nostrils.

"Sorry! Sorry Rayner!" I said quickly, laughing nervously.

"So where's the dinosaurs?" He whispered.

"There are no dinosaurs!" I yelled a bit louder than I meant to and Caedmon nipped my neck in annoyance.

"Then why did you say you were hunting for dinosaurs?" he shuffled his front paws.

"Because I was pretending," I huffed a puff of hot steam into the frigid air, hugging myself to keep warm.

"Oh." He realized. "Why do you pretend?" he asked, tilting his big head.

"Because I want to," I shrugged. "What have you been up to, big guy?" I asked, trying to get off the topic of dinosaurs.

"Flight training!" Rayner said excitedly and ruffling his wings. "I've gotten a lot better at flying. My trainer says I can carry Dustin in another week!" he trumpeted and puffed out his scaly chest, head raised high.

"That's cool, Rayner." I raised a brow and smiled a little. I couldn't feel my fingers... I should probably head back inside...

"He's the last in the class," a beautiful Hawaiian tropical dragon decided to let me know. Her paws looked more like a gecko's than a dinosaur's and while most of the dragons were monochromatic, she had blue, black, and white stripes running down her elegant body, speckled with beautiful designs. Flashy fans furled back from her cheeks, accented in black. And a large sail ran down her back, splashed with green and blue. Her wings looked strong yet slim like a songbird and her face narrow like a seahorse. "Even I, the smallest can carry my Rider faster than him." She boasted.

Rayner lowered his head, whining a little. "Dustin says it's cause I've got more muscle than you all."

She rolled her gorgeous blue-green eyes. "If you got muscle, then you could lift off from the ground. I doubt you could even get this little guy a foot off the ground." She gestured to me with a slim paw.

"I can!" Rayner protested hotly, puffing out his crest.

"Uhh.. guys I'd rather not be in this competition.." I said, backing up and waving my hands slowly. Just back away...

"Can not!" The female retorted, flicking her beautiful fanned tail.

"Can too!" Rayner said. He looked like a big, scary tank of a dragon. But I knew he was a real softie. While they were yelling, I started sneaking back to the building.

"PROVE IT!" The female finally shrieked.

Suddenly I felt the earth shake slightly and I stepped sideways. "Oh no.... oh no no," I said, scrambling for the door. I could hear the tremendous flaps as Rayner surged into the sky, his wings struggling to keep up with his enormous body. I could feel the wind pushing at my back, sending cool waves down my jacket and making goosebumps rise on my body. "Rayner! Don't do this!" I hollered, lunging at the door just as big brown paws curled around me and I was yanked into the air. "HELP! HELP! A DRAGON IS KIDNAPPING ME!" I yelled as Caedmon squeaked loudly, almost squished under my body against those strong claws.

Caedmon wriggled up to my collar and squealed when he saw the ground getting closer and farther. Every flap Rayner gave made him surge upwards ten feet, but every downstroke sent us reeling down seven. My stomach was tying itself in knots. "U-ugh! Rayner! I thought we were buds!" I wiggled in his grip.

"You ... forgot.. me!" He wheezed as his head pumped, trying to give himself more lift.

I screamed like a girl as we dipped again, closer to the ground. I could just imagine myself getting squished under this big guy. "Aw come on man! Are you really going to get upset over that! I didn't forget you!" I yelled. Caedmon bit his finger, as if that would help.

"Stop... wiggling!" Rayner grunted as he rushed upwards, clawing at the sky with his scaly wings.

The dragoness laughed as she flew easily beside us, her movements fluid and graceful. "Rayner you look like a wounded beetle!" she guffawed. "Is that the highest you can fly? Thirty feet? Forget it, you should stick to the ground like the ground wyrm you are."

"I can... fly.. higher.." Rayner growled and started to coast over the large S-11 training facility. A couple dragons were perched on top of the building, heads tilted to watch us. I could see Colonel Piffer's dragon from here. I think he was munching on a tree. "Help! Someone help me!" I yelled as I held on to Caedmon for dear life, feeling like I was going to barf as another downthrust sent me dangerously close to the curved side of the building. Caedmon squeaked, flapping his wings hard as if that would help the large dragon fly.

A few of the dragons called out to the fumbling earth dragon, growling. Warning? Telling him to LET ME THE HECK DOWN?

Suddenly a large dragon swooped down from the sky and his wind made my kidnapper lose his balance and sway to the side. As his wings flapped ferociously to try and right himself, his hind legs skimmed against the roof of the main building and he staggered in the air. I screamed as I felt my shoes scrape against the roof and fly off. I curled myself up in a ball in his arms as Rayner collapsed sideways with a low groan onto the granite roof.

The female dragoness giggled before my mossy green savior nudged the earth dragon with a low rumble.

