The Legend of Spyro: Tales of the Zodiacs
Chapter 1: Enter the Purple Dragon
"Hurry up you fools," The Ogre shouted. "If we're caught again I will have your heads!"
The goblins worked faster, stealing diamonds, gold, and everything else they could find from the Elf King's Treasure Vault. Soon there was nothing else but a little pile of gold and jewels left in the room.
"We got all the gold we can carry Batta." One of the goblins said.
"Excellent! Our Master should be very pleased, now I want you to-
The Ogre looked upon the goblins face and he saw him trembling with fear.
"What's wrong with you? Is it those long eared guards again?"
The goblin slowly shook his head and pointed to something right behind the Ogre. When the Ogre turned around he started shaking. The Elf Guards he could handle but this, this person was someone he never wanted to cross.
"Dragon…" Batta spoke trying his best to sound intimidating, but against the purple dragon is was pointless.
It was insulting really. The Ogre was at least five feet taller than the dragon in front of him, not to mention he was only fifteen years old, but this boy had power…power that people respected and feared.
"Put down the gold." The dragon said snapping Batta out of his thoughts and back to the situation in front of him. Actually it was more of a demand. The dragon stood there with his arms folded on his chest. He was wearing a black vest with black pants, he also carried a sword on his back, but it was still in its scabbard. From the rumors the Ogre heard it was given to him by Dwarfs for saving their home. Last but not least was the Zodiac Badge, the Ogre didn't know much but the badge was supposed to represent their inner power. The dragon's badge was nothing spectacular, just a golden star.
Batta looked straight into the dragon's purple eyes, he soon wished he hadn't. The dragon was strong and powerful and if the Ogre didn't respond the right way it would be all over.
"Dragon…we didn't mean any harm, we were just collecting our gold." Batta said.
"Your gold," The Dragon asked clearly not believing the Ogre. "This is the Elf Kingdoms gold."
"Well…yes, but you see we did the Elves a favor and in return we could receive our reward at a later date of our choosing."
"Do you honestly believe I'm going to fall for that?" The dragon said as he started to march forward.
The Ogre was really starting to panic now. There was no way he could beat this dragon unless…
"Attack!" Batta shouted. In an instant all the goblins were heading straight for the purple dragon.
One goblin tried to punch him, but the dragon caught his fist with his right hand and using the same hand threw him across the room into another group of goblins. Another goblin attempted to hit him with his mace, but in a quick second the dragon swung around and smashed the mace with his bare hands.
"Wow, sometimes it's hard to imagine I was the same old kid who spent all his time playing video games and didn't have a single friend." The purple dragon thought as he remembered back to the beginning. When the boy first became a dragon.
Three years earlier
"Come on," The dark skinned boy shouted as he pressed the button on his game boy. "Just one more hit and I win!" He pressed the jump button and his character dogged the attack, he landed on the other side of the field but the dragon turned around and burned him. GAME OVER. The game read as the screen went black.
"Aww man, I almost had him." The boy sighed as he lay down on his bed and set the game down. Just then he heard the sound of a basketball outside.
He looked out the window and saw the other kids playing. It had been a week since he and his family moved to their new home, but he was shy and wasn't comfortable around the other kids.
"Why am I so afraid?" He said as he sat back down on the bed.
CRASH!
"What the!" The boys said as he got up from his bed and went to investigate the sound. As the boy got closer he started hearing noises from the kitchen.
He entered the room, but it didn't seem like anyone was there. Just then a buzzing sound came from one of the cabinets.
"It must be a bug or something." The boy said as he walked over to where the flyswatter was kept and grabbed it. The boy walked slowly as he could, he didn't know what kind of bug it was, but he didn't want to just rush into it and get stung. He was almost to the cabinet when a bright light flew out.
"Whoa!" The boy cried as he fell back. He got back up and turned around noticing that the bug was glowing.
The bug, a yellow dragonfly was staring straight at him. It was weird it had blue eyes, two hands, and a mouth that was actually talking to him, or was trying to talk to him.
The boy had been staring at the dragonfly the whole time, trying to comprehend what was happening. A dragonfly was glowing… and trying to talk to him.
"Uhh, sorry but I can't understand you." The boy said.
