Ember woke early the next morning. She had gone to visit Flame's chamber several times the previous day only to find it empty every time. At last she had given up and gone to sleep, hoping she would catch him the next morning. As she made her way down the halls towards his room, she slowed her pace to think.
	"What will I say to him when I see him?" She pondered to herself. "I have to tell him about what the elders said yesterday. But there's also the subject about..." Her thoughts drifted back to their kiss. She had to admit that despite her frame of mind, she did enjoy kissing him. Ember's cheeks flushed. "Although, maybe..." She thought. 
	She rounded the corner and poked her head into Flame's chamber. She gasped when she saw him curled up on his pad of pillows. The wood in the fire place glowed with the dying embers burning away. Just then Flame's tail twitched. He lifted his head and turned to face her.
	Ember snapped out of her trance. "I'm sorry!" She squeaked. "Did I wake you?"
	"Not really." Flame yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Are we training today?"
	"Uh, yeah." Ember nodded dumbly. Flame stretched himself out and walked with Ember down to the kitchen for breakfast. As they walked, Ember kept taking glances at him out of the corner of her eye. He looked different. When she dared to turn her head, she saw why. His entire body was covered in strange, fire-like markings.
	"You look really different." Ember narrowed her eyes not sure what to make of his new appearance.
	"I feel really different." Flame said proudly and puffed his chest out. "I have a good feeling we'll finally beat Spyro and Cynder today during training."
	"What makes you say that?" She asked. Flame just looked at her and smiled. 
	"Just a feeling."
	"Ah." Ember nodded. They strolled along a little further before Ember spoke again. "So where were you yesterday? I was looking all over for you?"
	Flame paused and Flame's markings seemed to fade somewhat, though neither dragon noticed. "I just needed some time to myself. To think. To clear my head." 
	"Well that's fine and all, but I was worried." Ember turned away from him and her wings drooped sadly. "I thought you were still mad at me."
	Flame sighed and put a wing over her. "I wasn't mad at you." He said softly and his markings brightened back up. "But even if I was, I couldn't possibly stay mad at you for long."
	"You mean it?" Ember asked as the cooks brought them their morning meal.
	Flame nodded. Ember smiled and the two ate their breakfast in silence. The dragoness was feeling better than she had during the past week, but she had one more issue on her mind.
	"Flame. I wanted to talk to you about something again..." She said as they left their breakfast for the training grounds. "About what happened a couple nights ago." Flame's heart skipped a beat and his face burned. Once again his markings dulled again but only slightly. "I just..."	
	Flame pressed his tail spade against her lips, silencing her. 
	"It's okay." He shook his head. "You don't need to say anything more about it. It's in the past and we don't need to dwell on it." He lowered his tail. "Fair enough?" Ember's cheeks were red. Not only had Flame's appearance changed, but so had his attitude. When she didn't say anything Flame gave her a kiss on the cheek and moved on ahead.
	Ember stood speechless and raised a paw to feel the spot where her friend had kissed her. Her cheek tingled. It was Terrador who flew over her head that snapped her out of her trance. She shook her head and launched off the steps and followed him down to the training grounds. She sat beneath her tree Flame had designated for her while Terrador explained the drill. Flame walked up to her and smiled.
	"You mind if I go first?" He asked politely. 
	"Uh, sure." Ember nodded. She couldn't figure out why she wasn't able to speak around Flame anymore.
	"Ready!" Terrador raised his wing. Spyro and Flame stepped into the ring. Spyro noticed the markings across Flame's body and the fire breather smiled. Spyro didn't have long to think about it because the earth guardian dropped his wing. "Go!" 
	Flame shot straight into the sky with a burst of fire. Spyro gasped in surprise as Flame opened his jaws and spewed a stream of fire. The purple dragon rolled to the side and used the thermal updraft from the heat to quickly gain altitude. 
	Flame dove at Spyro and spat more fire at him. Spyro retaliated, using his own fire breath but Flame's overpowered his. The flames blew into Spyro's face and Flame slammed into him. Spyro reeled out of control and struggled to catch himself. Flame banked hard and struck Spyro from behind. The purple dragon staggered and looked up with wide eyes.
	"What's going on?" He gasped as he barely managed to dodge another pass from the fire breather. "Flame was never that fast before, was he?"
	Flame shot a fireball and Spyro countered with a blast of ice. The elements collided and filled the air with hot steam.  
	Down on the ground, Terrador, Ember and Cynder shielded themselves from the hot vapor with their wings. All were truly astonished by Flame's transformation. Both Ember and Cynder searched the sky, hoping to see either of the dragons. 
	Flame felt the rush of power as his marking glowed deep crimson against his orange and yellow hide. He had never felt this energetic before. Spyro burst up in front of him and blasted him with his ice breath. Flame's torso was frozen solid as well as his wings. He gasped in shock as he began to fall.
	"No!" He screamed in his mind. "I can't lose again! I have to become stronger! For Ember!" He let lose a roar as he felt the fire inside him erupt. The ice shattered and he beat his wings fast to slow his descent. The release of his energy burned away the remaining mist and he shot up over Spyro's head. The purple dragon was dumbstruck. Flame smiled and opened his mouth wide. A ball of burning energy formed in his mouth and began to pulse. 
	"Oh no." Spyro opened his mouth and charged a ball of fire energy. He fired the fiery beam of energy before Flame could release his. But the fire breather was quick to react. Flame unleashed his energy beam. The fire overpowered Spyro's attack again. Spyro saw what was coming and forced more power into his attack. He pushed Flame's energy back towards him, but it wasn't enough. Flame gave a final roar and their attacks combusted. Flame was sent spinning out head over heals but quickly managed to upright himself. Spyro was sent flying into a stone wall with tremendous force. 
	Cynder, Terrador and Ember gasped in shock as the impact sent Spyro's body crashing through the wall and landing in the middle of another wall one hundred yards behind the first. The purple dragon's body collapsed to the ground as several loose stones crumbled down on top of him.
	"Spyro!" Cynder screamed. She scrambled through the hole in the wall and over to the pile of rocks. Terrador was right behind her and was helping dig the young dragon out.
	Up above Flame panted heavily. He couldn't believe that he had just beaten the purple dragon of legends. He looked at his paws and flexed his talons with a smile. "I've gotten stronger." He nodded approvingly to himself. He glanced down at Ember whose eye were wide with horror. She looked up at Flame then back at Cynder and Terrador who were dragging Spyro's limp body out of the pile of rubble. She shook her head with tears in her eyes at Flame.
	The fire breather felt his heart sink and his markings vanished completely.
	"He's alive!" Terrador cried. "But we need to get him to the healers or we'll lose him completely!" He grabbed Spyro in his talons and flew as fast as he could across the city with Cynder doing her best to keep up.
	Flame couldn't watch anymore. He felt horrible. Why shouldn't he? He had just nearly killed his best friend. And for what? To impress a girl. Flame hung his head and flew away over the city walls. 
	Ember watched him go but said nothing. She couldn't begin to fathom what had happened to Flame, or what was soon to come.