Stryke woke up suddenly when something walked over his tail. He growled and reached inside his uniform, but checked the motion when he realized that it was just a stupid sheep. He had barely closed his eyes when something heavier stepped on him. It was Spyro this time.
The young dragon was running about, chasing the frightened animal. A golden dragonfly flew just behind Spyro, following him. "Come on, you can run faster than that," it said in a mellow, surfer-type accent. "Run! Run like Ember's chasing you or something!"
Spyro let out an audible yelp of fear and closed with the sheep rapidly. He tackled it, knocking the animal over. It made a pathetic baaing noise and exploded into a butterfly. The dragonfly chased the little insect down and devoured it.
"Wow," said Stryke, getting up, "you're up awful early." He checked the watch on his wrist. It displayed 0553 in friendly green numerals. "I only thought we soldiers got up this early. It's only about ten minutes to six!"
Spyro sat down on the grass and yawned. "Sparx wanted something to eat, but he's too weak to actually hunt for himself." The dragonfly zipped around to Spyro's front, illuminating Spyro's snout in a yellow light.
"Me, weak? Pah," Sparx scoffed. Now that he was hovering, Stryke could see the actual insect inside the shimmering light. "I saved the Atlawa from certain destruction. They wanted to worship me. They respected me."
"You're still going on about that?" Spyro yawned again and showed Sparx his teeth. The dragonfly made a choking sound and waved one of his hands in front of his nose.
"Man, when was the last time you brushed?" asked Sparx. He flew right into Spyro's open mouth. The dragon's eyes widened, looking around wildly. "Wow, is that a piece of a Gnorc in here? When did you eat that? And...darn! I didn't know you ate lobsters!"
Stryke smiled slightly, checking his watch again. 0556. "Sparx, why don't you get out of Spyro's mouth? He'll probably eat you or something."
Sparx poked his head out from Spyro's still-gaping muzzle. "Nah," he said, "Spyro wouldn't do that. Right, Spyro?" Spyro got an evil look on his face, the corners of his mouth turning upward into a smile. "Right, Spyro?" Sparx asked again. "When you don't answer me in situations like this, that usually mea-"
Spyro closed his mouth. He kept it closed for a good minute before finally allowing the dragonfly to get free. Sparx flew out of Spyro's mouth and fell to the grass. "Gee, Sparx," Spyro laughed, "maybe you shouldn't fly into dragons' snouts. They might not LIKE someone commenting on the cleanliness of their molars." Sparx's only reply was in the form of a long, loud gasp.
The blue dragon watched the pair for another moment before shaking his head. This little side-trip should be interesting, he decided, especially when Hunter gets here. Stryke gazed at the horizon, watching the sun slowly rise above the mountains. His watch chirped a minute or so later.
Spyro looked up. "Is it six o'clock?" He leapt to his feet and started looking around in a panic. "Is it six o'clock?" he asked again. Sparx picked himself up off the ground and hovered around Spyro.
"Yeah, it's about six," answered Stryke. The dragon scratched the back of his head, non-plussed. "Why? What happens at six?" Just in case, Stryke reached into his uniform.
"SPYYYYYYYYYYYYYYROOOOOOO!"
The loud and feminine voice echoed over the plains. Spyro's eyes became very wide. The purple dragon made a whimpering sound and bolted away to the north. Sparx did not follow; instead, he simply flew over to Stryke's shoulder. A few moments later, a pinkish dragon came running by. She did not even notice Stryke as she tore off in the general direction of Spyro. "Spyro! Come back here," she shouted after him.
"Who's that?" Stryke asked. He watched the female chase Spyro even as he made a complete turn to face the blue dragon and Sparx.
The dragonfly chuckled. "That would be Ember. See, Ember likes Spyro, but Spyro likes Cynder. And Cynder doesn't like Spyro much; she prefers Flame. But guess what? Flame likes Ember. It's a regular love triangle."
"Actually, that would be a love quadrilateral," corrected Stryke. His eyes followed the young dragons as they raced by, Ember slowly closing with Spyro.
Sparx shrugged. "Whatever. I just hope Hunter gets here soon. He usually can get them to stop."
"Hunter?" Stryke turned his head to look at Sparx, nearly hitting him with his snout. "Cheetah, about as tall as me? Yellow fur?"
"Watch it, big nose," Sparx complained, "but yeah. That sounds like Hunter. Why, do you know him or something?"
Spyro tripped over a rock and fell to the ground. He groaned, looking over his shoulder. His eyes widened as Ember squealed happily and leapt into the air. She tackled him, laughing. "Good morning, Spyro!"
"Hunter and I go pretty far back," answered Stryke. The blue dragon leaned against the wall of the Professor's laboratory and watched Spyro and Ember amusedly. "We fought together in a war. Killed lots of Meerliks."
"Yeah. That's nice." Sparx flitted over to where Spyro was trying to get out from under Ember. The pink dragon was trying to tickle him. "Alright, you two," he said in a loud voice, "let's break it up. Keep it G-rated. You're only...what? Ten? Eleven?"
