"Silver! Zepos! Get out of the way!" Merene's startled cry broke the two dragons from falling into their desperately needed slumber.

Silver was the first to react, jumping to her feet, a little startled from the mind dragon's command. It was that movement that save Zepos's life. A large purple beam speared through the top of the shed the three dragons had been sleeping in, hitting the metal dragon square in the centre of her back. She growled in surprise as the force knocked her flat.

Zepos and Merene were quick to move, in fear of any of the other beams cutting through the shed, and took to the air. Silver was a bit slower, still dazed from being hit by the beam. She staggered out into the open and opened her wings, ready to fly again, when another beam struck her, knocking her to the ground again.

"Silver!" Cried Zepos, flapping his wings and pulling himself forward in the air.

The ground suddenly opened up beneath the downed dragonesses, revealing the deadly black void beneath, but as Silver fell Zepos burst forward at impossible speeds, lightning careening from his body in spectacular fashion. He tackled her sideways and away from the deadly rift and onto safe ground again. They rolled once before coming to a stand still.

Both dragons hurriedly got to their feet and turned toward the sky to find the culprit of the attack. A purple streak shot through the air right above them before turning and vanishing into the sky once more.

"He's back," snarled Silver, shaking herself, "Didn't think it would be this soon."

"Yeah, me neither. They must have healer dragons at A.O.D.H," replied Zepos.

"Of course they do. They have every species there," replied the dragonesses, "I'm just surprised they sent him this quickly. I had hoped we would be at Eldawin's Syndicate before he attacked again."

The lightning dragon frowned, "Oh."

She took to the air, quickly flapping over to where Merene was hovering immobile in the air. The mind dragoness was scanning the sky with narrowed eyes, turning slowly as she followed some invisible trace that the void dragon left in its wake.

"Can you track him?" asked Silver.

"Yes... barely. As I said, every time he.... enters that void I lose him, then when he comes back somewhere else I find him again. I won't be able to create any lasting illusions against him but I can keep track of him, and maybe predict where he will be next," she said, then her eyes widened, "Behind you!"

Silver twisted, flicking tail spikes backwards. She was rewarded by a growl of surprise as a flash of purple light narrowly missed her. Retrix growled as he flew backwards a couple of metres before disappearing through another portal and out of range of any other attacks.

"That is seriously annoying," Zepos said, flying up to them, "I had him lined up in a clear shot."

"I agree," Silver looked around, trying to find the purple dragon, "He's too fast. That was just a lucky shot just now and I doubt I seriously injured him."

"Yeah. You only hit his hind leg and lightly scraped his scales."

"Well at least we know his injuries," said Silver.

The three dragons arranged themselves in a triangle formation, back to back, as they searched the skies. Merene was concentrating intensely, her muzzle shaped in a snarl. Her eyes flickered continuously left and right. The dragons waited. There was nothing.

"Maybe he ran off again," Zepos suggested hopefully.

"No," Merene said, "He's still here. Just circling us and phasing in and out. It's hard to keep up but he's trying to think of a way to break us up, or break me up from you. He knows what I'm doing, senses me doing it, but he knows how to counteract mind dragons as well. Whenever he phases, he phases for longer and longer periods of time and does his planning where I can't see."

"Oh great," muttered Silver, "A tactician."

Her brother, Raize, fought like this as well. He would never attack until he knew exactly how and where to do so. It was infuriating and he had even taken a few victories from Silver using this tactic. Her father had also warned her of these types of dragons. They often managed to create situations for themselves and excelled at fighting multiple enemies, just like now.

"Aaargh!" Merene growled again.

Something suddenly hit Silver in the back, causing her to be sent plummeting forward while she regained balance. During the attack Zepos was also knocked away and nearly lost his wings in the air, just managing to catch himself before he hit the ground. Merene wasn't as lucky. The void dragon targeted her out and before the dragoness had time to react Retrix cracked his wing across her head, hitting a pressure point between her skull and spine, knocking Merene out, before disappearing into the void once more.

"Merene!" Silver yelled out, quickly flying over to where her friend had hit the earth.

"Silver look out!" Zepos cried instantly after, spotting a more immediate threat.

She twisted in the air, narrowly avoiding the void dragon's purple stream of energy and rose higher into the sky, her armoured shell quickly growing around her once again, protecting her from any of the enemy dragon's attacks. She was invincible; he wouldn't be able to injure her now, unless she fell through another one of his portals.

