Spyro, Cynder, and all other Spyro related characters are property of Sierra studios.

Draco, Contrinus, Chip and Cydra are property of my co-author, Cydra.

Matt, his merc team, the NSC and related tech, the ancients/atlanteans and malefors dragon generals are mine.

Soul Gem Saga 3: Soulless Abyss

Chapter 2: Lost in the Dark

Kala was having mixed feelings. For one thing, she was glad that Matt was safe and that he finally gotten dominance over Draconus. However, she was mainly feeling upset because of the seemingly humongous gap between them.

Contrinus was talking with her. "Look, I'm sure Dr Willis and Jumba can come up with something," she said

"I don't know," said Kala, "I doubt that artificial DNA like mine can be changed into something natural."

"I dunno. I'm sure there's a way," said Contrinus, "If anything, I'm sure Matt'll be happy to do some gene therapy to himself."

"No, I couldn't let him give up his humanity," said Kala, "Not after he's worked so hard to get it."

"Uh, I'm not certain if we can find any reliable magicians that could change me permanently," said Kala. "I don't know," said Contrinus, "If Megan can turn Matt into a girl; she could probably make you human."

Kala stared for a minute. "Pardon?"

"Uh, nothing, forget I said that," said Contrinus, "But Megan's a lot more competent than you think, even if NegaMorph resembles a badly-made stick of cotton candy right now."

Kala sighed. "I dunno..." she said, "It's never so easy. That's one thing I learnt from Matt."

--

Meanwhile, WARDEN had looked over the remains of the 'meteor' the Bladestorm blew up. It quickly found that it wasn't what they thought it was.

"Got the ID...NSS Vorn...stolen from the Isamandius 4 shipyards last month by a bunch of hybrids," said a crewman before stopping as the security footage of the robbery came up.

"What kind of hybrids?" asked Xander, "Not some alien mix-ups with a cracked hourglass symbol on them, right?"

"Negative, profile matches that of Taleth and his two associates. Their bodies were not aboard the vessels wreckage," said WARDEN

Xander did not meet the Shar-Virk personally, but he knew they were incredibly bad news. "Send a warning to Captain Lynch," said Xander, "If they've landed on the planet, this could be big trouble."

--

Matt was asleep in his room, curled up when Chloe came in. "Matt? Wake up. We got trouble," she said. "Uh...can it wait until morning?" Matt mumbled.

"No it can't," said Chloe, "WARDEN blew up a ship that was recently stolen..." "Then we're going to have to pay for the funerals, problem over," said Matt as he turned over. "By Taleth and his friends and their bodies weren't aboard when it was blasted," finished Chloe.

Matt continued to snore before waking up fully. "Pardon?" he said.

"Taleth, Seleni, and Janeth stole the ship and weren't aboard when it was blasted," said Chloe, "Which probably means they're on this planet."

Matt jumped up. Pure terror was good at waking someone up. "We gotta tell the Elders," he said.

"Matt, you've gone too native," said Chloe before stomping on his tail.

Matt yelped. "But this is Taleth. Last time we barely escaped. This time we can get backup," he said, rubbing his tail.

"True," said Chloe, "But this time, he doesn't have the technological advantage, remember?"

Matt nodded. "Ah...good times...shame I missed the last ship," he said before changing to human form."Shame we can't just scan for em."

"Actually we can and WARDEN already did," said Chloe.

"So where are they?" said Matt.

--

Dragons came and went extremely frequently in Warfang. So no one paid attention to the three new dragons that arrived that day. The only last glance they had was for the rarer psychic dragon that was leading the trio.

Seleni glared at them. "These idiots...they could rule Nullspace if they put their mind to it," she muttered to Taleth.

"Oh don't worry," said Taleth, "Eventually, the dragons shall rise up and rule Nullspace as is their right."

"Yeah...I'm sure," muttered Janeth to himself. He'd begun to notice that were less civilians then you would have expected for this time of day. "Arceon? I think we should be careful," he said, thinking he saw a person peering over the side of a roof.

"Relax," said Taleth, "No one in this city could possibly know who we are." "But isn't Lynch here?" said Seleni. "As if they'd ever let humans in Warfang," said Taleth.

Taleth got a shock as four dragons came into view, Elders by the look of things. Oh and about 20 armed marines popped into view on the roofs, aiming at them. "Turn human or get blasted!" yelled a marine.

"Um, clearly there must be some kind of mistake," said Taleth. "There's no mistake, Taleth," said Zara, "We know who you are."

