Well, I probably, nay, I shouldn't be doing this, but I can't resist. I love Avvie's contests! Theyr'e too much fun. I probably won't have time to finish most of the rounds, but I will give it my best. I'll have to juggle this, school, BHAT, and the last of the CAT contest entries, but by Gex, I will give it my best.
A Winn3r is You!: Deep Cover Dragons
Entry Round
Unwelcome Visitors
Gex Gecko was loving life.
Not only did he have all the free cable he could ever watch, but the Secret Agents had also provided him with a lifetime supply of flies. And so, for three years after his last catastrophe with Rez, his arch-nemesis and possible father, he'd done what he loved most- watch TV.
He looked like an everyday green-scaled gecko, but like he'd taken a smaller dose of whatever Godzilla ate, since he was four feet, seven inches tall, and enjoyed every minute of it. Like most geckos, he did not have eyelids, and instead had a thick membrane over his eyes. Most people found it disturbing that he never blinked, but, in turn, he didn't quite understand why everybody else had eyelids when they should have just evolved like him and licked their eyes clean. He had yellow running from his throat to the tip of his purple-striped tail, and yellow also lined his mouth, toes, and fingers like gloves.
Agent Xtra, his last partner/damsel in distress, quite sadly, had been forced to move to the European branch of the Secret Agency. They'd hit it off after their last adventure, but what the Agency said, they got. Oh well; he wasn't going to whine about it too much- it just wasn't his style. He'd decided to retire to a life of relaxation and simplicity, instead of luxury, and gave his mansion to his family, telling Alfred to take care of them like he'd done for Gex. He still visited occasionally, and they wrote, but otherwise he liked the quiet of downtown Central City.
Gex's tongue flicked out to catch a fly he'd let out of one of the many jars he kept them in, zipping it back to stuff it and the fly into his mouth. He smacked his jaws and swallowed it within a few seconds, eyes never leaving the Dr. Phil show.
"But what happens if I love the ice cream?" a very fat lady asked, looking put-out to be told it was bad for her and she should not eat it with every meal.
"I'm sorry Maurice, but you must give it up." Dr. Phil said, patting her on the back as she began to cry hysterically.
Gex burped loudly, rolled his eyes, and turned it to HBO. He smiled as "The Sound of Music" came on, right at the part where Julie Andrews came running up though the field. As she sang, he croaked back, giggling madly, "The hills are aliiive, with a purple fuuunguuus..."
Sighing, he changed it to ABC, hoping they could at least provide some entertainment in the news. After a story about Superman spontaneously disappearing from Metropolis, causing everybody in it to panic and the police to try and keep themselves honest cops- which was an exciting story, granted-, he groaned and got up off his couch to go to the restroom.
As he turned and headed into the elaborate bathroom in the room behind the TV room, his TV buzzed loudly with shrieking static. He stumbled, putting both hands up to the ear holes on either side of his head. He turned, growling under his breath, to glare at the static that now filled his screen. He started towards it, then shrugged and turned back to the bathroom, passing the front door as he did so.
"G-G-G-E-E-E-EXXXX," a voice wavered, and then made itself clear, across the static, "GEEEEEXXXXxx Geeeckoo!"
Gex paused, his mind quickly digging through his memory banks to find out where he'd heard that voice before. He jumped around, glaring at the TV.
"You honestly couldn't try the phone?" he snapped.
"This is urgent," the Secret Agent, now coming across clearly on the screen, stated flatly, then added, "And besides, your phone's broken."
Gex glanced over at his phone, which he now remembered, had in fact been smashed up against the wall when a particularly feisty fly had forced him to jump around his room, trying to catch it. He absentmindedly let his tongue run over his eyes.
"Oh yeah," he said, and then flicked his head back up to the screen, sneering, "Lemme guess...Rez? Again?"
"No, this is much more than that," the Agent said, and held up a fuzzy picture of a satellite, floating freely in space, "This is the Lotus Cannon, developed by a secret organization that, until recently, the United Nations kept their hands off of, because we didn't necessarily consider them a large threat. Now, however, they have the technology...well, they basically have a really big gun."
Gex, while the Agent was talking, had walked up to stare hard at the picture, concentrating hard. Now, he stared back at the Agent on the screen.
"So how do you expect me to help?" Gex quizzed the Agent, scowling with the thought this was all for nothing, and now he both had to go the the bathroom and he was missing the TV.
