Author's Comment: Hey guys, NewLegend1 here. This is a story I've been writing during my art block with my other story, The Malefor Chronicles. I've been spending the time not writing that writing this one, as well as drawing concept art for it and what not.

This is an alternate universe fanfiction featuring Spyro and cast in a different world, with familiar themes and ideas. Instead of the dragon realms, we find out hero in a post-apocalypse dystopia Earth set decades into the future following a cataclysmic world war. Dragons now rule the ashes of Earth, and have built their new society on the ruins of humanity. Not all is well in this world, and Spyro will soon find out just the trifles of this world, and who his true allies and enemies are.

I plan for this to be about 10-15 chapters in length, being a shorter story. I really wanted to explore this universe and flush it out, while keeping it open to the possibly of more if anyone is interested. This work will be rated M for violence and dark themes, and the slight possibilities of more mature scenes, but that's to be decided. Please read and review to tell me what you guys think!

[Begin Readout]

The battle of good versus evil, of light and darkness, it is as old as time itself. No matter how much you change the story, how you move the pieces around, it all ends up the same. There will always be a villain, and there will always be a hero.

In the year 2025, a terrible war was fought across the planet Earth. The details of that time are scarce, but what stories remain tell us that the humans destroyed themselves with their own weapons. We've been told that as the dust settled, none remained. However, other stories tell that it wasn't their terrible weapons that did them in. Rather, it was something else, something even more sinister. Now, the land belongs to dragons and countless other species who rose from the ashes as humanity faded into memory.

Our story begins with our hero, who has yet to realize his role in this conflict. Even in the years since the demise of the Humans, conflict and war is inevitable. The battle of the hero and villain will always continue, but first our hero has to step up to the plate and realize his destiny.

/NewLegend1 Presents…/

The Legend of Spyro: The Journey Home

[Begin Read Out]

Syncing…

[Done]

Chapter 01: Walk in the Town |October 23, 10:32 AM


Blue skies, oh pure blue skies. Their pure reflection cast itself from a calm pool of water, sitting idly on the ground. It had sat here for some time, looking up at the sky and the sky being so gracious to cast its own gaze down onto this simple puddle of water. The two reflected one another's essence, yet so far apart. The calmness of the water reflected the grace of the sky, as if the water wanted to become the sky itself. It was interesting to note, that the water had originated from the sky, from one of its many rain storms. The water had been born there, coming back down to the Earth. Was it home sick? Missing its old world? The world that had once been had been shattered, now forcing this puddle to live its existence out in this new world, the world on the surface.

At once the water was broken by a footfall, breaking its calm serene nature. Bits of water splashed across the rocks as a series of paws clicked against the stone bricks, propelling the creature forwards as he interrupted the bond between water and sky.

The creature in question was a dragon, the figure running through the environment around him. The dragon stopped, looking to his left, then right. Walls filled his vision, surrounding him. The walls formed an alleyway, moving between many of the buildings that were erected here. The dragon continued to search his surroundings before having his attention called elsewhere. A water droplet had fallen onto his muzzle, breaking his concentration. Peeking upwards he looked up, seeing a pipe that was damaged, now swaying softly in the breeze that filtered through the alleyway. Above the dragon could see white puffy clouds, moving softly above.

With a sigh the dragon returned his gaze back to the alleyway, turning as he moved further down. He could hear footsteps behind him, demanding his concentration. Hearing this, he jetted, moving out of the alleyway and towards the main street that moved parallel to the alley. Here in the street he moved into a crowd of different creatures, each moving about their way in this marketplace. Shops were set up on either side of the street, selling different types of food, wares or tools. Creatures ranging from dragons themselves to various bi-pedal and feral creatures roamed the marketplace, each going about their busy day. None of them paid any mind to the lone dragon as he now darted in-between them, moving from the sound of oncoming footsteps originating from the alleyway.

"Where'd he go?!"

"Anybody see him?!"

He could hear the voices back there, looking for him. They weren't going to get him… Not this time anyway.

"There he is! Get back here you thief!"