Taleth sighed. "Fine...killing is so messy but Seleni seems to enjoy it...oh," he said. The 'oh' was when two of the marines seemed to have already stunned Seleni.

"Well, at least I still have Janeth on my...oh, come on!" The last remark was when he spotted Janeth with his hands and feet bound together like a calf. Chip was standing over him. "What should we do with him?" asked Chip. "I say we brand this varmint," said Draco, heating up an iron brand with his fire breath.

PlasMorph was holding said brand. Taleth sighed. "Ok, we surrender, just keep the Brothers Weirdo away from Janeth," he said, pointing at the experiments.

"Weirdos? Where?" said Morph, turning around and causing the brand to hit Chip on the backside. Chip yelped and leapt up into the air. He landed in a full rain barrel, much to his relief.

--

It was later and Matt was finally asleep again. The Elders had put some kind of holding circle round the Shar-Virk that would hold them in place until they decided what to do with the trio.

Then Matt felt something poke him in the side. He ignored the poking till it got too much and he swatted at it with his tail. That earned him a few more seconds of rest before a heavy book was dropped on his head.

"GAH...OK, WHO'S THE WISE GUY?" he yelled, getting up again and stopping in terror as he saw it was his sister. Anyone watching would be impressed how a near-adult dragon seemed to back up from a seemingly normal human.

"Taleth wants to see you...alone. No idea why," Chloe said. Matt looked confused. "Hey. I couldn't have swatted you. Who did I hit?" he said. Chloe sighed and pointed to where Chris was in an imprint in the wall. "Ow..." he said

--

Matt was rather annoyed by having his sleep disturbed, but he probably should go see what Taleth wanted. But he wasn't dumb enough to go alone and had Spyro and Cynder come along.

Taleth had turned human again and was sitting with his two pals in a circle of crystals. A wall of translucent energy separated them from the outside world...and the three marines holding heavy ion cannons. "Aw, Mr. Lynch, don't you trust me? You look a bit off."

"I don't toss you as far as I can throw you," said Matt, "And I've very much tempted to see how far that is." "How are you going to do so without hands?" said Taleth tauntingly.

Matt growled. "Drop it. I already know how to turn human again," he said. Taleth leaned back. "Too wrong, takes concentration. I know a little trick. How do you think me and my people managed to not end up in the same boat as Xavier?" he said.

"What are you talking about?" asked Matt. "Oh, haven't you guessed by now?" said Seleni, "Dragon DNA eventually dominates the other DNA in a host's body. I believe that's why your chimera friend's having difficulty changing forms now."

"What chimera?" said Matt. "Miss Omnirus. She came to me for components for a DNA inhibitor. You'll eventually end up like Xavier, a permanent resident," he said, "...unless...well I do have a cure."

"What kind of cure?" said Spyro suspiciously. "Careful, Matt," said Cynder, "He can't be up to anything honest."

Taleth pulled out a little vial. "Just drink this. I usually use it in my...recruitment, but you could use it," said Taleth, throwing the vial over the top of the field to land in front of them. Cynder stepped back. "I can smell the corruption from here..." she said.

"Yes," said Taleth, "I suppose you would know much about corruption."

Cynder glared as Taleth carried on. "The terror of the skies, what a pleasure, I never saw you in person till now but I followed your work. Seleni was a big fan," he said nastily.

Cynder was about to slash at Taleth with her tail when Spyro stopped her. "That's just what he wants," he said, "If you attack him, it'll smash open the prison. Besides, you're a completely different person now."

"Oh, you can't get rid of your dark side forever. Any Shar-Khan can tell you that," said Taleth. "Let's go. This guy's got nothing," said Matt, glaring daggers at Taleth who waved. "Come again. You ever get tired of the hero gig, I have a job opening."

--

Not long afterwards, Taleth a rather surprising request. He wanted to see Kala now.

Matt was in human form. "You be careful, just yell and the marines'll be in like a shot," he said. Kala said, "They're in that energy field. I'll be fine."

Then Kala walked towards the prison. She gave Janeth a short glare, but she didn't say anything except, "What could you want from me?"

Taleth looked at her. "And how are we, Miss Kai...I mean Kala. Are you and Mr. Lynch happy?" he said.

Kala glared at Taleth and said, "I don't think that's any of your business."

"Well, I feel it's my duty. I have a psy-dragon form...and I can sense how worried you are...what is it? Worried that the species gaps turning into a grand canyon?" said Taleth, in a sympathetic voice.

