After that, me and Caedmon were unstoppable.

I'm not saying a got quite the hang of this shadow stuff but I was getting better, and I knew that when I got the hang of this.. well even the metalheads better watch out.

The other kids stopped looking at me like I was a wounded sheep. And I was done being nervous. Now I knew the ropes. Dragons aren't as scary as they seem. In fact they are more like people than you would think. And some.. well some can be people.

My personal trainer was surprised when I started trying my best when I worked out. No longer would I try to secretly have my knees on the ground while I planked, or do girly push ups. I'm going to pull my weight here if it's the last thing I do..

"Awhaha the burn!" I mumbled, my legs shaking and I could feel my invisible abs screaming for help. "Have mercy!"

"Oh shut it, kid," my teacher snapped, blowing a bubble, her short, curly blonde hair bobbing as she crouched in front of me. "It's been only one minute."

"One minute of torture!" I wheezed, watching my arms shake like a Chihuahua.

Caedmon licked my finger. I guess that was his form of encouragement. Then he patted my hand with a smooth little paw.

After I felt like I would collapse she said. "That's enough." And I flopped down like a fish with a relieved sigh. I could feel little paws pressing into my back before a little body curled up between my shoulder blades.

Caedmon always found the worst times to go to sleep.

"Not too bad. Two minutes three seconds." The gym teacher said. Wait.. was she complimenting me? I turned my head to look up at her. "My grandma can still do better." She said.

I stared at her. She had to be at least forty. "Is your grandma even alive?" I blurted.

"No." She snapped her stopwatch closed and slapped it into her pocket. "After lunch you have appointment at the dracon watch- check up on your dragon's growth."

"Thanks," I said, but laid there still, my forehead to the ground as Caedmon stretched out a paw and patted my hair. Ah the little bugger. So he wasn't asleep.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on speaking to him, just like I did yesterday at Laser Tag. 'READY TO GO EAT?' I yelled in my head, hoping that even a whisper of that would get through our connection.

Caedmon jumped with a small squeak. "Meep!"

"I don't know what that means, buddy," I sighed.

Used to. he said in my mind. I could just hear the amusement in his voice. He usually tried to mimic my voice when talking in my head, which he was uncomfortably good at.

"Oh don't make fun of me," I said, shaking my head.

Caedmon made a shuttering hissing sound which sounded remotely like laughter. Then he licked my ear.

"Hey!" I rubbed my ear on my shoulder. "Bad dragon." I rolled my body over so the he was clinging to my shirt. I shook myself, trying to get him off, but he clung onto my shirt like a baby bat. "Caedmon!" I laughed as I saw his deer-like ears pinned back and his purple eyes narrowed in determination. I slowly supported myself with my arms before gathering my aching legs under me and pushing myself to a standing position. Caedmon crawled up my shirt, his little talons tickling me. "Boo boo yaya!" he let out a chirping voice, bobbing his head.

"Boo boo yaya? What on earth is that?" I didn't care how weird I looked as I talked with him, walking out of my private training 'chamber' to the main gym.

Before Caedmon could reply I heard a tapping sound and turned my head to see Merman in the giant aquarium, banging on the sturdy glass. He wore a tight black suit which outlined his defined chest and long, swimmer's legs. His hands were webbed like a real Merman's and the gills on his neck opened with each intake of water.

"Hey!" I laughed as I walked up to the glass and waved.

His little dragon Larissa swam up to the glass and wave a flipper, her delicate, brilliant yellow spines swaying in the current. And to our surprise, Caedmon lifted a paw and waved right back.

Me and Merman looked at each other, then our dragons, and busted out laughing. Merman's eyes crinkled up and bubbles escaped his mouth as he laughed soundlessly and I shook my head laughing. Caedmon glared at me like what's so funny?

Merman put his hands together like a heart, making me laugh so hard that Caedmon nipped my ear, which only made Merman laugh harder at my shocked expression. We looked like two fools.

Suddenly I got caught up in a swarm of wyvern first years who swept my up in their crowd as they headed to the cafeteria, chatting. The weird thing about wyverns is that when they are little they like to cling to the front of their Rider's shirts like little bats. I ended up bumping into a small purple colored one on the front of a dark skinned guy's shirt. And I ended up getting nipped.

"Eh!" I said but before Caedmon could hiss at the small creature the guy had walked away.

"Hi Justin," a girl I remembered from a few days who talked about the Ventus Rex's waved at me shyly.

