The Legend of Spyro: Tales of the Zodiacs

Chapter 3: A New Beginning

Aaron stood outside the school building, he was still nervous of his first day at the new school. He could see all the other kids outside who already knew each other talking and laughing. Aaron wished he didn't have to go to school he wish he could just go to Azeroth and start his dragon training.

"Are you nervous too?"

Aaron looked behind him to see a big chubby kid staring at the school like he was. He had seen this kid before, at his birthday party.

"Hey, you're Isaac right?" Aaron said.

"Yeah, and you're Aaron." Isaac said.

"Yeah, so what are you nervous about?" Aaron asked.

"Them," Isaac pointed to a group of boys standing next to a tree.

"Who are they?" Aaron asked.

"They run this school; it's been that way since the fifth grade. The short one is Clark, the tall one is Randal, and their leader is Will."

Aaron took a look at the gang. The one named Will had dark skin and seemed to be a bit chubby like Isaac but he was slightly shorter and had muscle. The one called Randal was unusually tall for a seventh grader and his voice sounded deeper too. The short one called Clark was also chubby but he seemed to be the same height as Aaron.

Will turned his head and looked at Aaron. For a quick second Aaron could have sworn that he saw murder in Will's eyes. Just then the bell rang and the students started to head inside the school.

"Well, ready for school?" Isaac asked.

"I guess so." Aaron said.

Math class, Aaron hated math. He didn't understand why they had to make everything so complicated. Why couldn't they just stick with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division? They had to throw letters into the problems and then say you had to skip this and use this symbol for that, it was all so confusing. Luckily he had something else to keep his mind busy. He took out his notebook and turned to a blank page in the back. He started drawing himself in his dragon form, not that he was a very good drawer.

He was actually a dragon, not something he ever expected. When he was younger he thought if he ever got superpowers it would be something like power rangers or superman. Aaron had the power to turn into a dragon, super strength, super endurance, super speed, breath fire, and fly, well he didn't know how to fly yet, but he was sure Ignitus would teach him. He even had a name, Spyro the Dragon.

Now he needed a cool catch phrase, something cool to say when he was fighting the bad guys or when he went dragon. Power Up? No, too simple. It's Dragon Time? Maybe, but not what he was looking for.

"Hey!"

Aaron snapped out of his daydreaming and looked towards the large dark skinned girl that was sitting beside him.

"You better hurry up and write the lesson down; the teacher can be very strict when she needs to be."

"Oh, yeah thanks, uh"

"My name is Ashley."

"Thanks Ashley, my name is Aaron."

P.E. was a class Aaron enjoyed, no books, no lessons, just running around playing whatever sport the teacher told them. Aaron was also excited to find out that he and Isaac were going to be in the same class together.

While getting dressed in the locker room, Aaron noticed that Isaac had hurried and changed into his gym clothes quickly. He didn't understand why until Will and his gang had entered the room. Will may have been chubby but he definitely worked out, he was going around intimidating all the other kids for their lack of muscle. So it was no surprise when he came to Aaron. His uncle always said he was skinny but he hoped it wasn't true.

Will stared at Aaron for a minute and Aaron could see the hate in his eyes. Will patted Randal on the shoulder and left. As he did Aaron went back to changing into his gym clothes, but suddenly he felt something come over him. The minute a hand tried to grab him Aaron slipped behind the boy and tripped him off his feet.

The boy turned out to be Randal who had a surprised look on his face, but didn't say anything.

Will came up to Aaron again and spoke. "You must be some kind of karate kid?"

"Uh, I just thought he was trying to grab me." Aaron said.

"Yeah, he was. I told him to." Will said.

"Why?"

"Because I run this school, what I say goes and since you're the new kid you need to learn your place." To make his point Will pushed Aaron back into the lockers and then left.

"Hey, Aaron you okay?" Isaac asked.

"Yeah, I think so, what's his problem?"

"I told you, he runs this school. It's better to just do what he says."

"Why, Just because he's stronger than us? If he knew what I could do-" Aaron stopped himself. Ignitus told him not to tell anyone of the magical world. So he would just have to suck it up and deal with this like a normal kid.

"What could you do?" Isaac asked.

"Nothing, let's just go."