Kala tensed and said, "What does it matter to you? I bet you're enjoying our strife. I know she does." Taleth glanced to see Seleni trying hard to keep her face straight.

"I, unlike Seleni, have all my marbles intact...and I find it so sad when young love ends in disaster. I'm nearly 2000 years old. I've seen so much," said Taleth.

Kala looked at Taleth suspiciously. "You age very well then," she said.

"I like to think so. Now then, I could help you and Mr. Lynch. I have no way of escape and unlike my associates I don't believe on revenge," said Taleth, pointing to the vial where Matt had dropped it.

"What's this supposed to be?" asked Kala, picking it up.

"A way for you and Mr. Lynch to get together like the crazy kids you are," said Taleth. Janeth was about to say something but stopped when he saw Taleth make a hand motion.

Kala blushed and said, "That's a private memory. I do not appreciate you looking at that."

"Oh, didn't see the details. But that serum should help...even the odds," said Taleth.

"What will it do?" asked Kala. "It's the formula that Matt and his sister got when they came to Nullspace, only refined," said Taleth, "Of course, we haven't used it on a genetic experiment, but I think it'll work fine." Kala lifted an eyebrow and said, "You just happen to be carrying this around?"

"How do you think I did my own recruitment?" Taleth said.

--

After that, Kala went to the room she was given. She didn't trust Taleth at all, but she held onto the vial. Right now, she was sitting on her bed, looking at the serum in the vial.

She wasn't sure what to do. If what Taleth said was correct, she'd lose Matt forever.

She studied the bottle carefully. Apparently, the NSC had been cloning her blood in case anything happened to her, so there was a safety line there. And then there was the idea of Matt always being too big for her. "Oh, if I'm damned for this, so be it," she said. She uncorked the vial and swallowed its contents in one gulp.

Matt meanwhile was wandering to Kala's quarters. He'd felt guilty about Kala. He'd eventually end up trapped as a dragon and might even outlive her. He'd managed to turn human and was almost at her door when he heard something. "Kala?" he said, seeing a human silhouette at the window. He ignited a plasma ball and got ready to kick the door down when it was opened.

"Ok, whoever's in there, come out with your hands out and identify yourself," said Matt. But he was surprising the red-haired woman ran out and hugged him. "Matt, it's me, Kala," she said.

Matt looked confused. "Kala? How...GAH...SPINE...THAT'S NOT HUMAN STRENGTH!" he said feeling his spine creaking.

"Oh, sorry, not used to this body yet," said Kala. Matt looked at her. It was he remembered her last in that form, short red hair, green eyes, a curvy... Matt felt his face heat up. "Um, Kala," he said, "I think you better find some coverage before someone sees you."

--

A few embarrassing minutes later and Kala was standing in front of the others, dragons and mercenaries alike. Matt was holding the empty vial. "You took Taleth's gunk?" he said, angrily.

Cynder sniffed and said, "It's the same stuff alright. Or at least it was."

Matt turned to glare at Kala. "Why did you drink it?" he said.

"Matt, I did it to be with you," said Kala, "I just couldn't stand being apart from you and Taleth's solution seemed to be the only one that would work."

"Dammit, is Dr Willis aboard the Bladestorm?" said Matt, turning to Chloe.

"He is," said Chloe, "We'll have down as soon as we can." "Why? What are you doing?" asked Kala.

"You can't stay like this. You forgot Kai?" said Matt.

"Oh...Matt...I thought you'd understand..." said Kala, her voice choked with tears. She abruptly transformed into a red dragon and flew off.

Matt ran after her, turning dragon to take off. "Kala, wait...OW!" he said, accidently messing up flying out the window and clunking his head.

"Oh, this could be bad," said Contrinus. "Oh don't worry," said PlasMorph, "Matt gets hit on the head all the time."

Kala however had landed in a quiet part of the city and was crying. "Why...why did he act like that?" she said.

"Perhaps he doesn't like the shift in power." Kala sat up and looked around. "Who's there?" she asked.

"Look in the puddle, dear," said the voice. Kala looked down and almost took off in fright. Her reflection's eyes were glowing purple. "My dear...it's been too long," said the voice of Kai in the puddle.

"You can't be real," said Kala, "You must be a hallucination of some kind. Something Taleth slipped in with that potion."

"Oh no, you really didn't read the fine print. Haven't you wondered where Draconus came from?" said Kai, laughing.

