Prologue: In Dragon City during the time of the Dragon-Human War, there were 5 Guardians. These Guardians each could control a powerful element: Fire, Earth, Air, Light, Darkness. But one other had been forged: Shadow. Shadow was a hidden element, one that could destroy all in the blink of an eye without notice. Word Paynn had forged this element and had used it to create Wraiths. These Wraiths were like normal biped dragons only colored black, highly vicious and bent to Word's will. The Wraiths had been roaming unchecked and freely through the City and only the Guardians could stop them...if they were chosen in time. Mortis the priest had already found 5 suitable children: Artha Penn, Lance Penn, Kitt Wonn, Parmon Sean, and Moordryd Paynn. The one thing was that the children chosen had no idea that they had been chosen at all....our story begins at Penn Stables many years after the War where four of our five Chosen Ones are...
Chapter One: Guardians Reborn
The Penn brothers, Lance and Artha were head to head in a BattleGround Dragon tournament. Lance was winning 3-2. Artha was good at this game but not good enough because red draconian GAME OVER symbols flashed on his screen. "Scales!" he exclaimed "That's the third time you've beaten me Lance". Lance just smiled with a look of victory on his face. Kitt just rolled her eyes while watching them...Boys...she thought. Parmon was not playing games, he was hard at work repairing gear and other gadgets. He came out with some repaired gear in his arms. "I repaired your Thruster Gear Artha!" he yelled but Artha took no notice being enthralled still with the game. "Whatever then...I'll put it back" said Parmon who went off. The kid's dragons were also having fun. Beau was romping about play fighting with Fracshun while Wyldfyr and Cyrano took a nap in the sun.
A few minutes later, Artha got a message on his Comm-Link. It was from Mortis. He said "Artha..bring Lance and the others here...I have something to tell you". Artha nodded his head and then called out to his friends "Hey guys! Mortis wants to see us right now! He says its important!". The others stopped doing what they were already doing and followed Artha and the dragons followed too. When they got to Mortis, he greeted them.
"Artha...Lance...Parmon....Kitt, I have to tell you something" he said. "What is it Mortis?" said Artha. "I will start with a legend...the legend of the Guardians. The guardians were a group of five young warriors that each had control over an element...Fire, Air, Earth, Light and Darkness. These five elements were extremely powerful and could be controlled only by those who could handle them. But there was a person that made one more element called Shadow and you know this person as Word Paynn" Mortis spoke. Artha cocked an eyebrow and then said "Wait one minute...how do we know this isn't just another one of your fairytales Mortis?" . Mortis smiled. He had been waiting for Artha to ask this. "Because of this!" he exclaimed and pushed a large stone tablet. The room shook and a pillar of stone appeared. It then shortened to eye level and resting on it were five amulets, each different. The kids simply stared, awestruck by the sight before them.
"Uh Mortis..." said Artha "What are those?". "These" said Mortis "are the five Amulets of the Guardians however you only see four because you own one yourself DragonBooster". Artha then noticed the Star Amulet around his neck. Mortis then continued "These four Amulets each contain powerful amounts of Elemental Draconium. They are Fire, Air, Earth and Darkness and yet the Darkness Amulet goes to another who is not here". "Elemental Draconium?" Parmon exclaimed "Mortis do you know how rare that is? Elemental Draconium was only forged in small amounts and is so rare that it is worth its weight in gold!". Parmon ranted on for a few more minutes until Kitt told him to shut up.
Mortis went on to explain about each Amulet and then gave one to each of them. "To you Lance, the Amulet of Air". This amulet was shaped like a tornado. Lance was pleased. "To you Kitt, the Amulet of Fire". Kitt picked hers up. It looked like the Furox Bonemark but smaller. "And finally to you Parmon, the Amulet of Earth". Parmon was excited and readily picked his up and put it around his neck. It was shaped like a mountain range much like the Will of the Dragon Crew symbol. Once they all had their Amulets they were confused. Lance said "How do these things work anyways?" "The Amulets are only activated when Artha activates his because his acts as the balancer between the other four. Also when your powers are triggered it changes you and your dragons in ways you probably have never seen...but I warn you now: Misusing the powers you now have could lead to chaos and destruction" said Mortis. Artha then felt some confidence. "Well guys? let's test these out! RELEASE THE DRAGON!".