Finally the bell had rung. Aaron had already packed his books and raced down the hallway. He wanted to get to Azeroth as fast as he could, but in his excitement he ran into a girl at her locker.

"Hey! My books," The girl said as she bent down to collect her things.

"Sorry," Aaron said as he quickly bent down and to help the girl. "Here you go; I shouldn't have been running anyway."

"That's alright, thanks for helping me Aaron."

Aaron looked surprised for a moment. "How did you know my name?"

"We have science class together," The brown skinned girl said with a smile. "You were the first one to get called up to introduce yourself."

Aaron felt slightly embarrassed, he remembered this girl now. She was sitting in the far back of the class, he didn't see much of her because of how short she was but he remembered the way she tied her brown hair in a ponytail.

"Right, your name is Jessie."

"Wow, I'm surprised you remembered." Jessie said. "You were staring into space all day during class. Anyway I got to go, I'll catch you later." With that Jessie left.

Aaron rushed to his house already reaching for his house keys and unlocking the door. His mother wasn't home yet and that was fine with him, he didn't want to waste too much time, all he needed was.

"Sparx!" Aaron shouted as he threw his bag onto his bed.

Sparx, the golden little dragon sprite was on the bed when Aaron threw his bag. The little sprite barely dodged it in time.

"Hey, what are you trying to do, kill me!" Sparx said. "Don't forget I'm your sprite and you have to take care of me."

"Yeah, you told me that yesterday." Aaron said. Apparently sprites were supposed to be guides for their charges, but Sparx had been doing very little guiding in the past few hours he was on Earth.

"Anyway come on let's go to Azerath now." Aaron lifted up his star shaped badge and concentrated. He thought back to the temple and meeting Ignitus again. "To Azeroth." The badge sparked to life and as bright lights started to spin and formed around Aaron. Sparx quickly flew into his pocket just in time as Aaron disappeared.

Aaron and Sparx appeared in the same spot that oversaw the entire valley. Aaron noticed that the Sun was beginning to set, he was still unsure of the time difference between the two worlds but he would ask about that later.

As Aaron rushed inside the temple he noticed it was…clean. When he first entered the temple it had weapons and crystals lying everywhere from the years of fighting that had taken place, now it looked almost as clean as a whistle. Aaron wondered if Ignitus had been cleaning since he left yesterday.

"Ignitus," Aaron called. "Ignitus, where are you?"

"Maybe he's taking a nap," Sparx said. "I think I'll take one too, it's not like I have to save the world." Suddenly the stone doors to Sparx's right opened and Ignitus stepped forth.

"Good day Aaron, Sparx." Ignitus said. "I trust you are ready for your first day of training."

"Yes!" Aaron shouted. He couldn't stop smiling, he was actually going to be taught how to fight bad guys and save the world.

"Alright, but before we begin you need to know the rules first." Before Aaron could ask what the rules were Ignitus began speaking again.

"The first rule, whenever you are speaking to a level five zodiac you must address them as master. The same goes for your mentors as well, so you will address me as Master Ignitus. Second, I told you that you are the chosen zodiac. You will become very powerful, but you are still a level one zodiac. You will not be dashing off to every mission that becomes available. Finally, this is not a game. You are going to be risking your life in dangerous situations. I will train you, but you must not dash off into battle thinking you are invincible, understand?"

"Y-Yes, Master Ignitus," Aaron said.

"Alright, follow me," Ignitus said as he lead Aaron and Sparx into the he had came from earlier.

Inside the room was a large circular stone table with a couple of chair around it. In the middle of the table was a green pool of liquid.

"Uh, Ignit- Master Ignitus, what is that?" Aaron asked.

"This is the Pool of Visions, used by those with psychic powers like myself." Ignitus responded.

"You're psychic?" Sparx said as he flew in front of the red dragon. "So you can read minds, see into the future and all that?"

Ignitus let out a heavy sigh. "Yes, Sparx, this pool allows me to see the dreams, thoughts, and memories of others. It also allows me to see things happening far away."

"Okay, so what am I thinking right now? What did I have for breakfast today? Who's my future mate?"

"It's not that simple Sparx, anyway the reason I brought you here was to explain how the zodiac society got started and its purpose."

Ignitus then touched the green liquid with his tail, as the ripples spread across the pool Aaron could see images forming.