"Well, isn't he a collection of all the negative Matt's encountered over the years?" asked Kala. Kai laughed and said, "So naive. It's almost too easy to accept."

"He was there the minute he gained the ability for his second form...nameless...but there..." said Kai.

Kala started to realize what the implications were coming towards. "You can't have my body," she said. "Can't I?" said Kai, "This has been practically coming ever since you made that transfusion with NegaMorph. Darkness just doesn't settle to the bottom of the heart and lies dormant. It grows until it can consume the heart. And you're about to experience that firsthand."

Kala tried to back away but her legs didn't want to move. "Don't worry your precious head," said Kai before her shade shot out the puddle and down Kala's throat.

Kala tried to scream, but something kept her larynx shut. Of course, this was all taking place in her head, so any passerby would have just seen a red young adult dragoness suddenly start convulsing.

After a minute, Kala closed her eyes, as if in a trance...and Kai opened them. "Ah, it's good to be out and about," she said before remembering something. "Oh, might as well help who got me out," she said before taking off.

--

The guards looked over in half-interest as a fire dragoness landed in front of them. "Off limits, get lost," said the leader.

"Sorry, I've got business with Taleth," said the dragoness before unleashing a flamethrower-like attack at them.

The first two guards were incinerated, but the third managed to reach her comm. "Miss Lynch...we're under attack by a..." she never finished as a fireball hit her in the back.

Kai glanced around at the charred bodies. "Nothing personal," she said and proceeded on past.

Taleth looked up in confusion when the doors had their hinges melted into puddles. The doors fell forward and a red dragoness walked in, shimmering into Kai's human form. "You look like you're in trouble," she said cockily.

Taleth grinned and said, "We were wondering how long you'd get here." Seleni glanced at her watch and said, "Ha, not even midnight, pay up." Janeth groaned and pulled some credits out of his pocket before handing them over.

Kai said, "Hmm...well...Mr. Lynch is quite nice in any form...and I can do a good impersonation, even if I have to fake my name," she said evilly.

"True," said Taleth, returning the grin, "However, I hope you'll be able to find it convenient of letting us out? Sooner being more preferable to later."

Kai pretended to consider it. "Oh well, he's too much of a saint for my liking," she said and kicked a crystal out of place.

The barrier around them promptly fell down, allowing the three Shar-Virk to join their new comrade. "I'm glad you approve," said Taleth, "Of course, we have plenty of males that could match Matt." He gave her a sparkling smile. Kai eyed him up and down and said, "Put on some muscle and we'll talk."

Janeth walked to look outside while Seleni snarled at Kai, "Taleth is mine...back off, sister." A bang got their attention as Janeth shot back at a flat trajectory. A plasma ball was carrying him backwards.

Matt came in a moment later. "Alright, everyone back behind you..." his voice trailed off as the plasma orb he had in his hand flickered out. His jaw dropped as he stared at the red dragoness with tiger stripes. "K-Kala?" he said faintly.

"Half right, 'dear'," taunted Kai, before firing a fireball at Matt, hitting him dead center.

Matt was thrown backwards, but not burned like the guards outside. A few seconds later, the others ran in after they heard the alarm go off.

Chloe, Spyro, and Cynder landed first. "MATT!" yelled Chloe in horror.

"INCOMING!" shouted Spyro and tackled Chloe out of the way as a jet of poisonous liquid just missed her.

Seleni flapped in the air above. "Hi. You look familiar. Have I attacked you somewhere before?" she said to Spyro, before spitting another jet of her corrosive poison at them.

"How did they get out of there?" asked Cynder. "Oh, we had a little inside help," said Taleth before sending a psychic blast that knocked the air from underneath her wings.

Taleth transformed to his dragon form and lunged at her. "Let's see what's in that head...ARGH!" he said, wincing as Cynder bit him.

The two dragons thrashed with each other in midair while Chloe was trying to get around Janeth and to her brother.

Matt however had just gotten up, his knockout having caused him to turn back to dragon form. He looked up to see Kai barely a meter from him. "Get away from me and give me Kala back, you slimeball," he growled, getting up.

"Oh, Matt, I think that if you're a bit more adventurous, you'll find me a lot better," said Kai, "I'm not as held-back as Kala and I know so many ways to please a man." She slid her tail across his neck and said, "What do you say, handsome? I'm a better lover than you could possibly fantasize about."

"How about nom?" Matt said. Kai said, "Nom?" and went wide eyed as Matt bit her tail making a 'nom' noise.

