A silvery flash, like the light catching a mirror, shone through the blue sky. It was visible for miles around, but most people would ignore such a phenomenon, unless they knew what it actually was. Silver was gliding through the air, enjoying the new strength in her wings. The strength she had lost over the past nine months. Flying wasn't exhausting anymore, and this newfound energy made her feel as though she could fly forever.

On her back Diana was relaxing against her neck. The human seeming content in the sky. It was one thing about them that made a small sense of pity to well up inside the dragoness. They were unable to fly, on their own that is. They had machines that helped them but it just wasn't the same. Silver trusted in her own two wings, and they never failed her like machines very well could.

"Silver!" a voice called out behind her, "Could we get a bit of a rest. Reha's falling behind!"

The dragoness slowed down and turned, seeing the water dragon struggling to keep up the pace. She felt a little sorry for her, as it was probably very strange to be flying such long distances. With a nod of her head the group of four circled down to a rather open plains area with a forest on either side and what looked like a hill.

The humans on their backs held on as they descended, still a little nauseous. They landed softly, trying to be as gentle as possible. There were a few moans and groans, but other then that most of them were fine. Silver quickly walked over to Reha, who had her wings drooped and her head lowered, breathing heavily.

"You alright?" she asked the water dragoness.

Reha nodded her head, giving a small grin, "I'll... be fine. Just a bit of a rest is all I need."

"Okay," the silver dragon gave her a friendly nudge, before turning toward the others.

One of the humans had walked up the small hill they had landed near and was looking over the surrounding area, keeping a watch out for them. The two drakes seemed to be a little tired as well and were lying down in their own separate areas getting some much-needed rest. They had been pushing the pace quite a bit, but Silver knew that they were getting close to China, and once they past the border they would be free from any dragon-hunting organisation and have a safe pass straight toward Sky Mountain.

"You are a full of energy," muttered West as he spread his wings, "Last time we flew for so long you were more exhausted than Reha."

"That's because I had used up a lot of energy in my equilibrium," replied Silver, flapping her wings a few times to stretch out any stiffness building in the joints.

"Yeah... but still," the wind dragon sighed, "It's weird."

She snorted, "Says you."

"Yes, says I," he said regally, holding himself up.

The dragoness barked a laugh, before glancing up at the human on the hill. It was one of the males, Martin. He had set himself up, looking out over the landscape. A small frown suddenly creased across his face, and he leaned forward, putting a hand to his forehead, gazing at something. Silver titled her head, wondering what he had seen. A worried look passed through his eyes.

"Hey, guys..." he said, turning around to face them, when a gunshot rang through the air.

For a moment everything was silent, then Martin coughed up blood and fell to the floor, dead. The small group froze, staring in disbelief. Even the dragons were shocked. They had grown to know the human after the week they had been together. Talked to him. Laughed with him. Spent time with him. And now... he was gone.

"No!" Diana cried out, picking up the assault rifle that had been by her side and scrambling to her feet.

Silver roared out in rage, leaping up the hill with a growl, quickly scanning across the plain. It didn't take her long to spot the culprit, and the people it was with. Her eyes widened and she had just enough time to cover herself in metal before bullets ripped through the area where she was standing, sparking off her shell and shredding the soil around her. Behind her, her companions yelled out in alarm, quickly diving for cover on the hill.

The dragoness snarled angrily and winced as something pinged off her snout. They were D.E.D. She could see that now. There were a few dragons amongst a large group of nearly fifty humans, all of which had a weapon of some sort pointed at her and firing heavily. The bullets couldn't piece the shell, but she still felt the force behind each shot, and it was annoying.

With a roar she leapt into the air, flapping her wings and speeding toward them with fury in her eyes. One of the dragons, a collarless wind drake, leapt up toward her in an attempt to stop her. Without hesitation she angled toward him, and they crashed. Her snout, claws and wings became razor sharp, and the dragon screamed out in pain as Silver forced the blades into him, easily cutting passed scales. They crashed into the group, the wind dragon dying in the crash.

Silver stood up, snarling, scarlet dragon blood running down her wings and across her claws. The human's hesitated, surprised at her ferociousness. One put up his gun to fire, but was too slow. The dragoness launched forward, flicking her tail and spearing a dozen of them in tail spikes and cutting down the immediate threat with her claws. Then there was gunfire, the bullets ricocheting from her shell and leaving no damage whatsoever. She roared out again, opening her maw and breathing a stream of metal into the crowd, covering many of them in elronium.

She turned, flicking her tail around and cutting another human in half. Metal flowed smoothly around her, almost like it was water, sending out a spike in the exact direction she wanted it to, or enforcing certain areas to make the bullets have less of an impact. Blood scattered across the ground, none of it hers, as person after person fell to her claws, teeth, tail, wings and metal.

She twisted and roared, about to attack one of their vehicles they had brought around with her metal breath, when she felt a tug in her gut. The same tug that lead her toward her own elronium. Before she had a chance to react to it, a large mace like tail swung around, striking her in the chest and launching her backwards. She hit the ground, skidded for a couple of metres, then turned into a roll, crashing into a tree before falling still, gasping for breath. With a small groan she forced herself to her feet, staggering slightly, before looking up in anger.

