The android figure sat impatiently at the end of the long hall. He looked at the four different screens he had running currently, observing the different news reports coming in from all over the world. One in Japan of a massive Mythic kaiju being stopped by several Mystic defenders caught the robot's eye. A second came in from Africa, where an emergency food distribution center was attacked by multiple Mythic monsters who stole all of the food. They were apprehended within an hour. The third came from Hawaii, a Mythic holding the entire land hostage with the threats of a volcano eruption unlike anything the world has seen was stopped quickly by a group of Mystic, and a stray Dino Force member who decided to help out with the villain. The last one came from here, in this very city, where Zayne and Damien had just recently stopped a break in by a tech nerd Mythic who was suspected to be building a massive mech to level the city. All of these news reports were given in a positive, happy tone that the villains were stopped. They only fueled the android's impatience and anger. This was taking longer than he wanted. Zayne was making sure of that.
The doors opened from the end of the hall and the three individuals the android was waiting for finally entered. The green suited one led the group, twirling a sort of strange object in his hand. The cosmic looking one was uncomfortable as his poise betrayed. Stone looked at cold as ever in his facial expression. DB-3 got up and shut off the monitors, slowly relaxing himself and reminding himself that he needed to be patient. Everything was going to work out eventually. It was only a matter of time. Only a matter of time.
"We've made all the preparations. We're ready to go," Geneticide informed.
"Good. So you'll be attacking today?" DB-3 asked.
"In five hours, yes. Surprise attack, they'll never see it coming," Fracture replied confidently.
"Good. No screw ups this time. I need to finish the elimination process soon, or this world will not be specially prepared for the reformation," DB-3 hauntingly said to himself rather than to anyone else.
"Reformation?" Fracture asked.
"Something you should not concern yourselves with. You will not be affected by it. Rather you will be freed by it. Have no fear," DB-3 explained as he turned and started walking back to his monitors.
"Why do you want to kill Zayne so bad?" Genticide called out, stopping DB in his tracks.
The android turned to Genticide and returned with another question, "What?"
"He asked why you want to kill Zayne so bad," Fracture spoke up, repeating their obviously shared question.
DB gave a slow, mechanical chuckle that broke into a robotic maniacal laugh before responding, "Let's just say me and Zayne... no... me and the Dragon's Heart have a long, long history together. One I would love to finally snuff out for good."
    With that DB waved them away, returning to his monitor space to check on everything once more. Genticide and Fracture turned to each other confused, wondering what DB meant by that. But the answer wasn't going to be given now. With more questions in their minds they turned and left, Stone slowly following behind them. They had a job to do. Multiple jobs, in fact. Today was going to be a very busy day.

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    Sunday morning rolled around quicker than Zayne anticipated. It seemed like just yesterday the sleepover happened. Actually the sleepover happened Friday and ended yesterday, but nevertheless Zayne still felt as though it had happened yesterday. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep that made yesterday seem so long, but undeniably the stress of finishing up the time with Aries and Austin didn't help. Aleah wasn't much of an issue, she was actually pretty laid back and distant from the group the whole time. Zayne did notice that Aleah and Eli struck up quick conversations off to the side when they were at the base. Zayne had told Eli about Aleah before, and he'd told Aleah about Eli before, so Zayne assumed that their conversations were simply the culmination of their finally meeting in person and enjoying the moments together. They seemed to already be great friends.
    But during the sleepover Eli had requested something of Zayne. Zayne thought the request was rather odd, especially since it was out of the blue, but Eli had asked Zayne to meet him at the cave in training room two on Sunday morning, ten sharp. Zayne had agreed obviously, there was no way Zayne was turning Eli down. Still, as the morning slowly progressed Zayne felt more and more concerned by the request. What was it that he wanted? Zayne didn't know.
    Zayne gave the morning a regular routine approach that he always had on Sundays. Get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, chat with everyone else for a few minutes, then brush his teeth. But instead of heading out with Damien like he normally did today he alerted them that he was going to the cave. No one asked any questions, they all pretty much assumed the same thing that Zayne was going to hang out with Eli. Damien didn't really care, he simply decided to stay home with Keith. Ver had to go run a few errands for dinner that evening, so she decided to leave. This left Zayne with the perfect opportunity to head out a little early. This also gave him the opportunity to enjoy the air around him as he walked. The birds chirped in the sky, and the leaves rustled in the warmer breeze. Zayne enjoyed his stroll. He especially enjoyed these strolls, because with no one around he could do the one thing that gave him more relief than almost anything else he'd done in his life.