Kai hissed slightly, but she didn't move. "Oh, like it rough, do you?" she said, "I can do that too." Before Matt could move, Kala slashed Matt down his back, leaving very shallow, but still stinging, scratches.

Matt winced. "Now I know you can't access her memories, otherwise you wouldn't have done that," he said. Kai looked confused before a lightning bolt hit her in the side and sent her flying.

Chloe landed besides Kai snarling. "No one hurts my brother and-" Chloe stopped when she got a good look at the dragon. "Kala?"

"Again...close," said Kai and aimed a slash at Chloe's face.

Chloe screeched and reared back. The scratches weren't deep, but they stung like a whip.

A laser blast hit the rock above Kai's head as Chris, Techo, Talia and Wilson turned up. "I think it's time we left, dear," said Taleth, pushing Cynder down with a crash on top of Spyro.

"Where can we go?" said Kai. "There should be something in the catacombs we can use to get out of here," said Taleth.

Seleni sent a blast of her acid poison at the group, forcing them to take cover. She got her claws ready to slash the knocked out Cynder's throat when Taleth snapped "SELENI!" "Another time then," she sneered at the dazed Cynder.

The four Shar-Virk quickly ran off, Kai leading them to the catacombs' entrance.

Matt was just staring at nothing. Chloe sighed, turning back to human. "Let's go," she said, looking at Matt.

Matt didn't respond to her at all. "Matt, come on," said Chloe. She was about to push him when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked back to see NegaMorph. "Leave him alone," he said, "I know what he's going through. You won't be able to snap him out of it in time."

Chloe glared. "Well, let's drag this 'Kai' back here and beat her out of Kala...and while we're at it, let's shoot Taleth and his mates!" she yelled, pointing at the catacombs. Spyro and Cynder came round to see the group of mercs go charging by.

"C'mon, we've got wyrms to catch," said NegaMorph as he stopped to help the two dragons to their feet.

He said, "No offence," quickly before following the mercs. Spyro said, "The ape skeletons, they're running into a nightmare." NegaMorph shrugged, "Why do you care what happens to the apes?"

--

Meanwhile, the Shar-Virk were heading deep into the catacombs. The mercs were not for behind them so they kept running. There were a couple of ape skeletons that tried to attack them, but they were swiftly dealt with.

The distant explosions as more skeletons tried their luck on the mercenaries were heard. "Why won't they die?" snarled Kai.

"If you were able to access of Kala's memories, you'd remember that those humans are a particularly tenacious bunch," said Janeth.

"Well I can't. I thought the best was to bury her and bury her deep," retorted Kai. Taleth had led them out of the main caves and into a maze of tunnels that Matt, Cynder, Sonya, and Spyro had never gotten near. These areas were not as run down but were rusted almost to pieces. The tunnel ended at a blastdoor so covered in rust the joins could not be seen.

"Oh, bravo, Taleth," said Seleni rudely.

Taleth smacked her into a wall and said, "I think you're forgetting who's the leader around here. Do you think you can step up and take command?"

Seleni made a mewling noise but backed off. "No...sir..." she said. Taleth glared at her. "Then burn that door down," he said.

Seleni decided not to protest and started spitting acid to burn away the door's hinges.

Chloe and her team ran in just behind them. "Ok...nobody's going anywhere," Chloe said.

Kai looked around for something that could be used as a distraction. She spotted a dark-colored crystal embedded in the wall. Think it was probably some kind of old energy conduit, she reached over and pulled it out.

Taleth turned in horror. He knew that crystal and what it was plugged into. "KAI, NO!" he yelled as the ground started shaking.

--

Outside, Matt was snapped out of it as a beam of energy shot out the mountain range containing the catacombs, heading skyward.

"What the heck was that?" he said. "I don't know," said Draco, who had just gotten there, "But I do not like the looks of it."

WARDEN recorded the beam shooting up to hit a point just beyond the moons orbit. When it did the beam seemed to change color, as if blackness was travelling back. He logged it for future reference.

--

Meanwhile, NegaMorph, Spyro, and Cynder had just gotten to where mercs and Shar-Virk were when a wave of darkness suddenly seemed to pour out from where Kai and pulled out the crystal.

The darkness seemed to coat everything, dampening lights, even the halogen torches the marines had were at half strength. "I think we should leave...now. I'll have a word with you later, Kai," said Taleth angrily.