The dragonfly stopped talking and it looked like he was pondering. Then he stopped and flew around the boy. He started moving his hands together in some weird kind of motion and then a light formed in his hands. As the light grew the boy got closer and closer to it amazed at what he was seeing. At that moment the dragonfly threw the ball of light at the boy and he fell to the ground again.
"Ouch! What the heck was that?"
"Can you understand me now?
The boy looked up and saw that the dragonfly was talking again. Except this time he could understand him.
"Hey buddy, can you understand me now?" The dragonfly said.
The boy simply nodded as he slowly rose to his feet.
"Good, now what's your name anyway?"
"Uhh, its Aaron." The boy said.
"Nice to meet you Aaron, my name is Sparx." The dragonfly said.
"O-Okay, hi Sparx," Aaron said nervously. "Wait, can all bugs talk or is it just dragonflies?
"Dragonfly," Sparx said as he flew up closer to Aaron's face. "I'm not a dragonfly, I'm a Dragon Sprite."
"A sprite, like a fairy," Aaron asked.
"Yeah, so what do you have to eat around here?" Sparx said as he flew past Aaron and headed back into the cabinets. He pulled out a bag of Cheetos and began eating all the food that was inside of it.
"Hey!" Aaron said as he grabbed the little sprite and pulled him out of the bag. "You can't eat that."
"Why not," Sparx said tilting his head. "I'm hungry; you have food, so why can't I eat it?"
"Because it's for my birthday party," Aaron said with a heavy sigh.
August 18, that was Aaron's birthday, but he wasn't really excited about it this year. In a new neighborhood nobody outside his family even knew it was his birthday, so he wasn't expecting anyone to come over. Even if someone did come they would only be interested in getting the cake, which his mom had gone to the grocery store to get.
"Wow, hey you know it's my birthday too!" Sparx said.
"Really,"
"Yep, so for my birthday I want to eat some of this delicious food." Sparx rushed back into the cabinet before he could even finish the sentence, taking out another bag of Cheetos and beginning to eat the chips inside.
"Hey! Cut that out." Aaron said.
"Make me!" Sparx barked back as he kept on eating.
Aaron was starting to get really mad then. His hand unconsciously reached for the flyswatter and lifted it up.
Just as Sparx finished chewing on the chips he turned around and saw the flyswatter. "Yikes!" Sparx said as he flew out the way and buzzed around the room.
Aaron chased Sparx all around the house. He wasn't trying to kill the little guy but he didn't want some rude little bug eating all the food for his birthday party. While they were running through the hallway Aaron swung the flyswatter and it hit the little dragon sprite causing him to hit the wall with a hard smack.
"Uh oh," Aaron said as he peeled the little sprite off the wall. He didn't want to really hurt the sprite. He was just trying to make him stop eating all the food. "Hey, are you okay?" Aaron said as he held the little sprite in his hands. Sparx moaned as he slowly opened his eyes and then he started glowing. Sparx's eyes shot open as he and Aaron were engulfed in a bright light.
Aaron was falling or floating actually he didn't know what was going on only that in a flash of white light he had been sent to some strange tunnel. Aaron was speechless; he never saw anything so wonderful. All the colors that were passing though his eyes were feeling him with a sensation that he never knew. When the light faded Aaron quickly realized that he was in… a swamp.
"What the heck," Aaron said as he looked around. "Where am I?"
"Where else," Aaron turned around to see Sparx buzzing right behind him. "You're in Silver Swamp."
"Silver Swamp? What's that?"
Sparx looked at Aaron and was opened his mouth to speak but couldn't utter one word. After an awkward silence Sparx finally spoke. "What do you mean, you never heard of this Swamp! It's one of the most famous places in Azeroth!"
"Azeroth?"
"Yes, Azeroth. This world we live on." That last sentence caught Aaron's attention and he soon began to worry.
"I don't live on Azeroth, I'm from Earth!" Aaron said in a rush.
Sparx stared at Aaron for a bit. "Wait, you're from Earth?" Sparx said. Aaron slowly nodded looking up at the dragon sprite. "So then that place I teleported too wasn't on Azeroth, it was on Earth!"
Before Aaron could even speak Sparx flew into the air and was spinning around in wide circles all over the place.
"I can't believe I teleported all the way to Earth!" Sparx said. "Wait till my folks here about this." Sparx then started to fly off, but stopped when Aaron jumped in front of him.