"You've learned skills no other Agent has or will have while in the Media Dimension, and we can use them against this agency-" the Agent started, but Gex was already reaching for the remote, "Hey! Hey! Don't change the channel! Dammit, Gex-"
"Too late, not interested," Gex grumbled, flicking the channel button up and tuning in to Disney. Not that he cared for the dancing mouse on the screen, but he didn't want to listen to any more of whatever the Secret Agency had to say. He then finally turned and walked into the restroom, slamming the door behind him.
The Agent re-appeared on-screen, smirking deviously. "That's what we'd thought you'd say," he stated to no one in particular, "That's why we put tracking devices in that fly you just ate."
Gex didn't hear, he was busy finishing his business, but he did hear the front door burst open, and several sets of feet file into his house. He thrust the door open, starting to shout, but all four Agents tackled him, bringing him to the ground. In the midst of the struggle, Gex flung one Agent off with his powerful tail, sending him crashing into the other room, and his tongue had wrapped itself around another Agent's head to throw him off, screaming about the germs. One Agent, just as he retracted his tongue to flick it out at the other two, pulled out a large baton and whacked Gex right between his large eyes. Said organs rolled up and back, and his tongue flopped uselessly to the ground. He was out like a firefly.
…::Meanwhile, thousands of worlds away::...
"Last one there's a rotten egg!"
The first one charging up the grassy hill was a purple dragon, known as Spyro, and his arrowhead tail, segmented belly (which went from under his chin to the tip of his tail), back-facing horns, and the spikes along his back gleamed a goldish-yellow. He had thick, muscular brows, and from his back extended orange, bat-like wings, which flopped around as he ran on all four legs. He had a strong, set jaw, which was filled with sharp teeth, hidden by his lips.
The dragon following him closely was a black dragon, known as Cynder, but she was also covered in dark silver tattoos. Two sets of silver horns extended from both the top and sides of her head, with two very small horns extending from the sides of her chin. Her head was triangular, unlike Spyro's block-shaped one, and also contained an overbite. Her segmented belly, which also ran from her throat to her tail, and inside of her wings were a pink-purple, and her claws, including the ones on the tops of her wings, and tail were sharper and shone like metal. Around her neck, tail, and front two feet were matching metal bracelets that clinked as she ran.
Behind both dragons was a glowing ball of light, which was in fact their traveling companion, and Spyro's adopted brother, Sparx the yellow dragonfly. He looked like an everyday dragonfly on their planet the difference between his kind and the average human-based Earth ones being: he had large eyes with blue pupils, a wide mouth, and hands with three fingers that were attached like normal body parts to his chest. Other than that, he had four clear wings, a long, thin body, and two large antennae sticking out of his head.
Spyro charged alongside Cynder, the glowing body of Sparx steadily falling behind the two racing dragons. They charged up a hill, causing several sheep to panic and scatter as the three flew through their herd.
"Hurry up, Sparx," Spyro cried out, head lowered as he continued to run, "Or you're gunna get left behind!"
"Blah...blah...blah..." Sparx panted, moving his wings as quickly as possible. Finally, he caught up enough to grab onto Spyro's jostling tail, and cling for dear life as he received a free, albeit unknown to the driver, ride to their destination.
Cynder quickly pulled ahead as the trail they were following narrowed to a one-dragon path, but she struggled to keep the pace as the trail worked its way uphill and over rugged terrain. It was usually just a goat path, but all three knew it lead to a special place. A crystal-clear brook ran alongside most of the path, and all kinds of plant growth followed it.
All three appreciated the beauty of it, but right now they were rather preoccupied, especially once the trail widened again and Spyro quickly charged ahead of Cynder. She glanced back for Sparx, and saw him clinging to Spyro's tail. Sparx waved, and then put a finger up to pursed lips, motioning for silence. Cynder rolled her eyes and huffed, then put her head down and continued to charge.
After a few more minutes, the end of the trail came into view, and both dragons sped up to try and beat each other. Within the last few feet, Sparx let go of Spyro's tail and buzzed quickly ahead of both dragons, beating them to the imaginary finish line.
He cheered as they stopped and collapsed, panting hard.
"Sparx, uno; Dragons, zero!" He made one of his small hands into an o-shape, and held it up in front of Spyro's face. The purple dragon continued to pant, but sighed as Sparx shoved his loss in his face. Cynder, on the other hand, began to laugh.
"Some win!" she panted, rolling onto her belly, "You cheating dragonfly!"
While Spyro stared strangely at Cynder, Sparx gasped and held a hand up to his heart in offense, saying in a funny accent, "You accuse me of cheating, dear lady dragon? I say, what evidence do you have?"