The darkness made a very effective smokescreen and allowed the Shar-Virk to sneak away from the mercs. However, NegaMorph was very adapt in working in the dark and quickly followed them.

NegaMorph got through to emerge in what seemed to be a selection of teleport gates, smaller versions of the ones that had encountered a week ago. Taleth had activated one and had obviously sent Seleni and Janeth through. "KALA! DON'T DO THIS!" he yelled.

Taleth glanced in NegaMorph's directed and sent a powerful psychic wave to throw him away. However, NegaMorph showed incredible resistance by slowly moving through the wave towards Kai.

Taleth sighed and pulled out an ion dagger, throwing it at NegaMorph, who kept going even with it in his chest. "Persistent, aren't you?" he said amused.

"I made a promise...to keep Kala from corruption...and I mean to keep it!" said NegaMorph, his Lockblade appearing in his hand.

"Very well, let's see who is most comfortable? Ma'am?" he said releasing the psychic block.

"Kala...please..." said NegaMorph. "Sorry, but I don't go by that alias anymore," said Kai, "However, I do feel grateful for you giving her the darkness need for me to come into existence. Allow me to…thank you." She snatched the Lockblade from NegaMorph's hand and before it could vanish back into his grip, she drove straight through his stomach.

"Tell Matthew he knows where to find me," she said and kicked him back before stepping into the portal with Taleth.

--

Meanwhile, Chloe and company had managed to get some sight back. The darkness seemed to have flowed into the walls or into the roof. Some sixth sense was screaming at her though. "Guns up...stay alert," she ordered.

PlasMorph, who had been among the group, got a little sidetracked and walked into a corner. He was looking around to see where he was at when movement caught his eye. He turned to see a small creature that vaguely resembled an ant with only two arms and two legs. Its body was black while its eyes glowed yellow.

"Hello little guy," said Morph. The creature just looked at Morph and twitched, as if in excitement. "I shall call him Jitters and he shall be mine and he shall be my Jitters. Come here, Jitters, come here boy." He reached out his hand only for the creature to scratch it with its claws. "Ow! Bad Jitters! Bad Jitters!"

About ten more appeared before a snarl was heard and a raptor-shaped creature came into view. It looked at Morph and hissed 'Hearrrrt'

"Morph, where have you gotten to?" called Chloe. She and the marines looked into the corner and saw the creatures. They all tensed and Chloe said, "PlasMorph, don't...move..." Suddenly, another raptor creature appeared in the back and grabbed one of the marines before pulling him away.

"Shit, that what I think it is?" said a marine, looking around to see more of the tiny creatures around them. He turned more to see what was left of the marine that had been pulled away, and the creature that had done it.

"Guys, we have to get out of here," said one of the marines. "NegaMorph and Kai are still out there," said Chloe.

Several of the mini creatures were looking at Cynder with an air of confusion. "Guys...what are these things doing here? The quarantine lines lightyears away," said Techo.

"I don't know," said Chloe, "But we have to get out of here right now. We don't have the equipment to deal with these things."

"Huuumans..." said the first raptor creature. Closer up you could see similarities between it and the tiny creatures, how they seemed to be made of the same...blackness...the eyes...but unlike their tiny creatures, these had a look of pure hatred.

The smaller creatures started getting closer to the group, especially towards Cynder. Eventually, one of the marines lost his nerve and fired on the creatures.

This seemed to be the flood gates opening as the creatures went mental, lunging at the group. Chloe watched as the raptor jumped on one of the marines and shoved its fist into the unfortunate trooper's chest, pulling out a glowing object. The marine seemed to zone out before vanishing.

The glowing object remained in the raptor's clutches for a few more seconds before it suddenly got covered in darkness. Then the darkness grew and formed into another creature that looked slightly like the smaller ones except in a suit of blue knight's armor.

Chloe shot a bolt of lightning at it which seemed to work better then the bullets...that seemed to just go through them. This bolt sent the new creature back into the wall where it burst into black mist upon impact. The two raptor creatures whipped their heads round to look at her. "Shar-Khaaaan," hissed one of them before aiming its hand at them. The hand shifted into a cannon and charged up.

Spyro and Cynder blasted that one with fire and poison, respectively. The raptor dissipated into dark wisps, but now the creatures looked like they were actually going to attack.

--

Meanwhile, NegaMorph had just regained consciousness. He could easily heal from the damage his Lockblade had done, but the blow Kai had delivered to his heart will take much longer to heal from.

