(Sorry for the long wait! Hope this longer update will make up for it somewhat!)

Bampf! A blast of bright neon blue plasma burned into my retinas. The rock three feet to my left vaporized into a puff of smoke and ash. I bit my lower lip and pressed my back so hard against the boulder behind me I could feel the jagged surface of the rock prod into my back.

Another blast, this one closer. Dang! Did it see me? I inhaled sharply before going perfectly still. If it saw me, I was dead. My heart thumped hard in my chest as I kept my eyes peeled.

Suddenly a brutish head that looked to be made of granite curved over the rock I was on. Great globs of blue acidic spit dripped from its serrated teeth to smack wetly onto the rock inches from my head. I watched as it turned to foam which began to eat away at the rock surface. It lowered its head, letting me have a good look at the pebbled, glossy surface of its dark scales and it's slanted, glowing blue eyes. Its nostrils flared, making snuffling sound similar to a horse. Then its jaws unhinged to unleash a harrowing shriek.

Time for me to skedaddle.

I took a deep breath before plunging into shadow form, focusing as hard as I possibly could on my location. If I didn't focus, I would get... lost! I felt the familiar tug of the shadow world's current yank me along and I gasped before suddenly jumping out, hoping this was the right place.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

I reformed standing right behind the big momma. Her enormous, muscular haunches were taking up all my vision. Before I could phase again, I was knocked off my feet by her long, whip-like tail.

I plopped on my butt hard and looked up to see three angry cave wyverns leered down at me, their blank blue eyes anything but amused.

"Hi," I waved with a fake smile.

They all struck at the same time. Just as I wanted. I popped back into shadow world and watched as they all bashed their heads together, their scales clattering. They hissed and snapped at each other like a few heads on a scatterbrained hydra. Classic. I popped back into existence by the treasure- the cave dragon's hoard. Which was a collection of jewels so grimy and crusty their color was indistinguishable. I made a face as I reached out to grab one.

The clamor of scrabbling talons against rock echoed against the cave walls. The cave wyverns were regrouping.

"Hah! I got it! I won- Darius you see this?" I called waving the nasty poop nugget prize in the air.

There was a grunt in reply. I felt heat from behind me and cried out in pain, throwing myself recklessly towards the ground to evade the sting. "Sloppy." Darius' voice growled in derision. I looked around at him with squinted eyes to see him wrestling a smaller cave wyrm to the ground- his muscular arm around its neck. The dragon's mouth opened, thin blue tongue sticking straight out as it yanked its head back, the wing talons bracing against the cave floor. Darius nodded to me. "This bugger would've nailed ya in the back. You weren't focusing."

I sighed. "Sorry I'm just.. I'm tired. Is this really necessary?" I couldn't help but complain. We had stayed up half the night playing Pit, which was Darius' favorite card game, and now he was making me steal a chunk of junk from these ugly mutts. And if there was one thing this group didn't know about- it was safety procedures.

"If you want your dinner tonight, yes, it is." Darius said sharply. "Now look. To your left. Three are hiding behind the rock, ready to strike. Did you notice them?"

I turned to look. "Well... yeah..." I lied.

"Lazy." He said again. "Always keep an eye on your surroundings. What are you doing looking at me?" He gave his cave wyrm a sharp rap on the muzzle with his knuckles. "Get out of here with your prize!"

I looked away, breathing heavily. Just as he had said, the other three wyrms lunged out of hiding, their fiery neon blue wings spread in a mesmerizing display of color. Wicked blue talons arced towards me their crusty points poised for the killing blow. I shifted to shadow, evading them before racing as fast as I could to the entrance of the dratted cave.

Caedmon was out at the entrance with a Alisie, who had returned late last night. She had one hand on her hips and the other on a timer that she was looking down at with a smug expression. A few strands of her dark hair was braided and flung over her shoulder. "Six minutes," she said as I exited. "You really are a slow poke."

Caedmon was sniffing her boots. He was obsessed with them since he first set eyes on them. When he realized I had returned he bounded over to me and nuzzled my legs. I crouched over to pet him, ignoring her.

