"They might not be very keen to see me... They might not even consider me a friend anymore..." stated Orian.
At the moment that Orian made his statement, Chrome came in and checked up on him.
"Ohh, you're awake now, sir! I assume that means our plans are canceled, Orian!?" Asked Chrome.
Orian suddenly got very nervous.
"N-no!! I'll be right out!! Good to see you recovered, father!! But I have an appointment with Chrome!!" Stammered Orian.
He rushed to leave before his father could stop him, but he was a moment too late.
"Orian!!" Storm stated flatly, causing his son to freeze in his tracks.
"Come here!" Ordered Storm.
Orian slowly walked back while avoiding eye contact.
"Why wouldn't your friends want to see you?" Asked Storm.
"I've... just been busy of late... Haven't had a lot of time to interact with them..." stated Orian.
"Really?! And what has been taking up so much of your time, son?!" Asked Storm suspiciously.
"Just... 'training'..." evaded Orian.
"What kind of 'training'!?" An Edge crept into Storm's voice as he asked the question.
Orian gave no reply and averted his eyes.
Storm sighed in exhaustion.
"Orian!! We talked about this!! You're not old enough to consider joining the fighting!!" Said Storm.
"No! 'You' talked about this!! You didn't give me a chance to state my case!!" Snapped Orian.
"Don't raise your voice at me, boy!!" Retorted Storm.
"Do you have any idea what it's like!? Seeing your parents leave for battle almost every day and not knowing if they'll come back at the end of the day!? Watching them get hurt and being unable to do anything about it?!" Yelled Orian.
Storm was speechless.
His son's explosive reaction showed that he clearly had spent a lot of time brooding over this.
Storm sympathized with his son's plight, but he had no idea how he was supposed to address it.
"Orian... I'm sorry that this is how you feel! But how can I explain to you that you're just not ready for this?" Stated Storm.
Orian sighed.
"I know I still need to grow, and that it will take time! But time is something we don't have! I just wish I could do more than just sit and wait for bad news at the end of the day!" Stated Orian.
"You don't know what it is you're asking for! It's not..." started Storm .
Something stirred inside him, interrupting his response. At first he thought it might be his Shadow reacting, but he soon realized that the energy felt different to his doppelganger.
A gold orb flew out of Storm's body and passed through Orian's chest before anyone could stop it.
A moment later a silver orb flew out and struck Chrome too.
Both dragons grimaced as a bright glow left their scales and blinded anyone looking at them.
They were both levitating into the air as whatever strange magic had entered them began to overwhelm their bodies.
A moment later both dragons collapsed on the ground, but neither of them looked the same anymore.
Both juvenile dragons had rapidly aged and now looked like young adults roughly the same age as Storm's siblings.
Orian was the same size as a wagon and was so radiant that he almost seemed to have been sculpted from gold. His horns had lengthened and was now fully developed.
Two pointed ears grew from the side of his head and his mane had lengthened and grew from the back of his head and all the way down his long neck.
His scales were entirely golden now, but when the light reflected off his scales in a specific angle a small tint of green could be seen.
The biggest difference to any other dragon was his wings and the small tuff of golden hair growing from the tip of his tail.
Before his transformation, golden feathers had begun to spring from his wings, but now they had fully grown out and had completely covered the 2 limbs much like the feathered wings of a griffin.
As he rose to his full height and spread his wings wide, the light reflecting off him was blinding.
Like looking directly into the sun.
Beside him, Chrome had also grown to a similar size and age.
Both dragons looked like they had been sculpted from metal.
But where Orian looked like Gold, Chrome looked like he had been sculpted from solid steel.
The tips of his scales had sharpened and thickened. Even his wings, which was often a weak point in a dragon's body was encased in steel scales.
His light blue mane, which was the same color as his eyes, had lengthened just like his brother and traveled all the way down his neck.
Where the mane ended, a line of curved spikes began and traveled all along his spine down to the tip of his tail.
A long curved blade as sharp and deadly as any sword extended from the tip of his tail, with 3 smaller curved blades growing from the sides.
His teeth had lengthened and was extending past his upper lip even when his mouth was fully closed.
Despite his metallic hide, he didn't appear rugged, looking more like a sculpture carved by a master artisan.
He lacked Orian's pointed ears and instead had a second set of smaller horns growing from the side of his head, just behind his eyes.
Both younglings stared at each other curiously.
Before Storm even had a chance to utter a word, something heavy tackled him from the side and pinned him to the ground.
"You bastard!!! What have you done to my babies!!!?" Exclaimed Aurora
"I didn't do anything!! I don't know what this is!!" Retorted Storm.
"Liar!! You bring them back right now!!!" Exclaimed Aurora as she began to throttle Storm.
"Mother!!" Exclaimed Orian.
Before she could do anything, Storm shifted her off him and pinned her to the ground before planting a small peck on her cheek that completely desolved both dragon's thought processes.
As the two lovers stared at each other, Orian suddenly called out.
"Can the two of you contain your lust long enough for us to address the elephant in the room!?" Exclaimed Orian.
"Before you permanently traumatize us and forever tarnish our image of you two!!?" Finished Chrome.
Both dragons had deeper adult voices now but while Orian's was almost musical in nature, Chrome's had deepened and sounded like a gruff military commander.
One accustomed to barking out orders and expecting them to be followed to the letter.