A familiar laugh rang across the now silent battlefield, "You are alive."

Silver growled, lashing her tail.

The earth dragon was standing menacingly in the centre of the many humans Silver had slaughtered. His one red eye glinted dangerously and his metallic features seemed to be enhanced, the elronium metal shining in the sunlight. The scars around his body seemed to have multiplied since their last meeting, and the anger in his eyes had grown. Though he grinned now, she could see he was far from happy.

"I had honestly thought I had killed you," he continued to talk, walking slowly forward, "With a broken back and blood loss it was nearly impossible for you to survive. Whoever took you must have known what they were doing. Who was that by the way?"

"An old friend," was the dragoness's reply as she began to pace toward the earth dragon, spikes growing from her tail.

"Hmm," he frowned slightly, "You look different from the last time we met. Bigger, more... female."

"Oh, a lot has changed since that time," she growled, "You have no idea."

"Oooh, I'm scared," he chuckled, lifting up a forepaw and letting the bladed claws spin like a chainsaw, "This time, you won't escape from me."

Silver was about to launch herself at the dragon when a line of bullets crossed his maw, breaking the scales but not piecing them. He roared out in surprise, turning and glaring toward the hill they had been behind. Diana was standing on the hilltop, her assault rifle levelled to her eye. The earth dragon opened his mouth, and shot out a boulder toward it at high velocity. The human dived out of the way as the rock hit the hilltop, causing half of it to be blown to pieces.

The metallic dragoness roared out in anger, leaping and slicing her claws along his face, causing him to stagger backwards in surprise, blood being drawn from the attack. Silver didn't stop there however and swung her wing around, a long blade quickly forming on its elbow. The earth dragon was surprisingly fast however, stamping down on her wing with his claw and striking with the other one, hitting her across the cheek, sparks flying as the chainsaw like blade came in contact with elronium.

She staggered sideways, grunting in surprise, being kept in place by her wing. Tetrad then bit down on her neck, causing her to cry out as his strong jaw crushed down on her shell. It held, but the pressure made her feel like she couldn't breath, or could barely do so. With a snarl he let go of her wing and then threw her with his mouth, sending her rolling across the ground again. Quickly she leapt to her feet, growling softly and panting heavily. She flicked her tail, sending a number of tail spikes in his direction, which he hit out of the air with his own wings.

"Come on, I thought you had improved since out last fight," he grinned.

A fireball suddenly flew from the air, blowing up in his face causing him to stagger backwards. Using the distraction Blaze charged from the sky, the large fire drake slamming into Tetrad's side, knocking him sideways but it wasn't enough to make him fall over. Instead he growled, snapping at Blaze, causing the fire dragon to jump backwards and out of the way.

The size difference was quite noticeable between the two. Tetrad was nearly twice the young fire drake, older and more experience, and Silver suspected more powerful as well. Blaze seemed to realise this as he slowly moved backwards, a little nervous. That was when the other male joined the fight. West came from the sky, sending a large blast of wind at the earth dragon. Tetrad let out a grunt of surprise and stumbled again, though much like the fire, the wind wasn't enough to move him too greatly.

"Hey! Weird robot dragon thing! You want a real fight! Come and get it!" challenged West from the air, flapping his large wings.

The earth dragon roared at him, turning around and firing a rock missile. The wind dragon simply dodged out of the way, his manoeuvrability far greater in the air. He grinned, taunting Tetrad with his smile.

"Come on, surely you can do better then that machine."

The older dragon narrowed his eyes, "You have no idea what I can do wind dragon. I wouldn't want to get on my bad side."

"You know, when you say that it makes just want to get on your bad side," chortled the wind drake.

Tetrad growled lowly and opened his wings. With a hard thump her launched himself into the sky, the gears around his wings joints whirling slightly in the effort it took to get his bulk into the air. It happened rather fast and West had just enough time to push himself out of the way with his element. Tetrad pulled himself to a stop, looking down at the wind dragon. With a roar he opened his mouth and unleashed a row of razor sharp spikes of rock. West grunted in alarm, flapping his wings hurriedly to get out of the way.

Silver watched with narrowed eyes. She wouldn't be able to defeat the earth dragon like she was, which meant there was only one thing that she would be able to do. The prospect excited her somewhat, but also made her worry slightly. It had been a week since she had last used her equilibrium, but if she could control it then she would destroy these attackers; get revenge for the death of her comrade. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes and reached down inside herself, looking for that power that she had felt the night she had lost control.

"Silver... don't," a voice suddenly spoke.

Startled the dragoness opened her eyes to see a strange silvery hew had spread across the battlefield. Everything was frozen in time. The earth spikes flying through the air. The wind dragon twisting out of the way with what looked to be a cross of a snarl and a grin. Blaze opening his wings to launching himself into the air and help his friend. The humans slowly creeping threw the forest to flank them. Everything.

Silver went to move only to find her body had been frozen as well, and she could only move her head and neck, "What the heck?"

"Don't use your equilibrium Silver," said O'hen's voice out of nowhere.

"What?" Why not? How else will I defeat him?" she growled, looking around for the time dragon.