"Uh.. hi?" I raised a brow. Caedmon waved a paw at her like 'move along' and I grabbed his paw. "Stop having an attitude, Cade." I laughed at his expression as he tried to wriggle his paws out from between my fingers.

She smiled as she pet her tiny wyvern which was now trying to go down her shirt. I blushed red when I saw it nosing places it shouldn't and quickly shouldered through the crowd trying to get away before she saw my blush. "Justin!" I heard, and ignored her call.

When I trotted ahead of the wyvern pack, I suddenly caught a glimpse of Mr. Sunglasses walking through the hall, his lips twisted as shuffled through his papers. Then he looked up and saw me staring and raised a brow.

I realized I had stopped to stare at him. There was something weird about him. His skin was so.. vibrant it's like he rubbed shiny oil all over his face, neck and hands, which was the only thing that was showing because of his smart military uniform. As I stared at him, the herd of wyvern kids walked right into him, too busy chatting to notice. I was half expecting him to yell at them, but he did nothing as they walked right through him. I blinked, unsure of what I was seeing. One moment he was staring at me with those golden eyes and then... the next he was gone.

I stood there a full minute, just staring at where he had disappeared.

A poke in my back and I whirl around, Caedmon hissing on my shoulder. Then we relaxed as we see Song there, grinning at us. "Hey Justin..." she drawled. "Seems like the Avengers took a turn for the best last night because of a certain someone.." Her blue eyes twinkled as she spoke.

I laughed. "This wasn't my first rodeo."

"So who are you? Eagle eye?" She asked, grinning at me.

"Hawk eye," I corrected her. "And hmm.. I think I'm most like Thor. Big guns, long blonde locks, and a love for poptarts." I jokingly pretended to flip some hair over my shoulder.

She stared at me. "Nah.. I think you're more like.. what's his name? Low Key?" She asked.

"Loki," I groaned mentaly. "Have you even watched the movie? He's the bad guy!"

She shrugged. "He has black hair like you though," she said as she opened the large cafeteria doors. "What were you doing back there? Staring off into nowhere?"

"Er.. well.. thinking," I mumbled, suddenly embarrassed.

"Oh were you trying to contact Caedmon? I know that takes a lot of concentration," she said seriously.

That was when I realized I had never seen her dragon. "Yeah," I lied between my teeth. "Song- how come I never hear about your dragon?"

Song suddenly looked guarded and her smile disappeared. "She's good." She said, and her expression warned me to not ask any more questions. We got into one of the lunch lines and started picking up chips and French fries. Suddenly Caedmon pawed my shoulder and peeped out. "Boo boo yaya!"

"What?" I paused, my hands around a root beer.

"Boo boo yaya!" he repeated, getting frustrated that I was too dumb to realize what that was.

"I'm sorry I don't-" I started to say but he just started walking down my arm like it was a tightrope before jumping off onto the table at my wrist.

"No dragons on the lunch table." One of the lunch ladies said in a monotone, her voice like one a cow would make... if cows would speak. I imagined her with cow horns as she chewed lazily on her bubblegum.

Caedmon ignored her and patted the Yoplait Blueberry yoghurt. He had licked the top of the yoghurt for me yesterday and I guess he really liked it. "Boo boo yaya!" He said firmly, biting through the top of it. Great. Now I had to get it.

"Ok ok you made your point. Blueberry yoghurt it is." I said, grabbing him in one hand and the yoghurt in the other. Then I grabbed a hamburger and turned around to go to the usual seat on the far side of the mess hall.

"Yo Justin!" I was greeted by Dustin, who had a tight smile on his face, like it pained him. "Heard you dominated the Laser Tag."

I shrugged, not used to being in the spotlight for a good thing as a few kids patted my back and said 'good job'. "Merman helped me out." I said as I sat down and opened the yoghurt, spooning some out and offering it to Caedmon who licked it super fast with flicks of his forked tongue. He went cross eyed, his pupils getting huge as he leaned forwards from his perch.

My friends seemed just as amused. Brandon even looked up from his pizza. "He likes his yoghurt, dude." He said in his 'chilled out' tone. His little sand dragon tore off a few pepperonis from his pizza and started chowing down on it. Brandon ate the rest of the torn up pizza.

"You're going to be so sad when he gets too big to be allowed in here," Dustin said. "You seem pretty attached to him."

I frowned at his words. Leaving Caedmon outside didn't sit well with me. What if a wild moose attacked? No way was I letting him outside on his own. Just look at him.. licking the yoghurt like it was ice cream.... "Nah I doubt they could keep him away from my side," I said with a hint of pride in my voice.