"Wait, you can't just leave me here." Aaron said. "How am I going to get back home?"
"I don't know you can figure it out yourself." Sparx said as he flew down the path.
Sparx couldn't believe that he had actually teleported to Earth. A sprite being able to teleport to other worlds was extremely rare. He also couldn't believe that the human he had brought back with him to Azeroth was still chasing him.
"Hey, get back here and take me home!" Aaron said as he tried to keep up with the dragon sprite that was several feet in front of him.
"Sorry kid, but there isn't anything that's going to make me-"
Suddenly a plant sprouted up from the ground and ate the dragon sprite in a single gulp. Aaron froze in place as he watched the plant that had swallowed his only way home.
"What…the…" Those were the only words Aaron could think of until he heard some small noises.
"Help," It was Sparx. "Get me out of here!"
Aaron slowly walked towards the strange frog like plant. "Sparx, can you hear me?"
"Aaron! Get me out of here before this Frog Weed digests me!"
Normally Aaron would immediately help, but since this wasn't a normal circumstance he thought for a bit. "If I get you out, will you take me back home?"
"Yes! Just get me out of here!" Sparx yelled.
"All right, hang on." Aaron searched the ground until he found a large stick. Grabbing the stick he slowly approached the Frog Weed and attempted to swing at it, but before he could the plant stuck out its long tongue and wrapped it around the stick.
"H-Hey let go!" Aaron yelled as he fought for the stick. Soon Aaron and the Frog Weed were in a game of tug of war, until the weed pulled on the stick with all its might and flung the stick and Aaron into the thick bushes.
"Ouch…" Aaron groaned as he stood back up. He looked back at the plant which began to make croaking sounds as it hopped away from him. Aaron panicked grabbing the stick again and rushing after the Frog Weed. When he was close enough he tried to hit it again but in a quick second the Frog Weed turned around and grabbed the stick with its tongue again.
"Oh no you don't!" Aaron said fiercely hanging on to the stick while the Frog Weed slowly pulled him forward. Aaron knew that it was only a matter of time until he would lose the stick again so this time he decided to switch tactics.
The moment the Frog Weed pulled on the stick again Aaron released the stick and it crashed into the Frog Weed, knocking it down. Immediately Aaron grabbed the plant and held it down while it attempted to escape. Aaron then plunged his hand into the Frog Weed and pulled Sparx out.
"Aww gross," Aaron said as he wiped the mucus from the Frog Weed off on his shirt.
"Hey, your not the one who got swallowed by that thing," Sparx said as he pointed to the Frog Weed that was hopping away. "Anyway, thanks for saving me." Sparx said as he started wiping the mucus off of his wings.
"Your welcome, so are you going to take me home now?"
"No." Sparx said.
"No?" Aaron repeated. "What do you mean no? I saved your life!"
"Yeah thanks and so long." Sparx flew away again heading down the trail and Aaron quickly followed him.
After awhile Sparx spotted a cave and flew in to it. Aaron saw him fly into the cave but he didn't follow. The entrance to the cave was shaped like the head of a monster, with fierce eyes and horns that twisted into sky; also he couldn't enter the cave because of the rock formations that seemed to form razor sharp teeth.
"Hey, what's the matter? You scared?" Sparx said smiling behind the teeth.
"N-No, I just can't fit though there." Aaron said. "Get back here and take me home!"
"Forget it; find your own way back." Sparx said as he flew deeper into the cave.
A wave of hopelessness took over Aaron, he couldn't enter the cave and even if he could he was too scared to go in. He fell to the ground facing away from the cave as he thought of never seeing his family again, eating pizza, and playing video games. He was going to be stuck here for the rest of his life.
Unknown to Aaron the eyes of the cave had flashed purple. The mouth of the cave slowly opened letting out an eerie mist. Aaron turned around seeing the mouth of the cave wide opened. Somehow the cave had opened for him, now he just needed the courage to go in.
Suddenly a strong gust of wind blew Aaron inside the cave. As Aaron stumbled into the cave he felt his feet immediately drenched in water. "Great and these are my favorite shoes." Aaron said as he started his way through the cave.
The a few more feet into the cave Aaron found Sparx sitting down on rock eating a butterfly. What confused Aaron was that instead of the golden light that emanated from the dragon sprite it was red.
