Electricity arced through the air, travelling at high speeds towards its target. Just before it hit there was a wash of energy as the void was opened in midair. The lightning travelled through the darkness and disappeared as the portal was closed. There was a laugh as Retrix twisted before Zepos had another chance to attack.

"Nice try," called the void dragon, disappearing through another portal to come up behind Zepos, "But you're going to have to do better then that."

The lightning dragon grunted in annoyance, spinning around and attempting another shot at Retrix, who dodged again, flinging himself out of the way. Taking advantage of the other drake's temporary stumble Zepos launched himself into the air, electricity running over his scales as he struck forward with the speed of a lightning bolt.

Retrix grunted in surprise and braced himself, knowing he wouldn't have time to get out of the way. The two of them collided, the void dragon slammed against the opposing wall and let out a cry of alarm as he felt the electricity run through his body. With a snarl he gripped Zepos's shoulders with his claws and swung the dragon around, battering his wings to get him out of his grip and disappearing into the void once again, getting himself away. He twisted around and fired a beam of purple energy at the stunned lightning dragon, which let out a roar as he attempted to shield himself from the cold it created.

The void drake then pushed himself forward with a flap of his wings toward the temporarily discombobulated Zepos, forcing him into the wall. As soon as he touched the other dragon however he got electrocuted and he grunted, stunned for a moment. The lightning dragon quickly moved, punching him with the elbow of his wing before tackling him and forcing him into the ground below.

Retrix lay there for a moment, hissing slightly in pain. He was quite sure he had broken something. Before Zepos could land another hit he fell back into a portal and appeared standing on the ground a couple of metres away. Both dragons were breathing heavily, but neither was willing to give up just yet. Slowly they moved toward each other, Retrix favouring his right leg slightly where he hurt.

"You're getting better," grunted the void drake with a grin.

"And you are still as annoying as ever," snorted back Zepos, lashing his tail, "Can't you do a fight without teleporting everywhere?"

"Where's the fun in that?" laughed Retrix, "Can you do a fight without making yourself electrified?"

"Fair point," grinned the lightning drake.

Just as the two were about to pounce at each other again they were interrupted as a human came running into their fight, waving his arms and yelling for them to stop. They both looked at each other, before turning to this human.

"What do you want Greg?" asked Zepos, "We're kind of in the middle of something."

The boy took a moment to catch his breath, hands on his knees as he gasped in the air, "You're... not going to... believe this."

"What?" Retrix frowned.

"Silver... she's been spotted in the mountain range."

Both of them froze, and for a moment no one said anything.

"But... Silver's somewhere in A.O.D.H, not even we know where," stuttered the void dragon.

"Are you sure?" said Zepos.

"Pretty sure. We saw her through our cameras we've placed around. She's with a group of dragons."

"Pretty sure?" repeated Retrix.

"Well... its definitely a female metal dragon," he said, "And the only one is Silver, so... it has to be. Right?"

The dragons looked at each other, before speaking up again.

"Where is she?" asked Zepos, daring to hope.

"She should be coming in any moment now," replied Greg, "Come on, we better hurry."

The three of them quickly moved out of the training arena and toward the entrance of Sky Mountain. The pain in Retrix's leg was all but forgotten. It seemed a lot of other dragons had also received the information and were quite eager to see the arrival of what seemed to be Silver. Both drakes hoped and feared that it was.

Over the past nine months the two of them had become quite good friends, united by a common goal: to find the silver dragon. But no matter how hard they looked or where they ended up it seemed as though she had disappeared from the face of the earth. Every A.O.D.H base they checked had no sign of her and Retrix began to wonder whether or no she was actually in A.O.D.H at all.

They pushed their way to the front of the crowd that had gathered by the entrance, and turned their gazes to the sky. A group of dragons was approaching. There were five of them in total, each having what looked to be a human on their backs. From this distance Retrix could just make out the species of the dragons, and his heart leapt in his chest.

There was fire, water, wind and mind that he could see. But what made him truly nervous and joyful was the familiar sheen of elronium glinting in the sun. It made her a little difficult to look at, but it was definitely the silver dragon, the one they had been looking for all this time.

The small group made their way down to the entrance of Sky Mountain. A few of the patrols flying through the air fell in behind the group, looking at the humans curiously and a little suspiciously. Humans were a common sight around the mountain but it was rare that so many new ones came in all at once, especially when most of them were waring A.O.D.H uniforms.

