Two Hundred and Counting

by Marki Sallo

NOTE: Spyro, Ember, the Professor, Hunter, and other Spyro the Dragon related characters, places, etc. are not mine. Stryke is, however, an original creation. Any bearing to persons real or fictional is completely unintentional.

CHAPTER I - Transporter Tribulations

The Professor was hard at work on his latest invention, the Twister. It had a very simple purpose: to twist the delicate sub-atomic particles for his Spinner. The Spinner was quite simple as well; it spun those particles for the Zapper. And, naturally, the Zapper wasn't very complex either: it simply cooled those molecules into a liquid state. The liquid then traveled down the Spouter into a cup. The end result was a nice cup of coffee.

The elderly mole finished tightening the last screw of the Twister and set the contraption onto the elaborate (but simple) coffeemaker. He was about to flip the power switch to the 'on' position and give it a try when the Transporter activated. Instead of activating the machine, the surprised Professor only managed to fall into the Zapper and wreck it.

"Oh, if that's Spyro playing with the system at this hour," the Professor said in his somewhat-angry voice (he was really too nice to ever become more than somewhat-angry), "I'll revoke his transportation privileges! Honestly, island-hopping a little after midnight!" He walked over to the Transporter room door and opened it. "Spyro, you're not supposed to be playing with the system after ten," he said without looking at the Transporter.

"I'm not Spyro," said a male voice unlike Spyro's. The Professor looked up at the speaker and jumped backward into the Inker (which promptly sprayed black ink all over his lab coat). "And this certainly doesn't look like Convexity."

The mole examined the dragon standing on the Transporter's center pad. He was tall and quite strong-looking (of course, most dragons looked awful powerful to the Professor), with visible muscles and a long, sinuous tail. The scales covering his body were all a nice shade of blue, starting at sky blue near his wings and deepening to a dark blue at his tail and snout. Or at least the Professor assumed that he was blue-scaled all over. The dragon was wearing a snow-colored uniform with holes for his tail and large wings. The deep green eyes fixated on the mole. "Erm, are you just going to stand there and look at me? Haven't you ever seen a dragon before?"

The Professor straightened out his lab coat, getting his paws inky. "I have, but certainly none with such...dress. Actually, thinking on it, I don't think I've ever seen a dragon with clothes before. What's your name?"

"I'm Stryke," answered Stryke. He stepped off of the Transporter and then whipped around when it activated again. The Professor was used to surprises now and simply waited to see what would happen. When a certain purple dragon appeared, he immediately launched into a five minute lecture on the rules and regulations for using the Transporter. Throughout the entire speech, Spyro simply sat on his haunches and stared at Stryke.

"Yeah, okay," Spyro said quickly during a pause in the mole's reprimand, "I won't do it again. Who's this?"

"My name is Stryke," repeated the blue dragon. He sounded slightly annoyed. "And since I've answered the same question twice, could someone please tell me where we are?"

The Professor grabbed his clipboard from its spot on a desk nearby and made a small note. "You're in the Dragon Realms, Stryke. The Kingdoms, in particular."

"Wow, you're tall," noted Spyro. Stryke looked down at the purple dragon and raised an eyebrow. "Just sayin'," he quickly added.

"Okay. So, how did I get to the Dragon Realms from that Transporter in the Dante's Freezer Outpost? I thought I told it to take me to Convexity!" Stryke's long tail flicked from side to side. "Stupid Transporters. Well, I'll just be heading back now. Sorry for the whole surprise thing." Stryke stepped back onto the central pad. Spyro and the Professor watched as absolutely nothing happened. "Okay, now what's wrong with this thing?!"

Spyro padded over to one of the Chargers of the Transporter. "Maybe it's this fuse that seems to have blown," he said. The Professor walked over, shrugged, and made another note on his pad. He then took out a pocket calculator, spent three minutes typing in numbers, and then nodded.

"According to my calculations, it will take two hundred Light Gems to fix the Transporter system. The whole thing is completely down. Someone made it crash by teleporting around after hours." The mole looked accusingly at the two dragons.

"He did it," both said at the same time, pointing claws at the other.

"Well, then maybe you should both go and collect them," offered the Professor. "Take along Cynder and Ember. I suspect Flame'll want to go along as well. The more the merrier, right?"

Spyro sighed. "I just got back from savin' the Realms from Red, and now I gotta go and collect two hundred Light Gems? Come on! That's not fair."

"Hey," complained Stryke, "I've got a pretty important job to do in Convexity. Isn't there another Transporter I could use around here?"

The Professor shook his large head. "No, I'm afraid that you've halted the entire system. And I'm not going to be the one to fix it again."

"Where are we gonna find Light Gems? I just cleaned the Realms out of them to power your Gadgets." Spyro scratched an itch with his hind leg. "There might not be any left."

"I'm certain that there are still Light Gems around, Spyro," answered the Professor. He made yet another note on the clipboard and walked over to the Inker. "You'll just have to look. Maybe the Atlawa have enough of them. Go check out Tall Plains."

Spyro yawned, stretching his orange wings. "I guess we can start in the morning." He lay down on the ground and curled up, falling asleep in seconds. The Professor glared at him for a few moments before sighing loudly.

"Stryke, could you please move Spyro out of my lab?" he asked without turning around, examining the Inker. "He's not supposed to sleep in here."

Stryke let out a loud sigh of his own and picked up Spyro. The purple dragon was surprisingly light, especially to the strong soldier. "I always get the short straw," he growled, as he carried Spyro out of the lab and into the grass plain.