When Sparx finished eating the butterfly he saw Aaron slowly approaching him. "What the- how did you get in here?" Sparx didn't wait for an answer and soon zoomed even further into the cave."
"Get back here!" Aaron shouted as he chased after the little bug again. This was the last time that sprite would get away from him this time. He ran as fast as his feet could move him through the water. As Aaron turned around the corner he saw another light but this one was purple.
Aaron got closer to the light and saw what looked like a cracked egg. The egg seemed to be purple itself and had a faint purple glow coming from inside of it. "He must be trying to hide in there." Aaron thought.
Aaron walked quietly as he could to the egg, which wasn't very quiet with his feet in water. Still he tiptoed as quietly as he could until he was inches away from the egg and then…
"Gotcha!" Aaron shouted as his hand plunged into the egg, but the moment he did he was thrown back by the purple light.
Aaron opened his eyes and saw a dragon. The dragon was glowing made completely out of purple energy, he was big and his body stretched out like a snake with the tail still in the egg.
Aaron found himself unable to move as he stared at the great dragon. The dragon itself seemed to be staring at Aaron studying him and then its eyes widened. In a split second the dragon dived straight into Aaron's stomach.
Pain unlike Aaron ever experienced flared inside of him as the dragon entered him. When the dragon fully entered his body Aaron gasped for air as he tried to stand up straight.
"W-What the…" Aaron said with his voice shaking a little. At that moment Aaron felt as though he were going to vomit, then his eyes flashed purple, soon his entire body flashed purple for an entire minute and then he screamed.
Aaron's entire body caught on fire, purple fire. It started from his hands and slowly spread across his skin. Electricity crackled around him as he felt something pop out of his back. His blood turned cold and he could feel every bone in his body changing the last thing he remembered was roaring at the top of his lungs, and then darkness.
"Hey, wake up."
Aaron woke up slowly to the sound of Sparx's voice. As he tried to stand he felt his head throbbing in pain. "Ah! Why does my head hurt?" Aaron rubbed his head but then he stopped, his head felt weird and so did his hands. He looked at his hand and his eyes went wide in disbelief. His hands were covered in purple scales.
"W-What's going on?" Aaron yelled as he tried to stand up, but as soon as he did he stumbled back to the ground. He tried again standing on his two legs which were now purple and scaly like the rest of his body. As he stood up he started to wobble until he fell down again. "Why can't I walk?" Aaron shouted. As Aaron fell back down he felt something behind him, something moving.
Aaron looked behind him and discovered he had a tail! Not only that, he had a pair of orange wings. Only when he stopped did he notice he was standing on all fours, but when he looked down at his reflection he froze. His entire face had changed, he had a snout like an animal and his eyes had grown larger and changed from a dark brown to purple. Finally he saw the two horns on top of his head.
"What… happened to me?"
"Well for starters, you just got a whole lot uglier." Sparx said with a smug smile.
"This is all your fault!" Aaron said as he raised his fist and swung at Sparx. Sparx flew out of the way and the Aaron's fist connected with the cave wall.
Aaron expected to be writhing in pain holding his hand but instead his hand had gone right through the wall. Aaron pulled his fist out of the hole he had formed and noticed the cracks forming along the wall. Aaron then turned back to Sparx let out a low growl, he glared at him as his lips pulled back revealing his new transformed teeth, gleaming white and as sharp as daggers.
"H-Hey now pal," Sparx said as he slowly fluttered backwards. "I was just joking, all in good humor."
Aaron let out a roar and Sparx flew out the exit of the cave as fast as he could. Aaron chased him, running on all fours. As Sparx kept flying he noticed that in this new form the 'human' was much faster, he then put all his power into his wings and was slowly gaining distance from his pursuer.
Aaron saw the dragon sprite escaping and so he decided to pick up the pace. He ran faster and faster and faster until he actually passed Sparx. Aaron looked behind him and saw that Sparx had stopped but he didn't, he was enjoying the rush so he kept on running until he came across a small lake.
"Wow, I've never ran that fast before." Aaron said as he approached the lake. He wasn't sure how far he had ran but he had left the dragon sprite far behind and he wasn't even out of breath. As Aaron went to the lake he saw his reflection again. He still had purple scaly skin and purple eyes. It didn't matter if he found a way home now; his family would never accept him as he is. He stayed there just staring at his reflection in the water.