She fingered her braid, smirking at me. "What do they teach there at S-11. How to get killed?"

"I'm used to fighting against people, not dragons," I said a bit defensively as I chucked the nugget away with a heavy sigh. I didn't care what she thought of me, but something in me wanted to impress Darius. And Darius certainly was not happy. I saw his tight expression as he walked out of the cave, his eyes flickering with bright white flame. "Any dragon even half a level higher than those would have destroyed you in a blink of an eye. You were too slow, too indecisive." Darius spread his hands like he was holding a table. Tiny figures popped into existence. I could see a mini figure of me running towards the heap of treasure as tiny lizard-like wyverns snaked after me. Suddenly the image paused. "You were looking back at them." Darius pointed out. "And while you were distracted, this wyrm could have gutted you from behind." He said, pointing to one right. For the next five minutes I listened patiently as he described all the ways I messed up, which to his point of view, were many.

Finally, he finished. "We'll try again tomorrow." The illusions disappeared with a wave of his hand and he started trekking down the side of the mountaintop. If there was one thing I was already thankful for from S-11- it was the long jogs we took on Thursdays. I was already lean and built like a runner so I could at least keep up with Alasie. Caedmon huffed and panted, wading through the snow like a trooper. I am amazed that he was not complaining and wanting to be picked up. I felt like I should probably give him a lift, but he would just weigh me down and Darius wasn't one to wait up.

When we made it past the snowy part of the mountain to the sheer cliff, Alasie started crawling down like a mountain goat while Darius just jumped twenty five feet down and landed with a crunch before squinting up at us from below. "Come on!" he yelled at me when I balked.

Going up had been cool, but going down? Did everything had to be so hardcore out here? I sighed before turning to Caed. "Want to grab onto my backpack?" I asked him as he peeked over the cliff. Then I frowned as he crouched, his wings spreading. He was going to test out his newfound flying skills. I opened my mouth to tell him that he shouldn't do it, but then I remembered what Darius had said earlier. Trust. Alright. I was going to trust Caed.

"Time waits for no one," Darius said. "Get your skinny white butt down here."

This guy had no patience! I grunted and heaved myself over, carefully finding ledges to hold onto. Even so, my eyes constantly flicked over to look over at Caedmon as I watched him leap off before flapping his wings and keeping them level. He soared down with a happy little trumpeting sound. I could feel his excitement and it made me smile as well. I managed to crawl down the cliff face before hopping down the rest of the way. Wen I turned, I found that Darius had caught Caedmon out of the air and was now setting him down. "Let's head back for lunch."

My stomach growled in agreement, but I knew it would take another hour until we were back at the base. Darius hadn't been joking when he had told me he was taking me 'for a hike'. "Alright," I said as Caed bounded towards me with a huge grin. He bounced around my legs like a bunny. Did you see that Justin? I flew! I flew by myself!

"Yeah you sure did," I said, chuckling. I patted his head. Then I looked up to find both Darius and Alasie had ditched me. "Hey! Wait up!" I yelled as I raced after them.

Darius tilted his head as he walked. He was so tall, his walk equaled my jog. "Why?"

"So I can catch up." I said before slowing as I approached his side. My hood began to fall from all the jostling so I pulled it back up, not wanting to be burned by the midday sun.

He smiled a little, his mess of fangs gleaming. Up ahead, I saw Alisie with her polar griffin. She patted the hawk head and kissed her beak (which I thought was pretty nasty) before swinging up on her back. She waved at us. "I'll meet you guys back at the base!" She called as the griffin took to the skies with a great sweep of her speckled white wings.

Darius nodded and waved at her. Once she was gone, he rifled in his jacket for something. He pulled out a green book with a shiny stenciled dragon on the cover. Above it, in shiny, formal lettering read 'Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dragons'. "I've been meaning to give this to you. This is information I've gathered through years of study. I drew everything in there myself." He smiled as he handed it to me.

