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Silver stepped down off her perch and ran to him. "Iz!"

He looked slightly puzzled but also glad. "Silver?"

She reached him and threw her arms around him. Then suddenly I remembered hearing about an Izzy from her.

I followed her path, but at a walk instead. "So you're the famous Izzy. I must apologize for my earlier actions; I didn't know that I was dealing with a celebrity. I'm just very protective of her." I stopped next to Silver and put my arm around her shoulders.

Izzy nodded. "I can see why."

I patted Silver on her shoulder. 'Why don't you go get changed. Star, could you give this beautiful young lady a changing room.'

Staréth smiled, 'Of course. Come on Silver.'

Silver walked over to the clothes and was followed by Star, who glared at Dad until he moved, then encircled Silver and the clothes with her wings.

There was a sudden clang from the roof, then three more that sounded like knocking. I looked up and asked, 'That you Wolfe?'

'Yes it's me, now open up! It's cold out here!'

'Oh hush. You're a dragon, you can't get cold from mid-autumn temperatures.' I glanced over to a panel of buttons and glimpsed one that I guessed would control the retractable roof. It was right next to Izzy, so I asked him, "Hey Izzy, open up the roof. We have a visitor."

He slapped the button that I had believed was the control and the roof slid open quite quickly. Wolfe came tumbling, somewhat clumsily, through the opening right above Izzy. He calmly hit the button again to close the gap, and then raised his left hand just before the black dragon fell on him. To my surprise, Wolfe stopped suddenly inches from his palm and was lowered to the floor next to the techie.

Wolfe turned to look at me. 'Was that you?'

I shook my head. 'No, that was definitely him.' "Impressive Izzy. How long have you had to hone that skill?"

He scratched his chin in thought. "Well, I got it when I met Silver and Bane, so about four years."

Silver finished changing and strode over to me as she said, "Has it really been that long since we met?" She put a hand on my shoulder and another around my arm. "Do you know what Bane has been doing lately?"

"I've seen him around, but I haven't had a chance to talk to him."

Dad stepped forward. "I don't mean to interrupt this reunion, but I'm eager to hear what Drake has to ask me."

I rubbed my hands together. "Yes, down to business. Have you done, or heard of anyone doing reptile-human cross mutation experiments?"

He walked over to a filing cabinet and pulled out a manila folder. "I've heard a few rumors going around the other scientists, but only one from a credible source. However, I do have a research subject for a similar category. Speaking of which, he should be here any moment. Excuse me."

He left the room and Izzy gathered up his courage and approached Wolfe, only to be snarled at by Staréth. Silver giggled at him and explained, "She doesn't seem to trust you yet." She took his arm and led him to her dragon. Izzy cautiously stretched out his hand towards the scaly beast's nose.

Wolfe rolled his eyes and projected his voice into the techie's mind. 'Don't worry Iz; I'm not the one who bites.' Staréth glared at him menacingly. He quickly added to her, 'I'll make it up to you later.' She seemed satisfied and laid down to rest.

Izzy ran his hands over the smooth black scales of Wolfe's snout while the dragon hummed contentedly. "So Silver, you've changed so much. What happened?

She also stroked her dragon's neck as she answered. "Well, I had stumbled upon Drake on a weekend in spring about three and a half years after I left you and Bane. He acted kindly on my behalf and invited me to dinner with him and his father. Since most other people avoided me like a plague, I accepted. His father took an interest in me, so I let him perform a few unobtrusive tests on me. These tests revealed more than he had expected, and partnered with some of his previous notes, allowed him to create a cell that healed extraordinarily fast. A super cell, if you will. A few months passed and Drake and I spent more and more time together. The one day when we didn't have plans together, something happened to me, my memory is blank as to what it was, and I was mortally wounded. Drake found me and rushed me to his father. He begged for his dad to give me the super cell and he consented. But, I had already begun trying to heal myself when he gave me the cell. When it and my own power combined, they caused my body to mutate, changing me into this form, completely healed. Drake then fell head-over-heels in love with me. He took me to see his best kept secret, Staréth. She was a lot smaller than she is now though. Anyway, he gave me a black egg and it hatched into Wolfe."

The door opened and Dad poked his head in. "Drake, Silver, please come with me, there's someone in my lab to see you."

We followed my dad down the hall and into his lab where an old friend was waiting. He was about my height and had on jeans and a forest green shirt. He wasn't human, just like most of my friends, but reptilian though he walked and talked like a human. He had a shorter, caiman-like snout and long claws on his hands.

I recognized him in an instant. "Ze! What kind of trouble have you been getting into?" I walked over to him and gave him a friendly punch on his right arm.