Oh damn, maybe not.

At once they charged, shoving passed the shoppers and different pedestrians. Crates, pots and various items fell to the ground, shattering and breaking as the brutes moved their way through the crowd.

The dragon grunted, sprinting faster through the crowd. He didn't even do it this time! They always blamed him for this! He had only done it that one time, he swore!

Moving quickly, he blasted passed another crowd of people, drawing their ire as he raced towards another street that met with this one. He turned right, dashing down this street, barely missing a beggar who sat on a small staircase leading to a home, asking for any gemstones or gold. The dragon continued to race through the crowd before seeing a small ladder leading to the roof. He grabbed onto the ladder, using his claws to move his way up.

"He went this way!"

"Don't let that freak get away!"

They were down below, still looking for him.

"Jeez don't these guys ever give it a rest…?" The dragon muttered under his own breath. He lay still on the roof, hoping they would scatter, not thinking to check where he was. Eventually he heard them run off, somewhere down the street.

Whew… that was a close one.

The dragon stood up now, stretching his legs before he moved back onto the street. The different people there looked curiously at the brutes as they continued to run down the street in the other direction. The dragon gave them a small huff before turning and walking away. This was the eighth time this week they accused him of stealing from their store. Sure… he might have… done it once before but I mean come on, that was somebody else! How else was he supposed to eat? It wasn't like… he had a home… or…

A family.

The dragon stopped, looking at the floor silently before lifting his head up. He was just another homeless orphan dragon that wandered the streets of this city. There were many dragons like him, who wandered the streets, just trying to survive day to day. They weren't fortunate enough to grow up with families and have all the cushions of life that came with living in the inner city. However, Spyro was different still…

The dragon looked at a nearby puddle, looking at the reflecting it cast back at him. The face looking back was purple, with two golden horns rising from the back of his head as well as fins running down the middle of his head down his neck. He was a purple dragon, he was Spyro.

There weren't many dragons like him, in fact there were none at all. Spyro was an oddity, a freak. As long as he could remember he was alone in this world, even more isolated because of his color. Some of the other orphans that roamed the streets considered him bad luck, and refused to help him or even hang out. Only a few of the dragons cared to be with him, mainly because they all felt like they were all in the same boat. Why make survival harder when you could work together?

Looking up, Spyro could see towers that rose above the small single-story buildings that surrounded him. The towers were badly damaged, crumbling even. One tower tilted slightly to the right, a sign that one day it would collapse to the city below. That day had yet to come, but like many of the buildings around here its fate had been sealed. This entire city was nothing but ruins, even some of the buildings of the inner city that the citizens themselves had constructed. They were all falling apart, built from spare rocks and materials from the older ruins that used to occupy the space here.

Looking back at the towers, Spyro began to wonder. Those towers had been there since Spyro's birth. They had been just sitting there, ominously overlooking the city. There was no rhyme or reason as to why they were built, yet there they sat in all their mysterious beauty. Sure some people lived in the bottom floors but why would anyone need such a tall, lavish building like that...?

Nevertheless they were creations of the Forgers, creations of the race that once occupied these lands before the dragons or any of the anthros that now walked the streets. They ruled these lands and now were all long gone. Now they had inherited their cities, their lands and were now struggling to get by.

Ever since then, the creatures that called this city their home had developed their own unique culture, their own unique sense of being. The city was split into several city sections, each with their own traits and different attributes that separated them from one another. The marketplace here was the obvious trait of the inner city, as well as the winding alleyways that made up the marketplace. The inner city itself probably contained most if not all the newly constructed buildings within the city itself. Everywhere else in the city, people used what structures remained as homes. Here, buildings rose from the ashes, towering over the streets below and showing the progress they had made towards making a name for themselves.