A scream was heard from the other room. A terrified marine ran into view before a black beam hit him in the back, coating him in the gunk before vanishing...along with the marine.

"Looks I can't stay unconscious for only two minutes without trouble starting," said NegaMorph as he started to get up.

He wandered round the corner to see a scene of utter mayhem. The marines were losing badly against the creatures, another two having fallen and been...converted.

"Looks like I came back just in time," said NegaMorph. He started blasting various creatures with negative energy blasts.

The creatures did seem bothered by this except for six of the ant creatures to lunge at him.

At this, NegaMorph swung the Lockblade in a cutting arc. The blade passed through the creatures like a hot knife through butter, causing them to burst into dark mist.

His victory was short lived as a marine was dragged down, screaming. His gun went off striking the roof which began to sprout a spiderweb of cracks with a selection of crunching noises.

"This place is going to cave in!" called Spyro, "We have to get out of here now!" "But Kai-" started Chloe. "She's left," said NegaMorph, guilt tracing his voice, "I couldn't stop her."

The remaining raptor creature hissed at them. "My masters kill you soon..." he said before melting into the wall in a fashion usually seen done by NegaMorph.

The marines quickly started running out of the cavern. PlasMorph has been clinging to Chloe's back ever since 'Jitters' and his friends attacked him. Fortunately, Spyro and Cynder were able to carry themselves out.

Suddenly, a group of the ant creatures appeared in front of them. "Get out of our way!" shouted NegaMorph. The creatures looked at NegaMorph with twitching antennas. And then to everyone's surprise, they parted and left a large enough gap for the group to pass through.

"Work it out later! Let's move out!" yelled Chloe. The group charged out onto the main catacomb area just in time, a cloud of rock dust shooting out behind them.

The group paused to catch their breaths. "Ok, could someone please explain what those things were?" asked Spyro, "I've never seen anything like them."

"We can tell. You're breathing, aren't you?" said Techo, hands on his knees. He looked ready to throw up. "We call em Heartless, but there's 3000 ships between us and them. That was impossible," said Wilson.

"Well, of course they were mean, but don't you think that it's a bit much to call them heartless?" asked Morph.

"No, Heartless, with a capital 'H'," said Wilson, "They're creatures born from the darkness in people's hearts and they steal other people's hearts to turn them into Heartless too. They are extremely bad news." "How bad are we talking here?" asked Cynder.

"We first met em during the NSC/Combine war. They attacked Home system, where both our fleets were fighting. Attacked us both and vaporized our world, leaving just Central station. We dunno how they did it, but it took both our fleets to stop them." said Wilson.

"What? But don't the Combine have battleships that can blow other ships to particles?" asked Cynder.

"Yeah...and those ships you saw were light frigates. The Heartless fought heavy battleships, the full might of both our fleets...and we only just won," said Wilson. Techo said, "My dad was there. He saw Central world just...evaporate..."

"So now we have to deal with them here," said NegaMorph, "But why did they listen to me when I told them to move? And how comes my weapon was able to destroy them so easily when yours couldn't?"

"The H.Q.F use positively charged plasma to kill Heartless. Bullets are about as good as spitting. I can jury rig some plasma rifles up," said Techo. Wilson said, "We have to call the H.Q.F. in. We can't handle this alone."

"No use," said Chloe, "They'll take a week to get here. By then, this place would be eaten alive."

"We have to call em anyway. We can't hold out alone. If we don't call em, the only other option is evacuation," said Wilson angrily. They emerged out of the catacombs to see Matt, Draco, and Chip. "Chloe..." said Matt, running up to her and hugging Chloe. Their dragons forms allowing them to hug proper...even if they had to use their wings to do it.

"Matt, I hope you can forgive me," said NegaMorph. "For what?" asked Matt. "I tried to stop Kai, but she got away. I made a promise to keep her from corruption, but I couldn't prevent it. I failed."

Matt's eyes blazed and NegaMorph was shot back, a faint blue aura round him into a wall where he was pushed painfully into it. "You...YOU!!!" said Matt, a faint plasma aura forming as his rage attack charged.

"Matt, really, I tried my best to stop her..." said NegaMorph. "YOU LET HER GO!!" yelled Matt.

NegaMorph winced as Matt began to make parts of his plasma molecule makeup fly off. "I'll kill you for this...you...traitor!!" said Matt before a bolt of lightning hit him in the back. "Matthew Lynch, calm down, you fool," hissed Chloe.