    Zayne reached over and detached his Mythanium glove off of his arm and held it out, stretching his now freed arm in the air. The skin was straight black, flimsy and charred looking with flakes of regular skin here and there. It looked like a stick, the very fiber and muscle in the arm burnt away. The Infernal Overdrive Meteor he'd used had totally shot the arm and destroyed it indefinitely. He could move it, but he wasn't going to be able to use it without the glove any more. Still, being stuffed in that metal glove twenty four seven, Zayne's arm got uncomfortable and sweaty. On days like these when he was alone he would release his arm and make himself feel a little better. The pain was returning slowly as the wind scraped against the exposed arm. Zayne allowed the arm to breath for a little while before finally slipping the glove back on and reaching the cave. He stepped inside to find that no one was there.
    Zayne moved to the monitors and turned on the screen for the second training room, which gave him the answer to the question of where Eli was at. There he was, sitting in the middle of the second room, forest surrounding him. He seemed to be almost at peace, his eyes closed and his focus on something unforeseen. Zayne closed the display and stepped into the hall. He stopped at the door to the prison room and waited. He listened for anything, any sound coming from the room beyond the door. He heard faint whispers, Arachnid's whispers to Thunder Fang. Promises that soon they would be freed. Zayne shook his head and continued walking down the hall, finally stopping at the door with the number two written across it. Zayne stepped up and opened the door, and was quickly assaulted by more forest and ambiance from within the room. He walked in and allowed the door to close behind him. Eli stood in the large clearing just before the lake started. Zayne made a slow approach before stopping about five steps away.
"Glad you could make it," Eli said.
"Why wouldn't I make it?" Zayne asked.
"I didn't know if something else was going to come up," Eli replied in his uncertain tone, turning to face Zayne with a shaky smile.
"Even if something did I would've just had Damien deal with it," Zayne acknowledged.
"Well, I'm glad you could take the time to come see me either way," Eli said.
    Zayne noted how much Eli had changed just in the last few months since Zayne and Damien went public. Eli had been making leaps and bounds. Faster progress than Zayne had done actually. Eli had also become much more outgoing. Rather than introvert himself he'd become a more social person, engaging everyone in conversations of any sort. Zayne did notice an underlying tone in all of Eli's actions and words. He was constantly seeking approval from someone else. No doubt a trigger sign that he sought to make sure he was doing things right. Eli had been so messed up by the Midnight Horror. Zayne couldn't blame him for seeking a form of confirmation in everything he did. It was a new natural instinct for Eli. That probably wasn't going to change.
"I've been thinking a lot recently, and I'd like to spar with you. I know I've asked in the past, but this time I really mean it. I want to have a serious training battle with you," Eli said.
"Getting confident are we?" Zayne joked.
"Unless you don't think it's a good idea! I mean if you think you're in a whole other league than me then I'll go train more so I can get there..."
    Zayne internally beat himself up for that response he'd given. He'd just gone over Eli's need for approval, that also meant he responded to any form of disapproval, joking or not.
"No no no let's do it. We'd both benefit from the practice," Zayne quickly recovered himself and smiled.
"Okay, cool, so, I figured we'd both give it everything we've got so far. I know you probably have more than me, but that just means that'll give me a goal to surpass, right?" Eli rabbled.
"Yeah. Sounds good. So I'll go all out and you can go all out. Sounds good. I'm eager to see what you got," Zayne began to stretch his arms, bend and stretch his legs, and prepare for the activity to come.
    Eli started stretching too. He ran in place for a few moments, then stretched more. He almost did a full exercise before finally taking a deep breath and letting it go. Zayne suddenly remembered something.
"What about the Midnight Horror?"
"I've pretty much mastered when he can come and go. All I need to do now is learn to control him when he is out. We'll be fine," Eli replied as he let out another deep breath.
    Zayne nodded and gripped his fists tightly. He hadn't fought Eli since the Midnight Horror. Eli was a friend, but he wanted this. Zayne had to make sure he didn't pull back any punches. Well, maybe just a few he would hold back. Zayne felt the heat rise in his chest, the orange glow slowly taking grip over his body. He felt the energy flow around his entire body, tongues of fire beginning to pop up over his skin. Scales began to take form, and Zayne slowly transformed into his half dragon body. His shorts and hoodie began to flow over his body, the energy creating an invisible barrier around his skin before vanishing and allowing his clothes to return to normal. Zayne allowed for a moment of rest before finally looking up to Eli, a confident smile crossing his face. Then it vanished, replaced swiftly by an expression of disbelief and amazement.
