Silver took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and forced her mind to focus. It was starting soon, and the anxiety that always came from a predetermined fight wound through her like a torrent. Her tail flicked side to side incessantly, the metal on it creating small scratches in the surface of the ice. They had put her in a cubic room, with the traditional ice walls, ice roof and ice floor. One either side of the room were icicles that moved when applied pressure from the outside. She had no idea how they worked, and they were protected by the same telekinetic force of the other ice bars in her previous prison, one she would undoubtedly be returned to after this fight.

It had been a couple of days since her talk with Zoralth, and she hadn't seen the king of Eldawin's Syndicate since. Thankfully A.O.D.H hadn't arrived yet, and she still had her own mind. There was still no sign of Merene, and Silver didn't know whether to feel betrayed or worried. The mind dragon could have been captured for all they knew and put in a completely different prison from the one they were being held in. It would be a lot easier for her to escape this place then anyone else.

Sighing the silver dragon began to pad up and down the cage. She felt trapped, not just physically but mentally as well. Ever since Thylo had broken her mind she had been wary, paranoid even, of the mind dragon. He seemed to be always there, always looking in. Most of it was probably just her imagination, but it didn't feel like it. Silver had never been afraid before, at least, not truly afraid, but Thylo, he truly frightened her.

Outside she could here the rustled voices of hundreds of dragons, the sound she had gotten used to over the passed week, so much so that she could tell what the general mood of the crowd was. They were excited. Ecstatic, eagerly looking forward to blood that would be shed. She understood, at least partly. Watching two dragons brawl was always an interesting spectacle, but it also depended on whether or not the fight was to the death. This tournament, from what she had been told, wasn't an extremely safe thing to participate in. The rules were very basic. Fight until the other conceded or was unable to continue. They were it, and it wasn't uncommon for a dragon to die. They had healer dragons on standby of course, but there was nothing to stop instant kills like a crushed skull or an icicle to the heart.

She couldn't see into the arena, it was blocked by a ramp leading to the outside, but she had a feeling she knew where it was. Her mind flickered back to when she had seen the fight between the ice drake, Kunder, and his female friend, and she didn't doubt that they would be in the same arena. It would be the perfect place for a spectacle, but instead of being able to leave whenever they wanted, they would likely be trapped by one the telekinetic fields that encased every stage.

The dragoness took another deep breath, trying to get the substantial amount of nerves off her chest. She knew she could win. Retrix had studied and learnt what he could about the other dragons, and while they were all quite substantial fighters, none of them were amazing, at least, according to the earth dragon they had made 'friends' with. He had seemed all to eager to give out information on their opponents. It was a slight shame that he had to be the dragon Silver was facing. Another earth dragon. She smiled slightly at the thought.

He had told them his name was 'Rocky'. Obviously it was some nickname given to him, but that was what he had introduced himself as. Apparently he had gotten quite far last time the tournament had been held, and the only reason he had lost was because the final fight had been against a rather powerful mind dragon. There wasn't much one could do to defend themselves against something like that, something that Silver knew all to well. Strangely though there were no mind dragon prisoners, much to her relief.

From what she knew about the earth dragon however, she wouldn't be expecting an easy fight. Before Rocky had been imprisoned he had been one of the Syndicate's elite, and quite a high-ranking member, before he had lost his temper and snapped a younglings neck for generally no reason at all. At least, that was what she had been told, so she knew the earth dragon was rather ruthless.

The crowd outside was starting to get impatient. She could hear them, getting louder and more rowdy. They wanted the show to begin, and frankly, so did she. The quicker this was over with the better. Suddenly the voices outside quietened, and Silver tilted her head wondering what was happening. Suddenly a voice filled her head, one she knew all to well. With a hiss she backed away from the gate, shaking her head as fear suddenly welled up inside her.

'Hello all!' came the mental voice of Thylo the mind dragon, 'I'm sure you are all quite enthused about the start of this tournament. It has been nearly two years since the previous one, and I'm sure we are all reasonably eager to see what will happen. The first fight will be between two dragons I'm sure you know quite well. The first is Radaguard, or Rocky, an earth dragon who impressed us with his physical combat skills two years ago, and the other, Silver of D.E.D, the metallic dragoness that came here under the guise of a diplomat from Sky Mountain. The prize for winning this round, moving forward to the next round and of course the loosing dragon is given to the winning dragon for however long this competition shall last.'

Silver let out a low growl, and suddenly became very angry. She hadn't been told about that. Being given to the winner. What did that even mean? The very thought of it enraged her as she could think of but a few things the winner may do. In the end though, it just gave her more of a reason to win.

'Let's get this started!' Thylo's mental voice once again echoed through the crowd.

The icicle barriers that were between her and the arena suddenly began to shift, seemingly of their own accord, and move up into the ice above. Taking a deep breath the silver dragon made another effort to clear her mind, but it was no use. She was angry now, very angry, and she was going to do what she could to get free from this place.