He punched me right back. "Ranguard! You know me too well. He noticed Silver standing next to the door. He grinned and leaned in closer to whisper to me, "You sly devil you. She's yours isn't she?"

I grinned right back and answered in the same hushed tone. "Yeah," then a bit louder said, "So whatcha doing here?"

He patted his left arm. "I'm getting Doc to upgrade this a bit."

I remembered that Zane had biocircuitry running all throughout his left arm. Then what Dad had said earlier made sense to me. Zane was his research subject. Then I felt Silver's confusion permeate my thoughts. I motioned for her to come to me. 'I'm sorry Silvie. I forgot to introduce you.' "Zane, this lovely lady is Silver. Silver, this horrible troublemaker here is Zane Wiley."

He gave a bow. "At your service." Silver giggled.

My dad attached a cable to Zane's arm and ran a program on the computer from which the cable originated. He hit a few keys and said, "There ya go. You're all set."

Zane detached the cable and walked over to Dad. "Thanks Dr. Ranguard. See you later Drake!"

As the door closed, Silver grabbed my arm tightly. I looked down and she gazed at me with terror on her face. "What's wrong Silver?"

Her eyes began to lose their focus. 'Drake, get Zane. Hurry! It found us!' She went limp.

I caught her and ran to the door as I yelled, "Dad! Get back to Izzy and both of you get on Wolfe. Run!" He took off down the hall as I turned the opposite way. "Zane!" I called. He turned to look at me. "Get back here now!" He ran to me and I said, "Follow me!" and ran down to Izzy's room.

Just as we turned into the room, there was a crash down the hall. I stopped right outside the room and looked to see what it was. I called instructions to Zane as I watched the creature emerge from the wreckage of the smashed wall. "Ze, get on Star!" I watched as the ferocious reptile turned to face me then lurch forward into a run. It was fast. I spun, took a few steps into the room as I hit the roof control button and, being careful not to drop Silver, made a powerful leap across the room and landed on Staréth's shoulders directly in front of Zane. 'We gotta go, now!' Both the dragons pushed off the ground and into the air, gaining altitude as quickly as possible. We were able to get away without another close call.

As we flew, Silver began to wake up in my arms. 'What happened to you, love?' I asked.

She buried her head in my shirt and replied, 'It talked to me. It needs our help Drake, to escape from the shadow that's controlling its mind. That's why it's following us.'

I held her tight to comfort her. 'We will help, but we can't in our current condition. The dragons need rest and we need a plan. Star, head for the tallest building downtown. That ought to buy us some time.'

All of a sudden, Zane tapped me on the shoulder. "Hey Drake."

I answered without turning. "Yes?"

"Ya got any food on ya?" I turned and looked at him incredulously. He shrugged. "Sorry, I'm hungry. Can we stop for donuts?" He was always hungry.

"No we can't stop for donuts!" After my anger simmered down a bit, I spotted the lights of downtown.

We arrived shortly after that on the rooftop of a skyscraper and I began to try and piece together a plan. After half and hour, I came up with a simple but hopefully effective plan. So I prepared to share it with the rest of the group. But first I needed to know one thing. "Izzy, how fast are your reflexes?"

He crossed his arms in confidence. "Fastest around." He said proudly.

"Good. Now here's the plan. Izzy, Zane and I will keep this creature busy when it gets here. Dad, you are going to protect Silver as she breaks into its mind to try and calm it down. The dragons will be on border patrol. Everyone got that?"

I was answered by a chorus of "Sure do boss," and "Let's do it!" and other such remarks.

I rubbed my hands together. "Sounds good. Now we wait. By the way, Izzy I've got two questions for you."

He shoved his hands into his pockets and replied, "Ok, shoot."

"First, do you have any weapons?"

He nodded. "Just one, but it only works for me."

"Show me."

He brought his right hand up and tapped the side of his scarf. It attached itself to his left arm and wrapped around it down to his hands. The tassels stiffened into claws at the ends of his fingers.

I whistled. "Nice. Now the second question was about your laptop. I've heard it's good and was wondering if you would be able to monitor the area?"

He nodded again. "Sure can. Hold on." He grabbed out of his coat pocket a small black orb and tossed it into the air, where it floated in place. He then passed his hand past his belt and a glowing screen appeared and followed his hand. He left it in front of him and typed a few commands on it. The screen stretched into a circle and gave a three hundred sixty degree display of the sides of the building and the streets below. He spun the circle and the view zoomed in. "There ya go."

I put a hand on his shoulder. "You're amazing. Hey Dad, could you monitor this for me?"

He stepped forward. "Sure. I'll do it."

"Thanks Dad. Star, Wolfe, get some rest." Then I leaned in closer to him and asked, "Do you have something you can use against this thing?"

