Ore watched from the block of wood with draws in it, was it a chest of draws or a cabinet? Malim had placed his sword and the scales next to Ore before he had started moaning into his pillow.

"I didn't choose my royal heritage! I never asked to be the King's cousin's nephew!" Malim shouted into his pillow, his words quieter and slightly muffled from the soft cushion. "Why can they not get their stupid thoughts about the royalty and nobles out of their heads?" Ore watched Malim roll over onto his back, his eyes looking at the plain wooden ceiling.

"Ore," he said, turning to face her, "don't judge people by their families, please. If that is the only thing you learn from me, that is fine." Malim stopped talking and watched the wooden door open, its metal hinges barely whispering.

"So not only are you a too-good-for-us-noble, but you're filthy royalty too?" The man snarled, similar to one that a dragon would make. "Are you going to request your own rooms too? Take your little pet to your humble home?" The man's blue eyes looked like he wanted to freeze Malim where he lay, they were like the scales of a powerful ice dragon.

"I bet you don't even know how to use that archaic sword of yours. You probably had someone wield it for you." The icy blue-eyed man still glared at the noble on the bed.

Malim all but flew out of his bed and grabbed his sword.

Ore stumbled backwards from the suddenness of her trainer's actions, but she watched as the point of the sword rested a mere scale length away from the other trainer's neck.

"Just because I was an academic, a noble, distant royalty, does not mean that I don't know my way around a weapon. For your information, my father brought me up to be as normal as he could, sliding in skills that I would need in the future without a lump. He only told me who I was when I became a rider. When I was fifteen.

"He hoped that I could escape this life that people like you think I have." Malim almost spat the words in the other trainer's face. He lowered the sword from the trainer's throat, Ore watching as he slowly did so before sheathing it. "Don't act like you are not there, I know that you are listening," Malim's voice softened and became quieter when he turned towards Ore.

"Ore, you've lived a sheltered life, stay by my side," he murmured tapping his shoulder pad after placing his sword down. Jumping on, Ore looked around the room, her heartbeat and breathing was normal. She could guess that Malim's was thumping as he strode out the room.

He nodded as he passed the small group of trainers standing next to the open door.

They descended down a few flights of stairs before he started to grumble about expectations, nobles and royalty.

"Why must people be so difficult sometimes? I guess that they cannot accept that they are who they are and resent others for having better luck. Take you down to where you are staying, find somewhere private on the way back, write a letter about the sword, sort things out with the trainers then eat, do some things, go to bed and try not to get killed," Malim continued to mutter before turning his head to look at Ore.

His chestnut brown eyes met her silver eyes, water rimmed at the bottom, a few drops escaping.

"Please don't die. I tried not to get close with you, but you remind me of her sometimes. However, you are different enough that I can stand to be around you," Malim paused when they got to the bottom of the stairs, his eyes looked around before walking down a corridor.

"There are lifts to where you will be, a word of warning, they are terrifying for the first few times you use them," he said, glancing in Ore's direction, his eyes were clear now.

His feet carried them down a hallway before stopping inside a small metal room, barely big enough to fit a group of six humans in, by Ore's guessing skills. Malim pulled a wooden handle connected to a chain dangling from the ceiling.

Nothing could prepare Ore for the experience that followed.

Terrifying didn't explain it properly. It felt like you are hurtling towards the ground, utterly powerless to stop the fall. Except that you fell from a height that you knew would kill you but was short enough to not last long enough to think properly.

The stop made Ore fall of her trainer's shoulder as they suddenly stopped. Malim had to take a step forwards as he tried to keep his balance, which did not help Ore's situation. The metal mesh doors slid open when Malim pulled them open after helping Ore onto his shoulder.

"You're going to have to start walking soon, I swear you've grown since yesterday. Just don't kill anyone whilst you are here, and you'll be fine. It'll help if you follow the rules as well, I'll check on you tomorrow, maybe tonight if I have time. Humans can be very stubborn when they want to," Malim sighed as he walked over to where the hallway split.

"Name, age, and species," a woman said, leaning against one of the walls as she looked at Malim then Ore.

