The sun peeked over the horizon slowly, as though it was cautiously surveying the landscape below for any further signs of calamity. Apparently finding none, it sluggishly climbed into the sky, ready to dip back down behind the world at the first sign of trouble. The freshly-mended earth began to lurch back to life with the sun: birds began to sing their merry songs and blades of grass swayed gently in the breeze, as though they didn't have any idea that the threat of utter annihilation was averted with a mere handful of seconds to spare.

Atop an unsuspecting grassy hill, the air shimmered for a moment before bursting like an enormous soap bubble, depositing a tangled heap of purple and black limbs, tails, and wings onto the grass below. Neither figure moved, and for any unknowing observer, they appeared to be as lifeless as the rocks at the bottom of the riverbed nearby. The air meandered slowly past the pair, and the world continued to turn underneath them, just as it always had.

Nearby, a skittering trail was being trampled into the grass by handful of sets of tiny feet, gingerly making their way towards the disturbance. They darted forwards and then stopped, listening intently for any sign of danger, then moved forwards again. Before long, five mice peeked through the long blades of grass at the intruders into their domain: a black dragon and a purple dragon, both of whom lay haphazardly on the ground. None of the mice moved a single hair on their heads for an excruciatingly long time, but once the bravest among them had gathered enough of his nerve, he crept forwards and inspected the purple dragon closer. He stood on his hind legs and propped his forelegs on the dragon's neck, searching for movement.

The air reeked of ozone and burnt carbon, and so did the purple dragon. The mouse wrinkled his nose, and was tempted to turn around and leave the beasts where they lay and allow nature to reclaim their lifeless bodies, but a whisper of motion caught his keen eye and he scurried back to his friends, their hearts beating so quickly that one could call it a vibration.

The purple dragon inhaled, the movement almost imperceptible. The brave lead mouse rose up on his hind legs again to see the black dragon breathing as well, which sent a shudder down his mousey spine. He knew that both creatures were predators, but it simply wouldn't do to leave two defenseless creatures to weather the elements and whatever else may come their way.

The mouse turned back to his friends, gesticulating wildly at the dragons, before pushing past his fellow mice and urging them to follow him with as many squeaks as he could muster.

Three weeks later.

Flame the dragon gazed forlornly at the rows of books in front of him, his tired eyes scanning the titles that were printed on the spines in search of something that didn't sound more boring than watching mortar dry.

The Guardian dragons had issued a call to all of the remaining dragon villages and towns across the world, seeking capable young dragons to take up the mantles of Guardians and experienced older dragons to serve as teachers to assist in educating the future Guardians had surprised everyone by putting out the call so quickly after the war against the darkness was over. A few dragons thought that the Guardians were being hasty, but others agreed that they shouldn't rest on their laurels.

There had already been construction projects started on various dragon temples to replace the ones that had been demolished in the war, and each of them needed a set of four Guardians, one for each of the elements, to train the students that would inevitably come to learn how to defend their world. Flame's daydreams had been filled with peering over exotic locales from his perch at the top of a newly-constructed temple, or fighting alongside three other powerful peers against some imagined monster.

Flame had been one of the many dragons to answer the call, but his initial exuberance at seeing the dragon temple for the first time had been cut short by the announcement that each of the dragons would be taking an entrance exam the following week. He had been caught up in sightseeing and spending as much of the money that he had brought with him as he could on trinkets and fried food, and thus had neglected to study at all until the night before the exam.

Realizing that he had been staring at the spine of An Unabridged Guide to Beets and Beet By-Products: Volume 74 for the last little while, Flame shook his head and walked a little bit further down the bookshelf in hopes of finding something that wasn't nearly as dry. No one had been told what was going to be on the entrance exam, which sent a vast majority of the hopeful students into an anxious tizzy. Sighing, he considered resigning himself to the fate that he had made for himself and going into the test unprepared, although the mere thought left a sickening feeling in his stomach.

A flash of color drew his attention to the end of the bookshelf, where a pink dragoness was standing. She rose up on her hind legs to reach one of the higher shelves, which stretched out her form in a lascivious display that Flame couldn't tear his eyes away from. She was fairly short in stature, but her hips, tail, and neck were perfectly ratioed with one another, giving clear lines for the teenaged dragon's eyes to trace.

In Flame's opinion, she was the exact definition of perfect beauty.

"You know, I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna be on the test," the dragoness said suddenly, darting her eyes over at Flame. "You don't have to study me."

"Doesn't hurt to be prepared," Flame blurted out before he could stop himself. He felt his face heating up rapidly and began to worry about steam emanating from his scaly cheeks: a legitimate worry for a fire dragon.

The pink dragoness's brows raised slowly as she turned her head towards Flame, letting herself fall back down onto her front paws. She regarded the bright red Fire dragon for a moment before saying, "My name's Ember, and I'm not interested in a relationship." Her gaze darted to the floor for a split second. "Or a hookup," she added icily, narrowing her eyes.

"Oh," Flame said quickly, trying his best to not sound disappointed. "I'm not here for either of those things."