Artha turned into DragonBooster but his armor had changed. Instead of being just blue and gold, the colors of the Amulets too enveloped him. His armor looked the same as it always did except now he felt more power inside him. He looked like this:
(image by Dragonbooster500, originally by Neemers)
Lance's armor was ripply and breezy like air and so was light yet strong. It was silver and blue. The armor itself was like Artha's but lighter and moved as he moved. It felt like he had a second skin on him. He looked like this:
(image by Dragonbooster500, originally by Neemers)
Kitt's armor was truly hot stuff. It was bright red and orange and glowed with the colors of fire itself. Spikes protruded from the elbows and shoulders. Her armor resembled that of a Dragon Jouster. The helmet was like DragonBooster's. She looked like
(image by Dragonbooster500, originally by Neemers)
Parmon's armor was not like armor for combat...it was made to hold his gadgets and gizmos. He did get a helmet and chestplate at least just in case combat was necessary. He also carried a shield and looked like this:
(image by Dragonbooster500, originally by Neemers)
The dragons also looked amazingly different from eachother. All the dragons colors were shifted and morphed. To see what they looked like just look up at the pics of the riders.
Once they were all transformed they were shocked. Artha was calm however because he knew what it was like to transform while the others did not. Kitt was surprised with her new look and admired it. Lance was enthralled with his armor and his dragon's cool lightning bolt stripes. Parmon was scared silly when he took a good look at Cyrano who gave him a shocked look as well. Mortis just smiled with pride and said "Now that you all have seen your new forms and gazed upon your beasts let me tell you more about the Guardians so you can learn about them and gain knowledge of your new power for no two Guardians are alike". He began to tell more of the story and the new Guardians listened in wonder and silence filled the Temple chamber where they sat. The story was very, very interesting.
Chapter Two: Visions of the Past
Mortis told the story of each Guardian in turn starting with Artha. "Artha, the DragonBooster before you wore the same armor and carried the same amulet you carry. His dragon was the last Gold Star Dragon on the planet and only that dragon was capable as you know of releasing a dragon's full powers. You also already know that the DragonBooster was able to become one with his dragon and that he was stronger than any normal human but there are things you do not know and I will tell you. First the DragonBooster is immortal which means he can never die. Second Beau here also is immortal like you. Third is that your heart and Beau's beat as one which means you share Beau's happiness and strength but also his weakness and pain and lastly Beau has a small price to pay for the power he has which is that Beau can be ridden by anybody that shows the qualities of a DragonBooster which makes him very vulnerable to enemies...I believe you know that rather well Artha having witnessing this before". Artha nodded.
Mortis continued "The Dragon of Legend has many powerful attacks but his most powerful of all are the Triple MagBurst, Energy Slam, Feral Roar, Golden Claw Slash and finally Fusion. You have used quite a few of these attacks before Artha".
Artha knew which ones his dragon used and he favored the Feral Roar because it could scare the skin off any dragon or human that heard it. He smiled thinking about Moordryd getting scared silly by Beau many times.
Mortis then described Kitt's Guardian ancestor " Kitt, your Guardian ancestor was Furi. Furi was your age when she was selected as the Guardian of Fire. She was much like you being headstrong, fiery and sometimes tempramental. Her dragon Byrn was also like Wyldfyr in looks and personality however Byrn was vicious and wild at times and when he was first brought out to be seen by people he went on a rampage. It seemed that nobody could tame him but Furi did. She walked up to Byrn and petted him and soothed his fire and was even able to get on his back and ride him. The two were bonded and they honed their fire powers until they were seemingly invincible and no-one dared stand up to them. She was chosen by the Priests to be the Fire Guardian and was given that amulet. She and her dragon protected the city for many years until age took hold and prevented them from doing their duties and I took the amulet which she gave to me.". Kitt was amazed. She had never known that a woman and dragon so much like her and Wyldfyr were the past Guardians.