He sighed. "Yes, actually I do. I have one of my latest inventions, the Biological Origin Sartolin Shield, or B.O.S.S. for short. Anything of biological origin is prevented from entering or leaving its blue bubble. It's impregnable from either side."

'Stop worrying about me, I'll be fine,' Silver scolded me. 'Come here.'

I pretended to be dejected as I sulked over to her.

She smiled at me. 'Aww it's okay. Let me cheer you up.' She stood up and placed her hands on my chest while I held her close and gave her a kiss. We stood there in each other's arms until my dad yelled, "Here it comes!"

I let go of Silver and she ran to my dad as I ordered, "Ok, everyone it's show time so get ready. Which direction is it coming from?"

My dad zoomed the view out. "Umm, right and slightly forward."

Izzy put his hand out and both the screen and the orb flew to it. He put the orb in his pocket and the screen disappeared.

Dad stuck something to the ground and a blue bubble enveloped both him and Silver.

I turned in the direction my father had indicated. Then I jumped towards the edge of the building and alighted gently on top of the three foot safety wall that ran along the outside edge. I looked down just as our target reached the base of the building. It stopped, then leaped into the air and tore upwards with great speed. I back flipped off the wall just as the creature cleared the roof. That's your cue Silver! She was too busy breaking into its mind to answer. "Everyone else, let's buy her some time."

Zane assumed a fighter's stance and Izzy stepped into a ready pose alongside me as I joined in creating a wall before my father and Silver. It landed directly in front of us and immediately made a horizontal swipe at Izzy. He jumped over the swing and landed on the oversized arm, then leapt over the creature's head and slashed at it with his clawed left hand. It ducked the slash and Zane took this opportunity to sweep its legs out from under it and it crashed to the floor. As it fell, it lashed out with its tail and sent Zane flying backwards into the B.O.S.S. His motionless form dropped to the ground in front of Dad, unconscious. The creature rose to its feet with me in front of it and Izzy behind it. It completely ignored me and turned to face Izzy. It copied its earlier sideways wipe and like before Izzy jumped over it. I watched in horror as it swung its other arm at him while he was still airborne and unable to dodge. He was sent spiraling off the edge of the building, but Wolfe dove after him and saved him from an untimely death.

The creature turned and locked its gaze on me. I didn't know what to do. Zane had always been a much better fighter than me and he was taken out without a thought. I slowly backed to the B.O.S.S. Suddenly the shield deactivated and Silver wrapped her arms around me as she pleaded, "It's too strong for me! I need you!"

I nodded and held her tight and concentrated on the thing's mind. It froze in its tracks as we assaulted its mind as one. It was still too powerful even with our combined strength and we began to be overtaken by the shadow. My world started to spin, but just before I fell, Star stepped up beside me and supported me with her foreleg and thoughts. She added her presence to mine and Silver's and we were able to beat back the Shadow from our own minds. As soon as Wolfe joined Silver, we were able to vanquish the dark hold it had on the creature's thoughts.

As the darkness disappeared from its mind a distinctive personality emerged and with it, a flood of memories flowed across Silver and myself. They were that of the original owner of our foe's body.

Being born and raised in a small hut in a remote part of a tropical island with her parents. Her parents were kind and caring and taught her all that she needed to know to continue to survive on the island. She grew older and passed her fifteenth year when she met another one of her kind on the island. She became friends with this boy and they were taking a walk along the shoreline when strange creatures fell from the sky. They didn't have scales; their skin was smooth. This puzzled the two of them but before they could find out anything, the strange creatures pulled out weird stick-looking devices. She felt a bright flash of pain then fell into blackness. She awoke in a lab and was surrounded by more of the strange creatures with white coats and clipboards. Then one approached her and said to one of its compatriots, "Specimen 4735 has awoken. Side affects from concentrated Sartolin Shock exposure seem minimal." They performed experiments on her until she wished she would die. After weeks of torture, another being spoke to her, "You're name is Aile, creature. But that does not matter right now. Just relax." That is when the shadow entered her mind and took over.

Silver shook in my arms as the memories were called back but remained engraved in our minds at the same time. I held her tight and buried my head in her hair as Aile was engulfed by a bright ball of light. When the light dissipated, I looked up and saw that Aile was of the same species as Zane. Unlike Zane, who was around six feet tall, she only stood around five foot eight. She collapsed and Silver and I rushed over to help her back to her feet. She leaned against me and said, "Thank you, thank you so much." She sounded drained of all strength. After she forced out those words she fainted. I decided that we should all get some rest so I helped Dad get Aile onto Wolfe with the just revived Zane and himself. I got on Star behind Silver and Izzy got behind me.

'Star, take us home.'