Even so, this city remained heavily divided. The immense size of the city and lack of organization ensured that the different city sections developed independently from one another. The flooded city had its own marketplace, even a harbor. They traded often with the inner city, who benefitted from having its own marketplace and a direct line out of the city where traders traveled in by land to offload their goods. The city center was like a fortress, Spyro didn't even think of going there. It sat off to the side, almost ominously as its citizens toiled away with whatever it was they did. City center folks usually never came out into the other city sections unless out of necessity. The surface city was a blend of the others, more or less the city that didn't fall into the inner city or flooded city sections. Most people who lived here lived in the surface city. It, along with vast swaths of the flooded city remained unoccupied and barren. They were ripe for scavenging, the corner stone of the markets here.

It was what drove the markets, scavenged Forger goods that people would recover from the ruins. Anything that could be found made by the Forgers went for high demand. The only problem was, there just wasn't enough man power to scorer all the ruins within the vast city to find every single gem that might still be hidden out there.

Spyro finally reached the end of the street, it coming out into a courtyard. A large crack ran through the center of the courtyard, causing the ground to be elevated on one side as opposed to the other. He could see a few dragons sitting near a small fire on the elevated side, some fighting each other over an apple. Ah… home, sweet home…

Spyro walked towards the large building on the left, the structure being one of the larger ones in the city. The inside of it was dark, unused. Metal cages were strewn across the courtyard, for what reason Spyro would never understand. The cages had wheels on them, and they were all sitting in piles and even inside the large vacant structure. Spyro wondered if they had any relation to the series of shelves inside the building. He had once explored it and found some food before but nothing else really. Why would anyone build a massive almost warehouse-type building and put shelves and metal caves with wheels inside? The sign that was barely held in place read out to be some sort of market. Man, did that used to be a massive marketplace? Spyro could only IMAGINE what it would have been like in there.

Shaking his head, Spyro walked over to the side of the building, latching his claws onto a ladder that had been fastened not too long ago. It ran up towards another structure right next door, a much taller building that went several stories up. There had been additions that the moles had made to the building itself. Another building, constructed recently, stood nearby, almost using this tower for support. These buildings were damned resilient, especially for having lasted this long. There used to be some sort of street that ran alongside the massive warehouse and this tower, but it had since sealed it up with a wall to construct another building on the other side.

Reaching the top of the ladder, Spyro gripped onto the balcony that extended out from the building's side. Spyro had punched a hole right in the bottom of the balcony just so he could reach in like this and enter using the ladder. The balcony lead right through two open doors and into a small room. This, was Spyro's home. Well, at least one of them. Spyro had a few places he stayed around the city. Some he used to… hide from people who pursued him. This was where he slept when he came to the inner city. It wasn't often he stayed long here, he felt it was way too crowded here. He didn't dare go any deeper towards the city center, he didn't feel safe there. In here, nobody bothered him. He also had a nice warm bed to sleep in, something not everyone had… Spyro was fortunate to have one. This tower was supposed to have many rooms just like this one but Spyro could never check any of the other rooms because the hallway outside his door had collapsed.

Walking over to the bed Spyro climbed up and laid down. It felt so nice to just... relax. Especially after an… unsuccessful trip into the inner city. It sucked not getting any lunch.

The sounds of claws touching wood made Spyro snap from his rest, sitting up to look at whoever was climbing into his home. A red dragon climbed up from the hole, stretching his wings as he got through. He held a small basket in his muzzle, holding it careful so it wouldn't fall down below. He was followed by a golden dragonfly, who shot out from the hole in the ground, hovering near Flame.

"Flame! Sparx! There you are, was wondering where you had gone to." Spyro said, walking over. Flame set the basket down on the floor, looking up at Spyro. Sparx zipped happily around Spyro, happy to see his friend again. Spyro felt the same way, greeting Sparx with their usual happy smiles.

"Man I was about to say the same thing about you. Was starting to think you had gotten caught by those cabbage cart guys again."

"I told you, it wasn't me." Spyro said, grunting. Flame merely smiled at him, handing him a roll of bread.

"Woah! Where'd you find this?" Spyro asked, taking the food without a second thought.

"Found it earlier today. I was out by the warehouses today and found this. It was a damn gold mine…" Flame showed Spyro the basket, the basket packed with different foods, though some were in those damned metal cylinders. Spyro hated those things but food was food. They were hard to open more than anything and were never as good as freshly cooked foods.