Mortis continued on with Lance's ancestor " Now Lance, your ancestor was the youngest of the five Guardians being only about 10 at the time of his choosing. He was like any other kid being kind and loyal yet mischevous and cunning as well as brave. His name was Zyp. Zyp was a good lad but when he was chosen as Guardian of Air he denied his power. He wanted nothing of it but he knew that it was his destiny. He finally and grudgingly accepted the Air amulet and sharpened his skill with Air and its many uses. His dragon named Shokk was a dragon similar to Fracshun but much more hyper. Not much is really known about Shokk and Zyp except that the two were stripped of their power when they accidently mixed up some spells. Zyp's amulet dissapeared until I found it in another Temple far away from here". Lance seemed a bit scared of the story and his ancestor but vowed silently to himself that he would study his powers and not mix things up.
Mortis finally finished off with Parmon's ancestor "To finish off I will describe your ancestor Parmon so listen close. Your ancestor was a person who did not fight like the other three but preffered to be at peace with the planet and study all that there was about it. In doing this he became very smart and talented with various contraptions and gadgets. Does this remind you of someone?" Parmon smiled sheepishly while the others laughed a bit.
Mortis continued "Anyway, your ancestor's name was Rok. Rok was a tall boy and not that good at racing or sports and his only true talent was his immense knowledge of all things. He was chosen as the Guardian of Earth because of his down-to-earth nature and dislike of fighting and battle. Once he gained his earth power he put it to good use by building walls around the city to keep enemies at bay and since he was good at making things he also became a master Craftsman of earth based weaponry and other items. He carried no weapons but he had a shield. His dragon Krush was a Bull Class like Cyrano and bears the markings that you see upon him. Krush was a very intimidating dragon and struck fear into all people and to hide this Rok hid Krush away in a cave below his home and eventually everyone thought he had no dragon but those who knew him knew the truth. He gave his amulet to me to pass on when he finally grew tired of his power and the burden it possessed". Parmon was surprised. His ancestor was almost just like him in every way!
After hearing about their ancestors they all had one burning question on thier minds "Who was the Fifth Guardian?" and "Who could be the new one?". Those questions would be answered soon enough.
Chapter Three: Shadows Brewing
The gang was still wandering about who the fifth Guardian could possibly be. They all assumed Moordryd because of his nature but it could be anybody...
Word Paynn was with Moordryd in his Citadel. The Citadel was a huge tower of dark slate green draconium and steel. Ominous black spikes protruded outward at odd intervals. Word was looking at many plasma screens but one interested him in particular. The screen was depicting a painting of five people. He knew these people to be the Guardians of old times. He sighed remembering the story all too well. "The Guardians, protectors of the people and ally to the DragonBooster..." he murmered lines of the story to himself. "Fire was Furi, Rok was Earth, Zyp was Air, DragonBooster himself was Light and...Shayd was Darkness".
He was about to continue on but he heard Moordryd coming into the room. Suddenly an idea burst into his brain...he knew through his own sources that four of the five Guardians had been chosen...those four just happened to be the members of the Penn Stables Racing Crew! Those children had the four amulets but the fifth was still without an owner. Word knew that if he had the Amulet of Darkness he be unstoppable. He called Moordryd over to him and told him about the Guardians. Moordryd simply laughed and said "The Guardians? I've never heard such trash in my life! The only so called hero in Dragon City is the DragonBooster! Those Guardians are just myths!". "Oh really Moordryd?" Word said with a hint of displeasure "If they were not real then how come the Penn Stables Crew members have aquired the first four Amulets hmm? The Guardians were and are real. Show a little more respect for the old legends Moordryd because you could be a part of them".