I opened the book, the new book smell filling my nostrils. I heard the satisfying crackle of a binding being stretched for the first time. This thing felt like it had just been bought from Barnes and Nobles for about fifty dollars. Inside, I saw an incredibly detailed drawing of what I immediately recognized as a metal dragon set upon a backdrop of aged yellow paper. Gold tinged the page's edges like the old timey books used to have. There were tiny arrows pointing to various points of the dragon's body with labels, as well as a lengthy paragraph concerning the habitat, differences in scale color and crest between male and female, as well as the regions in which the dragon lived.

"Or course that ain't the original," Darius explained as I ran a hand over the glossy page. "I had Zach copy it for me. I want you to read that book. Study it. It could save your life. Every dragon's got their weakness. Some are just more prominent- like yours." He said, pointing to my gloves and hoodie. "But everything's got a chink in the ol' armor," He looked around the forest as he walked, his eyes hooded by the flames which flickered as if his tears were made of lit gasoline.

I couldn't help but feel excited as I rifled through the pages. Everything was drawn so well... and even colored with watercolor. Darius' handwriting was an art by itself, with slanted, sloping letters that were riddled with lots of loops and swirls. "Does it have... shadow dragons in here too?" I asked.

He smiled at me. "Of course it does. Page 230."

I quickly turned the pages to find it, before I saw a flashy black dragon with antler-like horns and a slender body. It read 'African Shadow Dragon' and under it in italics read 'Umbra draco Africaani'. It was written in a different handwriting than Darius' fancy one, it wasn't in cursive and it seemed more to the point. Under the dragon, there was a small label that read 'Kasida'. And at the bottom of the page I could see written 'by Mara.' "Whose Mara?" I asked.

"Ah, she was my wife in the mid nineteenth century." He said with a fond smile.

"Oh," I said. He had a wife? Why was that so hard to believe? I flipped the page before grinning hugely as I saw 'North American Shadow dragon' and I saw a gorgeous, sleek dragon that looked like an older Caedmon. It had crazy green stripes on its haunches and back, down to the very tip of its tail, as well as the wings. A mane of green fire raced all the way down to its tail. He had drawn it running, so the flames seemed to be like the tail of a comet. My jaw dropped. This dragon was so kick-butt looking it was ridiculous! Caedmon would turn into this? When would he get the stripes? I was tempted to read the rest but I almost tripped over a root and decided it would be best to read it later. I closed the book.

"What do you think?" Darius asked, giving me a knowing grin.

"I think it's incredible," I said. "Caedmon's going to be so awesome! When's he going to get that green mane and stripes?"

Darius chuckled. "It's not exactly a mane, it's aura they project. Sort of to show their magic capabilities. Caedmon's is purple, not green. All dragons possess a certain amount of magic, some just have more than others. Shadow dragons have an extraordinary amount of magic, especially in the areas of illusion and playing with the emotions of others. Not to mention shadow travel."

I looked up at him with a huge grin. No one at S-11 could tell me this, or even knew what to do with me or how to teach me. But this guy... he was the real thing. He was an elf, after all. They are supposed to be pretty wise. "Thanks." I said, before suddenly I had an idea. "So.. you can talk in the dragon language?"

"Yes, unlike humans, dragons all share a universe language, albeit with different dialects," Darius was more than happy to share with me.

"Can you teach it to me?" I asked.

He smiled. "I will, but all we have time for right now is shadow travel training. Once we free the kids at S-11, I'll teach everyone to speak draconic."

"How come nobody at S-11 told me about this?" I asked, tucking the book tenderly under my armpit.

"Because at S-11 all they care about is making you ready for battle, not for bonding and learning about dragonkind," Darius shrugged.

"That's too bad. I would have loved to learn this sort of stuff."

Darius smiled and patted my back amiably. "I like ya, kid. You're smart, inquisitive. Keep asking questions, that's how you get smarter."

I smiled, feeling my chest swell at his compliment. I had a feeling he didn't give those out easy. "Thanks," I said, and my stomach growled louder as if agreeing.