Spyro twisted around, pulling his sensitive wings away from Ember. "I'm fourteen and she's thirteen," he responded, out of breath. "C'mon Ember, just stop for now."
"Aw," Ember whined, "Spyro, don't you want me to tickle you? Isn't it fun?" She giggled in a high voice and batted her eyes at the purple male. Spyro got to his feet and brushed some grass from his haunches.
"It's kinda fun," Spyro admitted, "but we need to be serious right now. The Professor wants us to go to Tall Plains and get two hundred Light Gems. We gotta fix the Transporter grid."
Ember sat down on the grass, catching her breath. The chase had tired her out as well. "Oooh! Can I come?"
"The Professor wants all of us to go on his quest to recover the gems," Sparx explained. "All of us means you, Spyro, Cynder, Flame, Hunter, and that other dragon over there near the lab. He's...uh..." Sparx realized that he didn't even know Stryke's name. "Hey, you! Big...blue...guy."
Stryke walked over lazily, stretching his wings. "Stryke's my name. And yeah, I'm helping you get the gems. If the Atlawa don't have them, I bet I can work something out with the Manweersmalls."
"Good. So we have a plan 'B' now," Spyro surmised. "Not that anything will go wrong with the first one...I hope."
"Do Cynder and Flame have to come with us?" whined Ember again. She did not seem particularly happy with the arrangement. "Cynder distracts Spyro and Flame...well, Flame seems to like to follow me around."
Stryke glanced at Sparx for a moment before replying. "Explain."
"Well," began Sparx, believing that he was supposed to explain, "Spyro likes Cynder. As in like. Not quite like like, as Cynder would have to at least like like him back. Since Cynder only likes Spyro as a friend, Spyro can only like like Cynder.
"On the other hand, you've got Flame. Flame likes Ember, but Ember likes Spyro. It's really like the Spyro-Cynder situation. In fact, they all like someone who likes someone else. Now, in the case of Spyro, he-" Sparx took a deep breath.
Spyro swatted the dragonfly with his tail just as he was about to start speaking again. "Sparx, shut up. I don't say that very often, do I?"
"No," Sparx admitted from the ground, the wind knocked out of him. "No, you don't."
"And it's usually for a good reason, right?"
"Yeah. Well, there was that bar in the city when you told me to-" Spyro raised his tail above Sparx, who promptly said, "Yeah. It is. Hey! Your cheeks are turning red. Doesn't that usually mean that you're-"
Spyro let his tail fall, crashing into Sparx. "Yeah. There goes my mouth again," the dragonfly said in muffled tones.
Ember looked horrified. "Spyro! How could you? Imagine, my boyfriend running around in a city bar..."
"I'm not your boyfriend!" Spyro retorted, his tail lashing. Sparx took off into the air, not wasting his chance at freedom. "I can do what I want."
"I know what you need..." Ember said quietly, inching toward Spyro. Spyro noticed this and moved backward until he bumped into Stryke. The blue dragon refused to move, effectively blocking Spyro. Ember stopped with her snout just inches from Spyro's. "You need-"
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUEL!" shouted someone from above. Stryke's head jerked up, sighting a yellow cheetah in the sky. He wore a jetpack, which was flaring sporadically. "I NEED FUUUUUUUUUUUUEL!" The jetpack cut out completely, sending the cheetah downward.
Ember blinked as everyone got out of the way of the cheetah's probable 'landing' spot. "Well, I was going to say that you needed some love, but I guess 'fuel' could work too. Hey, where are you all going?" She stood up and moved over to Spyro.
The yellow cheetah crashed into the area where Ember had been sitting before, rolling over a few times. He came to a rest, lying still. Stryke was the first to react, letting out a long whistle. He walked over to the cheetah and leaned over. "Oh, hey, Hunter," Stryke said when he recognized Hunter, "I haven't seen you in a long time."
"Uh," groaned Hunter. His eyes fluttered open. "Wow. Am I...dead? I thought you were dead, Stryke. There was a bomb, and a-a Meerlik, and you were out of ammo, and-"
"I defused the bomb and you shot the Meerlik in the head," Stryke finished, offering Hunter a claw up. "Which is why we're still here. You're not dead yet, you old cat."
Hunter grasped the blue dragon's claw and managed to stand. "So man, how've you been doing? I see you're hanging out with my friends."
"Pressed into service, to be more accurate. We have to collect two hundred Light Gems."
"Oh? What happened now?"
By now, Spyro, Ember and Sparx had recovered from Hunter's sudden (though rather pathetic) appearance. "Stryke broke the Transporter," Spyro said.
"I did not," Stryke answered immediately, turning around to glare at the purple dragon. "And even if I did, it would be for a perfectly good reason."
"I sense a cutscene coming on," Sparx sighed, fluttering near Spyro's wings. "Since Cydner and Flame probably won't get here for awhile, we have time. So let's hear it, blue boy. What amazing and wonderful feat did you have to do that was so important to the world that you had to break the Transporter system?"
Stryke grinned. "I was going to kill the Dark Master."
Sparx, for once, had no reply.