"You'd be surprised," Dustin said. "I thought Rayner would be upset. Turns out, he loves the freedom. And when they go on their first hunt? Now that's awesome."

I still doubted that. Even though Caedmon hadn't been hatched long ago, I felt like he was a body part I never knew I needed. Okay that was weird but you get what I mean? Imagining being without him was just... impossible now.

I almost wheezed up a French fry as Merman slapped my back. "I think our dragons should totally get married." I heard him snicker as he settled down beside me.

"Yeah sure I don't think she's Caedmon's type," I said, nudging him. "What's up?"

"The sky," he sighed, plopping down next to me.

"Oh come on- you know what I-" I started to say but he cut me of with a serious look.

"No really, we're going up in the sky today. And I.. I don't like that," he mumbled. "I like both boots on the ground."

"Wait.. I don't like the sound of that," I said, suddenly thinking of The Dark Knight Rises. I would not want to go 'up' like that poor judge.

Dustin laughed at my face. "No dude.. Today is flight training day. We're going to ride dragons."

"What?" I looked at Caedmon who stared right back, wide-eyed. "But he's too small!"

"You really are simple minded sometimes, Justin," Song gave a deep sigh. "You are going to ride the instructor's dragon. Probably Mrs. Geier's."

"Doesn't she have an ice dragon?" I asked, voicing the thought I had earlier.

"No it's an Alaskan glacial dragon," Merman said. "She's a beauty but I've seen her in the air- she's crazy!"

I shrugged. I've braved the Hurricane ride at the county fair. This shouldn't be too hard. "Sounds fun," I said with a smile. "Right buddy?" I grinned at Caedmon who was puffing out his chest like a rooster about to crow. As I watched, he dug his talons into my jacket before sweeping out his wing and flapping as hard as he can. Everyone on our table laughed and grabbed their stray milk cartons before it could be swept off.

"Woah buddy!" I laughed, watching him.

"That's how hatchlings strengthen their wing muscles," Song said with a grin. "I think he's as excited as you are to fly."

I heard him give a tiny wheezing sound before he stopped, flopping on my arm, exhausted. "Not yet?" I chuckled lightly, running a hand down his spine and came up with a few tiny black scales. My nose crinkled as I looked at them before brushing my hand off on my pants. "He's shedding."

"So is Larissa," Merman said, shoving a tator tot in his mouth. "You know, after the first molt the dragons can actually grow back their scales as a different color?"

"You, dear sir, are a nerd," I said, pointing my fork at him with a lowered brow.

"I'm sorry if I read the dragon dictionary before I go to bed," Merman mumbled. "You can't blame me though, figuring out dragons were real was the coolest thing that ever happened to me." He said, fondling Larissa. Larissa yawned sleepily and hid her slender head shyly in Merman's shirt.

I ate a little more before picking up the yoghurt and milk carton and putting it back on the tray. "I'm going to follow you," I told Merman as I slowly got to my feet.

"Yeah yeah.. going.." he shoved three tator tots in his mouth before hopping up and following me, dumping his trash in the trash can, which was built into the wall. I paused when dumping mine when I saw a flash of movement. My eyes narrowed and I put a hand up for him to stop as I crouched.

Keeping the lid open all the way, I could see the trash inside being pulled backwards before there was a heavily horned scarlet dragon's head flashed by my view. Fire dragon. It opened its mouth and I watched as a thin stream of fire escaped its maw, tapering from red to a light blue as it incinerated the trash. "Cool..." I whispered before I realized who the dragon was by that golden ring one of her horns. Jakaress! I laughed inwardly as I closed the trash can. So the bully kid's dragon was the trash dragon! This was.. this was priceless.

"What's so funny?" Merman asked as he saw my slightly pink face.

"J-Jakaress is the trash dragon," I managed, biting my tongue right after I spoke lest I let a laugh loose as I scurried away from the trashcan.

Merman raised a brow like 'explain...'

"I saw her..she's in there frying up the trash," I whispered like a teenage girl.

Merman broke into a halting laugh. "Seriously?"

I nodded, smiling, my tongue hurting because I was biting it so hard. Caedmon pulled his lips back to grin with me, but it looks like an adorable snarl. I kissed his snout, making him chatter angrily, pushing my face away from him with a paw.

"Gayyy..." Merman whispered before I yelled and chased him all the way to the training grounds.