    Eli had his eyes closed, and his body looked tense. He seemed intent, focused, struggling to do something. His body seemed frozen in time as Zayne waited. Finally he decided to start. One thing Eli would have to learn quickly was how to get his powers working in the heat of the moment, so Zayne decided to add a little pressure to the situation. He took off, and within seconds got in arm's reach of Eli. Zayne was expecting to be able to get a quick hit in to knock Eli off balance or distract him, but the reaction Zayne got was totally unexpected. As Zayne got close to his first attack Eli's eyes shot open, green reptilian form taking shape. Eli dropped under Zayne and leapt forward, tackling Zayne from below. Zayne felt the wind get knocked from his chest as Eli wrapped both arms around him and drove him to the ground, then flipped himself through the air and lifted Zayne back up behind him. The attack was unpredicted, and therefore Zayne took a moment to recover.
    Once he had gathered himself back however Zayne was able to shift himself into position and drive a foot into Eli's gut, which sent him flying backwards way faster than Zayne had wanted to. Eli slammed directly into a tree and fell to the ground, but caught himself and jumped back up. He instantly retaliated and charged at Zayne with more than human speed. Zayne smiled as he realized what was happening, the sight finally coming into play. It took several moments to charge up, but Eli was using the Dino Heart to boost his human attributes. All of that training Eli had done so far was exactly like Zayne's at school. Improvement to the human body. Now that Zayne took a moment to look him over, Eli did look a little bigger now. But that was besides the point. The real spectacle that Zayne absorbed with overpowering joy was the brilliant, eye catching green glow that pulsated from Eli's body just like the orange glow did from Zayne. Eli's entire body had a distinct green glow, especially beaming from the Dino Heart in his chest, that clashed with Zayne's orange glow.
"I'm sorry for stealing your lines, but at least I didn't copy them totally!" Eli exclaimed as he jumped into the air, wind flying in all directions from his aerial launch point catching Zayne off guard, "Dino's Heart - Primal Instincts!"
    Eli did several body spins as he came down to pick up speed, then drove his foot down straight at Zayne. Zayne predicted the move, something Eli needed to work on, and was able to jump away in time. The impact of Eli's foot on the ground kicked up a massive explosion of dirt and wind which temporarily blinded Zayne. Two massive fire engulfed wings stretched out from his shoulder blades and allowed Zayne to move the blinding materials from his eyes, which gave him a clear shot at Eli who was taking longer than he should to recover from that one attack.
"Dragon's Heart..." Zayne called out as he dove forward, bringing his fist back, "...Infernal Overdrive!"
    Zayne slammed his fire engulfed fist into Eli's stomach, which sent him flying backwards. Eli was sent flying towards a wall, but instead of slamming into it full force like he had with the tree Eli was able to flip himself around and slam both feet into it, then push off and come back like a missile with the speed built up. Zayne moved to the side and used a quick gust of wind and fire from the wings to move Eli away. But just as Eli hit the floor he lept into the air again and repeated the move he'd done before. Spinning to pick up speed Eli finally drove his foot down once again.
    It's a good move to use Eli, but repeating it so close together like this is reckless. Obviously you've got some points to improve, but this is amazing I must admit.
    Almost carelessly Zayne jumped out of the way of the foot once more. Almost instantly Eli switched directions, anticipating Zayne's move. Eli pulled his foot back and instead used it to slightly change his direction with the force of a backwards kick, which got him close enough to drive a fist into Zayne's cheek before he hit the floor and tackled Zayne once again. Zayne threw both hands up and slammed them into Eli's back with enough force to knock him away, which Eli easily fell away from. Zayne wiped a hand across his cheek gently. That had hurt. That made Zayne happy. Eli was making good headway.
"You've made a lot of good progress Eli. Obviously you've got things you need to improve, but overall this was amazing what you just displayed," Zayne congratulated, his stance softening as he decided this was the end of the training battle.
"You think? Man I was really sloppy. I counted at least seven miscalculations and misdirected attacks I could have easily dodged or sent that would have given me the upperhand. I doubt I'd have been able to beat you directly so I tried to fight indirectly by using the terrain to blind you and stuff like that but you obviously knew how to counter that. I guess all of that field experience you've got building up really does make a difference huh?" Eli seemed to be in an energy high right now, his speech and body raced this way and that over and over.
"Over all though, setting aside the flaws you noticed and I noticed, you've made great strides forward. You've even gotten a basic energy flow ability down," Zayne said referring to Eli's Primal Instincts.
"Yeah. I basically just studied your moves and training deeply and tested it several times myself. The whole energy across the body thing is hard to start, and even harder to keep going. I don't know how you can keep your Infernal Overdrive going for so long..." Eli replied as his body slowly returned to normal, mirroring Zayne's body reversal timing.
"Hey, let's say we go grab some food and talk about those ways to improve your skills," Zayne suggested as they made their way to the door.