Moordryd rolled his eyes but knew to not aggravate his father any further. He spoke "Alright...father...what do I have to know about these Guardians? Am I one of them?". "I told you about the Guardians because the Fifth Amulet which is Darkness has still not been given to a future Guardian. I have reason to believe that my old friend Mortis has it with him. What I want you to do is steal the amulet for me and when I become the Darkness Guardian I can place the other four under my control! Do you see what I am meaning with all this?".
Moordryd knew exactly what this meant. If his father became Guardian of Darkness then he could take control of the DragonBooster and his dragon and finally create a Dragon-Human War!. "Yes I understand" he said. "Good Moordryd...very good" said Word with excitement.
Back at Penn Stables Artha and the gang were resting after a long day of races. Thanks to Kitt winning three races that day, she had gained more profits for the Stables. The gang always split their winnings evenly amongst eachother so it could be fair. Artha too had won a race. Lance had won a couple of Kid Races but those don't bring in many Drakkals. All in all the team was happy as could be. The dragons were happy too. They packed their gear away and stalled the dragons after replenishing their Chow and Water supply for the night.
Artha was still thinking about the Fifth Guardian and who the new one could possibly be. He was deep in thought when he heard a bang come from the stables. He snapped back to reality and looked out the window to see a shadowed figure making his way into Beau's stall. Artha woke up everybody and then grabbed his Mag-Staff for protection. When he got to Beau's stall it was too late. The secret entrance to Mortis's Temple was smashed open and gear pieces were all over the floor. Beau was tethered to the wall by Green Capture gear pods and he had some scratches on him. Artha cut the pods away and bolted into the elevator.
The elevator came to a creaky stop in the Temple. It was quiet. Too quiet. thought Artha. He held up his Staff and prepared himself. He looked around the large room in all directions but saw noone. His gaze then settled on the stone column that held the Amulets. the Fifth one was gone. He scrambled around frantically looking for it but to no avail. He saw his friends coming out of the elevator and they were shocked. Parmon was ranting like crazy and Lance was scared. "This is not good! not good at all! Oh scales...who could have done this?" Parmon was going a bit nuts. "Parmon! pull it together!" Kitt yelled at him. Parmon calmed slightly.
They searched the place for Mortis but found nothing. "Mortis? Mortis? Are you in here?" Artha yelled out hoping for a reply but there was none. He heard a sound coming from the elevator. He turned to see Mortis standing there looking a bit bruised and exhausted. "MORTIS! You're okay!" Artha ran over to him and the others followed suit. After recuperating for a moment Mortis explained what had happened. A shadowed person had forced his way in and stole the Darkness Amulet but left the other 3 untouched. After he left Mortis persued on Tyrannis Pax but could not keep up with him. The gang was confused and nervous. They had securely placed their Amulets on the stone except for Artha who always wore his. How the person had managed to free the fifth Amulet was strange because only one who had been chosen to wield the Amulet could free it. They knew they would have to get it back unless the person who stole it was actually the one who had been Chosen. This thought was frozen into all of their minds for the rest of the night. Tommorow they would have to clean up the stable and figure out who stole the Amulet.
Chapter Four: Darkness Falls
Moordryd had succeeded in getting the Darkness Amulet for his father who was very pleased. He gave it to Word who set it in a glass case for the time being. Moordryd looked at it and wondered if he could be the Guardian of Darkness. He asked his father but all he said was "Who knows?". He found a laptop that was not in use in the Computer station of the Citadel and began some research. His research led him to see that only a person with a dark heart could be the Darkness Guardian. He kept the research a secret from his father.
