Ripto's Ward

Chapter 1 - A New Enemy

To say that the land of Dragons was currently as happy and peaceful as the rumors say it is would be an overstatement. At the moment, the land was covered in dreary clouds with a gentle rainfall to compliment it. And to Spyro and his friends, the weather was nothing but a damper to their fun; one of his friends was obviously Sparx the dragonfly, but he freed a dragoness the same age as him from her crystal prison after defeating Gnasty Gnorc a while back. She was a small dragon with shimmering blue scales and matching eyes; an underbelly and horns the shade of light yellow; and her horns curved downward like a ram's.

Ever since Spyro freed her, Esther has remained by his side to look for an opportunity to pay her debt, but she had yet to find it.

"Is this rain ever gonna stop? I've forgotten what the sun looks like," Spyro groaned, to which Sparx sighed in agreement. But Spyro soon gasped with a brilliant plan, "We should go on vacation!"

"We won't go anywhere dangerous, will we?" Esther questioned with great concern, having been quite paranoid ever since she was freed from her crystal prison.

"Don't worry, we'll go somewhere warm and sunny—like Dragon Shores!"

"But what if Gnasty Gnorc is still out there?!"

"He's gone now, Silly! I totally roasted him, remember? Now, c'mon! Last one there's a Gnorc!"

Sparx shouted in anger when he realized he wasn't given a warning, and darted off after his best friend. And even though she tried her best to call after Spyro and stopped him, his speed towards the portal to Dragon Shores never slowed, so she gathered her strength and reluctantly ran after him. Everything about this just rubbed her the wrong way.

The next thing she knew, the starry void between each realm that they flew through soon became a lush and green land—which meant it wasn't the beach.

"Spyro, we're not in Dragon Shores anymore," Esther whispered to the said purple dragon, as she helped him up after their rough landing.

"Yeah, you're right—oh, hi! Which way's the beach?" Spyro asked a few of the strangers that stood near the portal, but they all gawked at them in silence, "Hey, stop staring! Haven't you guys ever seen dragons before?"

"You're dragons?" the tall, cat-like creature asked in disbelief.

"You got a problem with that, pussycat?" Spyro growled.

But just before the offended cheetah could fight back, a huge blast interrupted their conversation as well as destroyed the portal and scattered everyone.

"Well, well! Someone forgot to invite me to the party!" the voice of another newcomer boomed, as the owner of it came riding in on a green monster, with another blue creature accompanying him. He was short and big-headed, and he momentarily sniffed the air while waving his scepter in wonder.

"Were you trying to hide something from me?" he inquired with a grin, but then noticed the two abnormal guests, "Dragons?! You brought dragons to Avalar?! I hate dragons!"

With that, he let out a war cry while raising his scepter, causing the crimson gem on its tip to light up with the threat of another attack. But because of her promise to give her life for Spyro, Esther immediately lunged herself at the enemy and latched her jaws onto the scepter.

"Let go, you idiot! I'll teach you to mess with me!" the one-horned wizard demanded, to which he swung his scepter around until Esther was grasping onto it for dear life while spinning on it. But she wasn't able to hold on much longer, and was soon sent flying into a nearby tree like a rag doll, leaving her dazed and confused.

The wizard then chuckled darkly when Crush, his blue lackey, grabbed Esther and brought him to his master.

"So, you thought you could beat the great and powerful Ripto? That's just a death wish, Sweetheart," the evil sorcerer taunted while prodding Esther's chin with his scepter, forcing her star-ridden vision on his conniving grin.

"Hey, leave her alone!" Spyro shouted threateningly and unfolded his wings to pounce, but stopped dead in his tracks when Ripto pointed the now fizzling end of his scepter at Esther.

"Don't test me, Fool!" Ripto roared back.

"No one…hurts them…n-not on my watch," Esther growled meekly, trying to shake the dizziness from her head.

Ripto laughed in disbelief, "Oh, really? And just what're you going to do to stop me, Smoke Breath?"