"Ore, thirteen months, angel dragon. Genetically modified to have metal scales, part of the group of dragons that came in this afternoon," Malim said, for some reason he sounded bored. Why? Ore wasn't sure.

"They all came in here earlier. Why couldn't you have come here with the rest?" The light brown-haired woman said, walking down the right corridor before stopping in front of a wooden door and slowly nudging it open.

"I had some things to sort out from when I was last here," Malim said as he unclipped the band connecting Ore to his shoulder and placing her down on the ground. "Am I able to pop in and check on her in the mornings and evenings?"

"Sure, as long as you don't do anything to the other dragons," the woman said from the doorframe. Malim nodded his head and walked out, leaving Ore alone with the other dragons.

They'd never been left unsupervised before when they were all in one room.

"Come on! We just finished getting everything settled," the healing dragon moaned, her scales shining in the light.

"We knew that we were one down, who wants to explain what's happening?" The air dragon asked, her light grey eyes looking between the other dragons.

"Basically, we were figuring out who was the best mentally, fighting without powers, and with powers," the male angel dragon spoke up, the young dragon's bronze eyes stared into Ore's silver ones.

"We should start her in the middle, then we are already halfway there. 188, you start the fight with powers, and we'll work our way from there," the silver scaled air dragon said.

   Powers? This was going to be rough. Ore had no useful powers – yet.

The male shadow dragon jumped out of the shadowy spot in the corner, his grey claws clicked against the ground as he approached Ore.

"Stop when the other concedes, becomes injured or if you pin the other. Begin," the air dragon said as the other dragons gave Ore and 188 space. Ore started to come up with a plan.

She needed to strike quickly, and now, before shadows came for her.

Ore's paws leapt across the ground, her wings flapped, giving her more speed as she dove straight into the shadow dragon. The dragon's claws scraped across the ground as he squawked in surprise of the sudden attack.

Pain ran through Ore's limbs as shadows surrounded Ore. She kept trying to get her jaws around the other dragon's neck, but her teeth kept sliding of his scales. Batting the shadow dragon over the head with her wing, she swiped her tail across the floor, tripping the dragon up.

Ore finally managed to get her jaws around the dragon's throat. However, by this time, Ore's limbs were very painful, so much so, she struggled not to limp over to the healing dragon. As the pain drained out of her limbs thanks to the help of the powerful healing dragon, Ore watched the group, wondering who she was fighting next.

When she walked away a few minutes later, her limbs felt as good as normal, all thanks to the healer. She had a few ideas in her mind as to whom she was fighting next, but she wasn't sure.

"177, you have a go now," Ore heard the air dragon say.

Oh no. All the dragons had hatched at around the same time, but some dragons developed at different speeds.

The dark red male lava dragon walked over to face Ore, he was almost a head taller and could be immature at times. Ore would just have to do her best against the dragon whose eyes took the whole of Ore in.

Supressing a shiver as the dragon's eyes didn't stop roaming over her body, Ore waited for the match to start.

"You both know the rules, begin," the air dragon said. Ore jumped forwards, slightly at an angle as she dodged a blast of fire. Another blast of fire ran straight for Ore's head, who stumbled out of the way before being necked over by a dark red tail.

Landing on her back with her wings splayed out in either direction was not a good idea. She rolled over and started to get up just as a large pair of jaws wrapped around the back of her neck. The lava dragon's body started to press her towards the floor, but Ore tried to whack him with her tail and wings.

But it was no use against the larger dragon, who kept her pinned down to the floor from above. Ore's wings drooped as she made a quiet squawk in defeat.

"177 keeps his position as fourth as 153 becomes fifth in the fight with powers. 188 and those behind him have all dropped down a place. Next is the fight with no powers," the air dragon, 148 continued to be the speaker for the matches.

"We'll start with," the air dragon hesitated as her eyes scanned the room, probably looking for the right dragon, "177."

   Again?