"Six thousand years ago on Earth there was a kingdom known as The Rose Kingdom. The Rose Kingdom was the largest and most advanced kingdom in the world, filled with hundreds of races and different cultures. The Queen of the kingdom had one goal, to bring the world together under one rule for peace and prosperity."

Ignitus tapped on the pool again and the images turned dark and red.

"However one day, a powerful demonic entity came and attacked the kingdom. Many lives were lost and the great evil threatened to devour the world. Until the Queen and her Royal Knights planned one final assault on the evil, but it had failed. All of the Queen's royal knights had been slain and the kingdom was destroyed. Not even the Queen had enough power to defeat the evil, so instead she sealed it away."

"The Queen used all her strength to transport the people of her kingdom, the evil, and her daughter away from Earth. All the people of her kingdom were transported to another planet that had more magic than Earth and that planet was Azeroth. At that time, the only sentient beings on Azeroth were magical insects known as Sprites." Ignitus said as he looked towards Sparx.

"After arriving on Azeroth the people began to explore the new world and create their own kingdoms, but for some half-beast they noticed a great change. Apparently all half-beast who were of the same race as the Queens Royal Knights noticed that they now had amazing powers. At first they were afraid and confused but realized their purpose. The Queen blessed all species kin to the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar with the power of the elements to fight off evil and keep peach throughout the land."

"Those sound like the animals of the Chinese zodiac." Aaron said.

"They are," Ignitus said. "Just like the Queens Royal Knights each race has a chosen zodiac with the same powers of the Knights. And the Queen's purple dragon had the ability to control all of the eight elements.

"Eight elements," Aaron asked.

"Yes, as the purple dragon you must master the elements of Fire, Water, Ice, Wind, Thunder, Earth, Light, and Darkness."

"Wow, that's a lot of elements to learn, and the only one I know is fire." Aaron said as he saw the pictures in the vision pool disappearing.

"Yes, well fortunately for you I'm a Fire Dragon and I will teach you how to control your powers." Ignitus said leading Aaron and Sparx out of the room.

Ignitus lead them to the room with the giant dragon statue. Immediately the floor began to open up and the statue sunk into the ground.

"This is the training room, where are warriors train. Now let's summon your opponent." Ignitus concentrated and in a flash an ape appeared.

"I-Ignitus, what's that guy doing here!" Aaron said as he moved behind the big red dragon.

"He's not real Aaron," Ignitus said. "It's just a training dummy made to look and fights like the real thing."

"It can fight back?"

"Well normally you would fight against other young dragons, but since you're the only one here. We'll be doing this."

"Okay…," Aaron said as he slowly made his way to the center of the room.

"You may want to transform now." Ignitus said.

"Right, Transform!" Aaron shouted, but nothing happened. "Uh, Power UP… GO GO DRAGON... It's Dragon Time?"

"Wow, I never would have guessed the mighty purple dragon looked so human." Sparx said.

Aaron glared at Sparx.

"Try remembering what you felt when you used your powers." Ignitus said.

"Huh?"

"Young zodiacs use their powers through their emotions before they learn to use them with pure willpower. Try remembering what you felt when you used your powers."

Aaron focused for a moment he tried remembering back to yesterday. How angry he was at Sparx, how scared he was when the apes tried attacking him, and how he was determined to help save people.

"DRAGON UP!" In an instant purple flames erupted from Aaron's hands traveling across his whole body until he was a purple dragon. "Yes! I did it." Spyro said as he looked over his transformed body. While looking at his shoes he noticed that the transformations had torn through them. "Not again…"

"You may want to use your badge to change your clothes as well next time." Ignitus said.

"What do you mean?" Spyro asked.

"Zodiac badges have limited shape shifting abilities. One example is changing the clothes that you wear."

"Wait, so I can wear whatever I want?" Spyro held his badge and concentrated. In a swirl of blue light the clothes Spyro was wearing had changed. His red shirt had changed into the color blue and his light blue jeans had turned black.

He squeezed the badge again and when the swirl of blue light faded Spyro was shirtless and only wearing brown shorts that stopped at his knees.

"I think I'll wear this from now on." Spyro said. Even though he had a small build in dragon form Spyro just seemed to be more confident and didn't care.