Without warning, Esther kicked Crush in the face, causing him to finally let go so that she could take flight. But Ripto saw her attempts to strike coming a mile away, and fired a beam at her. Before Esther could comprehend what happened, a strong force suddenly clamps her wings to her sides, and she plummeted to the ground with a hard thud.

"Who's the loser now, huh?! You can't possibly expect to beat me without wings, so maybe that'll teach you a lesson!" Ripto cackled as Gulp, the monster that acted as his ride, turned to leave, "Come find me when you have a real reason for me to listen!"

With that, Ripto and his minions left with victory having swung in their direction, and Spyro was the first to come to Esther's aid.

"Are you ok?" Spyro asked out of concern, as Esther struggled to get back onto her feet.

"I-I…think so…but my wings," Esther began shakily while trying to unfold her wings, but a sparkling ring of red magic made it evident that they would not be getting her off the ground again any time soon.

"Aw, shoot! He cursed your wings!" the cheetah from earlier shouted in realization.

"Who was that jerk, anyway?" Spyro questioned the female fawn.

"That was Ripto, and we have to get rid of him. He's causing all sorts of trouble around here, but I haven't got time to explain. Right now, I need to follow Ripto and see what he's up to. Meet me in Summer Forest when you're ready to face him again," the fawn explained before running after Ripto with the cheetah in tow.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Spyro called after them, but they didn't stop, "How do we get ourselves inta these messes, Guys?"

"That doesn't matter. I can't help now that I'm grounded. You go on without me, I'll just stay here and help fix the portal," Esther sighed while sitting on her haunches.

"I can't let you do that. It's my fault for not acting fast enough. I should've been able to save you again," Spyro tried to reassure her.

"I appreciate your concern, but I'd just slow you down."

"Not true! You can super charge like a boss, I've seen you do it!"

Esther blushed, "Well, maybe…"

"You won't get in the way, I promise."

"Well, if you insist—I guess I can tag along."

"Great! Let's go!"

The two dragons and the dragonfly then began yet another race across the land, but Esther was once again mentally unsettled. If she could barely protect Spyro from a threat like Ripto, how could she possibly hope to protect him again?

Once Ripto and his minions returned to the castle in Summer Forest, he was quite overjoyed by his victory with the battle against that dragoness. And taking away her ability to fly? He surprised himself with that!

"Crush, Gulp, I tell ya, momentum has swung in our direction! We'll have dominated all of Avalar by the end of the week!" Ripto laughed hysterically while taking a seat in his throne. But in his moment of reminiscing, Gulp and Crush exchanged unimpressed glances before giving him a deadpanned look.

"What? Oh, don't look at me like that! It's not like I ripped her wings off or anything!"

The silence from his lackeys persisted, and Crush even crossed his arms and began tapping his foot.

"Look, it's not hypocritical when you're not actually planning on keeping her grounded forever. She'll get use of her wings back when she accepts me as her new king like everyone else around here."

They quirked their brows.

"Oh, please! You know no one could stand up to me, not when I've got my scepter. And next time, I'll just trap them all with a forest fire. That's more humane, right?"

At this point, Crush and Gulp had had enough and left the room with a huff.

"C'mon, I was just kidding about the fires! I know you can't rule a kingdom composed of ash piles!"

The large double doors were slammed shut, leaving Ripto all alone in the throne room; he huffed and slouched in his throne, aggravated by his cronies' attempts at therapy.

"Morons. I didn't do anything wrong—not to that wimpy dragon, at least. So what if she can't fly? I was only teaching her a lesson," Ripto mumbled to himself while twiddling the gem crest of his necklace. He lifted it and stared deep into the crimson shards within the crest, and was immediately bombarded by horrible memories.

"It's not like she's scarred for life either…"

There seems to be more under Ripto's tough surface, huh? Any idea as to what he's hiding?

Also, I hope Esther doesn't feel too Mary Sue-ish. I tried to give her the most normal/relatable design I could, and I hope you don't find her a nuisance. If you do have a problem with her or anything else, do not hesitate to let me know.

Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!