The stars glittered in the dark blue sky.

The lampposts glowed, casting eerie shadows over the streets.

Paige slept in her bed, hugging her stuffed animal penguin. Her eyebrow twitched as she started dreaming.

She was lying on the grass before she slowly opened her eyes and looked around.

"Hello?" she called out, furrowing her eyebrows. She looked up at the dark sky and widened her eyes at the sight of many moons hovering overhead.

She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes. "What the—?" She started to say before there was a low growl behind her, and she froze, her eyes widening. A chill ran down her spine.

The Evaran slowly turned to see a large shadow looming over her.

She yelled in fear, and she stumbled over her feet before she tripped and fell back.

The shadow growled deeply, its glowing golden eyes staring down at the girl.

Paige trembled furiously as she stared up at the creature. "Wh-who...?"

Thunder rumbled, and lightning flashed in the distance.

"Dark One," the shadow hissed as its face took the appearance of a large, monstrous wolf with rows of teeth and eleven glowing golden eyes that blazed brightly. There was a glowing golden eye over its sternum, two but small sharp eyes along the sides of its neck, a long, slit-pupil embedded near the tip of its tail, and three eyes scattered across the upper membrane of its wings. At the center of its forehead was the third eye. Dragon wings were folded up at its sides.

Paige trembled even more, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. "Th-the power of the Universe protects me. The Universe surrounds my body and soul. The love of my kin embraces me. The presence of the Universe watches over me! Wherever I am, the Universe is there!"

Paige gasped as she jerked awake, her eyes wide.

She slowly sat up and got out of bed. She donned her sleeping outfit, which was a peach knee-length dress with a white ruffled collar.

An outfit that every student wore when it was nighttime.

She walked into her bathroom, turned on the faucet and splashed some water on her face.

The Dual-Blooded girl looked at her reflection in the mirror and stared for a few moments. There... didn't seem to be anything odd.

She sighed softly before turning off the faucet. She turned and walked out of the bathroom. She looked at the window.

It was still nighttime.

The Evaran sighed softly. Only a few more hours left...until sunrise.

She sat down on the bed and stared at the floor. After a while, she slowly fell asleep.

The hours passed until the sun rose up on the horizon.

A silver-haired and blue-eyed man walked down the hallways, ringing the bell. "Time to wake up, young ones!"

Hazel whined softly in protest as she opened her eyes and rubbed them.

Melody slowly opened her eyes, and she yawned. She stretched her arms and legs before she sat up.

"Time to wake up, young ones," the silver-haired woman from the dormitory called out.

Griffin was doing push-ups and he looked at the door, raising an eyebrow.

Paige slowly woke up and yawned before she did a few stretches and winced as she felt her bones pop a little.

"It's time for breakfast. Make sure to wash up and change into your gym sparring outfit," the silver-haired woman said.

"Gym sparring outfit?" Phillip repeated, confused. He got up and stretched before he went to the bathroom.

Slowly, every student started to get up and get themselves ready.

Paige stepped out of the shower, drying herself off. She looked at the steam on the mirror before a soft chuckle escaped her. She reached up and started to draw an eclipse on the mirror. Once she fully dried herself off, she put on her underclothes before she walked out and looked at the gym outfit.

It was a black wrap-top with mid-length sleeves and light gray cargo pants. She hummed softly before she started to put on the clothes. Once she did just that, she tied her hair into a bun.

She exhaled sharply before she walked out of her dorm room and closed the door behind her.

Callista and Jason walked over to the Evaran. They were wearing the same gym outfit. Callista's hair was tied up in a ponytail.

"Is it weird that we're wearing the same outfit?" Jason chuckled.

"Kind of?" Paige replied and the three friends giggled before they began to make their way to the gym room.

"What do you think we're going to be doing?" Callista asked.

"Probably sparring," Paige replied.

"Definitely sparring," Jason nodded.

They walked into the gym and Paige looked around curiously as other students began to come into the room. The gym was massive and bright white lights glowed overhead.

The floor was polished and colored a light tannish-brown with a large black square around it. There were bleachers set up on three ends of the gym; two on the left, one on the back.

Lincoln whistled in astonishment. "This place is massive," he commented.

"And there's so many bleachers!" Pattie piped up with a giggle.

A silver-haired woman walked into the gym. She had light purple eyes and was wearing a white top with long sleeves and large matching pants.

"Alright, students, take your seats," she said. "I am Lady Corice and I will be one of your many gym teachers. Today, you will be sparring inside of the gym."

"Just inside?" Piccolo asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lady Corice nodded. "Yes. Just inside," she replied with a slight chuckle. "You, students, will be learning how to spar in your animal forms, and with the weapons that you possess. This kind of training needs self control for the mind and the body. There will be times where you will spar each other one-on-one, two-on-one, and so on. But today... We will be doing one-on-one sparring. I will call on each student to spar one-on-one."

The teens started to murmur excitedly, and Lady Corice chuckled softly.