I shivered as Rayner responded with a low rumble, his scales thrumming and vibrating my whole body. Caedmon's teeth chattered and he squeaked, snuggling into my coat as I crawled slowly out of Rayner's grip.

"Young Rider are you alright?" Colonel Piffer asked, standing on the moss dragon's big head, just above his nostrils. Colonel Piffer's cheeks were red and he had a scarf around his neck. He must have been out flying.

"I think so," I said in relief as I dusted myself off. Thankful that I was alive after that crazy ride.

Colonel Piffer was nice enough to walk me inside, ask how I was doing, and explain the predicament to Mrs. Geier. I was pretty sure his dragon was chewing out Rayner at the same time.

Mrs. Geier went surprisingly easy on me today. As I was running around the gym with the other recruits doing our suicides, Caedmon was ranting in my mind. Except his rants weren't actual words. They were movies. I bit back a laugh as a picture of Rayner appeared in my head with ugly beady eyes and a stupid grin as he flew around like a maniac, fat tongue sticking out. Then he bashed into a wall and fell abruptly to the concrete. "Be nice, Caedmon," I whispered, biting back a laugh.

His response was a video of Rayner squishing me onto the roof and Caedmon bawling over my dead body, because of course he would be the one to survive. "Ok Ok I get it, he could have killed us. But you know that Rayner doesn't have much in brains," I whispered as I got into planking position beside Merman, ready to start pushups.

But as I worked out, I sort of wondered who the Hawaiian dragon's owner was. If she was in Rayner's class, she must have been a third year. I honestly didn't know any of the third years besides Dustin and... Song. My eyebrows pinched when I thought of Song. She had never told me about her dragon.. what if her dragon was a tropical one? I wondered as sweat gathered on my forehead. I was determined to ask her.

After a good work out, I picked up Caedmon, who told me how stinky I apparently was by wrinkling his little snout, and raced out to find Song before Merman could ask what the heck happened this morning.

I usually found her wandering in the halls so I walked around the halls, looking around for her, before peeking in the library, then the video game room. When I headed to the cafeteria, I bumped into her, as usual. "Hey Justin. You missed breakfast," she poked my shoulder.

"Yeah. Sorry, I was dragon-napped. But anyway, do you have a tropical dragon?" I blurted.

"Uh... no," she drawled, raising a brow.

"What kind of dragon do you have?" I exhaled with a sigh.

"You've never heard of it," she said, suddenly stiff. "I've got to go to History class," she said stiffly as she marched past me.

I stared after her with a sigh. Why did she have to get all hipster on me? Caedmon shrugged his wings. "Boo boo yaya," he demanded.

"You're supposed to be on a diet," I sighed as I trudged back towards to the training room, where Avery surely was waiting.

"Boo boo yaya," Caedmon sniffled and scratched himself, shedding a few scales.

"We've got to do training with Avery then we can have lunch," I heaved a sigh. I was starving. But we had missed breakfast because of hotshot.

"Bet you're starving," Avery's voice made me jump, realizing she was walking right by me. "Heard you caught a ride from a certain earth dragon."

I groaned. "Made me never want to fly. Ever."

"Oh believe me, it's going to be rough when little Caed starts flying," She reached out her hands and Caedmon crawled onto her hands with a happy peep. She pulled him to her chest and cuddled him. I felt slightly jealous because Caedmon usually didn't cuddle with anyone else but me. He cuddled with her, his front paws wrapping around her wrist and licking her cheek. She giggled. "Glad you guys didn't die in a dragon crash."

I felt my cheeks flush at her nonchalant statement. She probably would only miss Caedmon but I could dream, couldn't I? "Thanks," I said as she peppered my dragon's face with kisses. "What are we working on today?"

"Today's going to be an easy day for you, Justin," Avery said, smiling at Caedmon. "Because this little guy is going to be doing a lot of work." She plopped him on a felt covered stand and smiled at him. "He's gotten a bit too chubby and he needs to work out if he's going to be ready to fly."

I looked at my little buddy. "But flying is a long ways away for him.." I said cautiously.

"General Landin-" I flinched when I heard his name but she didn't notice or probably care. "Said that Caedmon could fly sooner than a lot of other dragons, especially big old Rayner," she said as she stroked Caedmon just over his big purple eye. "But carrying you is a whole 'nother story."

"Big." Caedmon agreed, bobbing his head like a parrot, which was pretty funny looking.

She laughed. "Did you hear that? He said 'big'! Wow!" She said, kissing all over his scaly face. Caedmon purred at the attention and let her kiss him, wiggling in her hands cutely.

I shook my head. Who knew Caedmon could be such a ham. "Okay get to it." I said, a bit impatiently. "What's he supposed to do?"

She nodded and pulled back. "You need to start flapping, little buddy, while grabbing your perch," she said seriously to the cat-sized dragon. "The perch will measure your strength." She looked down at her notebook. "We'll work his muscles every day more and more, preparing him for when he's large enough to carry you."

