A/N: Hello again readers, to the first Chapter of Dragon and Hunter. I wanted to get this out on the First, but time and inspiration conspired against me.
Those of you who read this when it was just the Prologue might be wondering why I made the changes to Zar's appearance, this was because I thought the mandibles not enough, and I had the idea of making the dreadlocks like a mane, which I thought would be cool. The changes to the preceding Author's Note was also because I thought my attempted shout-out to another story I liked was poorly worded, so I changed it.
Disclaimer: See Prologue.
Spyro squinted as he looked, at best he could make out what looked like a distortion in the air, but it seemed to waver as he tried to make it out. "I said, what are you two doing here?" came the voice again, and then the disturbance seemed to shimmer, resolving itself into what looked like a dragon. He was covered in strange armor, the under layer tan with a pattern similar to a net, and there was a metal mask on his face engraved with a strange symbol on the forehead, gauntlets were on his forearms, the left one slightly bigger than the right, a metal breastplate on his chest crisscrossed with bandoliers, and metal plates covered the shins of his rear legs. Spyro noticed his paws and tail were exposed, and the scales that covered them were a deep blue, tinged with the color of cream. His tail was tipped with a blade, like Cynder, and he saw a groove running along it that didn't look natural. Strangest of all, he seemed to have a mane of what looked like hair braided into what Hunter described to him as 'dreadlocks,' behind his horns, a few of which were decorated with single aquamarine colored rings.
What Spyro could tell was the other young dragon had a rather muscular build, easily twice his size and standing half a head taller than him, which bothered him more than Cynder being a couple inches taller than him. "Who are you?" Cynder asked the stranger, who turned his masked face to her.
"My name is Zar'thekoth, Zar for short." Cynder looked at Spyro confusedly, that was definitely the strangest name for a dragon Spyro had ever heard, but the stranger turned his attention to Spyro, "You are the legendary purple dragon I take it?" Spyro nodded his head, "And you are responsible for the continued well-being of this world?" Spyro nodded again in answer, dumbfounded, the stranger knew quite a lot. The stranger then pivoted and walked away, curtly saying, "Good, my mission is complete, good day."
"Hey, wait up," Spyro heard Cynder say, he didn't know why she wanted to follow the stranger, Spyro didn't like him, but he quickly followed.
"Cynder, wait," he said.
Zar'thekoth was annoyed, the other dragon wanted to follow him, his mission was completed, and he was leaving. He had destroyed the camp of those imbecilic creatures in order to attract attention, and it had succeeded more than he thought it would. He had not only attracted any dragon, but the purple dragon, and he had confirmed that it was indeed him who had reversed the cataclysm. The black dragoness with the magenta underbelly, and green piercing eyes, was a mystery, but finding out about the females of his father's species was not in his mission. The purple dragon had been impressive, his scales amethyst, and his horns and underbelly gold, with a gold leaf-shaped spade on his tail. The black one had blades on her wing thumbs and a tail blade like he did, but aside from that she was rather beautiful. The two also seemed to be around his age, even though he stood taller than the two of them and was bulkier. He was only tolerating these other dragons because he was sure he could lose them, and then he heard the purple dragon speak, "Cynder wait," and he stopped.
A look of shock etched itself upon his face under his mask, was it really, no it couldn't, Cynder was supposed to be a full grown dragoness. He whirled on the two young dragons; they looked at him in surprise, and looked the purple dragon in the eye, "Did you say 'Cynder'?" The purple dragon nodded at him, confusion evident, "As in the one who betrayed her own species and lead armies with intent on their extinction," the black dragoness looked hurt, so that was true, how she came to be around his age was irrelevant.
"Hey, you leave Cynder alone, it wasn't her fault, she was corrupted by the Dark Master," the purple dragon said to him, anger evident in his voice.
"Yes it is, for not having the strength of mind to resist temptation, she is nothing more than an Ic'jit, a Bad Blood, and not worthy of being called a dragon," Zar would have admitted that statement was probably taking it too far, but it was how he felt, and it only angered him more that the purple dragon was defending her. The black dragoness looked like she was even more upset, and there were tears in the corners of her eyes, even though she tried to hide them when she caught him looking. The purple dragon was baring his teeth and growling at Zar, glaring and spreading his wings slightly, ready to pounce. The impetuous dragon obviously had no idea what he would be getting into if he did try to fight Zar, so the hybrid didn't make any outward preparations, but did keep his eye on the other dragon.
Spyro was furious, the stranger had simply not talked to them and left with no explanation, and then when he had confirmed who Cynder was, he had launched into a tirade about her past. What was even worse was the fact that he didn't even seem to care about her not being in control of herself, and had called her unworthy of being a dragon. It was strange what he had also called her, a Bad Blood, whatever that meant, but Spyro was now intent on tearing the other dragon a new one. Spyro had seen the tears in Cynder's eyes, and that teared it, he bared his teeth and growled.