"Sounds great! I've got tons of leftovers from multiple meals I've been saving. We'll practically have a buffet at our disposal," Eli laughed as they left the room and started heading back for the main center of the base.

----------

    Ver came through the front door hoisting several large bags of food and home items. She'd decided that since she was at the store and they had a lot of things they needed that she would go and get everything they needed for the week. Grocery shopping wasn't going to get done for the rest of the week, so the opportunity that had presented itself was perfect for Ver. The store wasn't that busy anyway, so most of the stuff they needed was there. Ver now carried around ten bags full of groceries into the main room before finally getting the attention of Keith and Damien, who were both casually lying on the couches watching TV. The news was on, covering multiple reports across the world of Mythic failures. Jim Jimmy was covering them as he always did, he was so good at describing the events he was given. He was also personally there at multiple events that happened locally with Zayne and Damien. Jim Jimmy reminded Ver of Aries and Austin. So wrapped up in this new part of the world that if taken away they probably wouldn't know what to do with their lives anymore.
    Damien got up and helped Ver carry in her things, then very quickly grabbed the bag of spicy cheetos Ver had bought and ran back to the couch. Ver just smiled and shook her head as she began unloading everything. Keith got up and helped with a few things here and there, but he'd only gotten up because Damien had a snack and now he wanted one. Ver directed Keith to the bag of baby carrots she'd gotten, which Keith promptly frowned upon but took and began eating anyway. Damien and Zayne were able to eat unhealthy foods and healthy foods because their metabolisms could handle it. Not to mention studies on Zayne had shown his internal systems used fire in multiple processes, one of which was food consumption. Zayne would forever have an increased metabolism rate, which was joyful news for Zayne and nightmare fuel for Ver and Keith. Their food bill was going to be astronomical by the time Zayne moved out of the house. As for Damien, well, while he looked heavier set in the gut area he could easily move that into the upper body zone.
    It was a weird process that scientists had described in detail. Apparently there was something in Damien's body that prevented him from losing or gaining more mass and weight, so he was indefinitely the same size and weight. But there was a trigger within his body, somewhere within the dragon side of himself, that allowed that mass to be moved around and reshaped, repurposed, and basically, changed to a totally new form of body fat. Damien could go from obese to gym fanatic within seconds, provided that he was in either half dragon or full dragon form. This strange transformation was unique to a specific gene in Dragon Force members, as was the supercharged metabolism rate. Something about the inheritance that changed from person to person over the centuries and adapted to new bodies and lifestyles to create entirely new sex linked genes. It was all complicated science facts and things from there on, but that was the basic description that Ver had.
"Where's Zayne?" Ver asked after putting away the last grocery item.
"Still out in the cave with Eli. They're talking up a storm out there about something," Damien quickly responded.
"Alright well I'm going out there. You two might at least wanna get out and see what's going on in the city in a little bit," Ver said as she stepped out the glass doors and started walking to the base.
    Damien and Keith both looked to each other and groaned as they both shared the information. They knew they were going to have to go out, it was only natural since no one else was able or willing to. Keith shut off the TV and folded up the baby carrot bag. Damien slowly shifted up and closed up the cheeto bag, and they both placed the snack items away. They stalled for a few moments in the kitchen, debating whether they should go now or wait. Keith perked up.
"Hey, if we go out and stay out long enough we can go get something from a fast food restaurant instead of eating whatever Ver cooks," Keith suggested.
"But what if she cooks something good?" Damien asked.
"But what if I took you to go get the biggest and most stuffed enchiladas in town?" Keith asked.
    Damien contemplated the offer for a few moments, then nodded.
"Let's go."
    With that the two of them made their way for the front door. Damien waited behind Keith as he checked to make sure he had his wallet and items with him. He checked his pocket to ensure that he had his suit with him. He'd recently requested a small capsule be made to hold his suit until he needed it. A few days ago he'd gotten it, and it was just what he'd wanted. Now he could go in public at any time and still have his suit ready for any unprecedented event. Convenience was easy to have now. With everything in check Keith reached down to grab the doorknob to the front door, then paused. There was something strange here. Keith pulled his hand back and listened closely, wondering what it was that he was hearing. Damien gave him a puzzled look.
"What's wrong? We going or not?" Damien asked.
"Do you hear that?" Keith replied, ignoring Damien's question.
"Hear wha-" Damien stopped, "Wait what is that?"
    Keith leaned towards the front door and listened even closer. He tried matching the distant sound with anything he recognized. Then he realized what it was right as the noise became even louder, as if it was right on the other side of the door. He quickly jumped away and tried to shield Damien, but it was too late. The front part of the house exploded, sending Keith and Damien straight through the home and out the other end, flinging them into the forest of the backyard.