"Let's get you something good to eat," he said, putting a large hand on my shoulder. "Then I'll get Zach to train you. Right now, getting you ready to do your part of the job is our highest priority."

He knew how to make me feel special. "Yes sir," I smiled as Caedmon trotted alongside us like a regal horse, picking up his paws delicately. His head was held high, a dead rat dangling limply from his maw. So that's what the rascal had been up to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as we all had pulled out our beautiful peanut oil-fried delectable chicken breasts squished between sugary yet flat American rolls, Aly wandered into the kitchen. While Jesse, Darius, and I froze, Zach just started eating, chewing slowly to savor the taste. Aly's eyes narrowed as she gazed upon us. Her mouth opened, looking as if she wanted to lecture, yell, and scream at us at the same time. Then it shut with an angry click and her jaw clenched, making sharp dimples on her jaws. She turned on her heel, her hands fisted at her thighs and marched out in an angry huff.

"Honey.." Darius called, setting down his sandwich and following her out, crouching to evade the ledge in the doorway.

As soon as he was gone, Blaize plopped down in his seat and took his Rider's sandwich, shamelessly digging in.

The rest of us soon joined him. Chik-fil-a had to be one of my favorite fast foods in the world, and I had only tried it once on a vacation to Florida. Don't remember seeing any in Washington, but I guess they had it here.

Even better than the chicken sandwiches and thick potato waffle fries were the milkshakes, and Darius' team had gotten half a dozen of those. Thick, creamy and dreamy, I was in heaven as I used all my suction power to suck it up through the straw and onto my taste buds. I groaned as I let it slide over my tongue. "This... is heaven."

"I ain't gonna lie, things are pretty great here. If Aly weren't here, it would be a sort of bachelor pad," Zach chuckled as he chewed on a French fry. "Junk food, wifi, and flying dragons is what we do."

Alasie cleared her throat loudly, as if Zach was both blind and deaf. She sat down across from us, grabbing two cartons of chicken nuggets and a lemonade.

"Oh yeah, forgot about you," Zach smirked and leaned back. "You are a girl, right?"

Alisie stood up fast, startling me so bad I almost fell backwards.

"You wouldn't hit a blind kid, would you?" Zach asked, frowning. He sounded like such a victim, I even felt bad for him. "It was an honest question. You see I- I can't see. And you do sound sort of like a man." He said pathetically.

"I have no qualms about kicking your blind butt," she snapped. "So shut up!" She snapped before reaching over and slapping Terral's snout. I heard a hollow thunk and Terral sneezed and yanked his head back, his ears pinning to his skull.

Zach's nose wrinkled. "That's low Allie."

She smirked. "Try me," she said as she passed us, her boots soundless on the ground.

Zach rolled his eyes. "She can be such a brat."

Jesse leaned back in his chair, speaking for the first time. "You really going to pull the blind card every time?" he chuckled.

Zach grinned. "As long as it keeps working. Come on, Justin. Darius says I'm s'posed to train you in the ways of the samurai."

"Really?" My eyes widened and I broke into a grin, jumping to my feet. Caedmon sensed my excitement and he jumped around between my legs, nearly tripping me. "I wanna be samm-eye too!" He said. I read his mind and saw that he was picturing ninjas from that Scooby Doo show he watched a while back.

Zach laughed. "Sorry to disappoint you, kids, but I was just joking. Follow me," he said before heading down the hall. Terral waited for me and the deflated Caedmon to pass before following us, his tail swishing silently.

He stopped at a large room. Mats covered the floors, there was a huge punching bag hanging from the rusty ceiling, as well as a rack of enormous weights. A bucket was stationed in the middle of the room, half full of water. "Welcome to our work out room!" Zach said dryly, turning around and spreading his arms.

Well, it wasn't all shiny and awesome like S-11's... but it was something. I guess.

"I'm going to kick your butt," Zach mumbled as he walked over to the bucket.

"What?" I echoed, not sure if I heard him right. Terral settled down like a cat, folding his paws under his scaly belly. I swear he smirked at me like 'this is going to be good'.