The stranger didn't seem to react, the mask not helping in gauging emotions, or anything else for that matter.
Cynder spoke up, "Spyro, don't, you're just giving him what he wants."
He looked at Cynder, confused, "Cynder, he deserves what he gets; powers or no powers I will make him apologize to you," he said heatedly, his gaze immediately returning to the stranger.
The stranger then whirled away again and marched off, leaving Spyro dumbfounded, "I'm done here, whatever you want to do with the traitor is not my concern," the stranger said curtly, almost a monotone.
"Well I'm not, you apologize to Cynder," Spyro said, running in front of the stranger and cutting him off. The stranger stopped and looked straight at him, the mask's blank gaze boring right into him. Spyro saw the stranger gather himself, and he leaped straight up into the branches of a nearby tree, not expecting such a reaction Spyro's jaw dropped and he saw Cynder's do the same and the two watched the strange dragon leap from branch to branch and tree to tree away from them. He and Cynder looked at each other, and then ran after the stranger.
Zar'thekoth was fuming as he leaped from branch to branch, the impudence of the purple dragon in threatening him. Granted he had taken things rather far with Cynder, his clan's culture respected females as the ones who raised the next generation of the clan. To disrespect one could cost the fool their head, and that was a fate he wanted to avoid. He heard the two dragons bumbling after him, he may not have much experience flying, but he knew his way around forested areas, and through branches. He had certainly impressed them with his ability to leap into the branches from the ground, and he leaped from tree to tree, heading back to his ship. He activated his cloak, hearing the two dragons following him cry out in surprise, a smirk on his face under his mask. He knew the landmarks on this path well, and would reach his ship soon, and could leave this unbearable planet. He quickly came upon the clearing, the sounds of the dragons crashing through the forest tickling the edge of his hearing. He leapt to the ground, and trotted to where his ship was supposed to be, and pressed a button on his gauntlet to deactivate his ship's cloak.
Nothing happened; he pressed the button again to make sure, the same result. He switched to the heat vision mode of his mask; it augmented the slight heat detection in his natural vision, and looked. Even if his ship was invisible, it should still be giving off a little heat, and have some kind of signature in his mask's readings. "Looking for something," he heard a voice say, he whirled, his tail lashing in his annoyance. A shadow moved, and revealed what looked like a feline walking upright, a red hooded cloak about its shoulders, a bow and arrow on its back. It was what his father had identified as a cheetah, its fur yellow and covered in spots, the cheetah stood taller than him, due to him standing upright. The voice and build left no doubt to the cheetah's masculinity, but he growled, "What have you done with my ship?"
"So one of the demons speaks our tongue," came another voice, and Zar turned his head, another of the cheetahs with orange fur, and stripes, more like a tiger, came out of the trees with half a dozen cheetahs behind him.
The two young dragons finally caught up, "Chief Prowlus, Hunter, what are you doing here," the purple one, Spyro, said. He had looked at the orange one first, and then the yellow, leading Zar to believe Prowlus was the orange one while the yellow one was Hunter.
"We are taking custody of this demon, so don't interfere," Prowlus said, Zar flared his wings and growled, his tail twitched.
"He's not a demon, he's a dragon, even though he's a jerk," this statement came from Cynder, and Zar was surprised she was sticking up for him.
"Of course he's a dragon, but he wears their armor, and pilots one of their ships, so we are taking him to face justice," Prowlus said while moving closer to Zar. The purple dragon gave an exasperated look to Prowlus; Zar sensed this was something Prowlus had done before.
"Who is this 'they'," Cynder said, and Prowlus gave them an angry look.
"They were demons who came from the stars during the war, hunting down any in their path without mercy, even my own son was not spared," Prowlus' shoulders slumped slightly when he finished his sentence, and the two dragons looked at Zar with a measure of distrust. He scoffed at this display, his clan was honorable, and they had visited the planet with intent to hunt the strongest, and must have succeeded. Still, it would not be unreasonable to think that there had been relatives of those hunted, he had thought so before, but that had been years ago.
"Return my ship to me, or I will make sure you see your son in the afterlife," he growled, the cheetahs looked shocked at the threat, the dragons as well, Hunter immediately drew his bow and arrow, "You aren't in a position to make threats."
Zar didn't respond, he looked between the cheetahs, Hunter, and the dragons, assessing the threats of each. He reared up, using his tail as a counterbalance, and stood upright, looks of shock etched on the faces of all present. He kept his wings flared slightly as well; balance was something he had to work on, and quickly drew his disc, the weapon sliding into its full shape and blades popping out, the laser sight on his mask shining into being and marking his target, the cheetah farthest to Prowlus' left. In a smooth practiced motion, he flung his weapon at his target, a rush of air following its wake, and it cut into the cheetah's chest as he fell back, dead before he hit the ground. He quickly moved the sight of his laser onto the chest of the cheetah on the opposite side of Prowlus' group, waiting for his disc to return.