She rolled her eyes again, and began to calm her breathing as Spryo stood up on shaky legs. He stumbled for a second, but then regained his footing and started to walk slowly towards their destination. Cynder stood up too, and followed him.
"That's what I thought," Sparx said haughtily, crossing his arms. Cynder flicked him with her tail, causing him to scream and get flung to the ground.
"Well, at least we're here," Spyro said, turning around from his spot to glance at whatever trouble Sparx had gotten himself into.
They now stood on a cliff, fifty feet above a roaring ocean. Ahead of them gleamed the last rays of the setting sun, which bounced off the waves in red, orange, and bright yellow, and reflected upon the sky in blues and purples.
"It's beautiful..." Cynder commented after several moments of silence.
"Not even a year after saving the world," Sparx grumbled, "And all you guys wanna do is run around and watch the sunset."
Cynder whipped her head around to stare, bemused, at him, "If you're bored, you can probably go back home." Sparx went quiet after that, choosing to mumble to himself.
"I'm glad to have a normal life again...or for once," Spyro started, then remembered he'd thought he was a dragonfly the first few years of his life...Not exactly a normal, baby dragon "life."
"Me too," Cynder said, quiet now, nuzzling her head into Spyro's. He rested his chin on her forehead, taking a deep breath and letting out, feeling the last edges of the war slip from his heart.
And then destiny struck in the form of an asteroid, which appeared out of thin air and hurtled straight into the ground behind them. All three leapt around, Cynder and Spyro lowering their heads in defensive positions while Sparx flew to hide behind both of them. The ground shook for several seconds, but then stopped as the dust began to clear.
Spyro began to slowly crawl towards it, but Cynder and Sparx stood their ground.
"Spyro! Wait!" Cynder hissed, "We don't even know what-"
Both dragons jumped back as the asteroid spat out steam, and the top of it opened up. Sparx shrieked, and flew over the cliff to hide behind it.
"I can answer that," a creature stepped out of the asteroid, and then cursed loudly as he realized it was really hot from going that fast from wherever it had come from.
Spyro and Cynder took several more steps back, realizing this creature was several feet taller than them, and stood up on its back legs, like Hunter. As a matter of fact, it looked a lot like him, only it didn't have large ears or a tail, it was peach-colored, and it only had fur on top of its round, wrinkly head and above its eyes. It was dressed in all black, and had the paws of an ape, and had shiny, hard feet. It adjusted its clothing, and then looked down at them.
"Hm. You're a lot smaller in person," he said, staring hard at them.
"What are you?" Cynder asked slowly.
"Ah, of course; how ignorant of me," he said, and then dropped down to his knees to be around their level of sight, "I'm a human. I know you've never heard of my species, but we've been looking a long time for your kind."
Spyro and Cynder glanced at each other, and slowly relaxed.
"Why would you be looking for us?" Spyro asked, concern etched across his face.
"We need your help," the human said, blinking steadily, "Our planet is in danger from both our own kind, and many other forces. We've been looking for worthy heroes to help our cause, and we have satellites that pick up on the level of heroism spread all over the galaxy. Our equipment only recently spotted this planet, and you two are perfect for a team we are assembling."
"Is it Malefor? Has he regenerated on your planet?" Spyro asked, now worried.
The human cocked his head, looking confused. Before he spoke, Cynder interrupted.
"I doubt it, Spyro. If he were going to manifest himself, he'd do it here, and we'd know."
Spyro nodded, and then turned back to the human.
"What's your name?" Spyro asked.
"Oh how rude!" he chuckled, "My name is Agent R."
"Alright, Agent R," Spyro confirmed as Sparx, seeing all was safe, flew back up and behind Cynder, "But how do you expect us to help? We don't know anything about your planet or your kind, or these forces that you speak of."
"Yeah!" Cynder said, furrowing her brow, "We'd be clueless!"
"Not to mention we'd be away from our own planet," Sparx added.
"Sadly, there is no time. You must make your decision now, and we will fill in the details as best we can later. Not only that," Agent R smiled, "But you'd be partnered with a being that is a lot like you, but he's a native."
"Another dragon?" All three asked at the same time.
"Err..." The Agent looked sheepish, "Kinda. He doesn't breathe fire, per se, but he's...a relative. He will tell you everything you need to know. Now," he said, eyes shifting between them, "Are you going to help us or not?"
Spyro and Cynder looked at each other. Cynder, seeing the look in Spyro's eyes, quickly spoke up.
"Spyro, we might not come back," she said softly.