Zach started wrapping his wrists in bandage as he walked back towards me. "Today we're going to start by practicing our kickboxing. Have you ever learned kickboxing?" he asked me.

"No." I said, brows raising.

He smirked. "Then we've got a lot to learn."

I learned a lot in the next hour, but it wasn't so much in how to kick butt as how to get my butt kicked. By a blind kid.

"Come on get up," Zach said. "That can't be all you've got."

"Yup. That's pretty much it," I wheezed, rubbing my sore bum. But slowly I got to my feet.

Just then, Darius strode in. "How's it going, boys?" he asked. His shiny blonde hair was up in a pony tail, but a few strands still dangled over his face as he grinned, fangs jutting from his jaws. I sort of wondered what kind of dentist he went to that wouldn't pee their pants soon as they caught sight of those choppers. I straightened once I saw him, pretending that I wasn't tired and beat. "Goo-" I started to say before Zach intercepted. "Terrible. S-11 doesn't teach self defense very well."

I couldn't help but think back to what Alisie had said earlier that day. My teeth grit. I didn't know why I was so defensive about this but it really had gotten on my nerves. "I was only there for like two months." I said, but he didn't hear me over Darius' booming Texas accent.

"Well, there's always room to grow," he said as he patted my back. "Hate to intrude on this, but I need to steal Terral here for just a moment." He looked at Terral. "Will that disrupt training too much?"

"No sir," Zach said, taking a swig from his water bottle. Terral got to his paws and trotted out after Darius.

Zach paused. "That's strange." He said when they were gone, his tone contemplative. Before I could ask about it, he kicked me in the chest, sending me back a few paces. "Now I'm completely blind." He told me. "Think you've got a chance now?" He crouched, his eyes looking straight ahead. "Go ahead and try to land a punch or a kick on me."

Uh... okay. I decided to be extra sneaky and slowly crept in a circle around him so I was facing his back. He didn't move. Okay... this might be easy. I snuck closer before punching weakly at his shoulder.

Before my knuckles could land on him, his hand grabbed my wrist and yanked me forwards before jerking it behind my back with surprising force. "Lazy," he whispered. "Try again." He released me. I moved away, circling him before rushing at him and aiming a kick at his gut. He grabbed my ankle and yanked it, sending me flat on my back. "Ow," I mumbled. Caedmon peeped and stamped his foot in anger but I held up a hand to tell him not to attack.

"That was just stupid. Again." Zach snapped.

I grunted and rolled over before slowly getting to my feet. I tried everything I knew, even the stuff I saw on movies. I didn't nail him even once. He knocked me off my feet once again and I exhaled shakily as I laid there, staring at the ceiling. "I thought you said that you would be bumping into everything without Terral." I wheezed.

"Well inanimate objects don't grunt and breathe like a pig in labor do they?" Zach asked, staring down at me. "I think that's it for now."

"Finally!" Caedmon crawled up to me and tried to help me out by licking my wrists where they were sore. "Better?" he asked me seriously, looking at me with the serious expression of a concerned nurse.

"Yeah... sure buddy," I mumbled, patting him before lurching to a standing position.

Zach looked a little embarrassed. He was standing there awkwardly waiting for me to get up. "Uh... could you help me to the door? I know how to get to the kitchen from there." He said.

"Oh-sure," I said, looking at him. Wait, how was I going to do this? This was awkward. I was awkward. It was just so weird how the guy who had just kicked my booty in one hundred different ways was now asking for me to help him to the door. Was I supposed to push him towards the door? Or walk him through it?

He held out his hand in my general direction. Okayy... I grabbed his wrist and slowly walked him towards the door. Wow why did I have to make things so awkward?

He inhaled sharply and I felt his wrist yank out of my grip. He hit the ground with a loud whump. I turn around to find that he had tripped when the mat ended. "Yeah... need to tell me about that sort of stuff," he mumbled, patting around for a brief second. I reached out a hand to help him up before realizing he couldn't see that and my hand wilted to my side. "I'm sorry about that," I apologized quickly.