"You say you just found it, laying around?"

"Yeah, was kind of hidden though. Was under a cloth in one of the warehouses and I found most of these cans laying around in another crate somewhere. There's more over there I think."

"We should go check it out later then."

"You sure, I thought you hated cans."

"I do…"

Flame shook his head, only to take a bite out of another roll he had fished from the basket.

Sparx zipped by, taking a nip out of the bread Spyro was eating.

"Hey!" Spyro said. Sparx merely zipped away, gleefully chewing on the food. Flame just laughed, shaking his ahead.

Oh Flame… Spyro considered himself alone, but he could always count on Flame and Sparx to be at his side. The three had grown up together and were best friends. Like him, Flame was an orphan. The two of them just decided one day they'd help one another out to survive in this city. It wasn't long before Spyro met Sparx, wandering the streets alone. The two of them had taken the little guy in, and they had all grown to be close friends. He might not have spoken a word, but… they all managed to understand one another. Spryo and Sparx shared something special though. They shared a certain kinship in that Spyro was the only purple dragon around, and Sparx was the only dragonfly around. No other dragonflies lived here.

None of them had many friends, even amongst the other orphans. Spyro thought that maybe because Flame stuck with Spyro so much the other dragons didn't want anything to do with Flame. Maybe… though Flame didn't seem to care in the slightest. For now, he was going to enjoy the crap out of this roll.

"So how were the warehouses? Anything happening over there?"

"No… boring as ever. Did see a building collapse into the waters today near there. That was the most exciting thing happening over there. The worst part about it was Sparx humming his little songs."

Sparx scowled at Flame, zipping angerly around Flame who chuckled at it.

"Relax Sparx, I was just kidding. What about you, how was the marketplace?"

"Marketplace was the same way, though I got accused of stealing again."

"You sure you got accused or did you actually do something?" Flame said with a smirk. Spyro gave him a glum look, shaking his head.

"Hey, just saying. You did take from that one guy's cart after all."

"That was once alright?"

"Uh huh."

"Whatever…"

Flame stuck his tongue out at Spyro, he only returning it with a smirk. He would try to deliver a better retort, but hey, this bread was delicious.

/Transitioning…/

[Done]

The sun was setting after another beautiful day here in his hometown. Spyro trotted along with Flame as the two compatriots walked along a roadway, farther towards the outskirts of the surface city. Spyro had wanted to go with Flame to the warehouses, which straddled the surface and flooded cities. They had a hideout there, one Spyro enjoyed to visit often because it had a nice view of the flooded city. Getting there took a while though, easily a few hours walk. The ground began to become uneven, a sign they were close to the flooded city.

All around they saw buildings in their different states of decay, different from the inner city buildings. In the inner city and city center, the Moles and different races had made modifications to the structures, that is to say they had torn down some structures and erected their own, creating long narrow streets and alleyways where different people lived. Out here in the surface city, many of the buildings lay untouched, or at least without major changes. Here, the streets were wide open, massive in scope and size. In the inner city, they were so narrow, less than two dozen feet wide. Here, well Spyro couldn't even begin to count how wide the streets were. Here, there were even multiple streets in-between the large buildings. Man, this place must've been busy in its prime.

Several empty metal chassis lay scattered on the streets, grass and moss covering the rusted metal. These were also more common here in the surface city as opposed to the inner city. Most of the ones that had existed in the inner city had been stripped down of their metal and used to build the Mole's structures that littered the inner city.

A group of cheetahs walked opposite of Spyro and Flame, each carrying large sacks of food as they walked along the side of the road. Spyro could also see some dragons sitting near the entrance to a building along the side of the road, a small fire nearby as well. Two children were playing near the fire, the dragons obviously being their parents or guardians. Life was rarer here as well, though it wasn't uncommon to see residents here. Those who lived here wanted to avoid the clutter of the inner city. Spyro didn't blame them really. Here, it was wide open and there were probably more pickings to live from. The walk to the markets in the inner city wasn't too bad either. Well, as long as you didn't mind walking about an hour to and from.