"First up... Shiloh Cross and Volplie Holloway," she called.

Shiloh blinked in surprise and looked over at an eighteen-year-old girl who looked back at him with bright brown eyes.

She had chestnut-brown skin dotted with chocolate brown freckles. Her hair was raven-black and tied in a messy bun.

"Come on down, you two," Lady Corice chuckled.

Volplie and Shiloh stood up from the bleachers and walked down the stairs.

Once they made it to the center of the gym, Lady Corice lifted her hand and a bright glowing white circle surrounded the two Transcendants.

Luna blinked in surprise, leaning forward slightly.

"Should you fight in your animal forms, mind yourselves; no cutting and don't bite to injure," Lady Corice instructed, "if you fall beyond the outer circle, you're defeated. If you're pinned down and unable to move, you yield."

Shiloh looked at Volplie and raised an eyebrow.

She chuckled as she rolled her shoulders before shifting into a grayish-black and white fox.

"Ready... begin!" Lady Corice announced.

Volplie charged at Shiloh who crouched low, his eyes narrowing.

The Dolvadian leapt at him with a bark.

The Dovateran quickly lunged forward, quickly spinning around to dodge her, and he shifted into his velociraptor form before he spun around to face Volplie.

She smirked and charged at him again.

She tackled him hard and the two Transcendants tumbled across the floor before Shiloh kicked her off.

Volplie landed on all fours and glared at Shiloh before she fired blue flames at the Dovateran.

"Whoa!" Mikaela exclaimed, her eyes widening. She leaned forward slightly, as did a few other students.

"Dolvadians' fire are able to change into any color, much like that of an Evaran's," Lady Corice explained.

Shiloh charged through the fire before he rammed into Volplie, knocking her onto her back. She yelped in surprise and grunted when Shiloh pressed one of his back claws onto her stomach.

She looked up at him before she let out a huff. "I yield," she grumbled.

Everyone applauded, and Shiloh grinned.

"Very good, both of you," Lady Corice chuckled.

She looked at Shiloh. "Would you like to spar again?"

"Yes, ma'am!" The Dovateran said eagerly.

"I'll spar against him."

Paige turned her head toward a nineteen-year-old girl who stood up and walked down the stairs.

She had pale ivory skin, coffee-brown hair, and light blue eyes.

"Well, then, you have the floor, Louise Hansen," Lady Corice said with a nod.

Louise looked at Shiloh before shifting into a white dragon.

Shiloh smirked, his tail swaying sideways as he watched the Phaurian.

"Go, Shiloh!" Clark cheered.

Shiloh chuckled before charging at Louise.

The Phaurian crouched low before she leapt high over his head.

Shiloh skidded to a stop as Louise landed on the other side of the inner circle.

Shiloh turned toward her and narrowed his eyes, a low growl rising in his throat. His eyes flashed red and he took a step forward.

"What's he doing?" Ezra asked.

"Just watch," Kendra replied with a chuckle.

Shiloh fired his heat vision at Louise who quickly ducked and rolled as the two laser beams hit the wall, singeing it.

"Whoa!?" Elettra yelped, her eyes widening.

"Careful," Lady Corice chuckled.

Louise looked back at Shiloh. "Was that on purpose?"

"No," the Dual-Blooded Transcendant replied blankly before he charged at her with a screech.

She crouched low then leapt forward. The two Transcendants collided with each other, hissing and growling.

Louise clamped her jaws around Shiloh's back leg and yanked. He yelped as he hit the floor and Louise pressed her claws down on his shoulder, pinning him down.
The Dovateran grumbled, "I yield."

"Very good, both of you," Lady Corice chuckled. "That will be all for today. Head to the cafeteria."

Everyone started getting up, chatting eagerly.

Louise let Shiloh up, shifting back into her human form and walked away.

Shiloh raised an eyebrow, shifting back into his human form. Clark, Lois, and Toril walked over to their brother.

"How come you yielded?" Clark asked with a pout.

Shiloh chuckled and ruffled his brother's hair. "Because Louise won fair and square, bud," he reminded.

"She pinned you down though," Clark frowned, raising an eyebrow, "you should've at least found a way to win."

Toril looked at Clark, "remember what Mama said?"

Clark flushed and Lois smiled.

"Let your sparring partner win, even when you're pinned down," Lois reiterated.

Clark only huffed and Shiloh chuckled as they walked out of the gym.

They walked to the cafeteria.

Paige sniffed the air and she chuckled dryly. "It smells funky."

Marcus and Phillip laughed.

"Nobody's sweating though," Melody remarked and Paige playfully tussled her hair.
"Just because no one's sweating doesn't mean they don't smell funky," she chuckled, "hopefully, we'll take showers after lunch."

"Hopefully," Iago chuckled, walking up beside the four teens.

"What do you think we're going to do now?" Nash asked curiously.

"Only time will tell," Marcus answered with a chuckle.