"Coward! Stop running away!" she roared, turning in the air, itching to show this dragon what it was like to truly fight her. He had no idea what she was capable off.

The length of her tail slowly began to grow, liquid metal flowing down her body and creating the weapon she wanted it to be. A long elronium whip, sharp enough to cut through trees and malleable enough to have the same properties as a piece of rope. She flicked it once, the longer appendage catching light of the moon and creating a ring that shocked the air. Her wings also changed, becoming longer and sharper then diamond.

"Bring it on," she hissed.

A purple light suddenly appeared out of nowhere, shooting through the air out of unknown origin. The laser hit her square in the chest, knocking her backwards. Silver cried out in alarm as seeping cold pieced through her armour, chilling her to the very bone, before disappearing again with the energy. She shivered fumbling before catching her wings again.

Then the real attack came. The purple dragon appeared right in front of her, travelling at full speed, and hammered her in the chest. The force of the strike threw her into the air and winded her. She grunted, and let out a growl as another attack came from behind. Again at full speed and again with a surprising amount of force.

With a roar the metal dragon crashed into the ground, rolled once, before coming to a stand still. Coughing Silver hauled herself to her feet, shaking off the attack, and looked up into the air. The void dragon was hovering above her, purple eyes glowing in the night and the red device beeping on his head. His eyes looked distant, like he wasn't focused on the fight. Silver knew otherwise. It was the same look her father had when the two of them had fought.

With a roar she struck forward, pushing herself forward with a flap of her enlarged wings. She whipped her tail upward, aiming to strike the dragon in his injured leg and maybe catch him in place. It would give them enough time to electrocute him with lightning and maybe free him.

Retrix growled in surprise and tried to fly backwards to avoid the strike. He was caught unaware by the speed and let loose a small whimper of pain as the whip like tail wrapped around his injured leg. With a snarl he flapped his wings, desperately trying to get away from this new pain. But the more he struggled the worse it got, and he realised it pretty quickly. The sky ripped above him, opening another portal into the void, and he made a sudden effort to get through it.

"No you don't," Silver growled and yanked him backwards. It turned out metallic dragons were stronger then void dragons.

However instead of fighting against her as she expected, he used the momentum caused by her pull to launch himself back downwards, opening another portal into the void and flying right through it. Silver snarled and quickly tried to wrench him back but the void closed, taking a part of her tail with it.

"What the...." she staggered backwards and let loose a cry of alarm.

She glanced at her tail and growled in surprise. The whole metallic whip was gone, along with at least ten centremetres of actual flesh and bone. Blood was just beginning to run from the end of it, trickling onto the ground below. A sting of uncomfortable pain rushed through it, causing the metallic dragoness to flinch.

"Silver are you alright?" asked Zepos as he landed next to her.

"That lizard just cut off the end of my tail!" Silver roared, looking into the sky with anger.

"What!" Zepos looked down at in with alarm, before letting loose a sigh of relief. It wasn't a permanent injury. Being as minor as it was the cut off part of the tail would grow back after a couple of weeks, but Silver really wasn't thinking of that at the moment.

With a snarl she leapt into the sky again, metal closing off and reforming the end of her tail, and she shot into the air, determined to get revenge on the dragon. Retrix had returned to his tactic of circling as he uncoiled the metal whip that was still attached to his leg. It hurt quite a bit, and he was lucky that it didn't completely pull the limp off, but it was only a minor injury. Not enough to stop him.

Turning in the air the purple dragon phased into the void again, and appeared behind Silver. He opened his mouth, ready to blast her with energy, when he spotted Zepos send forth a strike of yellow lightning in his direction. Changing tactic he flapped backwards, the space in front of him ripping open. The electricity went straight into the void. In that moment Silver turned, swing her mostly complete tail at Retrix. He grunted as she knocked him out of the air with a single strike, sending him into the metal shed below and causing another hole to be created in the top.

Zepos quickly charged a power strike of lightning, taking less then two seconds, and let it loose as the downed dragon. Retrix roared in pain as this time Zepos scored a hit. The purple dragon convulsed, electricity surging through him, and only when the machine on his head switched off did Zepos cut off the supply of power.

Silver let loose a small sigh of relief before she pulled in her wings and dived down to the ground where Retrix was lying, wings open and unconscious. She quickly walked over to his head and, using her tail, wrenched off the device that had been controlling him. It came easily, just as it had with the last two dragons she had freed. Letting loose a sigh of relief she took a step back, looking at him.