Matt growled angrily at Chloe. "Matt, NegaMorph is telling the truth. I'm afraid that Kai has too much power now. I wouldn't have had any better luck if I was there."

Matt looked at NegaMorph, before his eyes glowed, releasing him. Matt looked at the shocked faces on the others before spreading his wings and taking off, ignoring the cries after him.

Chloe went over to NegaMorph and said, "Nega, I'm sorry about what happened." "It's ok," said NegaMorph, "I went through the same thing when you left."

--

Matt flew down to the park where the sheep were kept. He'd taken to going here when feeling miserable...needless to say the first few months he'd been trapped in Avalar had been spent there. He lay down, sobbing silently, watching the park.

A couple of minutes later, Draco came to him. "Hey...Matt," said Draco, "I just want to say how sorry I am about this. But we can get Kala back. As a matter of fact, I think everyone's been turned evil and then brought back at some point. Except Morph. Heaven forbid him going to the dark side."

Matt turned his head, baring his teeth. "Go away," he growled angrily.

"Matt, you know that you can always count on us," said Draco, "Nothing will stop us from getting to Kai and changing her back. Not Taleth, not Ghoulwyrm, not Malefor's ghost, not even the Heartless invasion will stop us." Matt was about to snarl at him when he heard the last part. "Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, what was that last part?"

"The Heartless, we bumped into some in the catacombs," said Draco and jumped back as Matt jumped up. "How...the quarantine line's weeks away," he said.

"From what I heard, Kai pulled out some kind of crystal and this wave of darkness came out," said Draco, "I don't understand it any better than the others."

"And Heartless jumped out?" said Matt.

"Uh, I'm not sure, you'll have to ask someone who was there," said Draco, "Boy, you're really tensed up. You know what you need? Comedy relief and I know just where to find it. C'mon, this'll be classic."

Matt looked out sadly at the park before following.

--

Matt followed Draco to where the crew was staying where NegaMorph was watching the stars through a window. Matt and Draco hid behind a corner. "I don't get it," whispered Matt, "What's so funny?" "Shush, just wait a minute," said Draco. Suddenly, a voice yelled, "NEGAMORPH!" Chloe stomped down the hallway in a dressing gown, her face beet red. Actually, it wasn't just her face that was red.

NegaMorph had about a second to see her before he was blasted into the distance. Matt couldn't help it and was about to laugh when Draco clamped his jaws shut.

About a minute later, NegaMorph came back, the blast causing his pink skin to somewhat resemble his usual black. "Ok, ok, you got my skin turned pink, I got your skin changed red, now we're even," he said.

Chloe said, "Er...your hat," pointing down the hall.

"Hey, who put my hat down there?" said NegaMorph. As he was walking towards it, he didn't notice the spiderbots clustered on the ceiling. Suddenly, they released two restrained logs on ropes which swung down and smashed NegaMorph's head between them. The spiderbots giggled madly until NegaMorph regenerated his head and picked up his hat. "Who's laughing now?" he said, "I got my hat."

Said hat was beeping. Matt just covered his eyes as the landmine in said hat exploded.

Chloe then started doubling up with laughter, forgetting her dyed skin for the moment.

--

Meanwhile, the raptor Heartless had reappeared in the Ancient Grove at the head of the Silver River. It had sensed darkness here of a very useable kind.

It looked around, sniffing before hearing a whirring noise coming from a path. It turned to see a badly-damaged cyborg stagger round a corner.

A dark voice rumbled from its throat, "This stupid body. I'll get revenge on that black wyrm for forcing me out of Spyro's body. And on Lynch for trapping me in here."

It looked up to see the Heartless standing there. "An old one?" he said in shock, raising his hand to aim his wrist blaster.

"Noooo haaaaarm," said the creature.

Malefor stared at the Heartless suspiciously. "And why would you not harm me?" he said.

"Ssssame foessss," hissed the Heartless.

Malefor glared. "And who do you face?" "Shaaaar-Khaaaan," said the Heartless. Malefor snarled. "I want the Shar-khan, Matthew...and the dragon Spyro...and I want them dead." "Uuuussss toooooo," said the Heartless.

Malefor snarled, "This world is rightfully mine...and I want rid of this...mongrel body...I WANT MY BODY BACK!!"

"Weeee caaaaaan heeeeeeelp," said the Heartless, motioning for Malefor to follow it.

Uh oh…looks like Matt wasn't the only survivor and to make tings worse…Malefors got some new backers by the looks of things…tune in next time.