Back at Penn Stables the gang had finished cleaning things up and got back to wondering about the Fifth Guardian. Then something clicked in Artha's head: The person who stole the Amulet would have to be a person who has stolen from Penn Stables a billion times before: Moordryd Paynn! He told his friends and they all had been thinking the same thing. Moordryd would be having some visitors tonight.
Moordryd felt that he could be the Guardian of Darkness and so planned to take the Amulet for himself. BUt to do this he would have to be VERY sneaky and careful or risk setting off the security traps. He put on an all black outfit so he would not be detected by the many security cameras. He then grabbed his mag-staff in case he needed to break something or defend himself. The last thing he grabbed was his dragon, Decepshun. Decepshun was a bit frightened about doing this but didn't let it show.
Moordryd made his way to the Amulet. He dodged the cameras, sneaked around laser beams and maneuvered over trip wires. Decepshun went through this with relative ease. He then reached the Amulet but felt that it had been WAY too easy to get there in the first place. Something was definetly not right here. He could tell. Suddenly four HUGE Wraith Dragons jumped at him out of nowhere. Moordryd jumped back in surprise and alarm. Where did THESE come from? He thought. He didn't even want to know. He pulled out his Staff and lashed out at the dragons left and right. He felt his staff make contact with them and they crashed to the ground unconsious.
He then went up to the glass case holding the Amulet and carefully pulled it out. It was a beautiful thing. It was shaped like the symbol of his Crew and was on a black chain. Very cool...Moordryd thought to himself. He put it around his neck and felt powerful in doing so. His father's plans would have to wait for a while.
The Penn Stables gang was all in Guardian mode and ready to fight. They were however a bit nervous at fighting with their new forms. It seemed like only yesterday they had been told the story and given their powers. They made their way to the Paynn Citadel and Kitt using some Fire blasted a nice sized hole in the wall big enough for them and their dragons to pass through. They looked around for any sign of Moordryd or his goons. There was nothing here. Artha moved to the front of the pack. He grabbed his mag-staff and prepared for an ambush of any sort. The others followed suit. Their predictions had been right because suddenly Moordryd and his pack of goons came out of the shadows at them. Moordryd spoke first "Well, well, well, if it isn't the Penn Stables Guardian brats and their overgrown lizard friends!". "Shut up Paynn!" Lance yelled. "Oooh, a little feisty one hmm?" Moordryd directed his gaze to Lance. He snapped his fingers and his goons attacked. They came at the Guardians, magstaffs up. Wyldfyr to the gang's amazement stepped forward and unleashed a breath of fire! This was all it took to scare the goons out of their wits. They ran away. Moordryd was now very angry. "Get back here you stupid oafs and fight!" but this was to no avail. He was outnumbered four to one and had no chance of winning unless...he could activate his newly aquired Amulet. He tried yelling something powerful "I call upon the powers of Darkness!". That didn't work. He then tried "Release the Darkness!" still no result. The other Guardians were advancing on him and fast. He tried one last thing "Darkness!". Suddenly his Amulet glowed and covered him in blackness. When it was over he opened his eyes and saw that he had transformed quite spectacularly.
He looked like this:
(image by Dragonbooster500, originally by Neemers)
The other Guardians stood there in shock. They had never seen such a well...colorful pair of Guardians in thier lives. Lance stifled a laugh. Artha smiled and Kitt sighed. Parmon was still cowering in fright behind Cyrano and was not looking. "Wow Moordryd! Quite the Guardian outfit you've got! Very "shadowy and darkness-like!"." said Artha. Moordryd growled and got on Decepshun. He ws not in the mood to be laughed at at all. He let loose a powerful blast of darkness power that made considerable contact with the other Guardians. They were flung backwards against a wall unconcious but the dragons who were rather resilient attacked for them loosing blasts of all elements but Moordryd'd darkness repelled it all. He grabbed some Green Capture Gear units and let them loose. The dragons were now pinned to the wall as well. So much for a grand victory. Now how were they EVER going to get out of this??