Zepos padded over to her and laughed disbelievingly, "I can't believe that actually worked."

"Why not? It's not like you require me to supercharge your electricity or anything. It's just easier for me," she grinned at him.

"Hmm, true," he shook his head with a snort.

"Hey! What happened out here?" Silver turned to see Darren running out toward them. He had probably heard the commotion caused by the fight.

"We were attacked by a dragon from A.O.D.H," Zepos replied, "And we managed to defeat him, and free him."

"Wha...? Oh," he said as he saw the dragon laying on his back unconscious in the middle of a rather wrecked shed.

"Oh good, you did manage to get him," groaned a rather disgruntled mind dragon as Merene regained consciousness once more.

"Merene!" Silver hurried over to her, feeling slightly guilty at not making sure she was okay sooner.

She helped the mind dragoness to her feet and walked her over to Retrix. It was the first time Silver had gotten a really detailed look at the void dragon. He had strange colouring, dark purple on his back that slowly got lighter as it moved down his sides. His horns had a slightly serrated edge, looking like a jagged blade. A small glow originated around the dragons neck, creating a slightly eerie light.

"He's waking up," Merene said, causing Silver and Zepos to stand back, and Darren to glance at the mind dragon in worry.

A small grunt came from the void dragon as his eyes slowly opened. They had lost their bright purple glow, revealing a dark violet, cat like pupil. A snarl escaped Retrix when he saw the three dragons standing over him, and he quickly rolled to his feet, wings spread out ready to attack, only to find that his injured leg didn't hold him. He collapsed to the ground again with a whimper of pain.

"Hold still Retrix," Silver took a step forward toward him, "You don't have to fight us anymore. You're free."

The void dragon hesitated for a moment, studying her with distrust. His eyes scanned the area and came to look upon the broken device, and his eyes widened, disbelieving. They had freed him.

"How...?" he spoke with a slightly musical voice, a monotone.

"Zepos overloaded the circuits with power, frying the whole thing and destroying it," Silver said, trying to be gentle with him, even though she was still mad at the loss of the tip of her tail, "You aren't A.O.D.H's anymore."

Retrix sat down on his haunches, staring at the ground as if trying to comprehend what had just happened. Silver wouldn't be surprised if he had given up hope of escape. The prospect of escaping AODH was a fantasy to many captured dragons, but not something they hoped for.

The void dragon looked up, right at Zepos, "Thankyou. I'm forever in your debt."

Zepos let out a light grin, "Don't mention it. It's kind of what we do in our spare time."

Retrix grinned back before standing back up, favouring his injured leg, and shaking himself. He checked over his wings for any tears before looking to the sky. He could do whatever he wanted. He could finally be free.

"What are you going to do now?" it was Merene that asked, a little curious at this new dragon.

He hesitated, "Well.... I.... I don't know."

"You could join us," Silver suggested, causing both Zepos and Merene to look at her in surprise. Even Retrix was a little confused at her proposal.

"Why?"

"Why not? You don't seem to have anywhere else to go, and we could use the help of a powerful dragon," she said, "And, with our help, you may even have your revenge on AODH."

He tilted his head to the side, considering for a moment, then nodded his head. He could use some help anyway. With his injured leg he would be vulnerable, and having a group of capable dragons around him would definitely help. He looked to the other two dragons, wondering what they thought. The lightning dragon seemed a little sceptical, but the mind dragon agreed with Silver.

"Great!" Silver said, "You don't mind if he stays the night Darren?"

"No... of course not," the farmer said, looking over Retrix, "As long as there's no more trouble I'll be fine."

"Oh, sorry about your roof," the dragoness smiled slightly.

"Don't worry about it, it dew for a change anyway," He yawned, "Now, if everything's sorted out here, I'm heading back to bed."

He left the dragons and walked back to the house. Silver lay down with a small sigh, letting her metal shell retract from around her body. The bleeding in her tail had slowed down, and the pain was more of a dull throb, nothing major, and Silver knew it would grow back eventually. Zepos lay down next to her, sending a protective glance at Retrix, warning him not to try anything. The void dragon snorted slightly before laying down himself, wondering what travelling with these three new dragons would bring. 

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Hey guys! New chapter! I got this one out quickly this time :) Vote if you enjoyed and comment what you thought. The next chapter will be out soon. See Ya!

Pennator^^