Another group walked opposite of the trio, a group of bear bi-pedals, cheetahs and even a tiger. They wore scavenger's clothing and several of them carried the typical scavenged weapons. Here in this city, if you had a gun, you were in business. Here though, the only guns you can across were scavenged, jury rigged contraptions that sometimes hardly worked. Scavengers worked tirelessly to recreate the weapons of the Forgers, but to no avail. Most of their contraptions were second rate, broke easily or were nothing compared to an actual Forger weapon. Forger weapons were rare around here, and sold for a high price. They were often in bad shape, but they could easily be repaired. Having the parts within the Forger's weapon was priceless. Weapon's smiths were never able to fully recreate Forger's weapons, mainly because there were so few left. They had all been removed long before. Now, the rifles and weapons that proliferated through these streets were the many designs and crafts of weapon's smiths attempting to recreate what had already been lost.

"Hey, uh, hold up." Flame said, holding up his paw.

"What's up?" Spyro asked, looking around. Sparx zipped up, turning his head inquisitively to Flame.

"Think there's some activity nearby, maybe we should take an alleyway."

"Oh don't tell me you're in trouble for something, are you?"

"No, no, no nothing like that. Let's just uh… go this way." Flame quickly shot off, leaving Spyro in the street as he dashed into an alleyway. Spyro grunted, turning to Sparx who just gave a slight shrug. With a sight Spyro moved, following right behind into the crampt space between the buildings.

"What's this all about?" Spyro asked, Flame pressing himself into the wall.

"Take a look for yourself…" Flame moved his head, pointing back to the street. Spyro walked back over, peering around the corner to see just what had startled Flame.

He only saw a glimpse, but it was enough for him. There, at the end of the street coming off of the broken overpass he saw several bi-pedal dragons and cheetahs in black armor. The armor reflected the sunlight off of the surface, being of no metal Spyro had ever known. It was rumored to be stolen from the creatures that once ruled these lands, now long gone. In their arms they carried weapons Spyro had never seen before. Unlike the scavenged, jury rigged weapons carried by the denizens of this city, they looked sleek, futuristic. The weapons were encased a black casing, it looking almost crystalline in appearance. Light reflected off of the deadly weapons, intimidating even Spyro.

"Sentinels…? What're they doing here?" Spyro asked, backing away from the corner. Sparx zipped behind Flame in a scared sense, having seen them too when Spyro tilted his head around the corner.

"That's what I was wondering too. I heard they might be here in the city but I didn't believe it until I saw it myself the other day."

"But… this city doesn't fall under their control, and they're just waltzing around?" Spyro turned, looking concerned.

"I don't know, I think they're looking for something."

"Looking for what? There's nothing in this city but crumbling rock."

"It's enough for a Sentinel to rear their ugly heads. Come on, these alleyways cut through to the other side. We can still get to the warehouses from here." Spyro nodded, following Flame's lead with Sparx as they walked through the narrow passageways, dodging the Sentinel patrol.

Sentinels… where to begin with them. Those tough bastards were the foot soldiers of the Dark Master's army. They usually stayed away from cities like these, the Dark Master had no interest here. Spyro's city was just one of the many slums that dotted the landscape, far away from the Dark Master's many hub cities that were fully under his control. Were they taking over? This wasn't good for anybody if they were.

They looked like they were searching however, not really invading or occupying. What were they searching for here? Flame was right, whatever it was it must've been very important for Sentinels to have been sent in. Whatever the reason, they had to avoid them at all costs. Sentinels weren't known for their hospitality. No, they were more known for the brutality they showed upon normal citizens. While there were many races within the Sentinels, they had changed, become… corrupted almost. They weren't what they had been before, and were brutal to anybody who wasn't like them. For all his life, Spyro had never left his hometown, ventured into the outside world. What was it like out there, where these Sentinels had come from? It wasn't a place he wanted to go, that was for damned sure.