Awareness was finally dawning on the cheetahs and dragons, Prowlus was starting to give orders to surround Zar and Hunter pulled back his bow, Cynder and Spyro charged. Then the disc had re-oriented itself, and rushed back to him, decapitating the other cheetah and returning to his outstretched paw in a matter of seconds. He then turned to the two dragons and brought his disc down, slamming it into the dirt mere inches away from Cynder's snout, causing her to yelp and jump back, Spyro's charge went uninterrupted.
Zar quickly let go of his disc and brought his paws up as he and Spyro clashed like two lions, both standing on their hind legs as they growled and pummeled each other. Zar's armor and mask made it difficult for Spyro to do much damage to Zar, but with the hybrid's strength, he sent a powerful blow to Spyro's temple, causing the purple dragon to disengage and stagger slightly. Cynder made another leap at Zar, completely airborne; Zar managed to bring his paws up and catch her, one paw on her chest, the other on her stomach, and reversed the momentum to slam her into the ground on her back. Spyro then leapt upon Zar, sending the two rolling. Once they came to a stop, Spyro held Zar pinned, "Surrender," Spyro said, baring his teeth. Zar didn't answer verbally, only growling, and kicked Spyro off of him, much to the purple dragon's surprise. When Zar had disengaged from the other dragons, he heard Prowlus give a command, "FIRE!"
Rolling away, Zar was able to evade being turned into a pin cushion. Getting back to his paws, Zar turned and leapt at one of the nearby cheetahs. The feline tried to bring his bow between himself and the dragon, but Zar batted it away as he pounced. Dragon and Cheetah collided, Zar's weight driving the feline to the ground. Zar's hind legs immediately went to work, digging in with claws that shredded the cheetah's armor. Before long Zar was raking his claws through his enemy's insides, the blood and gore staining the armor and the ground. Taking his opponent's head in his paws, Zar twisted it sharply with a hideous crack, and pulled the head free, blood dripping onto the grass.
With a growling battle cry, a cheetah rushed at Zar from behind. Zar's tail whipped into action, the blade sliced through the feline's lower leg, nearly cutting the shin in half. The cheetah fell to the ground clutching his leg and screaming as Zar rose to two legs again. Letting the head drop to the ground, Zar opened his maw and sent a fireball towards the other side of the circle, the flames engulfing one unlucky cheetah who started rolling on the ground trying to put out the flames, the two beside him knocked off their feet by the blast. Ignoring the fallen cheetahs, Zar turned to Hunter.
Hunter quickly shot an arrow towards the young hybrid, Zar moved aside of the projectile and leaped. Clenching his paw, Zar's wrist blades on his right gauntlet hissed into place. Swinging, Zar aimed to decapitate Hunter in one blow. The cheetah flinched backwards and brought his bow between himself and Zar, the blades slicing through the wood like paper. Not taking a chance in close combat, Hunter leapt into the trees. Zar turned around, Prowlus hadn't moved from his place, arrow drawn and nocked, Cynder had gotten back to her feet, but seemed to still be trying to get her breath back. Spyro was standing slightly in front of Cynder, wings flared and teeth bared in a snarl. Deciding this would end with Prowlus and the other dragons, Zar took hold of his remaining weapons and laid them on the ground. Then his paws went to his mask.
He undid the seals as air rushed out from them with a hiss, and finally used both paws to take the mask from his face. The two dragons looked at him with shock and a little fear, standing stock still, "Wha-What are you," Cynder said in disbelief, but he didn't answer, his eyes riveted on Prowlus. Zar then inhaled deeply and roared, his tusk-like mandibles flaring an inch out from his face as he did so, his Yautja instincts on overdrive. Prowlus released his arrow, Zar leaped out of its path, using his tail to provide extra lift and his wings to add distance; he quickly closed the gap between him and his prey.
Zar lashed out with his right blades, Prowlus' bow suffering the same fate as Hunter's, splintering into two pieces connected by string. Prowlus drew a knife, attempting to slash at Zar. Zar in turn parried or dodged these attacks, each coming away with Prowlus' blade disintegrating more and more against Zar's own blades. Finally Prowlus slashed with all of his might, Zar brought up his left blades to block, and Prowlus' knife shattered, glittering pieces flying behind Zar while nearly cutting his face and wing. Zar took this opportunity and stabbed Prowlus in the side with his right wrist blades as the cheetah was carried too far by his own follow-through. Prowlus gasped, as did the dragons, blood welling up and staining the fabric Prowlus wore, it was not a serious wound and wouldn't kill. He let Prowlus fall, standing over him with his blades ready, his armor spattered with blood, his instincts telling him to end it all and make a trophy of the cheetah Chief. Then there was a strong impact to his head and he blacked out.
A/N: Ooh, cliffhanger, wonder what happened. Hope everyone was in-character. See ya next time!