"There is that possibility," Agent R said gently, looking genuinely concerned, "But we will do everything in our power to ensure you get back home safely. Not only that, but our agent that is helping you will protect you too."
"And you can ensure our home planet will be kept out of this?" Spyro asked harshly.
"Yes. Nobody knows I'm here, and we've jammed all signals directing towards your home planet."
Spyro looked at Cynder, then at Sparx, then at the ground, thinking hard. After a few moments, he swung his head up the speak to the human.
"Alright, I'll do it," he turned to Cynder and Sparx again, "Are you two in this with me?"
"Wherever you go, I go," Cynder said, stepping forward.
Both dragons turned to stare at Sparx, who made several noises of annoyance before saying, "Alright. I guess I'm in this by default too."
…::Hours Later, United Nations Secret Agency, Undisclosed Location::...
"Good evening Agent Gex," a voice said around Gex's pounding head. The gecko groaned loudly, reaching a paw up to rub it tenderly while he tried to concentrate on where he might be. Reality finally hit him several seconds later, and he shot up, eyes opening wide, before his headache came in nauseous waves, and he shrank again, eyes narrowed in pain once more.
"Ohhh, where am I?" he asked painfully, "I mean really, where?" He knew he was on some kind of table, in a dark room lit by a single light above him, but other than that, he didn't have a clear idea, although he had a nasty suspicion.
"That information will be undisclosed," the voice said, and Gex creaked one eye up to glare at the Agent who had so rudely interrupted his TV earlier.
"When I can move freely again," Gex snarled, "I'm gunna whack your legs off."
The Agent smirked, and held up a large black case. "I think this will change your mind."
"Money?" Gex spat, rolling both eyes at the Agent, "No thanks. You guys already provided me with cable and food; that's all I need."
"It's not money," the Agent said calmly, laying it on the table and backing off for Gex to inspect it. Gex stared quizzically at him, and then reached over to pop it open. When it did, his eyes went wide.
"You...you blew up my house!" Gex cried out, jaw dropped at the pictures of the wreckage where his house had previously stood, "Why'd you blow up my house? Mi casa? Mi hacienda?"
"The Secret Agency will readily do anything for world peace; surely, Gex, you understand that," the Agent said, "We wanted your full participation. Once your mission is fulfilled, we'll get you a new one, and a new 2000-inch TV."
"You could have just offered that," Gex said slyly, "I may have been stubborn about it, but I would have gone with it. Lay off my stuff." Now his voice had an edge to it.
"Alright. I'm glad we have your participation," the Agent turned and began to walk towards the single door on the other side of the room, "And you'll have partners," he said, and Gex paused, staring wide-eyed after him.
"You mean Agent Xtra?" he asked eagerly.
"Of course not, she's busy dealing with her own business," the Agent said, opening the door and glancing backwards, "Oh, and your suit's in the case." With that, he left and slammed the door.
Gex stared after him for several minutes, before he shook himself, stared at the pictures for another few seconds, and then dug through them to pull out a shiny, snappy black suit, complete with bow tie and white undershirt.
He left the room and briefcase, although he put everything but the suit back in the case and snapped it shut, and as he walked down a long, steel hallway, he finished buttoning up his suit. He couldn't say he was eager for this mission, especially since they'd blown up his house, but he knew once it was over, he'd be back on his couch, watching TV and eating flies again. He was even less eager to meet his new partners.
In the meantime, he could save the world...again.
The only other easy exit was the door at the end of the hallway, which, as he neared it, he could hear voices coming from. He paused right beside it, leaning in to listen to the conversation. He was no peeper, nor did he particularly like listening in to people's lives, but when he deemed it necessary...
"...be here any minute, I just informed him..." That was the Agent's voice.
"...still don't know about this..." another, high-pitched voice came through the door.
"...hang on..." a female voice now, and before Gex realized what she meant, a large shadow came up under the door and under his feet. He yelped as two sets of very sharp claws wrapped their way around his ankles, and he heard a hiss come from the darkness.
The door was flung open just as he fell back, preparing to...to...to do something, but another Agent stepped out to quickly reach down and lift him up.
"Cynder! Please! This is Gex," the Agent said, tugging back on the claws surrounding Gex's ankles. They let him go, and Gex was lifted by his collar into the room. Dumped unceremoniously on the floor, he let out a grunt and straightened his suit, staring down the shadow as it moved back into the room and beyond him. He turned with it, and his eyes focused on the other creatures in the room.