The lava dragon stepped forwards a few moments before the air dragon started the match. He lunged forwards; his metal wings spread wide as he tried to wrap Ore in them. Rolling out of his way, Ore swung her tail around, wrapping it around 177's back leg, making the dragon lose his footing.

Headbutting the dragon's neck, Ore sent the lava dragon stumbling back. She checked her heart rate, raised, but not by much, good. Ore walked over to the dragon and pinned him by holding the dragon's wings down. Realising that the match was over, the lava dragon made a squawk of defeat.

"167, your turn to fight," the air dragon said. Ore watched as the healing dragon made her way towards the centre of the room. Ore paused; healing dragons were generally not fighters.

"If you must know," the healer's gentle voice wrenched Ore's mind back to the present, "I came third with the fights with powers."

   Ah. Ore's mind raced around as she tried to work out how the healer had managed to get so high in the fights.

   'Healers can inflict injures that they have seen or experienced onto another.'

   That is the only use I can think of when it comes to you, went through Ore's mind as she waited for the match to begin. As soon as the match started, the healer jumped into action, going slightly for Ore's right side.

Ore watched the dragon's course and leapt forwards, catching the healer by surprise when they tumbled over each other. Rolling so that the healer was beneath her, Ore pinned the female. The healer's face was scrunched up in a snarl whilst her metal scales reflected the white lights.

"153, you are now against 187," the air dragon said, her form was perfect as she sat still and watched.

Ore's eyes looked around for 187, the shadow dragon whose trainer had picked Ore up. Movement out of the corner of her eyes caught her attention, turning her head to look, she saw the shadow dragon melt out of the shadowy corner.

After a few mere moments, the pair started their fight.

It lasted longer than the previous fight, but it didn't take long for Ore to pin the shadow dragon, who growled quietly as she held her in place. After her scrapes had been healed, Ore moved onto her next fight, which was against the air dragon herself.

Ore had never seen an air dragon fight, but she nearly lost by just marvelling at how she moved. She really did believe the stories and claims that others had made, the female moved like air tumbling through a gap, water down a twisting river. There were truly no words to describe it.

The only reason why she won was because her past trainer had prioritised her fighting skills, he had known how useless an angel dragon's powers were. They had the same powers as a weak light dragon. In other words, useless.

To put it in as few words as possible, Ore had to plan how she was going to win, get the air dragon to take the bait, and pin her. All whilst trying not to being pinned herself.

It sort of worked.

Ore did plan how she was going to win, but she did not manage to make the air dragon grab the bait. There was a lot of rolling around as they tried to get the other under control, scratching and biting. By the end, both were tired and had scratches running down their sides. But Ore had won.

Once the healer patched both silver dragons up, their scratches disappeared and their energy levels rose.

The air dragon turned to Ore. "Never knew that you were that good, like, I knew you were a fighter coming into the match because you got fifth during the power battle. Sadly, even I could not beat the earth dragon, 160, so good luck," the air dragon turned away and sat at her usual spot.

Ore's eyes turned to watch the last remaining earth dragon, a mountain of a young dragon, walk towards her. Usually, she was one of the larger dragons, but now, standing in front of 160, Ore felt small and young.

"You may start," the air dragon said, her voice like a gentle breeze from Ore's left whilst Ore's heart pumped, still working hard from the previous fight.

Walking forwards, the earth dragon seemed to grow larger as Ore prepared herself for her first move. When the dragon started his first strike, Ore ran forwards, swinging her tail and wings out as she slid under the larger dragon.

Ore's claws scratched the ground as she turned around and leapt forward, jumping onto the larger dragon's back. Not slipping off the dragon's back was hard and was made even harder as her world started to tilt.

Panicking, Ore's tail struck out, wrapping around the green wing as the earth dragon rolled over. Ore unwound her tail as her wings flapped, sending her into the air for a second before landing on the ground next to the earth dragon.

One leap, and it was over. Ore's jaws and claws rested around the earth dragon's neck as both dragons stilled and froze in the position that they were in.

"153 wins, becoming first in the no power fights, everyone else drops down a position. You two, get healed and then we can all relax," the air dragon said, her voice betraying her surprise.