Ignitus smiled. "Interesting choice, but still it's not uncommon for a young warrior to want to show off.

Spyro smiled back and turned his attention back to the ape dummy.

"Begin!"

Immediately the ape brought its hands together and brought them down. Spyro jumped to the side and landed on all fours, he then unleashed a breath of fire at the dummy. The dummy then dropped to the floor and disappeared in a flash.

"Yeah, I won!" Spyro said with a huge grin.

"Don't get cocky," Ignitus said sternly. "You still have a lot to learn, now pay attention."

Ten days had passed since Aaron had begun his training and during that time he was getting much better with his powers. Ignitus had taught him how to fight feral. Feral combat were the basics that young zodiacs learned before starting real training but since Aaron wasn't born a zodiac he decided to take him through the steps.

Ignitus had also taught Aaron how to control his power over fire better. Aaron began learning how to use fireballs, breath fire longer, and manipulate the fire into various shapes.

"Okay, Spyro today I am going to teach you a powerful technique." Ignitus said. "It is called Dragon Fury."

"Dragon fury," Spyro said.

"Yes, it is the gift of all dragon zodiacs. Each of the zodiac races has a special gift that they can use, but it is very powerful and puts stress on the body. Until you get use to this technique you will be completely drained after using it, most likely you will only be able to use it once a day, so don't go crazy with it.

"Yes, Master Ignitus." Spyro said as he gave his full attention to his Dragon mentor.

"Right then, Dragon Fury summons all the power of your body and unleash it in an explosive force. It can be used even if you are low on magical power but that will most likely make you pass out. Now let's go to the training room!"

Spyro and Ignitus entered the training room together. Spyro already knew what to do as he stepped into the center of the room. Ignitus then summoned five small apes. The apes quickly attacked Spyro, but using his wings Spyro managed to dodge the dummies and unleashed a breath of fire upon the dummies.

Spyro had a cocky smile on his face but it disappeared when he noticed ten more apes. One almost hit him with the axe it held.

"What's going on?" Spyro said. Normally Ignitus would tell Spyro when he was about to summon more apes but this time he didn't.

Another ape came at Spyro with the club in its hand it knocked the young purple dragon aside. Spyro stood up on his hind legs and aimed his right hand at the closest ape next to him. "Fire!" Spyro shouted as a ball of fire pulsed from his hand and into the ape's chest sending him flying.

Spyro really appreciated Ignitus helping him with his powers. The day he tried teaching Spyro to use fireballs, Spyro had little success in manipulating the fire. Ignitus taught Spyro how to concentrate the same way he did by putting his hands together and focusing. It almost looked like Ignitus was praying.

After Spyro had summoned the ball of fire in his hand, he still had trouble aiming. To help with his aim he would use his left hand to keep his right hand steady as he fired and this seemed to work well.

Spyro had defeated all the apes, but when he looked around more appeared, way too many for him to handle and he was getting exhausted.

"Focus Spyro," Ignitus said. "Unleash the power within you."

Spyro nodded and brought his hands together. He stood in the center of the ring, even with the apes closing in on him. Then he felt it, a burning sensation coursing through his very body. In a gasp he unleashed an explosion of fire and heat. All the ape dummies turned to ash.

Spyro collapsed on the ground. He was so tired but the shocked expression of what he had done never left his face.

"Whoa, what's with the fireworks?" Sparx said as he flew behind Ignitus.

"A young dragon discovering his potential." Ignitus said.

Ignitus was right; Spyro had a lot of potential. Over the years his powers grew and so did his skills in combat.

"Thank you, Purple One." The Elf King said. "We are most grateful for you defending our treasure."

"It was no problem, your majesty." Spyro said as he bowed. "Now, if you will excuse me I must return home." With that Spyro flew into the night sky. He was in a good mood. Once summer was over he would be going back to school to see his human friends on Earth. Isaac, Ashley, and Jessie had all become good friends of his. Of course he also made some enemies of Will and his gang.

Most of all he would be glad to return to the temple. It had been a full year since the incident. The Zodiac Council had made a dangerous decision, but a year had passed, Spyro's powers had returned and grown stronger. Now he wanted to return to Ignitus, Lorca, Cassie, Ord, Cynder, Zak, and Priscilla.