Scorch grabbed Synthesis's talon and darted through the crowds and the buildings. Synthesis let out a yelp as she tried to keep up but occasionally stepped on her wings.

As Scorch ran, he learned how to position his leg so the gash wouldn't hurt as much. He could feel a trickle of blood running down his leg but if his plan was going to work, he was going to have to start it right away. He didn't know how long it was going to take but he had to try.

Soon they reached the academy in the middle of the city. It was a huge, colorful building with all kinds of dragons around it. Scorch walked into the building with Synthesis by his side. Once they walked though the big front doors, they were in a very large room filled with young dragonets around their age either running to get to a class or in large groups talking. The floor was made out of a white tile and the walls were a mint green color.

Scorch looked looked around the room and saw there were hallways lined all along the three walls, each had a label of the subject above the entrance of the hall. He quickly scanned each one until he found the entrance that said "Art" and walked to it. Synthesis followed with a puzzled look on her face once she saw the sign. "Why are we going towards the art classrooms? Last time I checked, you weren't exactly the best at art." Scorch rolled his eyes. "It's part of my plan. You'll find out soon enough."

As they walked down the art hall they passed doors with labels on them. The first one had "Ceramics", the second one had "Drawing", and the third one had "Painting". There were more down the hall but Scorch didn't care to find out what the others were and walked into the room with "Painting" on the door.

As he walked in, an explosion of colors hit him. Literally. A dragonet had flung paint at him and it splattered all over his face and chest. Wonderful... Scorch thought bitterly as he wiped the paint off his eyes. Synthesis bursted out laughing. He glared at her, then narrowed his eyes on the dragonet coming towards him who had flung the paint. The male, StoneWing dragonet looked about his age, maybe a little younger. He had dark grey scales like stone that faded to a dark blue and had lots of paint all over him. "Sorry," he chuckled," I'm trying to get better at art." Scorch huffed a stream of smoke in response.

"Cliff!" a LightWing cried as she ran over to them, "What did you do?" "I didn't do anything!" the StoneWing protested, "It was an accident!" "Well it sure didn't seem like an acce-," Scorch began until Synthesis finished for him, "don't worry about him, he forgives you." Synthesis smiled at them then ran off to the sink to get a damp towel to wash Scorch off. "Sorry about that. I'm trying to help him with his art", the gold LightWing said,"By the way, this is Cliff, and I'm Aglow."

"It's fine. Oh, by the way, can you help me with something?" Scorch said as he wiped off some purple paint on his snout. "Sure, we can help you. What exactly you you want us to help you with?" Aglow asked curiously as Synthesis came back with a damp towel. "Your a good painter, right? Can you paint on my bandage to look like my scales so no one will notice I'm hurt?"

"Sure, I can try," Aglow said as she headed back to her painting to grab a paintbrush and some paint. "What?" Synthesis cried once the words finally sunk in,"That's insane! Smart, but insane!" She shoved the damp towel in his talons, unsure how to express herself. "I'm going to do the battle training class tomorrow, so after this I'm going to go sign up and no one can stop me," Scorch informed Cliff. "Oh, smart idea, but won't you just get more hurt if your going to battle others while your hurt?" "I'll figure it out. I didn't come all the way out here just to not do the class."

Aglow came back with a paintbrush and a paint pallet with three colors: red, ash grey, and black. She kneeled down and dabbed the brush in the red paint and started to paint on the bandage.