A few minutes later Sparx had finally caught up. When he spotted Aaron he went straight into his mischievous nature. "Hey big boy, your not tired already are you," Sparx said as he hovered over Aaron. "I still got two more hours before supper." Aaron didn't respond.
"Hey, are you listening to me?" Sparx asked as he neared Aaron, but as soon as he got close enough Aaron growled at him.
"Leave me alone." Aaron said as he turned away from the dragon sprite.
"What's the matter with you?"
"What's the matter with me!" Aaron shouted as he stood back up. "You come into my house and start eating all my food, you drag me to another planet, I save your life and then you still don't take me home, and now I'm a monster!" Aaron roared as his eyes flashed purple. "Just leave me alone…"
Sparx took that all in. He didn't mean to cause any harm, he was just having some fun, but in the process he had almost got eaten and probably ruined this boy's life. He looked at the boy one more time and saw that he was beginning to cry.
"Hey, look I-" Before Sparx could finish a net appeared out of nowhere and trapped Sparx.
"H-Hey! Help!" Sparx said as he the net dragged him away from the lake.
Aaron, who had been rubbing his eyes didn't see the net, but he had heard Sparx's cry for help. As Aaron fought the urge to just sniffle quietly to himself he chased after the net that was taking Sparx away, although in the back of his way he was thinking of a hundred reasons not to help him, but that wasn't who he was. It was his one weakness, when someone called out for help he had to help them even if it would get him into trouble.
Aaron turned around the corner where the net had gone only to find a dead end and something completely unexpected. As Sparx was dragged up by the net he saw that the person pulling it up was an ape.
There were five of them in total, they were all big and were carrying various items from knives to dynamite. As they were inspecting their latest capture one of the apes spotted Aaron and his eyes went wide.
"Hey, I thought all the dragons in this area were dead?" He said.
"Dragon?" Aaron thought. Did they mean him? He didn't have much time to think about it as three of the apes jumped down in front of him.
"Come here ya little lizard." One of them said as he reached for his dagger.
Aaron was starting to panic. Were they going to kill him? He couldn't die, he wasn't ready to die! He was just getting ready to make a run when he heard a familiar voice.
"Let me go!" Sparx said as the other two apes started shaking him up and down in the net.
"He's not really much worth; we'll probably get more for the dragon instead of this lousy thing." The biggest ape said.
"Well what do we do boss?" The shorter one said.
"Will bring the dragon in alive, but kill the sprite."
After hearing those last words something inside Aaron stirred to life. He looked back from the apes up there to the ones he was facing down on the ground. Aaron let out a low growl and then charged at the nearest ape and tackled him.
"What the-" The ape said as he was knocked down by the little purple dragon. Aaron wasn't really sure what to do next. He had never been in a fight so he just trusted his instincts and bit the ape on his arm.
"Arggh, get out of me you stupid reptile!" The ape said as he punched Aaron off of him.
The second Aaron was off the ape jumped on top of him and pulled out his dagger. Aaron's eyes went wide as the dagger was brought down to his face, but to his surprise the dagger snapped off.
Aaron wrestled with the ape until he was free again, and then brought his hand to his face. The dagger had hit him but he wasn't bleeding, he wasn't even hurt. Did the scales protect him from the dagger?
Aaron's thoughts were interrupted as a hairy fist crashed into his head. Aaron fell to the ground dazed as the other apes held him down. One of the apes took a rope from the bag he had been carrying and was getting ready to tie him up.
"Let me go you hairy furball!" The sound of Sparx's voice had gotten Aaron's attention again.
"That does it!" The ape had shouted. "I've had enough of you." The ape threw the net on the ground as he raised his foot over Sparx.
"NO!" Aaron shouted as his eyes flashed red. He quickly stood up knocking away the apes with the strength he didn't know he had and unleashed a flamethrower at the large ape before he could harm Sparx.
"W-What?" One of the apes said as he observed the dragon child. His eyes were glowing red and his teeth were showing as he let out a vicious growl.
The ape that had been blasted by the attack looked at the dragon once more. "Wait a minute, didn't I hear stories about a purple…" The ape's eyes suddenly went wide in alarm.
"You there!" He shouted to the shorter ape. "Hurry and report this to Cynder! The rest of you kill that dragon!"