Then of course, there was the Dark Master himself. He was a ruthless ruler of the realms as they called it, the land they lived in. He ruled with an iron fist and crushed all those who opposed him. Desolate cities like the one Spyro walked in tried to stay independent or off of his radar by trying to fly under the radar, by doing nothing to draw his ire while the Dark Master went on to conquer bigger and better things. Many questioned the Dark Master's true identity, some thinking he was a dragon, some a mole, some even a lowly squirrel anthro. He had never shown his face in public, or at least in a place where Spyro had seen. He remained in his citadel far to the west, only sending his armies to do his bidding. It had been that way ever since the original inhabitants disappeared from this world. The ones who built these massive cities then suddenly vanished.

"Here, there we are." Flame said finally, walking out from the narrow passageways and out onto another street. Across from them there was a half torn down fence, with several warehouses behind it. Spyro could see just beyond the warehouses there were many more structures, but most of them were submerged beneath the waters. They were right up against the flooded city. Here, many of the poorest residents lived, living in the sinking sky scrapers beyond, forming their own independent community from the inner city. Spyro had explored some of the city, but it was pretty dangerous if you didn't know what you were doing.

Flame walked forwards, crossing the road and leaping down towards the cracked concrete where the warehouses were. Spyro looked all around, looking at the massage storage buildings, boxes, crates and several different items visible from the holes in the structures. Nearby, he could see a large open lot with several of those metal machines again. However, these were larger than the ones back there in the surface city, being much taller and either having a long flat piece of metal behind them or having massive containers themselves resting behind them. Had they once ferried supplies or items large distances? Did these warehouses supply them as they went along?

"Hey Spyro, keep up!" Flame said, snapping the dragon from his idle thinking. Spyro quickly leapt down with him, following close behind as they neared one of the buildings.

"Here, here's where I found that basket." Flame said, walking into a hole in the wall. Instead of walking into the main room itself, they were inside a smaller room. There were desks, shelves and different filing cabinets around. It looked like an office of some sorts. The room was dark and damp with little or no light. The only light that naturally filtered into the room came from the hole they had just entered.

Sparx flied into the room, illuminating it somewhat as he zipped all around, looking at the various items scattered across the room. Spyro leapt down to join Sparx who was gleefully zipping item to item. Flame leapt in after him, turning his head side to side slightly.

"Maybe there is others left around here?" Spyro said, looking around.

"Probably, we might have stumbled onto someone's stash here."

"Maybe…" Spyro said, looking around the room. It was full of old junk. Piles of decaying paper lay everywhere, yellowed and unreadable from time. Old books were scattered on the floor and some strange black flat device sat on the desk. It sat upright, as if someone sitting there was supposed to look into it. How strange.

"Damn… nothing. I wish I could have checked more last time, I might have spooked them." Flame said, knocking over a fragile box. Spyro sighed as well, looking back at the desk.

"Hey look at that…" Spyro said, walking over to the desk.

"What? Found something?" Flame asked, trotting over to where he was.

"Found… something. Look at that." Spyro reached over with his talon onto the desk, moving a piece of paper that hadn't decayed like the rest.

"Can barely see, there's no light in here." Flame said as he tried to squint at the paper.

"Sparx, come here will you?" Spyro asked. His friend obliged, flying over and illuminating the paper with his natural yellow glow.

There was a picture drawn on it, a picture of… something. It looked to be some sort of cylinder machine with a cone at its front and fins at its back. Wings extended out from the middle of the machine where two more cylinders were attached to the ends of each one. On top of those rested a series of thin strips that formed a circle pattern. It… kinda looked like a bird.

"What do you think that is…?" Flame asked, walking closer.

"I don't know, some sort of flying contraption?"

"Looks like a bird."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking." Spyro said as he looked closer. Some of the writing had faded but it was riddled with information which Spyro guessed was related to the machine.

"Looks like it all talks about the machine, talks about instructions on how it operates…" Spyro said, trying to eye out the faded text. There were scribbles nearby, hand written words with arrows drawn to different parts of the machines.