Slowly Silver made her way out of her cage and up the ramp to the arena. She made sure to keep her posture tall and confident, and her gate smooth. Not fast out of nervous excitement or slowly in reluctance. She wanted the dragons to see her as someone who was sure of where this path would take them.

The sudden light made her shell glint, making her entrance seem all the more spectacular as a chorus of boos and curses were thrown in her direction. She didn't flinch under them, and she didn't acknowledge them either. Instead her gaze instantly turned upward, looking toward the dragon that had framed and put her here. The traitor. Zoralth was sitting on a perch seemed especially made for him as he gazed down into the arena, and when they made eye contact he smirked and her eyes narrowed. Next to him was Thylo, sitting there impassively with the cold light in his eyes. Her heart jumped when she saw him, but she kept her reaction to a minimum and instead turned her attention toward her opponent.

Rocky was welcomed with cheers, which made her rather surprised. A murderer was more celebrated then she was, a suspected and not even proved guilty dragoness. It made her wonder what the society here really was. Maybe they really despised the dragons working for D.E.D. The earth dragon wore his snarky smile. He knew he was celebrated and was expected to win this tournament. It seemed the final fight was happening as the first one. It was probably a technique of Zoralth's. He was hoping to knock her out in the first round to keep her from any chance at escaping.

"You ready to be beaten, 'ey?" Rocky said, beginning to circle around the arena.

Silver didn't answer, watching the earth dragon with a calculating gaze.

The earth dragon chuckled, "Don't worry, I'll be gentle on ye'."

Suddenly the dragoness exploded. She was tired of all this. Tired of all the snark remarks and comments. Tired of being constantly under watch. Tired of being chased and hunted. She had to release her rage on something, and Rocky just turned out to be the unlucky dragon to get in her way.

Without hesitation she grew an enormous amount of spikes on her tail and with a fluid movement, launched them toward him. He snarled in surprise and a brown layer of rock suddenly moved over his wing as he hit the spikes from the air. Silver didn't waist a moment and was launching forward before he had fully recovered. Her tail rippled and transformed into a three-tipped blade and she launched forward, landing on her opponent's neck and head, striking her tail down his side and cutting through the scales with relative ease. Three lines of blood were opened as the red liquid oozed from Rocky's side.

The earth dragon roared in pain as Silver began to dig her claws into his back and scratching out his scales. Without waiting for him to retaliate she gripped his maw with her hind legs she launched herself backwards, flapping her wings and twirling in a back flip and shoving Rocky's dangerous mouth away from her as an earth boulder came from it and slammed into the ground. In the same movement as the flip her triple blades sliced across his face, one along the middle, and two along either side, narrowly missing his eyes. He screeched in pain and managed to hop backwards with surprising speed, swinging his dangerous tail in a blind attack that Silver easily managed to dodge.

The crowd around them was staring in silent shock. Sure, Silver had reacted with such speed and precision that it would have been hard to get in an attack no matter how skilled or powerful her opponent was, but the fact the remained, in the first couple of seconds of the fight she had managed to relay out an enormous amount of damage, giving her the advantage. Those wounds would pain Rocky for the rest of the fight.

"Would you like to give up now?" asked Silver almost innocently, watching the dragon.

"You slimy lizard," hissed Rocky, shaking his head as blood began to get in his eyes from the wounds on his maw, "You lucky slimy lizard. Taking me by surprise like that, 'ey. Maybe I won't be so gentle on you after all."

With a roar he leapt forward with flap of his wings. An earth missile came from his maw, and Silver ducked, narrowly avoiding the elemental blast, before rolling to the side as Rocky's mace tail came from above in an attempt to crush her into the ground. Her amour would have held against such a strike, but it would still stun her.

Silver opened her maw as she came to her feet and encased the earth dragon's left hind leg in metal before bounding away out of reach of another slow swing of Rocky's tail. He growled in annoyance and tried to follow, only to find himself stuck to the ground. With a snort he looked down to see what had trapped him only to find the leg encased with metal.

"Why you little.... What did you do to me!?" he roared, struggling desperately to get out of his prison.

"Elronium. Strongest metal on earth, and something I just happen to breath," Silver explained, circling around the earth dragon.

Narrowing his eyes he gave another tug on his leg. Earth began to emerge from it as he began to pool his power into freeing himself, before with a suddenly growl, pulled his foot free, leaving a lump of elronium metal on the floor. He staggered away, heaving with the effort it required. Silver tilted her head, slightly surprise he had managed to free himself, but narrowed her eyes when he turned to look at her once again. Trying her attack again she opened her maw and sprayed a stream of silver, liquid metal straight at him. This time he retaliated with his own element, shooting a ball of rock into her attack. The force of the elements colliding caused Silver's stream to explode everywhere and with a growl she put up her wing, guarding against the raining metal that now was all over the stadium.