"Hey, hey!" Gex spat, glancing between the Agents and the one- no, two! (one popped up out of the shadow ball that had grabbed him)- dragons in the room, alongside a glowing dragonfly. Gex's extended knowledge of dragons was they were dumb, fire-breathing pains-in-the-but, "You didn't say nothin' about dragons!"
"Wh-what?" all three companions sputtered.
"Do you have a problem with your partners?" the Agent from his house asked.
"Yes!" Gex said bitterly. The three dragon-esque partners looked rather put out.
"Too damn bad," the Agent said, smirking, "They're your partners. This," he motioned to the purple one, "Is Spyro. This," he waved his hand at the black one, "Is Cynder, and I believe you might have already been...acquainted," he smiled, then continued, waving at the dragonfly, "and this is Sparx. They're quite the revered heroes where they come from, Gex, and we expect you to introduce them to our culture here on Earth One."
"Over my dead body," Gex crossed his arms, turning his head away in defiance.
"Please, eh, Gex," 'Spyro' said, folding his wings, "We only want to help."
"Yeah, and I only want to go back home," Gex grumbled, "But you don't see me clicking my heels together."
"You don't have a choice; you're one of the few teams we have going out there," the new Agent said from behind Gex, closing the door as he walked in.
"Hn," Gex grunted, letting his eyes roll over the other members of his team, "Fine. But don't expect me to like it."
"We don't." The Agents smiled at their little joke.
…::Metropolis, Several Hours Later::...
As the ship that had dropped them off in Metropolis flew away into the ocean, Gex straightened his suit and tried not to think about the fact he had been paired with two dragons and their flying companion, who looked like a very appetizing meal...
"Well, where do we start?" Spyro asked, looking around at the wreckage.
All four looked around, but what caught their eye was a large, black tower in the middle of the city.
"There," all four said.
"It's tail time!" Gex said, grinning wide.
"...That's...not going to be our catchphrase, is it?" Cynder asked cautiously.
"Because that's the stupidest-" Sparx started.
"No, it's my catchphrase," Gex snapped.
"-idea to take your catchphrase!" Sparx finished quickly, "We need our own- how about attack of the alien dragons! And their sidekick gecko!"
Gex turned his head to stare hard at Sparx. Sparx, seeing his mistake in calling Gex a "sidekick," paused, holding his hands up.
"Okay, okay! Leader gecko! Whatever you say please-don't-eat-me!"
Gex turned back and began walking towards the spire, the two dragons following close on either side. Sparx buzzed, grumbled something about not getting enough respect, and quickly followed them into the dark street.
END ENTRY ROUND
The "honest cops" thing is a reference from Two-Face: Year One, where a cop from Metropolis admits she an the others had to be good, because Superman would always hear/see them if they tried anything...not honest. I felt uncomfortable going with what avvie said, where the "cops had to remember how to do their jobs," because...well...I always felt the cops knew how to do their jobs, they just liked the help of Superman. Or, at least, most of them. It's kinda a Spiderman/New York (or wherever the fudge he lives...I don't care) relationship. Also have issues with it 'cause both of my parents work(ed) for law enforcement. :/
And I would really, really request that people keep the "leave Spyro's planet alone" thing canon through this thing, unless you desperately want him to go berserker-dark-fury-mode on your character's ass.
Also, the reason I requested both versions of Spyro is in hopes that, if I do well in the tournament, I'll have Spyro evolve into more of his original version, but keep a lot of traits from the new one.
Also, I totally forgot about geckos not blinking, and while I think Gex blinks in the game, it's most likely more a matter of Did Not Do the Research on the programmers part. If he doesn't blink, then kudos to them. :) In any case, if I left any part in about him closing his eyes, just let me know so I can fix it.
Also, Gex can be pretty stubborn. And since he already had all the food and TV he wanted, the Agency just decided to blow up his old one (prevent him from going back home), and offer him a new one. Yeah, they're jerks.
Also, the Agency works for United Nations; they're just a tiny branch, and more like puppets.
Derp. Um, I think that's it. Speeeling mistkaes, grammer, etc, let me know, along with anything you feel isn't right. I don't think I quite got Gex right, but he's so much easier to work with when he's in the Media Dimension, which he won't be much of, if at all, in this series.
Cynder, Sparx, Spyro are all owned by...hot damn, he keeps changing hands. I think it's still Sierra, though.
Gex is owned by Midway and Crystal Dynamics, along with everybody else except Superman/Central City/Metropolis, all of which are owned by DC Comics.
Tournament and idea belong to Avatarjk137! La-de-da-de-da~
INSERT JUDGE'S APPROVAL TO CONTINUE