He shrugged in reply before getting to his feet and holding out his hand again. I took it and walked him over to the door, this time keeping a look out for anything that might be in his path.

"That wasn't bad at all," Zach assured me. "Once Darius forgot to tell me where to jump when we were on a mission and I fell off a roof, breaking my leg."

"Really?" I raised a brow.

He nodded and once we made it to the door, he felt it before starting to walk down the hall with confidence, leading the way. "But it wasn't so bad, because he gave me his collection of hunting knives as an apology." His nostrils flared as he sniffed. "Hm, I don't smell anything. I guess we're going to have to fend for ourselves today. How about some of those Pizza roll things you heat up in the microwave?"

"Sounds good to me," I said, following him. I saw how he navigated around a cat tree expertly (where was the cat? I didn't know they had a cat.), as well as avoiding things that weren't exactly there. It was actually a little amusing to watch. While I had been thinking about the cat, he was still talking. "Man though, the bathroom stunk for weeks after all. And that is why I have the Pizza Rolls all to myself."

I laughed when I realized it was the end of the story, even though I hadn't listened to a word of it. "That's funny."

"Hmm this place is dead quiet. I wonder what everyone's up to," Zach said as he headed to the fridge. "Darius has Terral keeping watch over the west end, but he hasn't told us why."

"Just being precautious," Riley spoke up from over the fridge. He spread his wings before swooping over towards me. "How was training, Justin?"

"You scared me," Zach chuckled.

"Ah it was alright," I lied because I didn't want to say the truth. "Where've you been, mister Toucan?" I poked his feathery chest once he settled down in front of me.

"I have a name, Justin," he said stiffly, shaking out his feathers. Caedmon's black paws curled over the table, patting for the toucan's feathers playfully. "And I've been checking on your friends Justin," he said in a softer tone. "They're missing you. Emmit got promoted today to his second rank. Avery-"

I could tell he was trying to get on my good side. But did he honestly think that this would make me like him more? My fists clenched. "Just shut up, Riley. I don't want to hear it." I said in an angry whisper. It was a lie. I did want to hear it. But I didn't want to listen to this dumb bird, who had taken me away from them.

"You're going to see them again," Riley said, reaching out a scaly little foot to pat my nipple awkwardly.

I glared at him and he shut his little beak, hunching up in a sad ball of black feathers. Caedmon peeked over the table, his pupils huge like he was about to attack. His butt started to wiggle, his hind legs bunching. Then he sprung up and tackled Riley head on. The stupid bird started laughing and he morphed into a little black dragon about the same size as Caed. The two wrestled on the table, making a racket. I fixedly ignored them.

"So..." Zach said awkwardly as he pulled out the Pizza Rolls. "You watch any anime?" he asked.

"No," I mumbled, trying to block out Caed's giggles as he fought with the toucan. You dirty traitor. I remarked in my mind.

"That's too bad," he said. "Well I'm about to start Attack on Titan. It's going to be made into a movie," he grabbed a plate and dumped a bunch of Pizza Rolls onto it. I wondered if he knew how much he put on that sucker.

I perked up. "What do you mean, movie?" I asked.

"I mean, like a movie with live actors and everything," he said, shoving the plate in the microwave and punching in something. "So it should be pretty good."

"What's it about?" I asked, mildly interested. Or at least a whole lot more interested in that then I was in watching my traitor have fun with the bad shadow.

"Well it's set.." but before I could listen to his synopsis of the anime show, I caught sight of a familiar flicker in the corner of my eye. A beautiful, slender head emerged into view in the living room, delicately sniffing the sofa.

I grabbed Caed and Riley and yanked them off the table, cautioning Caed to be quiet in my mind as I crouched to hide behind the table. The little dragon went death still, curling up against my chest, his eyes huge and focused on me. Riley morphed back into a bird and sat on my shoulder, clutching me with his little bird claws. I exhaled shallowly, the only sound Zach talking on and on about some sort of Titan War as Mardu stalked into the kitchen.

(Kasida and Mara are the surprise 'guests XD in Darius' book. They are owned by Gloria_Nocella )