Zepos watched as Silver glided down, landing gracefully on the stone floor of The Centre. She looked... different, like her body had been polished to perfection, and the lightning dragon found himself staring, unable to take his eyes of her. She turned, and they made eye contact. He took a hesitant step forward.

"Silver?" Retrix suddenly said, looking at her with a mixture of disbelief and awe, "Is it really you?"

The dragoness nodded her head softly, a smile tugging at her mouth, "It is."

Despite her different look, there was something else strange about her. It was like she radiated an aura, a cool metallic tinge that was slightly there. It surrounded her, like a translucent shield that could become solid at any moment, but neither drake payed attention to it as they padded over to her.

Neither of them knew quite what to say. They had been searching for her for months, trying to find a way to rescue her. And now here she stood, free of any bounds, and looking even better then when she had left.

"I...I've missed you," Zepos said softly, looking at her.

"I have as well," she replied, taking a step forward and wrapping her wings around him, causing him to grunt in surprise, before hugging her back and lightly nuzzling her neck.

She was slightly larger then before as well, a little bigger then he was perhaps, though he had filled out more. She seemed to have the larger wings and a longer neck and tail, while he had the larger body. Then there was that strange aura surrounding her, one that hadn't been there before.

The dragoness stepped back, much to his disappointment, and turned to Retrix. The void dragon could see a hesitation in her, like she wasn't sure how to react to him. He frowned slightly, before smiling and stepping forward, hugging her as well. She hummed softly, lightly nuzzling his neck.

"It's good to have you back," he said to her, before stepping back with a smile, "Who's your friends?"

Silver turned to look at the dragons behind her and smiled, "Zepos, I'm sure you recognise my brother, Blaze, and Krita."

The lightning dragon nodded, a little surprised to see them again.

"The wind dragon is West," she continued, and he gave a small nod of greeting with his head, "And the water dragoness is..."

She was cut off when Retrix spoke softly, "Reha."

She blinked in surprised, tilting her head and looking at him in surprise, "You know each other."

The void dragon nodded his head, "We... were in the same base for a small while."

Reha nodded her head softly, shuffling a little awkwardly. Silver frowned, wondering what had happened between them. The first thought that came to mind made her eyes widen. She glanced at Retrix and tilted her head, asking a silent question. He seemed to understand what she was saying, and gave a small nod of his head, looking to the ground.

"Liam, am I right?" Zepos grinned when he saw the human, "You're alive."

"Good to see you to," Liam smiled back, "I see quite a lot has changed since we last met."

"Well, yeah, definitely. Who's the rest of the humans?"

"That's Tyler," Silver said, nodding to the black haired human, "A friend of Liam's. Then there's Diana, Sarah, Garret and Denzon. They are ex-A.O.D.H, and have helped us a lot the past week."

"Is that how you got free?" asked Retrix.

"...No, not exactly. I'll... tell you later," Silver shuffled slightly.

The void dragon nodded, already having a fair idea of what happened. There was a sudden commotion and they all looked up to see Iraliene's giant form descending from the sky, her glistening green scales as brilliant as ever. Flying with her was her son, the gravity dragon named Gravon, as well as Silver's other brother, Raize. Celestia was also with them, having heard the news that her friend had returned.

When the light dragoness saw Silver she let out a cry of happiness, and quickly dropped from the sky, nearly tackling the metal dragon to the ground. Silver chuckled and hugged her back, happy to find Celestia well. It had been so long since she had met with the dragon she thought of as her best friend.

"How'd you escape!" she exclaimed, "We've all been so worried about you! And we've been searching everywhere, but we couldn't find you... and now you're here!"

Silver laughed, "It's good to see you again Celestia. I've missed you as well."

The light dragon stepped back, studying her for a moment, "And what happened to you? You look so different."

"I'll explain it all later," she promised, before turning to her other brother, "Hey Raize."

He smiled, walking over to her, "You're back. Finally."

"Well... I finally found a chance to escape," she replied, lightly nudging him.

Something had changed in Raize. She couldn't quite place it, though he seemed more solemn then last time they had met. His smile was tired and worn, with a startling lack of enthusiasm. She watched as he turned to greet Blaze as well. It was obvious he was glad they were back, but there was also a hesitation in the way he greeted them.

Finally Silver turned to Iraliene, bowing her head softly in respect to the larger dragoness. The queen of Sky Mountain lowered her head as well, greeting Silver quietly.