Ember drew her head back as though she was surprised. "Oh," she echoed. "Are you studying… beets?" She cocked her head to read a few of the titles in front of Flame.

Flame froze for a moment. A lie burbled up from his throat, unbidden: "Yeah; just refreshing some stuff before the test."

"Hm. They were really vague about the things that were gonna be on the test," Ember said thoughtfully, sashaying her way over next to Flame and pulling out a book before he had the chance to read its title. She inspected the cover, saying, "Probably wouldn't hurt to learn a thing or two about beetroots, I guess. Did you know that they put beet juice in the raspberry ice cream here?"

Flame's brain locked up for a few seconds; after an entire childhood of the importance of honesty being drilled into his head, a large part of him was appalled when he said, "Yeah; there's not enough color in the raspberries, so they add a little extra color to make it look more like the berry." He wasn't even sure if what he was saying was true, but a little voice in the back of his head told him that he should do his best to impress the pretty dragoness. He sat on his haunches as casually as he could, but his shoulders and wings were as tense as he had ever felt them.

Ember nodded slowly, although her attention was focused on the book as she opened it to a random page. "Did you also know that-"

"I didn't study all week and now I'm freaking out because I'm gonna fail the test tomorrow," Flame blurted out, interrupting the pink dragoness. His cheeks burned slightly, and he swore that he saw a little bit of steam coming from the smooth scales on his face. The little voice inside of his head told him that he was a moron for telling the ugly truth, but his shoulders and wings began to finally relax again.

Ember's brows raised again, although instead of being upset like Flame had expected, she burst out into an adorable fit of giggles. She shook her head, closed the book she had been holding, and slid it back into place on the shelf. Still tittering, she bemusedly said, "Dear ancestors, it's an honest boy. I didn't think those existed."

Flame, entirely unsure of what to do or say, forced an uneven smile. "Thanks?" He said hesitantly, his smile quickly faltering.

Letting out a final giggle, Ember motioned with her head for Flame to follow her. "You're lucky that teaching is the best way to learn," she said, shaking her head as she led him between a different row of bookshelves. She made short work of picking out a few books and shoving them into his chest before looking for more. "Or memorize, I guess." After she had handed the red Fire dragon a hearty stack of books, she grabbed a few more that she carried under her arm until she stopped just short of a nook that was complete with a pair of plush cushions and a just-bright-enough lantern that sat on either side of the window that revealed the star-studded night sky outside.

"Now," Ember said, setting her stack of books down and hopping onto the cushion unceremoniously, "Let's see how much we can stuff into your brain in three or four hours."

The next day.

Terrador shouldered open the door to the room of visions, his weary eyes regarding the other two Guardians that were milling about the small, circular pool in the center of the room. Cyril and Volteer's faces brightened slightly as their fellow Guardian entered the room, each of their eyes on him.

"Any luck?" Volteer asked, his voice as excitable as usual.

"There's a few solid candidates, although two have an edge on the others: an Earth dragon and a Fire dragon," Terrador said with a slow nod. He walked slowly over to the green cushion next to the pool of visions, sitting on it with a restrained grunt. Ignoring the old pain in his bones, he asked, "I take it you two found some that would fit as well?"

"Yes, yes-there's a brilliant Fire dragoness that didn't miss a single question on the exam." Volteer practically beamed, as though he was the one who had tutored her. "I spoke to her for a moment after the exam, and oh…" The Lightning Guardian closed his eyes and shook his head lightly. "The things I could teach her. So much space to put so much knowledge."

"Anyways," Cyril said, clearing his throat and raising a brow at his yellow friend, "I was lucky enough to find a delightful candidate that I think will do nicely: the Spirit dragon that Volteer kidnapped and, ahem, 'interviewed' last week."

"Did I not tell you that that young lass was special?" Volteer said smugly.

"I'm not so sure that we should send so many dragons for this," Terrador pondered out loud, pointedly ignoring Volteer. "They will need to take remedial lessons once they get back, putting them at an immediate disadvantage from the word 'go'."

"Miss Ember won't need any remedial lessons at all," Volteer argued, waving a dismissive paw.

"If I'm thinking of the same pink Fire dragoness, then she will need plenty of remedial combat lessons," Terrador countered, quirking a brow at the Lightning Guardian.

"There is safety in numbers," Cyril added, nodding thoughtfully. "They would be able to watch each others' backs, and would be much harder to overwhelm with sheer numbers."

"Not to mention, they could fan out and cover more ground," Terrador nodded slowly. "I agree with Cyril. Four dragons should be more than enough to get the job done." Each of the other Guardians nodded decisively, indicating their agreement. "Each of us will send for our candidates, and all of us will meet here after dinner this evening. Should our four chosen candidates accept, we will send them in search of Spyro and Cynder first thing tomorrow morning."

With that, Terrador nodded towards his two fellow Guardians, and they all stood and headed for the door, a quick afternoon nap on each of their minds.

Rated M just to be on the safe side. 90% of the story will be K, 8% will be T, and 2% will be M, for violence, language, and a few suggestive scenes. Relevant content warnings will be posted at the start of each relevant chapter.