"Sounds like a plan," I said as I set him on the perch.

His little paws latched around it and he spread his wings to keep balance, his eyes getting huge as he looked at me like 'Whyy?'.

"He can barely hold his balance," I said as I watched him wobble and peep, wings shaking and head snaking back and forth. His claws scrabbled at the perch.

"Because he is too darn fat," she said before reaching a finger under to tickle his round belly. He peeped and shifted before realizing he was going to slide off so his wings started flapping.

"Good boy!" she smiled as she coached him on. "Come on.. you can do it!" she cooed.

Caedmon grinned when he got the compliment and he started flapping harder, his jaws opening to pant.

I started to feel a little jealous. He would do it for her? "Come on buddy you got this," I said, louder than her to make my point across that he was doing this for me.

Avery laughed and shook her head as Caedmon's black wings became a blur. He squeaked in excitement. "Fie fie fie!" He sang as he suddenly let go of the perch and the force rocketed him into the air.

"Woah!" Avery said, ducking as a bumbling black dragon skimmed over her head, singing his flying song to the tune of his favorite show- Spongebob.

I couldn't help but bust out laughing as I heard the familiar tune as Caedmon wreaked havoc in the room. He clonked into the lamp, before jumping off it to propel him higher.. and the lamp to the floor. He whirred over and bonked his head into the book shelf, knocking a few books down, before yelping and flying for the fan.

We both paled as we saw him heading for the spinning fan. "No! Caedmon!" Avery called, opening her arms. "Come to me honey I'll get you some snackies!"

"Get away from there Caedmon!" I screamed like banshee.

Caedmon wavered in the air, his wings struggling to keep him aloft. "Fie fie inner 'napple unner sea." He sang loudly his version of the Spongebob song before, quite literally, the dragon hit the fan.

He squealed and gripped the side of the fan before becoming a black blur as he was spun round and round on a fanatical merry go round. Okay, that's not so fun. "Ee-eeh-eeeh!" He sounded like a baby mimicking an ambulance. Which I was going to need if I didn't stop laughing so hard. "Turn-off.." I wheezed, hardly able to breathe through my laugher.

"Justin!" Avery stepped on me as she raced for the switch and she quickly turned off the fan.

Caedmon's crazy ride slowly started to end and I could see his hind legs hanging from the end of the wide blade, his tail hanging limply.

"Haha.. Caed?" I called, holding my arms out for him.

Caedmon didn't move.

"He's too scared to come down," Avery pointed out.

"I think I see that," I mumbled, my laughter dying in my throat. We worked together trying to get him to come down. I tickled his limp tail with a feather. Avery waved a small snippet of meat for him. I sang the Spongebob song.

Eventually, we flopped on the beanbags and groaned. "He can't stay up there all day.." Avery sighed and ran a hand through her thick hair. "You know anything else he likes that will get him down?"

I thought about it for a long moment before sighing. "Wait- I've got something," I said suddenly. "Blueberry yoghurt!" I lurched from my chair before Avery stopped me.

"I got one in my bag," she informed me as she pulled out her black backpack that had 'Fall Out Boy' painted on the front. She unzippered the small pocket and pulled out the colorful little yoghurt bottle.

"Thanks," I breathed as I pulled off the top before waving it around, letting the blueberry smell waft over to the dragon.

Suddenly the tail twitched. Then swayed. The hind legs scrabbled at the fan blade before pulling up onto it, making the blade shiver.

"Come on little buddy." I called as I squished the yoghurt slightly to make the yoghurt bulge out of the cup in its glorious shade of baby blue, speckled with dark shades of fake blueberries.

Large purple eyes peeked over, looking down at me. His pupils so big that I could get lost in them. He licked his lips and his black booty waggled in the air. "Yes.." I called. "Come and get it!" I waved it in the air.

Suddenly he launched from the fan and spread his tiny wings.

And forgot to flap.

"Woah woah!" I yelled as the fat dragon took me by surprise. I stepped back and tripped on one of the bean bags and fell flat on my back. I groaned as I felt the yoghurt squirt all over my face and chest. "Caeedmoon," I whined as I felt a rough little dragon tongue lap the blueberry yoghurt off my cheek.

Avery giggled, which sounded like a hyena hacking up a bone. I felt the burning sensation of flash as she took a picture of me. "I think that's it for training today."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically as I looked down at my stained jacket. "Ugh I better head back and clean myself off." I mumbled as I got up, holding Caedmon to my chest as he licked off all the blueberry yoghurt on my chin.

"Hey Mr. Smurf," Rihanna teased when I walked into the barracks. "Better hurry, you know what day it is." She said just as alarms blared throughout the entire facility and everything went dark.