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Chapter Two:

Elemental Mash-up

All the younglings were in the large training dome in the center of the temple. Loud burst of explosions rang from the targets and the smell of still-burning ash, kicked-up dirt, and the foul stench of rotting poison spiraled around the room. Targets were set up all over the room at various distances and sizes; close up to test restraint, far away to test range, big ones to test power, and small ones to test precision. Some of the targets were manikins but most were circular wooden disks, strong but easy to replace.

"Nirvana, try to keep your eyes open when you fire. You can't hit anything if they're closed," Spyro said loudly.

Haze shot off another poison grenade at the closest target she could see. The moving airborne target fizzled away from the powerful poisonous shot. But the poison didn't stop as it quickly dripped onto the ground below. It burned its way in to the floor and almost hit another dragon.

"WATCH IT!" Spyro yelled furiously.

Haze could only smile through the foaming venom that clung to her fangs. She was a dark dragon much like Cynder but she seemed to favor her poison the most. She continued to harass the other classmates with a volley of shots at targets that she knew would be flying over them.

Stone was gathering his energy. The ground shuck with green energy before Stone released it in a giant elemental blast. The largest and strongest target in the room was reduced to nothingness as the ground underneath it and the room was flooded with clouds of dirt.

"Stone, control yourself. You don't need to use that much power," Spyro yelled through the dust, coughing.

"Shut up," Stone retorted. "I'd like to see you any better." With that started to walk out of the room with Haze quickly in tow.

"Get back here; we're not done prac...." Spyro was interrupted by a red streak running across the ground.

Scorch dashed toward one of the manikins, knocking it down before it sprang back up. He spun around hitting it with his tail first, making a nice gash on it, then following through by hitting it with both of his left feet, one after the other. Then he ran up and smashed his horns under where the chin would have been before jumping off its chest and landing back on his feet.

"Scorch, this is elemental training. You're supposed to learn, test, and train your element abilities. Give it a try," Spyro said.

"But...."

"No buts, just try." All the remaining dragons stopped to watch.

Scorch lowered himself and focused. He felt a great fire build up inside himself as his feet began to spark and glow. The more he focused, the more he felt the fire grow and the red glow rise up his body. When he finally felt like he was burning as hot as the sun and the glow overcame his entire body, he released it.... No flame.... Not even the tiniest puff of smoke rose from his throat. The whole room erupted in laughter.

"It was a good try, scorch. Keep at it and you'll get it," Spyro reassured. He looked around. "Hey, where's Aurora?"

A single light-blue wing rose over by the entrance. Aurora was sitting next to the wall, reading another one of her books.

"Aurora, why don't you give it a try?" Spyro asked enthusiastically.

Aurora just sighed, closer her book so the tassel held her page, and gently walked to the center of the room. She closed her eyes and crouched down and much like Scorch but she kept her wings out fully. As she stood there quiet and still, the room got colder. Frost started appearing on the ground and snow started to fall lightly from the ceiling. When she finally opened her eyes, she jumped up quickly. With a single beat of her wings, icicles shot out in every direction. Bull's-eye. Bull's-eye. Bull's-eye. All targets in the room were hit dead center with an inch thick, seven inch long spike.

"Satisfied?" Aurora asked.

"...uh--yeah," Spyro said, unsure of what just happened.

Aurora walked briskly back to her book but before she could open it there was an excruciatingly loud scream.

The halls quickly became flooded with dragons as everyone came rushing out to find the source of the scream. They found it. It was Haze; she was sitting wide-eyed and shivering. She was clearly in shock as she continued to scream so loud the people around her felt their lungs ache.

"Long time no see."

Everyone looked up and saw a black dragon with a white mask. Spyro started to smile but it quickly changed to a face of utter shock and horror.

This black dragon's arm was thrusted into Stone's red chest.