"You can defeat him, easily. There is no need to call upon that power. Remember, he is made of your metal Silver. Yours, not his."

She blinked, "Wait..."

A chuckle sounded through the air, and the silvery glow faded away and time resumed. Blaze sprang to the air with a roar, breathing fire at Tetrad in an attempt to distract him as West came around, gathering wind around him and running into the earth dragon, causing him to falter in the air with a snarl.

Taking what O'hen had told her Silver closed her eyes and took a deep breath, but instead of reaching for the power held inside her she took a hold of that strange tugging she felt, drawing her toward Tetrad. With a snarl she opened her eyes, and mentally pulled on that string. The earth dragon let out a roar of surprise as the small pieces of elronium inside him were suddenly pulled downward toward the ground, bringing him with them. Blaze and West grunted in surprise, looking toward Silver who now had her eyes open.

"You two go and deal with the other humans and dragons around here, I'll take care of him," she growled, pacing toward the fallen collarless leader.

Tetrad rolled himself to his feet, looking at Silver with a frown. Growling he leapt forwards, sweeping his tail to hit her away again, but the dragoness had a firm hold on the tendrils connecting her to the elronium. She pulled them, sideways this time, and instead of launching at her he was thrown into a tree, roaring out in pain as the metal began to slowly dig into his skin.

"You made a grave mistake, Tetrad," she snorted, "You made yourself stronger with my metal, infusing it inside your body to make yourself invincible. But, I am my metal now, and my metal is apart of me. I control it, and therefore I control you."

For the first time in their fight the earth dragon had a flash of fear run through his organic eye. He stood up, breathing heavily from pain, before roaring out and blasting an earth boulder toward her. She growled, not having enough time to dodge it with her metal weighing her down, and pulled her wings up, letting out a small yelp as she was thrown backwards by the boulder, temporarily loosing control of the strings of metal that she had taken.

Tetrad launched himself forward, sprinting toward her in an attempt to quickly defeat her before she managed to get a grip on the metal again. Silver pulled herself to her feet, letting her shell return back to her usual form and leaping out of the way with a sudden burst of speed. She mentally gripped the invisible strings connecting her to her metal and pushed, causing the dragon to screech as the metal inside him cut into his body.

Silver landed on her feet, growling, "This is your end, Tetrad."

She spread her wings, pulling her elronium in both directions at once. The earth drake screamed out in pain, gripping the ground and shaking his head, trying desperately to fight against this sudden overwhelming pain, but Silver closed herself off to his screeches and continued to pull with her mind. He was lifted into the air by the tension it caused, flinching and hissing, his normal eye closed and his robotic one focused on her.

The sound of flesh being ripped apart sounded through the battlefield and Tetrad screamed. With a final mental yank Silver pulled the elronium from within his body out of either side. His entire spine was pulled out of his back, his metal eye was torn from its socket, and his claws shattered, sending out a spray of blood. The gears around his tail and wings were pulled out, along with the appendages they were connected to, completely tearing the dragon apart. His wing, tail, spine and the rest of his body in separate pieces. Then what was left of him dropped to the ground with a solid crunch as Silver disconnected from the metal.

The dragoness looked at the broken body solemnly, and felt... nothing. It was strange, there was no shock, or horror, or regret. No sickness in her stomach. He had deserved it. She knew that. He had been torturing dragons for a long time, and had enjoyed it. Now he would never do that again.

'Maybe this is what O'hen meant when he said I would more likely do some questionable actions in battle,' she thought to herself.

Turning around she found that the two males had raided the forest. Part of it was on fire and trees looked as if they had been torn from the ground. The D.E.D. humans were fleeing in terror, dropping their weapons in an attempt to run as fast as they could away from the furious dragons and the humans with them. Gunfire sounded as the remaining four handlers fired down upon them, not caring that they were retreating. They were furious at the death of their friend.

A roar sounded out as West tackled one of the dragons from the air. A mind dragon, one that Silver instantly recognised. Taking to her wings she quickly flew over to where they had landed to see Krita pinned under the wind dragon. West had his claw on the other dragons throat and a snarl on his maw. The mind drake seemed frightened as he desperately tried to escape, but was unable to.

"Wait West!" Silver called as she glided down toward them, landing with a soft thud on the ground.

He looked up at her with a small frown.

"He's a friend, you can let him go," she said, looking at Krita.

"He's with D.E.D. Silver, and a collarless dragon. He is extremely dangerous," replied West.

"No, he helped me escape from D.E.D. You have to trust me in this," Silver reasoned.

Krita nodded his head desperately, "Yes, listen to her. I'm not threat to you, I swear."

He narrowed his eyes, before snorting and slowly stepping off, "If you try anything, I'll kill you."

The mind dragon rolled to his feet and quickly took a step away from West, before turning to Silver, "Thank you."

"Just repaying the favour," she replied with a small smile.

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Hey guys! New chapter! I hope you enjoyed. Vote if you did and comment what you thought. Silver's abilities are growing, but what will it mean for the dragoness? You'll have to wait and see ;) Next chapter will be out as soon as I can get it. See Ya!

Pennator^^