As the shortest of the apes left the area. The other apes hesitantly began to attack Aaron. As one of the apes came at Aaron with a dagger and used his tail and slapped it out of his hand and then blasted him with fire. The other two apes then tried to jump him on different sides, but Aaron moved out of the way in time and let them crash into each other knocking them out cold.
"Eat Hell lizard!" Aaron turned around just in time to see a dynamite stick land in front of him. The dynamite exploded and the force sent Aaron straight into the wall. Aaron got up with his eyes still glowing red just in time to see another dynamite stick being thrown at him. This time he dodged it before it exploded. The ape then sent another one down at him, but this time instead of dodging it Aaron grabbed it with his tail and flung it back at the ape.
The ape had no time to react as the dynamite exploded right in front of his face. As the smoke cleared Aaron could hear faint moans coming from the ape. He was alive, good. Aaron thought as his eyes stopped glowing and returned to their 'normal' purple color. Aaron wasn't trying to kill anyone but he had become so angry and it felt like this other presence took over him.
"Hey, a little help here." Aaron turned to see Sparx still trapped in the net. As he set Sparx free from the net Sparx flew out and started buzzing around his head.
"Aaron you were amazing, I could've done better if I wasn't trapped, but that was amazing!"
"Yeah, well thanks." Aaron said as he began to leave but Sparx appeared in front of him.
"Listen, I was thinking about what you said earlier. I didn't mean to make you miserable, I was just having some fun, but don't worry I'm gonna take you home right now."
Was he serious? Hope filled Aaron's entire body until he realized one thing.
"I can't go home like this…" Aaron said indicating to his new transformed body. Not only that his green shirt had been ripped to shreds, his brown shorts had a hole in the back thanks to his tail, and his new claws like toes were sticking out of his shoes. "Man and these were my favorite shoes." Aaron said.
Sparx thought it over for a while until he had an idea. "Hey, I think I know how to turn you back to normal, follow me."
Aaron wasn't sure where Sparx was taking him and he constantly asked if this was another one of his tricks, but Sparx told him that he meant what he said when he would help him. After walking down a huge hill they came into a large area where Aaron saw at least a hundred different dragon sprites. All in different colors just flying around and enjoying themselves.
As Aaron and Sparx entered the village they were met by many stares and mumbling from the other sprites. It turned out that this was where Sparx lived and that all these other sprites were his brother and sisters. "Your family is almost as big as mine." Aaron whispered. Sparx gave off a smile of pride as he introduced Aaron to his parents and explained to them the situation.
"Well Sparx, your disobedience to follow the rules has once again caused trouble, and we will discuss your punishment later." Sparx's father, a blue dragon sprite said. Sparx hung his head low as he looked away from his father.
"As for you, Aaron." Sparx's mother, a pink dragon sprite said. "I'm afraid that we do not have the power to transform you back into your true form."
Aaron's ears lowered as he felt his chances of returning normal slipped away.
"But, we do believe you can find a way at the Dragon heart Temple."
"Dragon heart Temple?" Aaron asked.
"Yes, it is a temple where dragons used to live. You may find the answers you need there." The pink sprite said.
"And Sparx will accompany you." The blue sprite said.
"Huh!" Sparx said.
"Sparx I believe this boy is your charge, so you will help and guide him like all sprites must with their charge, understand?"
"Yes Sir," Sparx mumbled.
After about an hour of traveling though the swamp, Aaron and Sparx stopped near a waterfall to rest.
"How much further do we have to go?" Aaron asked. "My feet are killing me."
"Well lucky for me I don't have feet," Sparx said. "But my wings are getting pretty tired."
Roooaaarrr!
Aaron and Sparx looked up just in time so see a black figure flying in the sky. As soon as they had seen it they both headed straight into the tress so it couldn't find them. They ran deeper and deeper until they came into a clearing. As they kept running Aaron noticed the huge gates that they were just passing. They were old and bent like something had forced its way in and everything even the walls were covered in vines. Aaron kept on looking at the scenery of the place not even noticing the red figure until he collided right into it.
Aaron fell back with a loud thud. As he looked up to see what he ran into his eyes met two giant red eyes with an expression that was hard to read. A red-orange dragon standing at least seven feet tall, with four horns coming from his skull, and wearing a red cape was standing right in front of him.
"Y-Your alive…"