"Yeah… looks like it's called an… Osprey? What a weird word." Flame commented, backing away from the paper. It's true, that was a weird name to call something. That was the name though, written in bold at the top of the paper.

"Wonder who designed this. The Forgers maybe?" Spyro asked, continued to look at the picture while Flame looked out the damaged doorway, fixated on something.

"What's up?" Spyro asked, looking up now.

"Looks… looks like someone is watching us…" Flame said with a bit of fear in his voice.

"What?" Spyro strolled over, peaking out of the cracked window in the doorway. Inside the warehouse he swore he saw something, looking back at him. The longer he looked, the more it looked like whatever it was had moved on.

"We… we should go dude. I don't like this place." Flame said.

"What the…" Spyro squinted, walking closer to the door.

"What're you going on about now…" Flame said, turning to him.

"Do… do you see that?" Spyro pointed out, Flame directing his gaze in that direction. Flame could see out the door, out of their warehouse and into an adjacent warehouse from this angle, seeing… something inside of it.

"What is that? Looks like…"

"Looks like the cone from that drawing." Spyro said, looking back at the paper on the desk.

"That wasn't there when I checked here last time. That warehouse was empty." Flame said.

"Come on…" Spyro moved to the door, pressing against it and slowly opening it.

"Wait, what're you, nuts?! We can't go out there! What if… whatever the hell was watching us is over there?"

"Come on, we can't pass this up…" Spyro said, moving out of the room.

"You bet your ass we can pass this up! Spyro? Spyro!" Flame grunted, following the troublesome purple dragon as he had already trotted out of the warehouse and into the open area around it. Flame sprinted to catch up, looking more at the opened warehouse. The closer they got, the more of this machine they could see. It… it did look like the one from the drawing.

They finally arrived at the two main doors to the warehouse, peeking inside. What lay inside did indeed look just like the drawing, almost a complete replica. The metal bird had come to life, with what looked like both rusted and new pieces of metal holding it together. All around the floor they saw scattered parts that looked similar to the ones already on it. On the craft itself there was writing that had faded over time but was there. One read Osprey, just like the blueprints. Another on the side read MARINES in all capitals. What was a Marine? Or for that matter an Osprey? Was this what they called this thing? What a weird name.

"Man, someone's been busy." Spyro said, looking around the warehouse.

"That is cool… that really is…"

"See, and you were worried." Spyro said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, of course I'm worried!" Flame grunted back.

"What do you think Sparx?" Spyro asked, turning to his friend who zipped by his head. Sparx gave a look of optimistic approval, but kept scanning the room every so often. Spyro kind of felt the same.

"Come on, let's get a closer look…" Spyro trotted all around the craft, looking at each nook and cranny, inspecting each little detail. In the back, there was an opening, going right inside of it.

"Man, it's so cool back here…" Spyro said as he climbed inside. Flame reluctantly followed Spyro up, but was nonetheless stunned by what he saw within. There were seats, lining the walls of the craft. Were people supposed to sit in here? Did it carry people places? Man, that is so cool! Did these people lack the ability to fly themselves?

"Oh man, check this out…" Flame said, walking towards the front of the craft. There was a doorway, leading to another chamber. Inside there were two more seats, facing glass panels that looked out over the front of the craft. There were all sorts of different panels, buttons and machinery up there. It might be where the thing was controlled from. Damn it Spyro wished he had thumbs…

"This thing is in such good condition, who do you think built it?" Flame asked, turning to Spyro as he looked the seat over.

"I don't know… the moles maybe? Might be them, coming in from the inner city and building this here in secret. Those guys love to tinker."

"Yeah but… this seems above their level." Spyro commented, looking at how intricate the designs were.

"If you say so…" Flame looked around and started searching some of the smaller compartments. Spyro turned, seeing Sparx hovering over one of the seats, a small box underneath.