Rocky didn't hesitate, taking her slight distraction with his stride and launching forward, swing his tail around. Silver didn't notice until it was too late. There was a dull clang as the hard cartilage that made an earth dragon's tail slammed full force into her shell. She was thrown sideways, being launched nearly ten metres and into the wall of the arena. She lay where she landed, heaving to get the breath back that had been knocked out of her, before struggling back to her feet with a snarl. Her side ached, even though her shell had taken most of the strike. It would be bruised in the morning.

"That's just a taste of what's coming, hatchling," growled Rocky, smashing his tail into the ground, though he seemed a little surprise she could still get up.

Silver cracked a slight grin and shook herself before looking him in the eye, "That all you got?"

Slowly and deliberately she let her shell slide down her side and encase her in the metal that was part of her. Her now red eyes glistened and she roared out a challenge to the earth dragon, spreading her wings and showing the unexplained glory of a full-metal dragon. The dragons in the crowd murmured, some of them nervously. Even Rocky seemed slightly surprised.

Snarling furiously Silver launched forward, suddenly not caring if she was hit by any of the earth dragon's attacks. Her armour would protect her. She collided with him, swiping around her tail and cutting another gash into his unprotected side. He snarled again, backing up and swiping a claw at her. She didn't bother to dodge, letting the hit slam her head to the side. Instead of staggering she let the force of Rocky's hit add to her next attack, swinging a left hook with her wing, its edge rippling and becoming razor sharp. He staggered backwards, only just managing to avoid her and earning another line of blood across his chest.

Silver leapt forward, not letting him escape and threw an uppercut with her right wing, this time a blunt edge, and slamming it into his jaw. A few bones crunched as the silver dragoness jumped with the strike, adding more power to it and launching herself into the air in the same movement. She twisted once and flapped her wings, keeping her above the earth dragon. He staggered backward once again with a groan of pain.

"Yield," Silver spoke with calm rage.

Rocky snarled with ragged grasps. "Never."

With a snort the dragoness opened her maw, but instead of spraying liquid metal, she formed it into small metallic spikes and shot them out at Rocky. He roared out in pain as the tiny pieces of pain cut through his scales and shattered any thought of attack. He put his wings up, forming an earth shield with them and managing to block Silver's attack. He blocked his view of her however, and Silver took the advantage. She formed the elbow of her wings into hooks and flapped them forward, spurring herself on to the earth dragon. He roared in rage as she clashed into her back, and then screamed as she sunk the hook on her right wing into his spine, and pulled. The earth convulsed, desperately trying to get away from her but she held on until he collapsed to the ground, gasping.

"I yield! I yield!" he cried.

She stopped pulling and with a slow breath carefully removed the bloody hook from his back. Her shell returned to normal once more and she stepped away from the dragon, suddenly sick. She looked down at him, as if only now realising what she had done, and her eyes widened in horror. With a small gulp she took a small step backwards.

Rocky was bleeding out onto the floor. A large bloody gash had been opened in his back and Silver could see the vertebrae of his spine. His other wounds were leaking as well as his side heaved out blood and the deep scratches across his maw seeped out turning him more red then green. Silver turned away, taking a few quick breaths. What had she done? She had nearly killed the dragon, in fact he could still die if they didn't get a healer to him soon. Sure, he may have deserved it, but it was the reason why that disturbed her. She had lost control. All that anger and pain that had been tormenting her, she had let herself go, just for a minute.

Taking a shuddering breath she turned and quickly padded out of the room and away from the carnage she had dealt, still covered in the other dragon's blood. Her mind not being able to tear itself from the broken body of a nearly dead Rocky. The crowd watched her go in stunned silence.

* * *

"It seemed we underestimated our little hatchling," said Thylo, padding into the throne room after Zoralth.

"Yes, it seems so," the king sighed before laying down in his nest of silk and cotton, "I didn't peg her as the ruthless type."

"No, but I think there was more to it then that," sighed the mind dragon.

"What do you mean?"

"When she went into that fight... it seemed like part of her snapped. All her bottled up anger, resentment and pain suddenly came to the surface. She couldn't control herself."

An understanding glint crossed through Zoralth's eyes as he realised what the mind dragon was saying, "So, how close is she?"

"Close enough that we don't want to push her too far. In fact, her next fights should get progressively easier until she reaches Firefly, if we can do that. The fire dragoness might be the only one that could defeat her quick enough to avoid that... circumstance."

"Yes, I agree," Zoralth nodded, "Very well Thylo. I trust your judgement."

"Thankyou sir," the mind dragon bowed, "I will make sure that we keep the silver dragon under our control. At least, until A.O.D.H gets here."

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Hey guys! New chapter! Hope you enjoyed. I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Vote if you did enjoy and comment what you thought. Next chapter will be out soon. See Ya!

Pennator^^