"It is good to have you back with us," she said.

"It's good to be back," replied Silver with a smile.

"Who are your friends?" asked the life dragoness, regarding the humans especially with a frown.

Taking a deep breath Silver reintroduced her group, taking into special consideration to explain how each of them could be of help to Sky Mountain. Iraliene didn't seem particularly pleased to learn that the humans were from A.O.D.H, though she had met Liam before. But she welcomed them inside nevertheless; saying that there information on A.O.D.H secrecy would be welcome.

* * *

Silver felt herself slowly relax as she walked through the familiar areas of Sky Mountain. It had been so long since she had seen the walls, so long since she had walked freely in earthen corridors. The light of the sun seemed to be everywhere, refreshing and welcome. The dragons she passed greeted her with eagerness, sometimes staying to chat.

Blaze, Reha, Krita and West had all gone with Iraliene to get settled in and get their own caves. The humans had been transported to the upper levels where the other's lived, so Silver was left to her own devices, much to her relief. Retrix, Zepos and Celestia had decided to stay with her.

"What's happened here since I was captured?" asked the metallic dragoness, looking at them.

"Nothing much. Our population had grown somewhat and we have nearly three thousand here now. We've discovered numerous A.O.D.H and D.E.D bases around the world, upgraded security around here as well. But that's about it," Retrix said, "How about you? What did A.O.D.H want you for?"

She glanced back at him, before sighing softly, "They were making me build something, a machine."

"Did you find out what it did?" he asked.

"Yes... but I'll tell you when we have a meeting with Iraliene. It is something we all need to know," she said.

The void dragon frowned, before nodding his head, "Okay, very well."

"Did they make you... do anything else?" Zepos said, a little awkwardly.

"No," Silver smiled, "I wasn't forced to breed or capture other dragons, nothing like that. They actually gave me a choice in the matter."

"That's weird. Why?"

"I'm still trying to figure that out."

It was a lie. Silver had a fair idea of why she was given a choice in the matter. It prevented her from pushing herself to hard against any orders given to her. In the end it hadn't worked of course, but they had kept her captive for much longer then if she had resisted from the start. If she had, then she could have reached equilibrium much faster. She sighed at the thought.

"Hey, do you three want to come to my cave?" asked Zepos, "We can talk there if you want."

"Good idea," Silver smiled, forcing her thoughts away from A.O.D.H, "It would be good to get some peace and quiet."

The four of them took to the air, gliding into The Nest. It was still as big as Silver remembered, reaching up high into the mountain with its jagged and natural rock formations and the thousands of caves scattered throughout the walls. There was a greater amount of dragons in the area as well, and her group attracted quite a bit of attention. Retrix, Celestia and her were very rare dragons and to have three of them together was definitely a cause of interest.

Zepos flew them into his cave about halfway up. He did share with a couple of other dragons but they were out at the moment, likely training or working. Silver landed on the rocky ground and turned to face the others.

"You're higher up then last time I was here," she stated.

"Yeah... I've succeeded in rising up the rankings a bit," He smiled, "Now that I'm ten, it's far easier to get recognition."

"I'm sure you'll go far," Celestia said with a grin, "These two males spar every day in the Training Centre, and sometimes it can get quite serious."

Silver tilted her head at them, "Really?"

They nodded their heads, glancing at each other with a small grin.

"It doesn't hurt to get more powerful," replied Zepos, "Besides, it's given us a chance to catch up to you."

The dragoness laughed, "Well, we'll have to see about that."

Celestia snorted, "I bet us two could beat you two."

"Is that so?" grinned Retrix, "Well, maybe we should have spar some time. I do want to see how far Zepos and I have gotten compared to the two of you."

Silver smiled, "Very well. Tomorrow then, when I've had a chance to rest. My wings are tired from flying the past couple of days."

"I'm sure they are. Your cave is still as you left it, though it's a bit dusty," Retrix said, "I've made sure that no one has tried to claim it."

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem," he replied.

The four of them continued to talk for the rest of the afternoon, and Silver found herself feeling happy again. To be with her friends, without any troubles or arguments, and talk freely. It felt good. Though she knew it couldn't last. Eventually, she would have to choose, a time that she wasn't looking forward to.

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Hey guys! New chapter! I hope you enjoyed. Vote if you did and comment what you thought about it. Next chapter will be out soon. See Ya!

Pennator^^