"What you got there Sparx?" Spyro asked as he strolled over, pulling the box out and setting on the chair with his talons. Flame walked over now too, seeing the box. Spyro tugged at the box's lock but Flame smirked at him, pushing his talons aside and skillfully breaking the lock off. Spyro shook his head at Flame who just chuckled at the sight.

"Let's find out…" Flame said as he opened it. Inside, there was more food, along with some paper and… there was something under it all.

"Woah, what is that?!" Spyro asked, seeing the strange item under the food.

Spyro pulled back the food, seeing a small black item underneath. It had a smooth black handle, and a slider mounted on top of it with a trigger. It was a gun, but none that Spyro had ever seen.

"Oh wow, never seen that kind of gun before." Spyro commented, touching it with his talon.

"Yeah, it looks in such good condition too. Doesn't look like any of the others around here. Think it's one made by the Forgers?" Flame asked, looking at it closely too.

"Might be, don't see too many of those around here anymore… " Spyro left the weapon where it sat, leaning back. Forger weapons like this were valuable, and people who could get their hands on one could make a lot of money selling them.

"We should take it, sell it. We could make so much off of this!" Flame said, excitement in his voice.

"I don't know… looks like someone left it here…" Spyro said, looking around at the obvious hideout.

"Come on dude, think about it. We could have food for months with this thing. People will pay out the wazoo for a Forger weapon. It even has some bullets in here too. Come on Spyro…"

Spyro turned to Sparx, who gave him a playful smile. He seemed optimistic about this so… what was there to lose?

"Alright, let's take it then." Spyro said, closing the box and lifting it off the chair with his muzzle, carrying it in his mouth.

"Let's go, I kind of get a creepy feeling in here…" Flame said, looking around. It was true, this place gave Spyro the creeps as well. Sparx had already left the room, flying out and back into the warehouse. Spyro and Flame followed right behind, the box of items stashed safely with Spyro.

They moved back towards the other warehouse, entering its doors and going back to the office from where they had entered.

"Hold up, let me go first." Flame said as they re-entered the office. He slowly moved through the hole, it only being big enough for one of them anyway. Spyro waited, watching the doorway and looking at the craft from where he stood. Who had made it there? Someone obviously built it recently, there were so many parts scattered around. Also, it was… wait… what the…

Spyro could see… a figure, looking back at him. Yeah, yeah, there in the shadows of the warehouse! There was definitely someone there! Had they been there the whole time, watching them? Man, that's so creepy to…

Sparx hovered next to Spyro, looking out where Spyro was looking inquisitively. Spyro turned seeing this.

"You see it too Sparx?"

The little dragonfly merely gave a shrug, not seeing what Spyro had. Spyro grunted, turning to look again.

Nothing, there was nothing there now. Where had it gone…?

Sparx turned, getting Spyro's attention as the dragonfly flew over towards the hole leading outside, looking frantic. Spyro turned his head, wondering what his friend was saying. Leaning in closer, he could hear voices outside. What the… Spyro set the box down near the hole as he crawled out of the hole, making his way back to the fence and poking his head up to see what was going on.

There, Spyro saw Flame with his wings extended as three Sentinel Guards stood over him with their weapons drawn.

"You better report anything you see to us, if you know what's good for you…" One of the Guards said, the lead one. Flame nodded quickly, looking panicked.

"Good, then stay out of our way." It said before shoving Flame aside, walking down the street and away from him. Flame grunted, rubbing his head as Spyro pulled himself over to help him.

"What happened, what was all that about?" Spyro asked.

"I don't know… they were there when I crawled over. They asked if I had seen any Humans around."

"The Forgers?"

"I guess so. That's what they call them. They said if I knew anything about them I'd better tell, or they would kill me…" Flame shook his head, getting up now.

"Man, guess we know who they're searching for now. Come on, let's get that box and get the hell out of here." Spyro said, running back down to retrieve their find. When Spyro returned with Sparx, the three of them quickly moved back towards the alleyway and away from those Sentinel Guards as they continued their walk of the warehouses.

End of Chapter 01

A/C Update: Whoops, looks like I left one of my notations in the chapter. I'll just remove that *does a quick edit*